Limbaugh is Killing Conservative Talk Radio

Conservative talk radio is dying, Paul Kengor argues, and it’s the hosts’ fault. A professor of political science at Grove City College and author of several conservative bestsellers, Kengor argues that

Conservative talk-radio is in peril because of conservative greed — and not because of the greed of the millions of conservative faithful who’ve lent their hearts and minds and ears.

It’s no secret what’s happening. There’s simply too much advertising on conservative talk-radio. Year after year, it gets worse. Anytime I tune in, I land on a litany of commercials. Commercials, commercials, commercials. Yes, you need advertising to pay the bills, but this is way over-the-top. It’s unlistenable.

The problem, Kengor argues, is the enormous fees Limbaugh, Hannity, etc., charge. They can charge what they want in a free market, but the result is that they’re killing the thing that pays them. A popular talk radio station in Pittsburgh with a wide range just gave up on talk radio and switched to country music, putting the talk radio people on another station with a much weaker signal.

One has to wonder how seriously these culture warriors care about the effectiveness of their work, though they present themselves as the defenders of the dangerously embattled Good and True — not as businessmen meeting a demand but as crusaders meeting a desperate need. Real crusaders take care for their cause. They don’t risk killing it to increase their own already considerable fortunes. But maybe presenting themselves as crusaders is only their way of meeting the conservative listeners’ demand for crusaders.

As the psalmist said: Put not your trust in [media] princes.

My thanks to Mark Barrett for the link.