MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO SEMINAR SERIES, THE: FIRST ANNUAL RADIO FESTIVAL: TALK RADIO AND POLITICS {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in this series of seminars conducted by The Museum of Television & Radio. This seminar, hosted by Museum president Robert M. Batscha and moderated by Museum radio department manager Ken Mueller, features a panel discussion on the relationship between talk radio and politics. Mueller begins the afternoon with a reel of audio clips highlighting popular local and syndicated talk radio programs, including the following: "The Ed Koch Show" (WABC, NY 1995); "The Morning Meeting with Brennan & Horrigan" (KMOX, St. Louis, 1994); "The Rush Limbaugh Show" (Nationally Syndicated, 1994); "The Lynn Samuels Show" (WABC, NY, 1995); "PM America with Jay Severin" (WOR Network, 1995); "The Diane Rehm Show" (WAMU, Washington, D.C., 1995). After the reel, the following panelists join Mueller on stage: Lynn Samuels, Jay Severin, Cliff Zuckin (Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University); Charlie Brennan, and Ed Koch. Each panelist then makes an opening statement, as follows: Samuels states that the relationship between talk radio and politics is destructive because listeners often take partisan opinions as objective news and because some hosts have outside political careers that they may be advancing with this platform; Severin says that talk radio is "a pure unfiltered medium of communication" which is reaching conservative middle-Americans; Zuckin cites his own surveys which suggest that while talk radio distorts the view of the public by presenting the extremes of political opinion with its callers, on the positive side, the program hosts are seldom found to be "ideological zealots"; Brennan notes that politicians are taking talk radio much more seriously than in the past and that radio reflects its older, more conservative audience; Koch says he enjoys the medium as a place to express his political opinions, which he notes he has the right to do. The panelists then discuss the following topics, among others: 1992 as the year that the major television networks lost control of the presidential election process and a landmark year in the emergence of narrowcasting; the role of satellite technology in the heightened popularity of talk radio; the tendency for talk radio listeners to be conservative and anti-institutional; the propensity for callers and hosts to talk about what bothers them rather than what is right with the world; how the hosts deal with their callers; whether people make political decisions based on identification with a particular host; the tendency for listeners to "emotionally bond" with a host; and the effect of the emergence of nationally syndicated powerhouse Rush Limbaugh on the profession. Questions from the seminar audience lead to comments on the following topics, among others: radio host Bob Grant; whether there is a line, on talk radio, between politics and entertainment; whether Koch and Severin use radio to further their political causes; the importance of the race issue in the United States at the current time; what Koch's transition from politician to radio host has been like; Howard Stern, Don Imus, and Larry King; whether talk radio can get issues on the political agenda; the diminishing meaning of the labels "liberal" and "conservative" to the majority of Americans; and the moral obligations of a talk radio host.
Details
- NETWORK: Paley
- DATE: October 25, 1995 12:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:22:14
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:40933
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Robert M. Batscha … Host
- Ken Mueller … Moderator
- Charlie Brennan … Panelist
- Edward I. Koch … Panelist
- Lynn Samuels … Panelist
- Jay Severin … Panelist
- Cliff Zukin … Panelist