Friday, March 6, 2009

Behind the Blogger: My Talk Radio Addiction


From time to time, I like to say a little about myself, to bring a little personal touch to the blog, which is named after me, after all. This one has to do with a possible character flaw: I listen to talk radio all day, every day, 5 days a week.

Most of us know somebody who listens to a steady stream of radio blather. They're often banished to their garages by wives who do not want to hear nine steady hours of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin. If the listener is too hardcore for that trio, he may tune to Michael (Weiner) Savage, or if the person is a woman, maybe it's Dr. Laura. There are many other imitators, also-rans and never-weres, but the result is the same: you're a radio-listening weirdo.

My vice started with a steady stream of Air America Radio, which has had a fairly rocky history, even for radio. So my listening became more fractured. But to keep from having to seek out a different link on my computer ever time a show ends, I found a radio station (KTLK-AM, Los Angeles) that carries pretty much what I'd seek out on my own. Currently, that line-up is the last hour or so of The Stephanie Miller Show, followed by The Thom Hartmann Program, The Nancy Skinner Show (this one is filler for me, until Randi Rhodes comes back) and The Ron Reagan Show.

How can somebody listen to that much blather? Well, actually, I'm not always listening. Like any radio, it's sort of background noise, until I hear something that makes me pay attention. And I'm up and down from my desk much of the time. Truth be told, if I'm at work for an 8-9 hour day, I probably hear about 4 hours worth. But that isn't 4 hours worth of talk, if you pay attention to how radio is actually programmed. I'd be surprised if there is actually a half-hour of actual program to any of these shows in a given hour. Radio works like this:

0:00 - 0:06 - News/traffic/weather and commercials

0:06 - 0:08 - Intro music, montages of the host's voice clips, etc.

0:08 - 0:15 - First segment, bumper music

0:15 - 0:23 - Commercials

0:23 - 0:28 - Bumper music, second segment, bumper music

0:28 - 0:35 - Commercials

0:35 - 0:45 - Third segment, sometimes with bumper music, and more montages

0:45 - 0:53 - Commercials

0:53 - 0:58 - Last segment, sometimes with closing music, and host's traditional "sign off"

0:58 - 1:00 - Commercials

When you subtract out all of the bumper music, montages and other filler, I think my half-hour estimate might be a little high. And if the host is an egomaniac, like Levin, even more time is eaten up by that stuff. So, next time you roll your eyes at the talk-radio fan, remember that his all-day habit isn't quite as bad as it looks on the surface. Unless he gets all of his information, news, and political ideology from those shows. Then, he has both a bad habit, and he's an idiot.


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