Episode 4 - The Divided Dial

Summary

Summary of "On the Media" Podcast Episode 4 - The Divided Dial

Release Date: May 9, 2023
Hosts: Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger
Series: The Divided Dial (Five-Part Series)

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1. A Bustling AM Radio Landscape in the Early 1980s

In the early 1980s, the AM radio dial resembled a vibrant town square, hosting a multitude of voices spanning the political and cultural spectrum. Among these voices was Alan Berg, a prominent liberal commentator who defied the stereotype of the abrasive shock jock. As Katie Thornton narrates, Berg’s appearance was more reminiscent of "a high school geography teacher than a shock jock" (00:32).

Notable Quote:

“With his gray shaggy mop top, scruffy beard and reading glasses perched on the end of his nose, Berg looked more like a high school geography teacher than a shock jock.” – Katie Thornton [00:32]

2. Alan Berg: A Liberal Voice Under Fire

Alan Berg employed a caustic style to confront bigotry, often clashing with callers espousing racist and anti-Semitic views. His confrontational approach made him both admired and despised. Berg’s assertiveness was palpable during intense exchanges, such as when he labeled a caller a Nazi (00:50).

Notable Quote:

“Sir, you are a Nazi by your very own admission. Thank you so much. If he said that's right, you heard it.” – Alan Berg [01:14]

Despite his influence, Berg's outspoken nature made him a target. Tragically, on June 18, 1984, Alan Berg was assassinated by members of the white supremacist group, the Order, marking a significant turning point in the landscape of talk radio (01:21).

Notable Quote:

“Alan Berg was shot and killed by a white supremacist. His murder a milestone on the road to an ever more violent radical right.” – Katie Thornton [01:45]

3. Reagan Administration and Radio Deregulation

The murder of Alan Berg coincided with significant regulatory shifts under President Ronald Reagan. Upon taking office in 1981, Reagan's FCC began dismantling the public interest policies established during the civil rights era. Former FCC counsel Mark Lloyd explains that Reagan's administration eliminated essential guidelines that once ensured radio stations served their local communities and maintained educational programming (11:05).

Notable Quote:

“We had ascertainments, we had a set of guidelines about how to serve local communities. It was an entire regime that enforced local service. Then Reagan came in, all of it was gone.” – Mark Lloyd [11:13]

The erosion of these regulations, including the weakening of the Fairness Doctrine, paved the way for a more homogenized and politically partisan radio environment.

4. The Emergence of Conservative Talk Radio and Rush Limbaugh

Amidst deregulation, conservative talk radio began its ascent, with Rush Limbaugh emerging as a pivotal figure. Initially struggling in various radio roles, Limbaugh found his niche in Sacramento in 1984, where he transformed his show into a platform focused on politics and conservative ideology (12:19).

Notable Quote:

“Welcome to the Rush Limbaugh program, a program exclusively designed for rich conservatives and right-minded Republicans and those who want to be either or both.” – Rush Limbaugh [13:54]

Limbaugh's ability to engage listeners, whether they agreed or disagreed, coupled with innovative syndication methods like the barter system, allowed his show to expand nationally. His provocative style resonated with a growing conservative audience, solidifying his position as a dominant voice in talk radio.

5. The 1996 Telecommunications Act and Radio Consolidation

The 1996 Telecommunications Act was a watershed moment that eliminated national ownership caps on radio stations, leading to unprecedented consolidation in the industry. Brian Rosenwald highlights how this deregulation spurred the creation of media giants like Clear Channel (now iHeartMedia), which amassed over 1,200 stations by 1998 (26:30).

Notable Quote:

“Consolidation and these big corporate ownerships create risk-averse companies, risk-averse executives, executives who want to program something that they know will work. And conservative talk is it.” – Brian Rosenwald [28:26]

This consolidation enabled companies to prioritize nationally syndicated conservative shows, such as Limbaugh's, over local and progressive voices. The economic model favored established conservative hosts, ensuring their widespread presence across various markets.

6. The Decline of Liberal Talk Radio and Persistent Conservative Dominance

Attempts to introduce liberal talk radio, most notably through Air America, failed to achieve lasting success. Issues such as financial mismanagement, lack of experienced hosts, and the dominance of conservative formats made it difficult for liberal voices to gain a foothold (31:03). Consequently, conservative talk radio continued to dominate, with companies like Salem Media Group playing a significant role in maintaining this imbalance.

Notable Quote:

“A lot of people in the radio business take the Air America failure and say, see? Liberal radio won't work.” – Brian Rosenwald [31:49]

Even after Rush Limbaugh's death in 2021, conservative talk radio remains overwhelmingly dominant, with 12 of the top 15 talk radio hosts identifying as conservative (32:25).

7. Reflections on the Current State and Future of Talk Radio

The episode concludes by examining the lasting impact of deregulation and consolidation on the radio landscape. Phil Boyce of Salem Radio Networks asserts that conservative talk radio remains robust, continuing to influence public discourse despite the loss of key figures like Limbaugh.

Notable Quote:

“We built the strongest conservative radio platform on the planet. You guys are great from morning, noon to night. And this battle will continue.” – Phil Boyce [35:16]

The narrative that conservative talk radio's dominance is solely attributable to Limbaugh is challenged, emphasizing the structural and regulatory changes that have entrenched conservative voices in the media ecosystem.

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Conclusion

The Divided Dial meticulously traces the transformation of AM radio from a platform of diverse voices to a predominantly conservative arena. Through the lens of Alan Berg's tragic story and Rush Limbaugh's meteoric rise, the podcast highlights how regulatory shifts, technological advancements, and corporate consolidation have reshaped the media landscape. The episode underscores the enduring influence of deregulation and the strategic consolidation that have cemented conservative talk radio's dominance, leaving little room for liberal counterparts.

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Notable Speakers and Contributors:

• Alan Berg: Liberal radio host whose assassination marked a turning point in talk radio.
• Katie Thornton: Narrator and host of the episode.
• Nicole Hemmer: Historian and author, providing insights into radio's technological and cultural shifts.
• Mark Lloyd: Former FCC counsel, discussing regulatory changes under Reagan.
• Brian Rosenwald: Author and analyst on the evolution of talk radio.
• Anne Nelson: Author addressing the implications of the Fairness Doctrine repeal.
• Phil Boyce: Senior Vice President at Salem Radio Networks, defending the current state of conservative talk radio.
• John Fia: Professor of history at Messiah Christian University, reflecting on evangelical support for conservative radio.

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Timestamp Guide:

• Alan Berg's Radio Style: [00:15 - 01:19]
• Assassination of Alan Berg: [01:21 - 10:14]
• Rise of Talk Radio and Shock Jocks: [07:09 - 08:18]
• Fairness Doctrine and Reagan Deregulation: [11:05 - 16:32]
• Rush Limbaugh's Ascent: [12:19 - 23:46]
• Telecommunications Act and Consolidation: [25:05 - 30:08]
• Failure of Liberal Talk Radio (Air America): [30:45 - 32:25]
• Current Dominance and Future of Talk Radio: [32:36 - End]

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For more insights and episodes, listen to The Divided Dial wherever you get your podcasts.

Transcript

[Katie Thornton]

In the early 1980s, the radio dial was a bustling town square. Voices from across the political and cultural spectrum jostled for airtime. A leading liberal voice on the air was Alan Berg.

[Alan Berg]

Alan Berg on KOA317 in the afternoon, leaving us about 10 minutes in the show. Let's go to line one. You're on ear.

[Katie Thornton]

With his gray shaggy mop top, scruffy beard and reading glasses perched on the end of his nose, Berg looked more like a high school geography teacher than a shock jock.

[Alan Berg]

My dear, anybody who's programmed like you is per se a racist. You taught me the wrong way. You are committable. Goodbye. 7, 6, 1.

[Katie Thornton]

But behind the mic, his style was caustic as he faced off with the bigots who often called into his show.

[Caller]

I think the Jews are still firmly in control of the Soviet Union.

[Alan Berg]

I think they're responsible for the murdered.

[Caller]

50 million white Christians.

[Alan Berg]

You think so?

[Caller]

Yes, I do.

[Alan Berg]

I think you're sick. I think you're pathetic. I think your ability to reason and use any logic is. Why don't you put a Nazi on.

[Caller]

Your program and then you have somebody.

[Alan Berg]

Sir, you are a Nazi by your very own admission. Thank you so much. If he said that's right, you heard it.

[Katie Thornton]

But on the evening of June 18th.

[Alan Berg]

1984, 10:39 KOA time, and we're. I'm still trying to piece information together. Someone passing in a vehicle using a semi automatic weapon or an automatic weapon, I'm not sure, fired upon Alan Berg when he was exiting his vehicle in front of his home. And Alan Berg has in fact passed on. He is no longer with us.

[Katie Thornton]

Alan Berg was shot and killed by a white supremacist. His murder a milestone on the road to an ever more violent radical right. And for radio, it heralded the end of an era. I'm Katie Thornton and this is the divided Dial, a five part podcast series from OnTheMedia about how one side of the political spectrum came to dominate talk radio and how one company is using the airwaves to launch a right wing media empire. By the early 80s, the right had staked out their place in the media ecosystem despite repeated claims of censorship and liberal bias. But the airwaves still hosted a diversity of voices and there were policies in place to keep it that way. In this episode, how the last four decades saw the undoing of that arrangement.

[Alan Berg]

I'm Mike Wallace. I'm Morley Safer. I'm Diane sawyer.

[Katie Thornton]

Tonight on 60 Minutes.

[Alan Berg]

Talk is the most popular kind of radio today, at least on am, more popular than country and western and rock and roll, more popular than any of the forms and formats stations put together to get the ratings to make the money.

[Katie Thornton]

In the 1970s, talk and public affairs shows exploded in part because of the FCC's public interest moment, which encouraged stations to better reflect what their audiences wanted to hear, but also because of a great technological leap. No static at all. That was the promise of FM radio. The year this steely dance song came out, 1978, the FM band beat AM and listeners for the first time.

[Alan Berg]

The difference in reception will leap to the ear.

[Katie Thornton]

With AM or amplitude modulation radio, there was always a sort of ambient hum, lots of interference, like looking through a dirty window. But with FM or frequency modulation, sound was encoded into radio signals differently. And compared to AM's muck, it was freshly shined glass.

[Nicole Hemmer]

As the FM dial opens up, radio stations that play music are like, we're going over there, we're going to be an FM station now.

[Katie Thornton]

Historian and author Nicole Hemmer.

[Nicole Hemmer]

And that actually leads to some languishing in the AM dial. And for AM stations, At first, low.

[Katie Thornton]

Quality AM radio struggled to find its competitive advantage. That is, until it landed on talk.

[Alan Berg]

Talk and more talk. Advice to the lovelorn, to the investor, to the shopper.

[Katie Thornton]

Talk radio was AM's salvation, and the special sauce was the listeners themselves.

[Alan Berg]

But among the most popular of talk is the invitation to the audience to talk back. Hello, you're on the air is as familiar a phrase on radio these days as the station's call letters. It's an invitation.

[Katie Thornton]

In radio's earlier days, it was awkward and clunky to get a listener on the air with host either holding up the phone to the mic or holding it to their ear and saying mm, mm. Before reiterating to listeners what the caller said. But changes in broadcast regulations and improved telephone technology made it easier for listeners to get on the air.

[Nicole Hemmer]

The idea that somebody can hear themselves on the radio by calling in and talking to the host sounds so old school at this point, but it really was a revolution. You could now be like a local celebrity because you're calling in and able to have your voice heard on a station. And it changes the medium because it makes people feel invested in shows, because even if they don't call in, they hear people like themselves calling in and they feel like they're being represented on this new talk radio.

[Katie Thornton]

Around this time in the late 70s and early 80s, satellite dishes were also becoming more accessible, allowing some larger networks to beam a select few shows across long dist in real time. Combine that with easier and cheaper long distance calling.

[Nicole Hemmer]

And once you have those two things where I can make a toll free call to a show that is being aired around the nation all at the same time so that people in Oregon and people in New York can be listening to the same content at the same time. Can be calling in at the same time. Now you can have a national conversation on radio.

[Alan Berg]

Network radio's most listened to coast to coast talk program featuring guests from around the world. And calls from all across.

[Katie Thornton]

National slots for talk radio were prized going to the rare host like Larry King.

[Alan Berg]

Thank you, Fred Loring. Good evening everybody. On this.

[Katie Thornton]

But in local markets, call in shows with local hosts and local listeners ruled. And these call in shows, while very egalitarian, weren't always the most civil. You still got your teeth, the original teeth, of course.

[Alan Berg]

Imagine this woman being your grandmother. No, really, my three and a half year old. Hey, hey, honey loves you. Something about old people, when they get on the phone, they love to talk about their personal life. And I know it's real interesting to you, but we gotta move along.

[Katie Thornton]

The early 1980s saw the dawn of the shock jock era, with Baltimore's Howard Stern famously at the helm.

[Alan Berg]

Man, when I get to your age, I hope they shoot me. Oh, I hope so too.

[Katie Thornton]

Hosts like Stern and those who followed in his footsteps were usually confined to local markets early on. And their shows weren't always political, mostly just lewd and abrasive.

[Caller]

Remember that time you had that affair with Ernest Borgnine?

[Alan Berg]

I cared. I wonder what he was like. Y' all get your lazy asses out of bed. It's 7:33. I don't say the word penis anymore. Can you turn. Excuse me, ma' am, can you turn your radio off and back please? I don't have a radio on, ma' am. Do you know what happens when one lies? I can hear it on in the back. Turn it off.

[Katie Thornton]

But by the early 1980s, some shock jocks were adding politics to their shows.

[Alan Berg]

I have been called by my program director, God to bring the truth. Why would we want to have any Democrats on losers? Yeah. I am a working mother. Yeah. And my kids are fine. They have. No, they are not. Who's raising them? You don't have them. The babysitters got them. You ain't no mama. Get off my program, you liberal.

[Katie Thornton]

And they weren't just conservatives. There were liberal shock jocks too, like sharp tongued former attorney Alan Berg, who broadcast out of Denver on an AM station called koa. Its powerful signal allowed Berg to Reach listeners in about 30 surrounding states.

[Alan Berg]

If you don't like it, you can move to Moscow. Correct. In other words, if you're not a Christian, you're un American. Is that your point, sir? That's right. Good point, sir. You and your redneck go to bed.

[Katie Thornton]

Berg was Jewish and he goaded the right wingers, racists and anti Semites who flooded his phone lines. In a poll, Denver residents were asked to name the city's most beloved media personality and its most despised. Alan Berg won both and by early 1984 he was making a splash nationally. Here he is on 60 Minutes.

[Alan Berg]

Isn't there something a little dangerous about this kind of broadcasting? There is a danger. I agree with you. I think that's the danger that we exhibit in all free. All rights of free expression, be it columnists who write newspapers. Yeah, indeed. But you say yourself you often go on there, you don't know quite what you're going to say. Hopefully my legal training will prevent me from saying the one thing that will kill me and I've come awfully close.

[Katie Thornton]

It was less than six months after that segment aired that 50 year old Alan Berg was gunned down in his driveway by members of the newly formed white supremacist group the Order. And driving the getaway car was the caller we heard from at the beginning of the episode.

[Alan Berg]

Why don't you put a Nazi on.

[Caller]

Your program and then you have somebody.

[Alan Berg]

Sir, you are a Nazi by your very own admission. Thanks so much. That's right.

[Katie Thornton]

David Lane, a member of the Denver area KKK and founder of the order, died in prison in 2007 serving time for his role in the murder of Alan Berg. While in prison he wrote and published a manifesto that remains a major influence in present day white supremacist movements.

[Alan Berg]

It's 1042 on a very, very, very blue evening.

[Katie Thornton]

There were other liberal talkers, but for Berg's colleagues and listeners and for left wing radio, this was a huge loss.

[Alan Berg]

You're on the air. Go ahead.

[Katie Thornton]

I am so sorry for your grief. I find it so hard to believe that news just shot. I could not believe what I heard. I can't believe how low people will go. At the time Berg was murdered, radio was undergoing another colossal change, this one from the halls of government. When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, he inherited a media ecosystem that was flourishing, buoyed by hard won regulations.

[Caller]

But the Reagan administration came in and began to eliminate all of those regulations.

[Katie Thornton]

This is former FCC counsel Mark Lloyd who we heard from in episode three. He says that not long after his inauguration, Reagan's FCC started killing off the policies and guidelines that had been built up during the civil rights era.

[Caller]

We had ascertainments, we had a set of guidelines about how to serve local communities. It was an entire regime that enforced local service. Then Reagan came in, all of it was gone.

[Alan Berg]

The FCC made some major changes in.

[Caller]

How radio stations are run.

[Katie Thornton]

No more requirements to go and find out what local residents wanted to hear. No more mandate to run educational shows. The FCC also made it harder for people to challenge broadcast licenses like civil rights groups had done by the hundreds to get fairer representation. The long standing fairness Doctrine was still on the books, but without these other policies, it didn't have as much bite.

[Caller]

You get rid of all that and the result is Rush Limbaugh.

[Katie Thornton]

That's coming up after the break.

[Alan Berg]

Welcome to the Rush Limb Ball program.

[Katie Thornton]

This is the Divided Dial. I'm Katie Thornton. When broadcasting's public interest moment was in full swing in the 1970s, Russia Schlimbaugh wasn't really a part of it. He was on the air, but he was a dj, queuing up songs and reporting on weather and traffic in between.

[Alan Berg]

From 1360, solid rock and gold for the morning rush hour. Sunny and cold today, radar says a near 0% chance of precipitation.

[Katie Thornton]

Limbaugh had been in love with the medium since he was a kid. His dad, who was once a part owner of a station in their hometown of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, got young Rush his first radio gig there in the 1960s when Rush was only 16. But after that, he found it hard to keep a job. By the early 1980s, after well over a decade in the industry, Limbaugh had been fired from five stations, mostly for interpersonal reasons.

[Alan Berg]

Hello tonight down to 22 degrees, nippy, nippy, nippy. And for Saturday, partly cloudy.

[Katie Thornton]

Limbaugh spent a few years working in sales for the Kansas City Royals. But he was back behind the mic in 1983, now in his 30s and trying his hand at news coverage. He lasted less than a year before getting fired again. But the next year, in 1984, a station out of Sacramento took a gamble on Limbaugh and gave him his own show. And it was there that he really honed his pitch. Less weather and traffic, more politics and preening.

[Alan Berg]

Welcome to the Rush Limbaugh program, a program exclusively designed for rich conservatives and right minded Republicans and those who want to be either or both.

[Katie Thornton]

And the phones lit up whether callers wanted to argue or agree with Limbaugh's right wing Hot takes. They all wanted to talk. Ratings soared and advertising dollars poured in. For Limbaugh, who had made it clear that he was an entertainer and moneymaker. First, pundit, second. It was a gold mine.

[Alan Berg]

The views expressed by the host on this show are not necessarily those of the staff, management nor sponsors of this station, but they ought to be.

[Katie Thornton]

Limbaugh was in many ways representative of the new post public interest radio dial of the mid-1980s. After deregulation began in earnest in 1981, the number of complaints to the FCC about racial stereotyping went up. So did complaints about a lack of programming for minority groups. And then, of course, in 1987, Reagan's FCC dealt the death blow. This week, the FCC voted down the Fairness Doctrine by a vote of 4 to 0.

[Alan Berg]

The logic of doing over the Fairness.

[Anne Nelson]

Doctrine was, oh, well, now all of.

[Katie Thornton]

These towns have 100, 500, 1000 channels.

[Anne Nelson]

On their cable systems.

[Katie Thornton]

Anne Nelson is the author of Shadow Media Money and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right.

[Anne Nelson]

So anybody can find any opinion they.

[Katie Thornton]

Want, and we don't need to have that requirement for individual broadcasters anymore. But she says there were a couple of issues with the FCC's argument. First of all, you know you can't watch a hundred channels.

[Anne Nelson]

In fact, this fire hose of information is going to be so overwhelming that you'll probably just stick to one or two channels.

[Katie Thornton]

Also, not everyone had cable. And even if you did, you can't watch cable while commuting to work or working on most job sites. Plenty of people still relied on radio, not television, for their news. And the existence of cable TV didn't suddenly mean there were more radio frequencies. The Fairness Doctrine had not been perfect. Adhering to it was a big logistical headache. Station staff had to monitor hosts for controversial material and figure out how to make free airtime available to people who wanted to respond. Many scholars believe that it kept some broadcasters who didn't want to do their due diligence from broadcasting controversial material at all. But for many, including some conservatives, it had been an important means of getting ideas out.

[Nicole Hemmer]

By the time you have the repeal of the fairness doctrine in 1987, you have a whole cohort of conservatives, people like Pat Buchanan and Phyllis Schlafly, Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott, who want to see the Fairness Doctrine kept in place.

[Katie Thornton]

The Democratic led Congress, with the help of some of these on the media.

[Anne Nelson]

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[Alan Berg]

Since Donald Trump reassumed office, over 200 lawsuits have been filed against his administration. Firings, tariffs, immigration, climate policy, it's hard to keep track of and even harder to understand.

[Caller]

I'm former US Attorney Preet Bharara and.

[Alan Berg]

On my podcast Stay Tuned with Preet, I'm joined by experts to break down complex legal stories and cut through the.

[Caller]

Noise of this administration.

[Alan Berg]

It may feel tempting to tune out.

[Caller]

But now more than ever, we need to stay engaged, search and follow Stay Tuned with Preet wherever you listen.

[Katie Thornton]

Conservative leaders actually passed a law to codify the Fairness Doctrine, which had just been an FCC policy. But Reagan vetoed it. And as it turns out, it wasn't a loss for the right. Without the Fairness Doctrine in place, highly political, often vitriolic talk radio skyrocketed and Sacramento area's Rush Limbaugh was the breakout star of the moment. He'd nearly tripled his show's ratings in less than four years, and his station plastered an ad for his show on a downtown Sacramento billboard with a picture of a finger on a radio dial. And the question don't you just want to punch Rush Limbaugh? Limbaugh was the big winner in this deregulatory bonanza, and a year after the doctrine was overturned, his show went national.

[Alan Berg]

It was a day of well wishers and autographs and a limousine ride to the airport. Limbaugh said goodbye to Sacramento. This morning. He's taking his act to New York City, where his radio show will be nationally syndicated.

[Katie Thornton]

Limbaugh quickly made a name for himself from WABC in New York with his misogynist rants, his vilely homophobic recurring segments, his mocking of the poor and disabled, and of course, his racism.

[Alan Berg]

For those of you who are not in New York, we have severe racial tensions here in the mayor. The first African mayor almost said black. That would have been insensitive. The first African American mayor to ever be elected here in New York.

[Katie Thornton]

Limbaugh looked to get a rise out of listeners, including liberals who made up a quarter of his audience in the early days. But as time went on, he appealed more to those who felt that popular culture was edging toward greater representation of the marginalized and consequently, they felt leaving them out.

[Alan Berg]

Talk about a woman who's not anything without her husband. It's Vaisa Gorbachev.

[Anne Nelson]

She has a PhD.

[Alan Berg]

You know what that PhD is? It means you go to a Marxism course for 20 minutes where the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons.

[Brian Rosenwald]

People start calling up and saying, thank God you're on the air, Russ. We finally have a voice.

[Katie Thornton]

Brian Rosenwald is the author of talk radio's how an Industry Took Over A Political Party that Took over the United States.

[Brian Rosenwald]

And it's ironic, right? Because this is the 80s. Ronald Reagan is still in office. Like, they have the White House, they have the biggest platform in the world, but they don't feel that way. And in some sense, they're right, to be honest, that the liberals are still winning the culture wars even as the conservatives are gaining more political power. And over time, they start to lose the liberal audience.

[Katie Thornton]

Eventually, even the skeptical conservatives came around on deregulation.

[Nicole Hemmer]

Nicole Hemmer it's not until Rush Limbaugh takes off and they see the power of this deregulated medium that suddenly the conservative line is, yes, the Fairness Doctrine is bad. It only exists to shut up Rush Limbaugh, and we all oppose it.

[Katie Thornton]

But it wasn't just political conservatives fueling Limbaugh's growth. It was also his large following of evangelical Christians.

[John Fia]

I was in seminary. This would have been maybe 89, 90. And everybody on my floor, all these seminarians, we're listening to this new guy, Rush Limbaugh.

[Katie Thornton]

This is John fia, the professor of history at Messiah Christian University in Pennsylvania, who in episode two, told us about the omnipresence of Christian radio in his childhood.

[John Fia]

You know, you'd go into the lounge or you'd go into the bathroom or whatever, and they're talking, hey, gee, what Rush said.

[Alan Berg]

Which is why I say, this cat's taught me more about women than anything my whole life.

[John Fia]

And I had no idea who this guy was, and I started listening to him. So I remember being quite taken, entertained by Limbaugh in seminary.

[Katie Thornton]

John eventually grew to be a Limbaugh critic. But in the early days, he was on board. And not unlike his dad, who evangelized with Christian radio blaring from his truck, John turned around and shared the word of Rush with his old man.

[John Fia]

I introduced my father to Rush Limbaugh. I'll never forget this. My parents kind of convinced me to come home from Chicago for our annual trip to the Jersey Shore. And I remember saying, dad, you gotta hear this guy. I think you'll like him. And I remember turning him on and he was hooked.

[Alan Berg]

Half my brain tied behind my back. Just to make it fair, he listened.

[John Fia]

To him every single day that vacation and then continued to listen to him. This replaced Christian radio in his truck.

[Alan Berg]

Most listened to radio talk show in America, and that means the universe.

[Katie Thornton]

Years of well organized Christian media, networking and socially conservative programming from the likes of the 700 Club's Pat Robertson or Salem's early Teach and talk stations meant that in content, if not tone, Limbaugh wasn't a giant leap from what a lot of Christians were already listening to.

[John Fia]

Shows like Rush Limbaugh and other conservative shows were upholding certain kind of values that were compelling, compatible with Christianity, whether it be pro life or attacking the liberals. Any historian would find the roots of Limbaughism in Christian radio in the 70s and 80s.

[Katie Thornton]

It was around this time that Salem, then just a Christian network, surveyed their listeners and found that when they turned the dial, they tended to stop at conservative talkers like Limbaugh. Christian radio helped prime audiences for Limbaugh. And Limbaugh appealing to anxieties around cultural changes helped shape Christian radio.

[John Fia]

This anxiety and fear turned Christian radio into a kind of political outlet to serve the culture wars.

[Katie Thornton]

Republican politicians soon realized that getting in good with Limbaugh meant getting in good with his listeners. President George H.W. bush literally carried Limbaugh's bags into the White House when he came for a visit. Limbaugh imitators abounded. And by 1995, about 2/3 of talk radio leaned right. End of story. Right.

[Caller]

The story that's often told is that the Fairness Doctrine ended and that made the way for Rush Limbaugh to come on the air and really reach an audience that had never been served before and provide conservative view use. It's nonsensical. Mark Lloyd Marshall Limbaugh was a very talented talker. But his talk castigating feminists, his talk about people of color, his talk frankly about people who were asking for better services from the government was nothing new.

[Katie Thornton]

So if it wasn't just Limbaugh's firebrand personality that drove his success, what did.

[Brian Rosenwald]

Syndicated shows, starting with Limbaugh, come along? And they offer programs by what they call the barter method, which essentially means that you don't pay for the show.

[Katie Thornton]

Brian Rosenwald says that with the barter method, Limbaugh's group offered the show to stations across the country for free, just in return for the ad time within the show, which they could sell to advertisers who, who wanted to reach a national audience.

[Brian Rosenwald]

So essentially you're not losing anything if you're at the station. You're not handing out money, you're not paying a salary, you're not paying a flat fee or something.

[Katie Thornton]

Barter based syndication is common practice now. And Limbaugh eventually went on to charge stations to carry his show. But as a business model, it was pretty new back then. And then there were those satellites. As the cost of the technology went down, satellite transmission became more affordable, and going national wasn't as big a deal. But perhaps the single most important factor contributing to the right's dominance of the radio dial was the 1996 Telecommunications act and its elimination of national ownership caps. Those were the long standing legal limits on the number of stations that a single company could own. That number had been increasing for years under Reagan. But in 96, the national limit for radio chains was eliminated.

[Brian Rosenwald]

And that ends up triggering massive, like, frenetic consolidation in the radio business in the late 90s, where companies are merging, companies are buying each other up. It basically becomes clear to most owners that you're not going to survive as, like an individual owner. You either need to get big or get out.

[Caller]

We ended up with an operation called Clear Channel that owned over 1200 radio stations, which was just unheard of during the public interest moment. The idea that any one entity could own 1200 stations.

[Katie Thornton]

Before the 96 Act, Clear Channel, now called iHeartMedia, had just 43 stations. And starting in 1998, ClearChannel owned Premier Radio Networks.

[Caller]

And guess who Premier Radio Networks owned. They owned the Rush Limbaugh Show. And guess what? Clear Channel and the Premier Radio Networks promoted and put on every station they could. Well, they put on the show that they owned, Rush Limbaugh.

[Katie Thornton]

And while no other company got as big as Clear Channel, others like Entercom, which soon acquired Sinclair's radio stations and Salem, grew exponentially. Cumulus, a media giant, was formed in the wake of the act. And all of this economic consolidation changed what could be heard on the airwaves.

[Brian Rosenwald]

Why does this affect programming? Well, it affects programming because you end up getting these companies that become vertically integrated for one set of talent and one set of production costs. You can program a show that you can then air on a huge chunk of your stations.

[Katie Thornton]

It was cheaper for a company to invest in one big host who they could blast out across the country than it was to hire local hosts in Every city. And as the higher ups were programming for their newly expanded networks, they stuck to tried and tested formats.

[Brian Rosenwald]

Consolidation and these big corporate ownerships create risk adverse companies, risk adverse executives, executives who want to program something that they know will work. And conservative talk is it.

[Katie Thornton]

In the 90s and early 2000s, more and more talk stations switched from showcasing a variety of opinions to airing one political perspective all day, mirroring an approach called format purity in music radio.

[Brian Rosenwald]

If you turn the country station on and you hear Beethoven's fifth, you're going to be confused. Radio executives think that people feel the same way about talk, that if you turn on the conservative talk station and there's a liberal guy on, you're like, did I turn the wrong station on? That there needs to be predictability.

[Katie Thornton]

From a station manager's perspective. Platforming talkers like Rush Limbaugh was predictable and also safe.

[Brian Rosenwald]

What is dangerous is raunch stuff that's going to threaten your FCC license. Conservative talk, for as harsh as it can be, is largely safe. And it's one decision upon one decision upon one decision that makes this make more and more and more sense. To the point that you get to the 2000s and then they're like, okay, yeah, all conservative, all political, all nationally syndicated, or mostly nationally syndicated. That's how we make our money.

[Caller]

There were no progressive or liberal talkers on commercial radio in Philadelphia. And certainly there are liberal and progressive people in Philadelphia. There were no progressive or liberal talkers on commercial radio in Houston. And certainly there are liberal and progressive folks who were interested in that programming, but none, they were not being served served by commercial radio stations in those markets.

[Katie Thornton]

In 2007, Mark Lloyd worked on a study that looked at news talk radio stations owned by the country's five biggest commercial radio companies, including Salem.

[Caller]

What we found was that conservative talk dominated liberal or progressive talk by 10 to 1.

[Katie Thornton]

The study also noted that in some markets where left leaning talk was aired, it could bring in money and ratings. But the big conglomerates hardly bothered. They could afford not to. The only real attempt by liberals to give conservative radio a run for its Money came in 2004.

[Alan Berg]

Air America radio. Real facts in a filtered world with even more intensity politics and culture.

[Katie Thornton]

Air America had hosts like Al Franken.

[Alan Berg]

Today is both an ending and a beginning. An end to the right wing dominance of talk radio.

[Katie Thornton]

Public Enemy's Chuck D in the house on the real.

[Caller]

What's up, bro?

[Katie Thornton]

And Rachel Maddow.

[Caller]

This is the Rachel Maddow show here.

[Brian Rosenwald]

On Air America Radio.

[Katie Thornton]

But from the get go There were some issues. One of the co founders was a grifter securing a huge and sketchy loan that he appeared to give largely to himself. And he pushed a product through that was not ready for primetime. A lot of the hosts were new to radio and just weren't that great. But importantly, Air America lacked the structures that had benefited Limbaugh. Air America didn't own any stations, they just made shows. So they had to convince existing stations to run Air America programs. Not easy in this era of format purity and big chain ownership. Air America was off the air by early 2010.

[Brian Rosenwald]

Brian Rosenwald what happens is that a lot of people in the radio business take the Air America failure and say, see? Liberal radio won't work.

[Katie Thornton]

The end to right wing dominance of talk radio that Al Franken had predicted never materialized. Anne Nelson in terms of the Democrats having any kind of radio presence, that is this uncritical support for Democrats, it doesn't exist. In 2020, 12 of the top 15 talk radio hosts were conservative and Rush Limbaugh was still on top.

[Nicole Hemmer]

When Rush Limbaugh is unhappy or was unhappy, Republicans felt the need to make him feel better. And quickly. Nicole Hemmer no Democrat feels that way about Rachel Maddow.

[Katie Thornton]

The 1996 Telecommunications act was an economic decision, not one that regulated content. But in practice, it hit both. It meant that the loudest voices didn't have to be the most representative ones. Extreme rhetoric like Rush Limbaugh's might have remained on the fringes if his ideas and attitudes hadn't been echoed by host after host on station after station. Because with the infrastructure working in your favor, you can bring the extreme into the mainstream and make it look organic.

[Alan Berg]

It's my honor to be with you to celebrate the life and legacy of a truly great American, Rush Limbaugh.

[Katie Thornton]

Limbaugh died of lung cancer in early 2021, and his death inspired a slew of memorials.

[Alan Berg]

He made us believe in our country, in our values, and in each other.

[Katie Thornton]

Including this one from Mike Pence.

[Alan Berg]

He also inspired a generation of conservatives to take to the airwaves of America just like he did, and many others to enter public life. And I know what I'm talking about. In the 1990s, Rush inspired me to start a radio broadcast of my own. I used to say I was Rush Limbaugh on decaf. Hey, Phil. A sad day and a voice that will never, ever be replaced. A very sad day, Mike.

[Katie Thornton]

In segments dedicated to Limbaugh after his diagnosis and then his death, Salem radio host Mike Gallagher brought on his Boss, the architect of the network's current talk radio programming, who we met in episode one, Salem's senior vice president, Phil Boyce.

[Alan Berg]

The first time you hear Rush, I'll never forget it.

[Katie Thornton]

Before Boyce came to Salem, he was program director at WABC in New York, Limbaugh's home station.

[Alan Berg]

As his program director, Rush had to be the dream host. He was the dream host. It was like, eureka. This guy's saying what I'm thinking, right? Right.

[Katie Thornton]

Rush Limbaugh was not the first to do what he did, but he was the right guy at the right time when years of deregulation were coming to a head. But because the narrative is that conservative talk radio started with Limbaugh, and in many ways was Limbaugh, a lot of people predicted it would end with Limbaugh, too.

[Alan Berg]

I've heard this narrative now several times since Rush has passed that talk radio is over without Rush Limbaugh.

[Katie Thornton]

But as Phil Boyce knows well, radio still has an enormous reach. And today, without Limbaugh on the dial, it's still the case that 12 of the top 15 talk radio hosts are right wing.

[Alan Berg]

We will go on. Talk radio will go on. Those of us here at the Salem Radio Network, we built the strongest conservative radio platform on the planet. You guys are great from morning, noon to night. And this battle will continue.

[Katie Thornton]

Next time on the final episode of the Divided Die, you breached Salem Media Group, the leading media corporation serving America's.

[Alan Berg]

Christian and conservative communities.

[Katie Thornton]

After a lot of unanswered calls, emails, and some rejections, we finally got to hear directly from someone at Salem, someone with a lot of sway.

[Alan Berg]

Hi, Katie.

[Katie Thornton]

Hello, Mr. Boyce. Can you hear me? Yes, I'm in the virtual studio with you. How are you? I talked to Salem VP Phil Boyce about how Salem is soaring today, what it has in store for the future, and how the company is appealing to unexpected new audiences. And I try to parse whether or not the company's repeated broadcasting of disinformation, election lies, and conspiracy theories is legal.

[Alan Berg]

You're probably 800 speaking of shameless guy.

[Katie Thornton]

The Divided Dial is written and reported by me, Katie Thornton, and edited by Katya Rogers. We had help from Max Balton and Graham Haysha. Music and sound design is by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. The series is a production of on the Media and WNYC Studios with support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. Listen to the final episode of the series wherever you get your podcasts, and follow my work on Instagram @its katiethornton by the way. We really want to hear from you, our listeners. Do you or a loved one have personal experience with ultra conservative or religious right radio? If so, we'd love to hear how talk radio has shaped you or your loved ones politics and relationships. Email us a short voice [e-mail] we may use it in a future feature. And thank you so much for listening.

[Anne Nelson]

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