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2012
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American Enterprise Institute fellow Tim Mak, who writes for conservative columnist David Frum’s NewMarjority.com, explains the increasing rage in rightwing radio this way: Follow the money. In a post earlier this month [28], Mak argued the shrinking ad market for talk radio is driving conservative yappers like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh into ever-deepening vitriol. He notes talk radio has lost 30-40 percent of its ad revenue over the past two years and quotes conservative host Michael Medved explaining:
“In this [economic] environment, you have something of a push to be outrageous, to be on the fringe, because what you’re desperately competing for is… P-1 listeners [those who tune in most frequently]. The percentage of people on the fringe who are P-1s is quite high,” he explained. As a result, talk radio hosts are feeling more pressure than usual to yell harder, scream louder, and insult further. Talk shows “are fighting for an ever- smaller pie, [which means that] you’ve got to be even louder about it because you’re trying to get the attention of an ever-smaller niche,” said Medved.
It adds to the point I made in this Root column [29] about the long American tradition of white elites pimping poor whites’ anxiety. As the rest of the media world—and apparently talk radio—craters, Limbaugh boasted "through the roof" revenue [30] in the first quarter of 2009. He’s cornered the white-rage market.
Kudos to Mak and Frum for welcoming a more honest debate. With even purportedly respectable politicos like Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) parroting the “death panel” [31] fear tactic, it’s hard to find voices on the right who welcome a meaningful, informed public discussion these days. A few do exist (and props to Frank Rich for pointing to Frum's call for calm [32] in today’s New York Times column). They just don’t get amplified by corporate media, because rage sells easier than reason.
--KAI WRIGHT [33]
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