Talk Radio's America

How an Industry Took Over a Political Party That Took Over the United States
Erscheinungsjahr 2019
ISBN: 978-0-674-18501-2
Verlag: Harvard University Press

Buch, Englisch, 368 Seiten, Format (B × H): 165 mm x 243 mm, Gewicht: 639 g

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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rosenwald, Brian

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Politische Parteien
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Politische Propaganda & Kampagnen, Politik & Medien
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikation & Medien in der Politik
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftssektoren & Branchen Medien-, Informations und Kommunikationswirtschaft

Über Autor(innen)

Rosenwald, Brian
Brian Rosenwald is Coeditor-in-Chief of “Made by History,” a daily <i>Washington Post</i> history section, and a historical consultant for the <i>Slate</i> podcast <i>Whistlestop</i>. He has written for the <i>Washington Post</i>, CNN.com, <i>Politico</i>, and <i>The Week</i>, among others, and has discussed contemporary politics on CNN, NPR, and the Sirius XM Radio channel POTUS: Politics of the United States. Rosenwald is Scholar in Residence at the Partnership for Effective Public Administration and Leadership (PEPAL) program at the University of Pennsylvania.