Talk radio's America : how an industry took over a political party that took over the United States / Brian Rosenwald.
Material type: TextPublisher: Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2019Copyright date: ©2019Description: viii, 358 pages ; 25 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780674185012
- 0674185013
- Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )
- Radio talk shows -- Political aspects -- United States
- Radio talk show hosts -- United States
- Radio in politics -- United States
- Conservatism -- United States
- Right-wing extremists -- United States
- Political parties -- United States
- United States -- Politics and government -- 1989-
Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book | Main Library | NonFiction | 384.5443 R816 | Available | 33111009690815 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
The cocreator of the Washington Post 's "Made by History" blog reveals how the rise of conservative talk radio gave us a Republican Party incapable of governing and paved the way for Donald Trump.
America's long road to the Trump presidency began on August 1, 1988, when, desperate for content to save AM radio, top media executives stumbled on a new format that would turn the political world upside down. They little imagined that in the coming years their brainchild would polarize the country and make it nearly impossible to govern. Rush Limbaugh, an enormously talented former disc jockey--opinionated, brash, and unapologetically conservative--pioneered a pathbreaking infotainment program that captured the hearts of an audience no media executive knew existed. Limbaugh's listeners yearned for a champion to punch back against those maligning their values. Within a decade, this format would grow from fifty-nine stations to over one thousand, keeping millions of Americans company as they commuted, worked, and shouted back at their radios. The concept pioneered by Limbaugh was quickly copied by cable news and digital media.
Radio hosts form a deep bond with their audience, which gives them enormous political power. Unlike elected representatives, however, they must entertain their audience or watch their ratings fall. Talk radio boosted the Republican agenda in the 1990s, but two decades later, escalation in the battle for the airwaves pushed hosts toward ever more conservative, outrageous, and hyperbolic content.
Donald Trump borrowed conservative radio hosts' playbook and gave Republican base voters the kind of pugnacious candidate they had been demanding for decades. By 2016, a political force no one intended to create had completely transformed American politics.
The march to the Trump presidency began in 1988, when Rush Limbaugh went national. Brian Rosenwald charts the transformation of AM radio entertainers into political kingmakers. By giving voice to the conservative base, they reshaped the Republican Party and fostered demand for a president who sounded as combative and hyperbolic as a talk show host.-- Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The colossus rises -- With talent on loan from God -- Media that sounds like us -- Necessity, mother of invention -- The new Republican king -- Bill Clinton, talk radio innovator -- Stopping legislation in its tracks -- The political earthquake -- Everything changes -- The Democrats wake up -- Talk radio takes over television-and tries to impeach a president -- Money propels talk radio to the right -- Talk radio in the 2000s: big changes for the medium and for politics -- The parties go their own ways -- Disgruntled but still loyal - unless you're a moderate -- The titans of talk, 1-bipartisanship, 0 -- Never a Republican puppet -- The conservative media empire -- I hope he fails -- The relationship sours -- Hunting RINOs -- Trying (and failing) to govern -- Turning the power structure upside down -- The president that talk radio made -- The big picture.