I'm working my way through a long David Foster Wallace article in the
April Atlantic on the life and times of an AM talk radio host. Aside
from the truly wacko typography (parenthetical notes inside footnotes
inside of footnotes, all laid out with Kandy Kolored Acid Koolaid
hyperlinks like a Javascript mouseoverfest gone crazy), it's fairly
entertaining. Though some of the observations seem
trite (it's politically conservative! they're in it for the money! they let the interests of the public trump the
public interest! Omigosh!) there are some interesting points. Eg., one
of the reasons for the particularly crystalline politics of talk radio
hosts is that it's a job requirement. It's not just that liberal talk
radio, whatever that might mean, were it ever to exist, would be so
boring that no one would listen. It's also that a host must keep up a
steady stream of monologue, on any subject of the day, with minimal
preparation, with no pauses, stuttering or normal verbal tics, without
being overly repetitive and maintaining an internal consistency and
narrative flow. It's very hard, and would be entirely impossible if
factors like research, balance, shaded nuance, or anything other than
instantaneous moral clarity of response was required.

It brings back memories of years ago when I used to listen to Rush
Limbaugh, when he was at the Clinton era peak of his greatness. (Is
he still alive? What would he talk about, now that Republicans control
the House, the Senate, the White House and the Supreme Court?) I'd
have him on the clock radio alarm in the morning. I'd tried music, but
I'd just sleep through it. I'd tried NPR, or whatever the local
alternative college station was, but that would just put me back to
sleep should I by chance happen to wake up. (Mmm, there may be some
problems, but the world is basically full of nice, thoughtful people,
who are working hard to make it a better place... They don't need my
help, not today...) Rush, on the other hand, could get me going. Every
morning, he'd be having another coronary over the latest atrocity on
Pennsylvania Avenue, and I'd sit up stock straight, screaming. WHAT!
THAT'S NOT TRUE! YOU LYING SACK OF.. wait, where am I? What time is
it? It's just Rush, turn him off, time to go. From the station's point of view,
this is just great. They don't care why you listen, just that you do.

More stimulating talk radio.