Funeral For A Friend - Rochester’s Progressive Talk Radio
As we head into the heat of election season, more and more people are mourning the loss of WROC 950’s progressive talk format. Many progressive commenters here dismissed the importance of this loss, implying that it didn’t matter because they didn’t like Stephanie Miller, or found Ed Shultz to be too…whatever.
I’m sure many of you are applauding Rachel Maddow getting her own show (at last!), so her crisp, incisive wit and knowledge can be added to the election season. Remember that she got her big break as a national news personality on…Air America radio. Without nationwide syndication (which includes radio stations just like WROC), Maddow doesn’t get a gig on MSNBC, or get there as quickly.
So from a progressive movement perspective, doesn’t it make sense to support progressive institutions, even if they don’t completely satisfy you in every way? You need a critical mass to form, to allow the cream to rise to the top. Otherwise it just boils away.
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I agree it makes sense to support them. The trick now is to convince another station to give this a shot. I still think the formula needs some tinkering with and maybe that’s a place where local progs can help out.
I would agree in general that it makes sense to support progressive institutions - all things being equal. The problem in this case was that things just weren’t equal.
What things weren’t equal?
Rachal Maddow is so partisan she reminds me of Shwan Hannity and Keith Olbermann. I don’t think they will ever win any converts because only the faithful will listen to their crap for so long. I can’t stand Hannity. His ego, like Olbermann’s, gets in the way of any constructive dialogue.
I don’t listen to any of the above very much, but is Rachel really as egotistical as Sean Hannity or Keith Olbermann? (Serious question, not argumentative.) I thought she was a little less of a blowhard than average.
Here’s my definition of a blowhard: Repeats the same stuff endlessly. Interrupts guests constantly. Talks about him/herself a good percentage of the time. Bill O’Reilly is a classic example.
Maybe she is not as bad. I have only watched parts of her two programs. O’Reilly seemed to have a fairly civil talk with Obama and even had a couple of good things to say about him.
I guess what I was getting at is that if there is a gas station that puts a GOP lawn sign out front and one that puts a Dem sign and the price is basically the same, I will give my business to the Dem sign station.
My problem with 950 was that it was an inferior product. The signal was weak, there was a complete lack of interaction with the community, and the poor (in my opinion) non-AAR programming choices did not measure up to the other options. (satellite radio and the internets)
I think progressives are more technologically adept and those other options fed into the ratings problems.
I watched the O’Reilly interviews, too. I understand that reporters need to interrupt politicians because they tend to filibuster. But he interrupted him too much for my taste. Obama did well and I think earned some respect from O’Reilly.
I’d be interested to see if that respect means anything. For example, today’s “Lipstick on a Pig” fake controversy is such a total joke, maybe even O’Reilly will say that it’s dumb.
Obama looses on the pig thing. He either directed it toward Palin (I don’t think he did) or he did something really, really dumb (I lean toward this explanation).
Why is using a common idiom dumb? I am disgusted at the idea that Palin now owns the word “lipstick” and any use of it is a reflection on the the Palin “brand.” In case you haven’t heard, McCain often uses the same idiom:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMHlIfOTS1c
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMPYkNQlJMM
[...] off our earlier discussion about the demise of WROC, here’s an image that hopefully does a better job of explaining what [...]
O’Reilly had a column is this morning’s D&C about his interview with Obama.
Didn’t buy a D&C today - what was O’Reilly’s tone?
He doesn’t agree with Obama’s policies, nevertheless he believes Obama is sincere in wanting the best for America.
If “lipstick on a pig”, one of the most innocuous expressions in American idiom, is off-limits, then we’ve really lost it.
Rotten - it was the timing of the remark not the remark itself
Publius - thank you - it is nice to know that one side of the argument can actually think that the other side is sincere in their wanting the best for our country.
Elmer, you know that I don’t play in the politically correct game. I generally agree with the conservative/libertarian critique of politically correct speech — it is used as a cudgel to beat down legitimate dissent, it is a distraction, and we’d be better off leaving it behind.
But , if someone calling himself a conservative truly believes that criticizing speech on the grounds of political correctness is wrong, he can’t just start using that technique because it suits his political ends. Especially for something as minor as “lipstick on a pig” which was followed up with “wrapping rotten fish in yesterday’s newspaper”, making it clear what his opponent meant.
Also, is Sarah Palin made of butterfly wings and fairy dust? In other words, is she so fragile that a few little words will damage her? If so, what’s she doing running for Vice President?
Don’t be too quick on Obama losing on the lipstick comment.
People might start to see that McCain is arguing about silly stuff..
Also, there’s been some playback of him using the very same phrase in reference to Hillary Clinton just a few short months ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMPYkNQlJMM
Rotten and Publius - I agree with both of you - I don’t care for PC talk and I do know that this can all backfire on McCain if he doesn’t drop it soon. I was just commenting on the politics of it and I still think it wasn’t a smart thing for Obama to say at the time.
With a President that has such low approval ratings, anything that takes Obama off message is not good for him.
Apparently they are getting a little nervous because Biden said that he thought that Hillary would have been a better pick than him.
[...] 950AM is gone, we look at the impact. [...]