Right Wing Radio Week in Review (with call to action)

by Kathy Shaidle | July 11, 2009 1:32 pm

As reported here earlier this week[1] (audio included), pundits like Rush, Ann Coulter and Mark Levin were the among the first to comment on Sarah Palin’s suprise resignation as governor of Alaska.

The subject took up less time on talk radio than I figured it would for the rest of the week. In a nod to summer, Hugh Hewitt devoted the week to interviewing popular (non-liberal) thriller authors[2] like Vince Flynn, Brad Thor and Daniel Silva. A refreshing, relaxing break from bad news and media blather! (Free audio podcasts/file of all the interviews are archived here[3].)

G. Gordon Liddy[4] raised one of my “favorite” subjects:[5] the phenomenon of “fake veterans.” Stolen Valor author  B. G. Burkett [6]related truly bizarre anecdotes about some of the literally thousands of men across America who’ve pretended to be WWII, Vietnam, Gulf War and Iraq War vets – everyone from crazed spree killers and anti-war activists to professors, authors and successful businessmen listed in Who’s Who. (Free audio[7].)

Rush Limbaugh[8]’s week-long annual golfing vacation meant “The Marks” sat in at the EIB microphone: Mark Belling from WISN, Mark Davis from WBAP, and “one man content provider”, bestselling author Mark Steyn[9].

In what’s become a running gag of sorts, Steyn gracefully fielded calls [10]from listeners with no compunction about saying they actually prefered him to Limbaugh, such as the liberal who told Steyn, “I like you better than Rush and I hope he stays on vacation forever.”

Also as usual, the po-faced college boys at George Soro’s “watchdog” site Media Matters[11] dutifully listened to all six hours of Steyn and pronounced them unfunny and stupid (which is actually a more accurate description of their own tiresome, earnest ramblings…)

Speaking of Rush Limbaugh, the UK’s Telegraph newspaper is running one of those dreadful “journey across America” series, in which a British reporter travels the U.S., writing incredulously about the snake handlers, porn stars and smiling Wal-Mart shoppers he meets along the way. Yawn. This sort of thing was old when it got sent up in the satirical movie Nashville way back in the 1970s…

Anyway, the reporter sent in a video report about visiting Rush Limbaugh’s hometown. Not as snarky as you might expect, but the reporter’s contempt is implied rather than stated outright. (Or maybe I’m just being overly sensitive. Your mileage may vary.) (Free video clip.)

Glenn Beck posted a letter from a young black conservative that’s well worth reading.

Pajamas Media called Beck’s ongoing multi-media “takeover” of the country "a dose of common sense for America."

Not everyone sees conservative media on the upswing. The Las Vegas Sun reported that the travails of a local station “reflects [the] right’s downcast state.”

This wishful thinking stubbornly ignores evidence to the contrary, from Limbaugh’s, Beck’s and FOX News’ astonishing ratings, to conservative authors like Michelle Malkin doing brisk business, with “surges in profits.”

Plus: our own Populist Examiner, Bruce Maiman, offered a thoughtful, measured “response to a reader regarding talk radio,” re: a California politician’s condemnation of conservative talk radio show hosts as “terrorists.”

On Friday, I received this email from Ericka Andersen of the House Republican Conference that will interest all fans of conservative talk radio:

There’s a chance to get the newly expanded Broadcaster Freedom Act (BFA) tacked on as an amendment to the Financial Services appropriation on Tuesday.  The BFA is currently being redrafted to prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from not only reimposing the Censorship Doctrine – also mis-known as the “Fairness Doctrine" – but also to address the new censorship threats – including “localism” and “media diversity.” 

To get it a full, fair up or down vote, we need to act over the weekend and all day Monday.

We need to get as many people as possible to call their Representatives and have them tell Speaker Nancy Pelosi to add the BFA as an amendment.

They can look up their individual Representatives here.

Finally:

The sound of silence was deafening from a conservative talk radio station in Eugene.

Some anxious KPNW AM listeners suspected a liberal conspiracy, but a broken radio transmitter has no politics.

Over the holiday weekend, not one but two KPNW transmitters went down.

The big 50,000 watt machine was lost Friday.

“You can see that the phone right now is ringing and has not stopped ringing for, well, since Friday,” says Program Director Bill Lundun.

What about callers who suspected a vast left-wing conspiracy had silenced the station that carries Rush Limbaugh, Lars Larson, Michael Savage and Glenn Beck?

“Uh, no,” Lundun said. “I just tell them the truth that what we had was a catastrophic transmitter failure.”

(Kathy Shaidle runs the blog FiveFeetOfFury[12], now in its ninth year. Among other things, she also runs the site, Conservative Talk Radio[13].)

Endnotes:
  1. reported here earlier this week: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-722-Conservative-Politics-Examiner~y2009m7d6-Rush-Levin-Beck-Coulter-react-to-Sarah-Palins-resignation
  2. Hugh Hewitt devoted the week to interviewing popular (non-liberal) thriller authors: http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/talkradio/Show.aspx?RadioShowID=5
  3. archived here: http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/talkradio/Show.aspx?RadioShowID=5
  4. G. Gordon Liddy: http://www.liddyshow.com/
  5. my “favorite” subjects:: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-722-Conservative-Politics-Examiner~y2009m4d23-Myths-of-the-Vietnam-War-Part-4-crazy-Vietnam-vets-a-Hollywood-invention
  6. Stolen Valor author  B. G. Burkett : http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/096670360X?ie=UTF8&tag=relapsedcatho-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=096670360X
  7. Free audio: http://ow.ly/gN2Z
  8. Rush Limbaugh: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com
  9. Mark Steyn: http://www.steynonline.com
  10. Steyn gracefully fielded calls : http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_070909/content/Mark_Steyn.guest.html
  11. Media Matters: http://mediamatters.org/limbaughwire/2009/07/08
  12. FiveFeetOfFury: http://www.fivefeetoffury.com
  13. Conservative Talk Radio: http://www.squidoo.com/conservativetalkradio

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