Yesterday I was driving in my truck listening to my favorite radio program, The Neal Boortz Show, and I was struck with a question: Why don't I ever hear any liberals on the radio?
I got online to see what radio networks broadcast liberal talk show hosts, but to my amazement they are almost nonexistent. In fact the most popular liberal talk show host, Ed Schultz, is only the eighth most "important" host according to industry magazine Talker, and is not even in the top 10 list of largest audiences on a list provided by the same publication. And he is not even a full blown liberal. He has supported multiple Republican candidates for office and fellow radio host Al Franken claims he is "not liberal enough."
So now that my in depth investigation has found a lack of representation of liberal ideas in the radio market, let's look into why this happens. Conservatives dominate the airwaves. Rush Limbaugh just signed a new contract and it is reported that he will make $400 million over the next eight years. That is just for his radio program and doesn't include all the income from the product endorsements that he does. For a little perspective, news anchor Katie Couric makes $15 million a year.
I believe that the success that conservatives experience is because people who listen to the radio for news and commentary are more educated people who have a well developed BS detector. Radio listeners can sense when talk jocks are bending the truth or avoiding a certain perspective that makes more sense. This means when a host presents his opinion he must back it up with either facts and logic, or just be so outrageously humorous that the listener doesn't care if he is wrong.
This is the downfall of liberal beliefs, actual logic. You see, for the most part, at the fundamental level liberal thoughts are actually not thoughts at all, they are inclinations based on feelings: Feel sorry for the poor; be scared of guns; want equally distributed income so we can all be happy.
Conservative ideas on the other hand are mostly founded on thoughts and reason: Statistics say an armed citizenry reduces crime; the progressive tax system inhibits innovation; effective bureaucracy is supplemented by a strong and intimidating national defense.
These thoughts can be defended by talk show hosts when dissenters call in and the host doesn't have to sound like an idiot defending them. While when a liberal host gets a dissenting caller, he must try and convince others to feel sorry or scared about the same things he does. I can tell you from personal experience that it is much easier to defend rational thoughts instead of feelings.
So unless the Fairness Doctrine is reincarnated, expect to continue to hear conservative and libertarian thoughts broadcast on talk radio for years to come, while liberal radio networks like Air America will only make headlines when they file for bankruptcy.
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