Why did KABC and talk radio host Larry Elder part ways last week? It has been suggested that Elder was hurting KABC with poor ratings. Could it be that conservative radio hosts are starting to lose their audience?
Another theory is that Elder was making too much money. That might be, but he lost most of his syndication stations in 2007. Now he is simply off the air.
Elder was no social conservative – and he was critical of the Bush administration at times, however while he leaned Libertarian too often he was a doctrinaire Republican.
Elder still writes for the Jewish World News. And his columns are also distributed on Creators.com. But being off the air must be killing him.
I personally don’t know how anyone can still stand listening to Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh. Their incessant whining is intolerable and boring.
One-sided partisan hackery sucks in the blogosphere and also on the radio. Isn’t it time for talk radio hosts who will hold everyone accountable and not take red or blue sides?
Art said: “One-sided partisan hackery sucks in the blogosphere and also on the radio. Isn’t it time for talk radio hosts who will hold everyone accountable and not take red or blue sides?”
Are you supporting state control of the airwaves via the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” ?
Larry Elder is one of the kinder, nicer and
eloquent “idealogues” and he will be missed
greatly. Larry is from the Walter Williams
and Thomas Sowell school of Blacks doing for
themselves and competiting directly without
government intervention. We didn’t always
agree with Larry…but he used common sense a
great deal. Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly
on the other hand are straight “demogogues”!
It is nice to see that O’Reilly is leaving his
talk radio gig as well. Hopefully Hannity will
quickly follow suit. Rush Limbaugh however
is an old war horse…that knows how to sell the
T-Shirts, Mugs and Ad Time! If you haven’t
heard his “Michelle, my belle……we know you
are a terrorist …so well…my Michelle!” take
off on the McCarty song….it is a dandy. Off..
way off…but still entertaining enough to bring
a laugh. Hannity and O’Reilly are totally humorless and the prime reason we suggest dumping
both of them. Elder, occasionally used a high
level of “serendipitious” humor….but it was rather remote for most taste! Hopefully, Larry
will land on TV or someplace. Hey, if Rosey can
make a comeback so can Larry!
I recommend Thom Hartman, 9- noon on KTLK 1150, yes, he’s a liberal, but thoughtful, well versed in history, doesn’t yell or name call and has conservative guests on to debate the issues of the day.
junior,
Funny you would mention the “Fairness Doctrine.” I just read a column in the O.C. Register this morning suggesting that conservative talk radio hosts actually helped the Democrats this year – by destroying John McCain in the primaries and then heaping scorn on Latinos in the general. The result? An Obama victory.
The columnist suggested that the Democrats would be better off NOT bringing back the “Fairness Doctrine,” as these conservative pundits will continue to hurt the GOP.
Personally I think the market should decide who the talking heads are, not the government. If there is a market for liberal talk radio then it will develop. Up until now that has not happened. Who wants to listen to strident liberals all day? That is no better than listening to Limbaugh or Hannity.
Personally I prefer listening to NPR.
Art,
I read that OC Reg article as well – I agree with their assessment – although McCain would have lost regardless. I agree with your comments in reference to the market for talk radio.
Some of NPR is pretty good, but with a lot of it you can cut the liberal bias with a knife.
BTW – conservative talk radio will not die. “They” said the same thing after Clinton won and it just got bigger.
My view is that Elder on the radio began to suffer from an increasing need to dominate discourse – the “I have this mike and program,you don’t” approach to cutting off and putting down callers who attempted to put forth a differing view than Elder’s. Few callers were ever allowed to finish presenting their point as Elder felt compelled to interrupt and present his superior logic. Couple that style with a delivery in which he speaks faster than I can listen, and he lost me some time ago (And I am not a Liberal). An entertaining duel might be a contest between Elder and Chris Matthews to see who can cram the most words into 60 seconds. Might make it a threesome by adding Maria Bartoromo too. While some talk shows can be entertaining, after a while you begin to realize you could play a tape of such shows that is 2-3 years old and it would be the same dialogue. It wears on one after a while, and that may be what is happening to several of these shows. We shall see. (And as for Hanity, perhaps he can learn some new verbage and stop saying “unbelievable” so often—). Time for something new?
*Casual…Ob….
Good comments…we think you nailed down the
rhetorical Larry discourse issue. “Inquiring
Minds…would like to know.”….sadly that
philosophy seldoms reaches airwaves any more!
“This sucks…that sucks”….is not good talk
radio from either side!
I always liked Larry; he was the best talk show host out there, in my opinion. I credit him with helping me crystallize my thinking during the 1990’s when I transitioned from being a staunch liberal to a conservative. He was a voice of reason. I called in and spoke with him on the air many times and he was always cordial, as indeed he usually was with most poeple.
having said that, I concur with the previous posters, in that one of the serious criticisms I had about Larry was that he wouldn’t let dissenters finish their thoughts. Sometimes the person was articulate and I wanted to hear their points, only to have Larry charge in and interrupt and start challenging them.
He would also get idiots calling in who would start spouting nonsense, and he would tend to shut them down right away. I felt he should at least let them hang themselves with their words before he would start talking over them and showing what fools they were. For one thing, many of us get this kind of nuttery thrown at us by people we know, and I’d be interested to know a good line of argument to throw back at them.
Many times I would find myself yelling at the radio “Let him finish, Larry!”
So ultimately Larry was overwhelmingly a positive force, but he could be a real boor too.
BJ Nick. Everything you just said I felt exactly the same way. Love Larry to death but he was a little short with people with dissenting views that might have had some merit and by jumping down their throats a little too fast it had a mean-spirited tone to it sometimes. Overall though, one of the best broadcasters out there. I think he could use the break. He’ll be back better than ever before long I’m sure…maybe if we’re lucky we’ll get him in New York.
Yeah, cause liberals never wine. LOL!!!!!
Gorstingh
He didn’t last 15 years on KABC because people didn’t like him, or because his rhetoric was bad.
I’m actually surprised he stayed there for so long. After 15 years, it is time to do something different.