Repubblicani per Hillary. L'"Operazione caos" di Rush

Il Palm Beach Post, quotidiano della città dove trasmette WJNO-AM capomaglia della commentatrice radiofonica liberale Randi Rhodes, affronta con l'aiuto di fonti come la rivista Talkers l'agguerrito campo della talk radio americana, il format numericamente più consistente (per numero di stazioni che lo adottano) dopo la country music. La talk radio discute di argomenti diversi, inclusi lo sport e il paranorale. Ma la maggior parte dei programmi è di natura politica, per lo più conservatrice, anzi dichiaratamente di destra. Ho già parlato dell'impatto del fenomeno sulle primarie presidenziali e delle polemiche sui candidati repubblicani (McCain, giudicato troppo moderato, è stato apertamente osteggiato da diversi commentatori). Ora che McCain è un candidato unico - e non mi sembra così bello per la democrazia americana - c'è una nuova strategia guidata dall' "uber-talker" in persona, Rush Limbaugh, che guarda caso abita a Palm Beach. Dai microfoni del suo programma (14 milioni di ascoltatori settimanali) il conservatorissimo Rush ha lanciato la campagna Operation Chaos. Siete elettori repubblicani? Beh, per voi non ha più senso andare a votare alle primarie per McCain. Allora, perché non ri-registrarsi agli uffici elettorali, questa volta come democratici e votare per Hillary Clinton, gettando ulteriore scompiglio nella compagine democratica? Questa totale mancanza di fairplay sta facendo discutere, ma tant'è: questa è l'America, bellezza.

Talk radio is big business for big mouths

By CHARLES PASSY Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Friday, May 09, 2008

When liberal talk radio host Randi Rhodes returned to the airwaves last month after her well-publicized departure from the Air America Network, she knew her loyal listeners would be relieved. But even she didn't anticipate the fevered response, evidenced by sacks of mail and hundreds of calls.
Not to mention a suitcase worth of Mary Kay cosmetics hand-delivered by a fan to the West Palm Beach studios of WJNO-AM 1290, where Rhodes' afternoon drive-time program now originates under a new syndication deal.
"There was, like, a room full of stuff!" said Rhodes, whose weekly audience of 1.5 million-plus listeners positions her among the top echelon of talk hosts on radio.
Such is the state of talk radio today. A format that barely existed until the late 1980s is now, literally, the talk of the nation, second only to country music in the number of stations that carry it.
Its total audience: a passionate (and, important to advertisers, relatively affluent) 48 million listeners, according to the Arbitron ratings service. Some industry sources put the figure at 100 million-plus when factoring in satellite and public radio.
For example, Rhodes, who calls Lake Worth home and worked for WJNO locally for 10 years before she signed with Air America in 2004, just brought her newly syndicated show to satellite broadcaster XM Radio this week.
But with talk radio, it's not just about numbers. It's also about influence, especially in an election year, and playing to that politically rabid pool of listeners, who have a love-hate relationship with the reigning hosts. For all those who refer to Rhodes as "the Goddess" - her moniker among fans - there are just as many who view her as an "extremist nut job," as one listener complained. The bottom line? "Talk radio is where the voters are," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, an industry trade journal.
Consider that other nationally syndicated talk host who lives in our back yard: conservative pundit and Palm Beach resident Rush Limbaugh (heard midday locally on WJNO). He not only commands a weekly audience of 14 million-plus, largest in the industry, but he also is widely credited with helping to bring the conservative cause to the fore in the post-Ronald Reagan era.
Limbaugh's latest effort: "Operation Chaos," a plan to encourage Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton in states and territories where they are eligible to participate in Democratic primaries. The goal is to keep the Democrats divided for as long as possible, thereby boosting Republicans' chances in the fall. If Limbaugh represents the old guard of talk radio, there's a sizable new guard, and many of them are branching out beyond radio.
Take Glenn Beck, a conservative who's heard weekday mornings on WJNO. He hosts a show on CNN's Headline News. He has written two books, including the recent best-seller An Inconvenient Book. But even Beck will tell you that it all begins and ends with his three hours daily on the AM dial. "Radio is the fullest expression of who I am," he says.
That's no small statement, given that radio dates back more than a century but has struggled recently. (Last year, radio revenue was down 2.3 percent, industry analyst BIA Financial said.)
But talk radio has remained strong. In many ways, the format can credit its existence to the 1987 repeal of the FCC "fairness doctrine," which meant opinions could now run wild without a need for a response. In an instant, the big-mouth era was born.
Beck, who started as a music DJ, says the most successful talkers understand that the format is driven by the need to entertain, not necessarily to inform. "It's got to be bigger than politics," he says.
Rhodes agrees that talk radio is more about provocation than promoting a cause. "People listen to me even if they disagree with me. ... It has to do with the question of can you evoke emotion?" says the controversial host, who came under fire from New York-based Air America for referring to Hillary Clinton as a "(expletive) whore." (Rhodes resigned after being suspended, but she insists her problems with the network were related more to contract discussions.)
That emotional connection creates a sense of family among listeners, says Eric Rhoads, publisher of Radio Ink, a national trade journal based in West Palm Beach.
"It's that one person behind that microphone talking to you," he says.
Soon there will be more people talking, Rhodes predicts. There's room on the airwaves - talk has become a stronger presence on FM in recent years - for the format to grow.
Says the brash host: "It's just really starting."

Rush a Randi a confronto

Rush Limbaugh

Hometown: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Where he lives now: Palm Beach
Weekly audience (as of fall 2007): 14 million-plus
Moment of fame: Helped propel the Newt Gingrich-led 1994 'Republican Revolution,' resulting in his being named an honorary member of the U.S. Congress.
Moment of shame: Was arrested in 2006 in Palm Beach County on charges of doctor shopping stemming from his addiction to prescription drugs.
Quote: 'Feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream.'

Randi Rhodes

Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Where she lives now: Lake Worth
Weekly audience (as of fall 2007): 1.5 million-plus
Moment of fame: Hired to help launch the Air America liberal talk network in 2004; gained national headlines on her first day for slamming Ralph Nader in an on-air interview.
Moment of shame: Suspended from Air America this year after she referred to Sen. Hillary Clinton as a 'whore.' Rhodes quit the network and found another radio syndicate.
Quote: 'If our president was never the recipient of cronyism and nepotism, he'd be an assistant manager at the Kennebunkport Denny's right now.'

La scheda sul fenomeno Talk Radio

Who listens?

Talk radio has 48 million weekly listeners, which represents 10.7 percent of the national radio audience. They are:

Mature (35 percent are 65-plus)
Comfortable (41 percent have household incomes of $75,000-plus)
Politically active (73 percent voted in 2006)
(Sources: BrainyQuote.com, Talkers magazine)

The biggest talkers Format:

Rush Limbaugh (Conservative) 14 million-plus weekly listeners
Sean Hannity (Conservative) 13 million-plus
Michael Savage (Conservative), Laura Schlessinger Advice (conservative) 8.25 million-plus
Glenn Beck (Conservative) 6.5 million-plus
Laura Ingraham (Conservative), Mark Levin (Conservative) 5.25 million-plus
Neal Boortz (Libertarian), Dave Ramsey (Financial) 4.25 million-plus
Mike Gallagher (Conservative), Michael Medved (Conservative) 4 million-plus
Jim Bohannon (Moderate conservative), Clark Howard (Consumer advocacy), Bill O'Reilly (Conservative), Doug Stephen (News/entertainment) 3.25 million-plus
Bill Bennett (Conservative), Jerry Doyle (Conservative), George Noory (Paranormal), Ed Schultz (Liberal) 3 million-plus
Rusty Humphries (Conservative), Kim Komando (Computers), Lars Larson (Conservative), Jim Rome (Sports) 2.25 million-plus

How does Randi Rhodes (liberal) fare?

She has 1.5 million-plus listeners.
(Source: Talkers magazine)

Local leader: WJNO-AM 1290

* Weekly audience: 75,000 to 100,000 listeners.
Airs some of the most prominent talkers in the country, including Glenn Beck (9 a.m. to noon weekdays), Rush Limbaugh (noon to 3 p.m.weekdays), Randi Rhodes (3 to 6 p.m. weekdays), Sean Hannity (6 to 9 p.m. weekdays) and Mark Levin (9 to 11 p.m. weekdays).
Ratings showed an increase in the latest ratings period, from a 2.6 percent share to a 3.0 percent share of the total local audience. Station officials attribute the growth to interest in the 2008 election.
* First went on air in 1936, making it Palm Beach County's oldest station.

Why has talk radio taken off over the past two decades?

Here's what Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, the industry bible, cites as the key factors:
•Personalities: Provocative voices keep the format alive. 'It's got great personalities, which music radio doesn't have,' Harrison says.
•New broadcasting rules: When the FCC 'fairness doctrine' was repealed in 1987, it allowed radio stations to air political opinion without much in the way of restriction. Enter Rush Limbaugh.
•Politics as the new rock 'n' roll: We follow politics the way we used to follow music, Harrison says. It used to be all about the DJ (think Cousin Brucie). Now it's all about the political talker (think Rush).

Il pioniere della talk radio che scherzava con Pavarotti

Si è spenta oggi in Florida la voce di Wally Phillips, considerato il papà del moderno formato talk radio. Per vent'anni, dal 1965 al 1986, dai microfoni dell'emittente WGN, fu la prima voce che milioni di abitanti di Chicago ascoltavano appena alzati. Una tragica ironia ha voluto che Wally, 82enne (la foto lo ritrae nel 2004, durante la cerimonia per la strada di Chicago che gli fu dedicata in forma onoraria), abbia dovuto combattere nell'ultimo periodo della sua vita contro il morbo di Alzheimer. Oggi per fortuna la sua straordinaria eredità sopravvive negli archivi di WGN, dove Phillips arrivò dopo aver lasciato un'altra storica emittente, la WLW di Cincinnati. In un fantastico sito "autobiografico", WGN ripercorre la carriera del leggendario conduttore, che tra i tanti meriti vanta persino quello di pioniere degli scherzi radiofonici (forse qualcuno dei miei sparuti lettori ricorda la candid camera radiofonica del mitico Giocone, trasmissione firmata da Maurizio Costanzo e chissà, magari ispirata proprio alle telefonate di Phillips). Tra i documenti proposti c'è l'audio di un bonario scherzo fatto a Luciano Pavarotti. Phillips telefonò a uno stranito Lucianone - bisogna ammettere che l'inglese del popolare tenore era piuttosto efficace - dicendogli che il figlio, giovane studente di conservatorio, voleva imparare, per distinguersi, a cantare "come Pavarotti", leggermente "off key" (fuori tono). «Perché è quello che lei fa, no, Maestro? Cantare stonato? Volevo chiederle se è molto difficile imparare.»

Legendary WGN Host Wally Phillips Dies

Longtime Morning Man Loses Battle With Alzheimer's

(WGN-AM) - Wally Phillips, considered by many in the radio industry for helping to pioneer the modern day talk radio format, has died. He was 82.
The WGN mainstay hosted the morning show from 1965 through 1986. During that time, he ruled the roost in morning drive, at times attracting half of the market's listening audience.
"Wally's voice was the first millions of Chicagoans heard every morning from 1965 to 1986," said Tom Langmyer, Vice President/General Manager of WGN Radio in a statement. He was one of a kind, and he was a "Broadcaster" in the truest sense."
Phillips arrived at WGN Radio in 1956. He retired from a weekend show in 1998. His lasting legacy at the station is the "Neediest Kids' Fund," a children's charity. Phillips had been battling Alzheimer's disease for the past five years.

Canada, alla radio il partito detta la linea

La stampa canadese denuncia le tecniche propagandistiche utilizzate dal Partito conservatore del premier Stephen Harper per creare consenso tra i propri elettori e possibilmente conquistarne di nuovi. Cosa che, presumo, fanno tutti i partiti politici. La tecnica coinvolge Internet e le stazioni radio in un modo che i giornali sembrano trovare scorretto. Andando sul sito Web del partito è possibile trovare un link al servizio MyCampaign, "il tuo ufficio elettorale virtuale". Una delle sezioni Call Talk Radio, contiene una sorta di kit per i partecipanti ai "phone in" delle stazioni che commentano la politica. L'iscritto virtuale al partito inserisce il suo codice postale e vede apparire l'elenco delle talk radio della sua con una serie di tematiche. Per ogni tematica vengono elencati dichiarazioni, cifre e argomentazioni da utilizzare quando si telefona alla stazione. Lo scopo, dice MyCampaign (ho provato a cliccare sul servizio ma in questo momento la home page di MyCampaign porta solo a pagine 404, forse hanno momentaneamente staccato in seguito alle polemiche sui giornali), è di formare una piccola squadra di "militanti informati", capaci di intervenire al telefono e replicare agli avversari politici. In effetti lo strillo in Web page chiede: Siete stanchi del coinvolgimento dei liberali nei media e dello specifico interesse del partito democratico (NDP) nel far passare attraverso la radio e altri mezzi i loro messaggi? Schieratevi in prima persona, telefonate alle stazioni e replicate con i fatti! La partecipazione ai talk show sarebbe insomma non spontanea e pilotata. Sembra che il conduttore di uno di una tribuna politica in una tv locale, insospettato da un ascoltatore che telefonando si era visibilmente impappinato gli abbia chiesto: "scusi, ma lei sta leggendo degli appunti?" Alcuni esponenti del partito democratico hanno protestato nei confronti di quella che viene definita una manipolazione che può minare il senso stesso della democrazia.

Devo dire che a parte un certo disagio nei confronti di una affermazione come "lo specifico interesse nel far passare attraverso i media i loro messaggi" (che significa "specifico interesse"? Certo che un partito ha tutto l'interesse nel far passare i suoi messaggi attraverso la stampa e la radiotelevisione!), non penso che il "kit del partecipante ai phone in" possa essere equiparato a una forma di manipolazione. Molti anni fa, quando non c'era Internet, nelle sezioni di qualsiasi partito gli iscritti venivano istruiti proprio per poter sostenere i dibattiti con gli avversari, non c'è niente di male nell'essere pronti a ribattere sulle proprie idee politiche. Certo, il rischio è che il dibattito si riduca a un semplice scambio di slogan preconfezionati e questo non è mai un bene quando si discute di politica, l'arte di arrivare a compromessi e, quando si deve, modificare le proprie idee. Mi sembra di capire però che la situazione in Canada non è la stessa che negli USA, dove le talk radio sono quasi tutte schierate radicalmente a destra (tanto da contestare perfino i candidati repubblicani). Se il partito di Harper sente il bisogno di esortare i suoi sostenitori a farsi sentire alla radio, forse è perché sente di essere sottorappresentato.

Callers to radio phone-in shows scripted by Conservative headquarters

OTTAWA — Next time you're listening to your favourite radio phone-in show, those pro-Conservative opinions you hear from callers might not be as spontaneous as they sound.
Some of those apparently ad-libbed musings are actually being choreographed at the Conservative Party of Canada's national headquarters. The governing party has produced talking points for grassroots supporters on a variety of issues, feeding them lines on everything from climate change to child care.
For Conservative supporters, the process is as simple as 1-2-3. Surf the party website. Type in your postal code. Click on a topic you'd like to discuss on the radio.
And the website spits out the times, phone numbers, and names of local talk shows to call - along with a handy list of good things to say about the Conservatives and bad things to say about their opponents. The website includes similar advice for letter-writers to newspapers. The system has been in place for months but an Ottawa-area talk show host first raised it with listeners Tuesday after learning about it.
"We want people to phone in and express their own opinions. We don't want people phoning in and reading from a script," said Mark Sutcliffe, who hosts CFRA's The Chatroom.
"(But) I don't think we get a ton of calls like that." The Conservatives describe the practice as state-of-the-art politicking. A party spokesman said the practice offers enhanced transparency, and is used elsewhere in the world.
"This is part of campaigning in the Internet age. Party activists are increasingly becoming virtual volunteers," Conservative spokesman Ryan Sparrow said. "And just as rank-and-file investors want the same data as market professionals, grassroots activists want the same info and (talking points) as party strategists and spinners."
The Conservative talking points on taxation, for instance, list details on the GST cut, the child tax credit, and tax cuts to seniors.
The same talking points contrast Conservative achievements with the Liberal sponsorship scandal, gun-registry boondoggle, and failure to cut the GST. They also suggest the Bloc Quebecois could never achieve real tax relief because it's perpetually in opposition and describe the NDP as tax-hikers.
All parties produce speaking notes for elected MPs, staff members, and lobbyists or activists who serve on their behalf as unsalaried, unofficial spokespeople.
Liberal and NDP websites also include phone numbers for radio shows or tips for getting on the air.
But the Tories appear to take it one step further: their site offers speaking points for members of the general public to pass off as their own musings to fellow radio listeners.
The headline on the Tory web page with the call-in instructions says: "Tired of hearing the vested interests of the Liberals and the special interests of the NDP get their messages out via the media? Call in to a show yourself and fight back with the facts!"
A Liberal party spokesman says it's a new extreme for a government that has already placed an unprecedented gag order on its elected members, political staff, and civil servants. In one famous incident during the last election campaign a Conservative MP was stuffed into a restaurant kitchen by a Stephen Harper staffer when approached by the media.
That strict discipline has survived their two years in government: requests to speak publicly are routinely vetted by the Prime Minister's Office, scores of MPs will recite identical sound bites on any given topic, and the government often allows only one person to make public utterances on a given issue.
"This undermines our democracy," said Liberal party spokesman Daniel Lauzon. "It's not up for someone in Ottawa to tell someone in Blind River what they should think. . . All we tell our supporters is, 'Speak your mind. Get out there and talk.'
"Never do we dictate messaging."
The Conservatives do pay more attention to talk radio than some of their rivals, seeing it as a more useful barometer of public opinion than other media. Upon taking office, a Harper strategist famously told prime ministerial staff he didn't need to see daily clippings from the major national newspaper - he wanted talk-show transcripts.
But the attention to detail in messaging has occasionally raised eyebrows. On a recent CPAC television call-in panel, host Dale Goldhawk interrupted at one point when a caller appeared to be stumbling over a list of written notes. "Are you reading from something?" the frustrated host interjected.
The radio-host who reported the practice to his listeners Tuesday noted that even if callers phone in with a script, they still need to be able to engage in live conversation. As Sutcliffe says, they're not speaking to an answering machine but a radio host whose job it is to ask probing questions.
Still, the system for distributing government talking points through the general public does strike him as somewhat strange - and certainly more elaborate than what other parties do. "What I think is unusual about this Conservative website is just how systematic it is," he said. "The process for the Conservative one is a little more automated: punch out your topic and your postal code, and we'll spit out a script for you to follow."

McCain 1, talkradio (di destra) 0

Il candidato McCain trionfa nelle primarie repubblicane del South Carolina sconfiggendo... I suoi rivali, direte voi. Macché. Commentatori liberali e conservatori sono concordi nell'affermare che John McCain è riuscito innanzitutto a sconfiggere Rush Limbaugh e lo stuolo di mastini radiofonici della talkradio ultras (a destra), una delle protagoniste indiscusse di questa lunga campagna elettorale. Il Washington Post sostiene che il merito sarebbe di una campagna accuratamente pianificata (otto anni fa il candidato perse male contro Bush) e della capacità di rispondere a tono alle domande e alle illazioni. Ma se andiamo a leggere un conservatore come Michael Medved, la colpa sarebbe degli stessi "host" radiofonici, troppo preoccupati di cantare le lodi dei due candidati più deboli e spargere veleno su McCain, accusato di non essere un "vero" conservatore. Quella di Medved è una storia strana, perché il percorso di questa voce conservatrice inizia da una strenua militanza democratica, seguita dalla "maturità" e dalla "conversione".
Anche Medved, famoso tra l'altro come critico cinematografico niente affatto generoso con l'establishment di Hollywood, ha un suo talk show alla radio e invita i colleghi a moderare i toni e a smetterla di seminare zizzania nel campo dei candidati repubblicani. In gioco c'è la credibilità di tutti e forse la stessa sopravvivenza delle talkradio.

A ciascuno la sua (blog) talk radio

L'ultima frontiera del podcasting si chiama Blog-talking. Un curioso e intrigante ibrido tra blogging, podcasting e... Talk radio. Un bell'articolo della Reuters descrive tre servizi per i quali basta disporre di un computer per la connessione e una linea telefonica presso cui essere chiamati. In pochi minuti si possono impostare autentici phone-in shows, cioè le dirette audio (via Internet) con gli ascoltatori che possono intervenire in tempo reale, anche attraverso il telefono. Proprio come alla radio, ma con diverse funzionalità aggiuntive, compresa la possibilità di raggiungere ospiti da intervistare e ascoltatori ovunque sia disponibile una connessione alla rete.
Gli aspiranti conduttori possono emulare personaggi come Howard Stern o Rush Limbaugh, a seconda dei gusti, con nuovi servizi come BlogTalk Radio, creato da Alan Levy quasi per caso, dopo che il padre si era ammalato e aveva insistito affinché il figlio escogitasse un modo per essere sempre in contatto con gli amici. Alan propose a suo padre di costruire un blog, che poi divenne un memoriale. Dopo questa esperienza Levy decise di escogitare uno strumento che non fosse solo in grado di "trasmettere" il parlato ma di ridiffondere anche gli interventi audio degli ascoltatori.
Lo stesso concetto è alla base degli Skypecasts, che tra l'altro integrano sulla stessa piattaforma anche le "telefonate" in ingresso (effettuate ovviamente via Skype).
E infine Talkshoe, che comporta il prelievo e l'installazione di un software speciale. Qui il concetto è più simile a un social network fatto per audiobloggers e piccole comunità ma i canali attraverso cui intervenire si moltiplicano: telefono, Skype, Voip o il software correlato ShoePhone, un client Voip orientato al conference calling.
In tutti e tre i casi gli eventi live si possono "registrare" e si trasformano in un attimo in un podcast. Secondo me, questi nuovi mezzi di espressione potrebbero diventare ancora più interessanti se immersi nel contesto delle Web radio o delle emittenti radio convenzionali. Può essere un ottimo argomento di discussione al prossimo RadioCamp.