Learning from Conservative Talk Radio
On Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Joe Pags
For the last months, I have been listening, on daily commutes, to conservative talk radio, on 1200 AM in Boston. My commute overlaps with Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Joseph John Pagliarulo, also known as Joe Pags. I also get a little exposure to Clay Travis and Buck Sexton (just a little).
Here are some impressions:
There is a lot of focus, here in April, on Joe Biden, and on how terrible and horrible and awful and unbelievably bad he was. It is a bit surprising to see such a focus on Biden. When things get hard or a little boring, one of the hosts’ strategies, or go-to moves, seems to be: “Talk about Biden’s terribleness!”
We’ll get to Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Joe Pags before long, I promise.
The advertisements are keenly interesting, not least because they often focus on some impending catastrophe, danger, or threat, and on what to do to prepare for it. There are advertisements for long-term food supplies once the emergency hits. There are plenty of advertisements for gold and the need for it in a crisis (note well: the advertisements use behavioral techniques, including social proof and loss aversion). There are advertisements for guns. Byrna pistols get significant airtime.
Many of the ads seem based on the following judgment (almost certainly evidence-based): Our listeners are really scared. Also, the advertisements are often accompanied by a statement, by the host, that he uses, and loves, the product in question. That’s undoubtedly effective.
There are a lot of advertisements for Relief Factor, which is supposed to relieve pain, and Z Factor, which is supposed to relieve sleeplessness. Are the listeners in pain (maybe they are older?)? Are they sleepless (maybe they are anxious?)? By the way: A little empirical research suggests that the evidence of the effectiveness of Relief Factor is not quite overwhelming.
People on the left are described in (let’s say) colorful terms. They are “idiots” or “insane.” They want terrible things to happen; eg, they really, really want noncitizens to vote, They are sometimes described, in one or another way, as hating our country. They want one thing above all: power. They want to crush their enemies.
There is something like a Two Minute Hate, or (better) A Thirty Second Hate, or (better still) A Drive By Hate, for the demons: Biden, Harris, Schumer, Pelosi. (Note: Some academic work shows that people on the left think that people on the right are far more extreme than they actually are, and that people on the right are far more extreme than they actually are. Talk radio likely contributes to that.)
I like Sean Hannity more than I expected. He has a sense of mischief, and even a kind of warmth. He can be clever. When he’s mean or hate-y, which really is not all that often, it’s usually softened, a bit, by the sense that he conveys that this is all a game. Behind everything, he is even a bit self-deprecating.
I wanted to like Glenn Beck more than I expected, because he went on a rampage against me a while back, describing me repeatedly as “the most dangerous man in America.” (Yes, I got death threats from that.) I thought it would be fun, and somehow peace-making, if I had a favorable reaction to him. Maybe I do like him a little bit more than I expected, in part because (and I bet he wouldn’t love this) he’s somehow poignant? He seems to have suffered, and to suffer? Still, I can’t say that I like him a lot more than I expected. There’s something that doesn’t seem (how to put it?) completely honest or direct about him.
I didn’t have an expectation about Joe Pags, but he’s likable. He can be fun. He isn’t smarmy. He’s a self-promoter, in a sweet way. (He talks, with pride, about how many followers he has on social media.) He knows some things, though see (6) above. (Also one of his introductory audios is from a woman who says his name - “Joe Pags” - in a hilariously sultry manner. It makes me laugh every time.)
There are plenty of talking points. But there is not a ton of policy conversation, less than I expected - some, for sure, but not a ton, and on most days, not much. As I remember, Rush Limbaugh was far more policy-oriented; you could imagine him reading something in (say) National Review, learning from it, and using it on his show.
Back in September and October, I was quite surprised to find that at least in my time listening, the shows did not focus much on Donald Trump and how good or great he was and is. At times it seemed as if the hosts did not want to say much about the former president, There was much, much, much more about how terrible and dangerous Biden and Harris were and are.
Things are now altogether different. These days, and maybe since February, there seems to be agreement on this proposition: President Trump can do no wrong. (And: He’s our guy.) I cannot recall any negative words above President Trump.
Every day, we hear a number of things about how brilliant he is, how sharp he is, how amazing he is, how much better he is making things, how hard he works, and above all how right he is. A recent discussion: Sure, he plays a lot of golf, but on the golf course, he is working so, so hard for us! There’s where he does business! (By contrast, Biden just golfed.)
There’s a ton of Friend-Enemy stuff. Some people are Friends, and some people are Enemies.
Talk radio works in part because the hosts become familiar; they become a little like neighbors or family. Anyone know the old Sports Huddle? Marc Witkin and Joe McCarthy and the great, great, great, great Eddie Andelman? Talk radio benefits from creating a sense of familiarity and neighbor-ness, and on 1200 AM in Boston, Joe Pags is, I think, the best at that.