Word: shows
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...House, members of Congress denounced the nation's radio talk-show hosts, who, along with consumer advocate Ralph Nader, helped foil the legislators' attempt at raising their own salaries. High-powered Washington journalist David S. Broder ridiculed radio jocks, accusing them of "knownothing demagoguery" in a recent column. And the film Talk Radio, loosely based on Denver host Alan Berg's life and death at the hands of neo-nazis, portrayed talk-show callers and the hosts as lunatics babbling bizarre opinions to moronic listeners...
...critics also fail to mention that they themselves often make the rounds on the talk show circuit. Broder, who supported the legislators in their attempt to get a raise, is frequently heard on The Larry King Show. While the pay-raise controversy raged, legislators could also be heard on the shows they later condemned...
...raise incident brings up a very important fact about talk radio: critics don't take into account the fact that the opinions voiced on talk radio actually reflect popular opinion. They seem to think that the talk show hosts generate the issues themselves...
...truth is that talk-show hosts only succeed in their efforts when the crusades they support are in line with popular opinion. The role that talk radio played in stuffing Congress' raise and in repealing the state seat belt law through a referendum are good examples of this. But when a host simply belabors some quirky point or another, the callers do not respond, and the issue is quickly dropped...
THIS summer, during the presidential campaign, Gov. Michael S. Dukakis belittled the critical voices that were just beginning to speak out, saying, "Those are Jerry Williams' people." While Williams, who hosts a show on WRKOAM, is indeed one of the governor's most vocal critics, Dukakis' comments made it seem as if his foes included only a small lunatic fringe...