7 ms·

As an aside, I always wondered why conservative radio always dominated liberal radio. Nearly every conservative pundit has a national show and is syndicated far

As an aside, I always wondered why conservative radio always dominated liberal radio. Nearly every conservative pundit has a national show and is syndicated far and wide on AM/FM radio stations. Liberal shows you can't find with a search light. Remember Air America? It lasted two years before a host of scandals and a bankruptcy put it into the "where are they now?" bin as it limped along for another 4 years before shuttering. But I digress. Just curious why conservatives still love radio after so many decades and liberals have almost nothing comparable to listen to locally or nationally.

dhosek 3y ago
https://bigthink.com/guest-thinkers/why-do-conservatives-dominate-talk-radio/ https://bigthink.com/guest-thinkers/why-do-conservatives-dom...
pesus 3y ago
I imagine at least part of it is age and aversion to change/new technology.
- nickff 3y ago
  It might just be that conservatives drive more (and that’s how most radio listeners tune in).
  - disgruntledphd2 3y ago
    If conservatives tend to live in less urban areas, this could definitely be true.
anon291 3y ago
Because many conservatives have blue collar jobs that have them in their car / at a work site by themselves where they can listen. Whereas progressives seem more likely to listen at a desk, hence the plethora of leftist podcasts.
- KerrAvon 3y ago
  Nope, it's the Reagan-era relaxation of ownership rules. Guess who owns the stations. And lots of liberals drive cars.
  - anon291 3y ago
    Why did Air America have so many issues?
  - quantumfissure 3y ago
    1996, Clinton-D, not Reagan-R. I often see people blame Reagan for things he didn't do. For example Airline Deregulation has been making the rounds recently, blaming Reagan, that happened in 1978, Carter-D, several years before Regan became president. Did he deregulate a lot? Sure, but not everything. I am of no appreciation for Reagan (I identify as an Eisenhower/Rockefeller Centrist-Republican), but I like to put blame where blame is due.
- wolverine876 3y ago
  Blue collar workers used to be overwhelmingly Democrats.
  - kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
    The rich Republicans figured out the con in the 70's. Lure more non-rich people into your flock and you can eventually take control of Congress with a bloc you'd never be able to build with your own ilk. Then keep them sated by never delivering on promised reforms while blaming the other side.
    - salad-tycoon 3y ago
      Those days of drawing distinctions and flaunting moral superiority are over. It’s all one uni party. Time to stop fighting each other. Much of the same criticisms can be leveled at leading democrats. What they once championed they no longer do and have radically shifted multiple core positions. The “uni parties” are covered in filth and it benefits them for us to be at each other throats like it was some sports ball game.
jimbokun 3y ago
Isn’t NPR the glaring exception?
angiosperm 3y ago
Right-wing radio is heavily subsidized by right-wing institutions funded by the billionaires we all know about. It is happy to repeat lies, without shame, at length until they are believed. No non-subsidized radio station can compete, so all AM talk radio is openly right-wing, and is all there is on the dial in most rural settings.
r14c 3y ago
IME a lot of millenials and younger that are "progressive" are too left for what can be considered "acceptable content" on corporate platforms. Tiktok has pretty good content in this area, but I think a lot of it boils down to the biases of liberal broadcast media owners not keeping up with the kind of content people want to hear. Anything further left than liberalism is considered a "national security issue" so you don't get any interesting viewpoints. Even breadtube is pretty milk toast. I'll just stick to my hip hop and punk jams tyvm.
thomastjeffery 3y ago
There is no one true liberal narrative. There are somewhere in the range of 1 to 3 true conservative narratives. Politics in the US is represented with two parties: the right, and the tent. No one person can represent everyone in the tent. Anyone can represent the right.
CamperBob2 3y ago
Conservatives are easier to herd. They may argue with what the Republican party is doing at any given moment, but ultimately they will fall in line. Centralized messaging is simply a better fit for the conservative worldview than it is for those on the liberal/left-leaning side of the spectrum. (Which in reality occupies a bigger tent than the GOP ever pitched.)
csnover 3y ago
There is a podcast miniseries called The Divided Dial[0] that answers the question of why conservative radio dominates in America, but very briefly, based on my understanding of their reporting: 1. The elimination of the Fairness Doctrine meant that radio stations no longer had a legal obligation to provide a fair reflection of differing viewpoints on matters of public importance; 2. The elimination of national ownership caps in the 1996 Telecommunications Act enabled a rapid and extreme consolidation of radio stations; 3. These new national radio conglomerates slashed costs by vertically integrating production, creating fewer shows, and rebroadcasting them to all their owned stations; 4. The concept of “format purity” spilled over from music radio into talk radio, causing commercial talk stations to switch from showcasing a variety of opinions to airing one political perspective all day; 5. The conservative talk radio format was perceived as less risky by radio executives, and so that was the format that commercial talk radio switched to. Air America may have eventually succeeded despite its many other flaws—except they owned no radio stations of their own, so there was no place for them to go in this hyper-consolidated, format-pure commercial market. [0] https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/divided-dial https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/divided-dial
mindslight 3y ago
I'm libertarian with blue tribe sympathies. Whenever I try listening to NPR, I literally fall asleep. It's just something about the combination of cadence, intonation, and premium mediocre presentation of ideas that just paralyzes me. I'm powerless to stop it. Meanwhile I can listen to reactionary [0] talk radio just fine, and sometimes do just for cringe entertainment value. The bellowing of indignant righteousness is stimulating regardless of whether one agrees with the ideas. I don't know that this explains the overall popularity per se, but take it as one data point. [0] it's a grave mistake to refer to the current Republican party as conservatives. If anything, actual conservatism these days means supporting the Democratic party - respect for American institutions, the rule of law, strong foreign policy, gradual change, etc. The Democrats are even checking the box of fiscal conservatism compared with the past two decades of ZIRP.
- EasyMark 3y ago
  I think all the yelling, fear mongering, hate for "the other" on the MAGA based shows just hits your brain different, they will push your buttons whether you enjoy it or it makes you angry at the ignorance, and that can be enjoyable in odd ways. NPR tries to be more reserved and academic, you won't find the cussin' and spittin' that you find on AM talk radio.
- sandspar 3y ago
  Democrats are the rule of law party now? When did that happen?
  - mindslight 3y ago
    Every party has its more anarchistic advocacy points and I can't say when the scales tipped in the abstract. But for my own judgement it was when the longstanding issue of police escaping the rule of law finally got attention, and then the Republican party staked out its position in support of the lawlessness.
johnp271 3y ago
I always figured that liberal radio, e.g. Air America, struggled and failed because that point of view had too much competition from other media, e.g. newspapers and television. Back before internet, conservatives only had radio to hear what they considered their point of view taken seriously and the other side derided whereas liberals had lots of other options to hear their points of view taken seriously while the other side was painted as rubes.

dhosek 3y ago

https://bigthink.com/guest-thinkers/why-do-conservatives-dominate-talk-radio/ https://bigthink.com/guest-thinkers/why-do-conservatives-dom...

pesus 3y ago

I imagine at least part of it is age and aversion to change/new technology.

nickff 3y ago
It might just be that conservatives drive more (and that’s how most radio listeners tune in).
- disgruntledphd2 3y ago
  If conservatives tend to live in less urban areas, this could definitely be true.

anon291 3y ago

Because many conservatives have blue collar jobs that have them in their car / at a work site by themselves where they can listen. Whereas progressives seem more likely to listen at a desk, hence the plethora of leftist podcasts.

KerrAvon 3y ago
Nope, it's the Reagan-era relaxation of ownership rules. Guess who owns the stations. And lots of liberals drive cars.
- anon291 3y ago
  Why did Air America have so many issues?
- quantumfissure 3y ago
  1996, Clinton-D, not Reagan-R. I often see people blame Reagan for things he didn't do. For example Airline Deregulation has been making the rounds recently, blaming Reagan, that happened in 1978, Carter-D, several years before Regan became president. Did he deregulate a lot? Sure, but not everything. I am of no appreciation for Reagan (I identify as an Eisenhower/Rockefeller Centrist-Republican), but I like to put blame where blame is due.
wolverine876 3y ago
Blue collar workers used to be overwhelmingly Democrats.
- kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
  The rich Republicans figured out the con in the 70's. Lure more non-rich people into your flock and you can eventually take control of Congress with a bloc you'd never be able to build with your own ilk. Then keep them sated by never delivering on promised reforms while blaming the other side.
  - salad-tycoon 3y ago
    Those days of drawing distinctions and flaunting moral superiority are over. It’s all one uni party. Time to stop fighting each other. Much of the same criticisms can be leveled at leading democrats. What they once championed they no longer do and have radically shifted multiple core positions. The “uni parties” are covered in filth and it benefits them for us to be at each other throats like it was some sports ball game.

jimbokun 3y ago

Isn’t NPR the glaring exception?

angiosperm 3y ago

Right-wing radio is heavily subsidized by right-wing institutions funded by the billionaires we all know about. It is happy to repeat lies, without shame, at length until they are believed. No non-subsidized radio station can compete, so all AM talk radio is openly right-wing, and is all there is on the dial in most rural settings.

r14c 3y ago

IME a lot of millenials and younger that are "progressive" are too left for what can be considered "acceptable content" on corporate platforms. Tiktok has pretty good content in this area, but I think a lot of it boils down to the biases of liberal broadcast media owners not keeping up with the kind of content people want to hear. Anything further left than liberalism is considered a "national security issue" so you don't get any interesting viewpoints. Even breadtube is pretty milk toast. I'll just stick to my hip hop and punk jams tyvm.

thomastjeffery 3y ago

There is no one true liberal narrative. There are somewhere in the range of 1 to 3 true conservative narratives. Politics in the US is represented with two parties: the right, and the tent. No one person can represent everyone in the tent. Anyone can represent the right.

CamperBob2 3y ago

Conservatives are easier to herd. They may argue with what the Republican party is doing at any given moment, but ultimately they will fall in line. Centralized messaging is simply a better fit for the conservative worldview than it is for those on the liberal/left-leaning side of the spectrum. (Which in reality occupies a bigger tent than the GOP ever pitched.)

csnover 3y ago

There is a podcast miniseries called The Divided Dial[0] that answers the question of why conservative radio dominates in America, but very briefly, based on my understanding of their reporting: 1. The elimination of the Fairness Doctrine meant that radio stations no longer had a legal obligation to provide a fair reflection of differing viewpoints on matters of public importance; 2. The elimination of national ownership caps in the 1996 Telecommunications Act enabled a rapid and extreme consolidation of radio stations; 3. These new national radio conglomerates slashed costs by vertically integrating production, creating fewer shows, and rebroadcasting them to all their owned stations; 4. The concept of “format purity” spilled over from music radio into talk radio, causing commercial talk stations to switch from showcasing a variety of opinions to airing one political perspective all day; 5. The conservative talk radio format was perceived as less risky by radio executives, and so that was the format that commercial talk radio switched to. Air America may have eventually succeeded despite its many other flaws—except they owned no radio stations of their own, so there was no place for them to go in this hyper-consolidated, format-pure commercial market. [0] https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/divided-dial https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/divided-dial

mindslight 3y ago

I'm libertarian with blue tribe sympathies. Whenever I try listening to NPR, I literally fall asleep. It's just something about the combination of cadence, intonation, and premium mediocre presentation of ideas that just paralyzes me. I'm powerless to stop it. Meanwhile I can listen to reactionary [0] talk radio just fine, and sometimes do just for cringe entertainment value. The bellowing of indignant righteousness is stimulating regardless of whether one agrees with the ideas. I don't know that this explains the overall popularity per se, but take it as one data point. [0] it's a grave mistake to refer to the current Republican party as conservatives. If anything, actual conservatism these days means supporting the Democratic party - respect for American institutions, the rule of law, strong foreign policy, gradual change, etc. The Democrats are even checking the box of fiscal conservatism compared with the past two decades of ZIRP.

EasyMark 3y ago
I think all the yelling, fear mongering, hate for "the other" on the MAGA based shows just hits your brain different, they will push your buttons whether you enjoy it or it makes you angry at the ignorance, and that can be enjoyable in odd ways. NPR tries to be more reserved and academic, you won't find the cussin' and spittin' that you find on AM talk radio.
sandspar 3y ago
Democrats are the rule of law party now? When did that happen?
- mindslight 3y ago
  Every party has its more anarchistic advocacy points and I can't say when the scales tipped in the abstract. But for my own judgement it was when the longstanding issue of police escaping the rule of law finally got attention, and then the Republican party staked out its position in support of the lawlessness.

johnp271 3y ago

I always figured that liberal radio, e.g. Air America, struggled and failed because that point of view had too much competition from other media, e.g. newspapers and television. Back before internet, conservatives only had radio to hear what they considered their point of view taken seriously and the other side derided whereas liberals had lots of other options to hear their points of view taken seriously while the other side was painted as rubes.