I listen to a station that I can't pick up on the radio, but that offers online broadcasting. To hear it, click here to listen to 1110 KFAB. It does have a right wing tilt, but they also have local commentary, as well as George Noory late at night, which makes it interesting. I also listen to Air America radio when I can.

Quetions for debate:

1.)What do you think of talk radio? Is it too simplistic on the issues that we face today?

2.)Do we need legislation to regulate the balance between right and left on the airwaves that the public owns?

3.)Do you prefer talk radio or national evening news?(i.e.-ABC,CBS, NBC)

I listen to talk radio at work all day, not because I'm necessarily a news junkie (I am, but...), but because I find radio music to be repetitious, tedious and boring. I listen to a variety of programs. Rush and David Jennings (a local liberal guy, that talks to national and state issues) on WLS. Mostly I listen to WGN in the early afternoons and evenings, because of the variety of topics they cover, not just politics.

Some of the talk radio is too simplistic and jingoistic for the issues we have to get through today. One of the reasons I can no longer listen to Sean Hanity.

As to legislation, no, I don't think we need to force a balance. Radio America is picking up steam, and there are plenty of local "liberals" across the country that could conceivably break out and into syndication when the pendulum begins to swing back the other direction.

I get my news from a variety of sources. Talk radio during the day, network news in the evenings, and "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" on the repeat broadcast of it at 11:00pm my time, on MSNBC. I find him to be funnier than most of the late night talk show hosts.

I listen to Air America in the morning I find Morning Sedition to be extremely funny. Before Air Americ got on the air here in Phoenix I used to listen to tony Snow. I laways knew he was conservative while he was on FOX--but once released from the cable show he went very far right and is something of a paraody of what he once was when he was required to show some integrity.
My favorite is a local guy named Charles Goyette on 1010 TALK KXXT. He was released from clear channel after he started slamming Bush's decisions on iraq.
He's a very Libertarian point of view kind of guy and I am not always sure he will fit in well with the Air America crowd once Bush fades from the spotlight because he is very anti government pro market.
After that I stop listening to Air America because Garafalo and Franken to be of minimal talent and offensive. Just like Hannity and Limbaugh they are very hateful towards those they disagree with and seek to demean them with false claims.
I do get a kick out of Randi Rhodes though.
On the conservative side I listen to the Patriot and specifically Micheal Medved.

I don't take any of them seriously for information but they generally get some interesting tidbits here and there.


1.)What do you think of talk radio? Is it too simplistic on the issues that we face today? You really cannot get into any great detail when they have to cut to commercials so often. Interviews are far too brief. While the shows I have listed as favorites are generally pretty good about letting people who disagree on air. Like you would expect some they allow are of the crack pot variety.
I often listen because I want to know what the propaganda is being used by who from both sides of the spectrum.

2.)Do we need legislation to regulate the balance between right and left on the airwaves that the public owns? No. The market is handling it quite well. Air America is booming and even clear channel is starting to offer some choices these days. The market for the left side of things is heating up and more choices are appearing on the dial.


3.)Do you prefer talk radio or national evening news?(i.e.-ABC,CBS, NBC)
radio. I have never watched network news and have always been a cable news watcher. Mostly Fox. the others aren't really very good and Fox's slant to the right is easy to discern and take into the equation.

1.)What do you think of talk radio? Is it too simplistic on the issues that we face today?
It's definitely too short of a format to really delve deeply into issues; although I listen to Neal Boortz daily (when I'm not in the woods), and he has a passion for property rights vs. eminent domain abuse, so it's a reoccurring subject on his show. The thing I like the most about some talk radio, is that it acts as a verbal blogosphere of sorts. There are stories and issues that don't se the light of day in mainstream formats.
Hannity and O'Reilly find their way on my dial occasionally, and Air America ties with ComedyXL for my lighter moments.

2.)Do we need legislation to regulate the balance between right and left on the airwaves that the public owns?
No something akin to the 'Fairness Doctrine' would be a disaster economically. Government cannot dictate what the public wishes to hear. There innumerable outlets for all political stripes.

3.)Do you prefer talk radio or national evening news?(i.e.-ABC,CBS, NBC)
I'll read the Onion over watching the big three, and probably get a more balanced and truthful viewpoint.

I love talk radio. I listen to at least two maybe three shows a day, and Michael Savage at night [don't be alarmed, he's for entertainment value]. What makes radio great is it feels like you are being individually entertained, whereas TV makes you feel so insignificant. That's the allure for me.

Do we need government intervention in the media? No, that would be illegal.

Absolutely. Talk radio talks about issues that the people are actually interested in, not what Dan Rather is interested in [sorry, couldn't resist]. In addition, talk shows are blatently partisan, and they don't pretend to be anything but partisan, it's kind of refreshing.

CP

I don't really listen much to talk radio, certainly not for "news". I tune in Rush every so often just to hear what he's talking about, but most of the time it comes off of Drudge anyway and I've all ready read it. The afternoon guys in LA are just a couple of screaming shock jocks ranting and raving about OJ, Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson or those "dirty Mexicans" coming across the border, so there's nothing there. One guy I wish I had more time to listen to though is Phil Hendrie, now THAT'S entertainment! He does the evening program here in LA on KFI 640 (available for streaming on the internet) and you have to hear him to believe him. He makes up his own "guests" and does these totally bizarre interviews with them and has listeners who aren't clued in call in to his show. My favorite was a show he did with a "guest" who was suing a hot tub company for "loss of affection" from his wife. It seems she preferred the water jets on the hot tub to him.

In any case.....

1.)What do you think of talk radio? Is it too simplistic on the issues that we face today?

It presents a point of view which can be helpful I guess in understanding the issues. But, I think one has to temper that understanding that it is just one point of view.


2.)Do we need legislation to regulate the balance between right and left on the airwaves that the public owns?

No, I think the market will sort that out. If the show is well done, it will probably do ok. If not, the market will take care of it.


3.)Do you prefer talk radio or national evening news?(i.e.-ABC,CBS, NBC)

Neither. My preference for news is newspapers, good ones. They can get develop a story far more in depth than anyone on the radio or television can.

John and Ken do seem to have adorn the 'mob' mentality when it comes to the issues they in tune most. I went to a town hall meeting in Temecula where the head of homeland security was going to speak. I took the kids think this a great educational opportunity to see how the political process works. Well John and Ken showed up with a crowd of hundreds screaming and chanting and caring on as such protesting the stop of the border patrol sweeps in Southern California. From my take on the two, they seem to wanting to care a ccrowdof anger protesters where ever they go. However on a plus side they did encourage people to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars in a period of hours to donate to the Tsunami Relief Effort. Plus they do encourage their listeners to challenge the authority. To write to their congressman or senator at both the state and the federal level which according to most people I have talked to in the political arena, having a hundred letters all saying "don't do this" means more then talk show host could ever do.

The best is to listen to Phil Hendrie with a new llistenerwho doesn't quite get what he is doing. They always get so mad and say "how can he (the guest, or she) say that?" My favorite is when his boss calls in and starts telling him that he is being mean to the guest and to let them speak. West Coast Radio, you gotta love it.

I do enjoy the man in the morning on KFI, Bill Handel. He tends to spend a half hour reading these detailed stories about people's lives ccollaboratedfrom numerous sources and tend to give a timeline to events. Plus him and like four other guys run through the top stories of the day and just make fun of the fact that they are even top stories.

1. What do you think of talk radio? Is it too simplistic on the issues that we face today?
   
   I don't see talk shows as being simplistic as much as they are one sided on the issue. From that point it could be construed as simplistic as they only present one side, however they present the one side back with all the documents necessary to support that side, making the side complex. At the end of the discussions, talk show seem to give a conclusion to everything which follows their flow of logic and thinking.
   
   
2. Do we need legislation to regulate the balance between right and left on the airwaves that the public owns?
   
   Nope. There should be no regulation on political speech.
   
   
3. Do you prefer talk radio or national evening news?
   
   Neither, a morning with the internet and a search engine like google.

Quetions for debate:

1.)What do you think of talk radio? Is it too simplistic on the issues that we face today?

Depends. I used to listen to Sean Hanntiy on a regular basis. That is, until I started checking into some of the information he was providing. Turns out, much of it was false, or manipulated to spin it conservatively. After that, I stopped listening. Now I listen to NPR almost all day long--from Diane Rehm to Terry Gross to Lisa Mullens (my favorite--"The World" is an excellent news program).

2.)Do we need legislation to regulate the balance between right and left on the airwaves that the public owns?

That's a horrible idea.

3.)Do you prefer talk radio or national evening news?(i.e.-ABC,CBS, NBC)

Talk radio, followed up by internet searches to get more in-depth information concerning issues I've heard about on the radio. I don't think the national evening news programs can do a very good job covering everything there is.

1.)What do you think of talk radio? Is it too simplistic on the issues that we face today?

Been listening to Air America Radio lately as the first anniversary of the liberal-slanted format rolled around. Have listened to Liddy and Limbaugh for periods. Hannity isn't of any interest as he seems to be a wanna be. Then there's NPR and morning TV news, local and national, plus online newspapers/magazines. Any one source of info is simplistic, but taken together on an issue gives more perspective.

2.)Do we need legislation to regulate the balance between right and left on the airwaves that the public owns?

Nope. The success of Air America Radio is offsetting the right-wing talking heads. Randi Rhodes is a current favorite, no push-over there. It's interesting that the right wing talk shows have been going on for decades, but it only took one year for the left to get successful -- not as successful yet, but it won't be long. Already the right has expressed fear that its vision for America is under attack.

Or is it just that folks are pushing back? I think so.

3.)Do you prefer talk radio or national evening news?(i.e.-ABC,CBS, NBC)

No evening news for now, only morning shows. Radio lacks the visuals, but sometimes that's a strength. I can also do other things while listening to radio, where television tends to take over. So it looks like radio is my preference, especially off the Internet while doing systems stuff that doesn't take a lot of concentration.

I actually just recently got Sirius Satellite Radio and don't know how I lived without it. I've been surprising myself by spending the majority of the time listening to Air America and Sirius Left. Lynn Samuels is GREAT! An old Jewish liberal women from Queens, I love her and listen to her religiously. I can't stand Garrafalo, she is, to put it bluntly, a moron. A few days ago she claimed that Bush actually lost this last election and that the exit polls were wrong...Oy vey. I've also been surprised at how horrific the conservative shows are...Just awful. Mike Church is the negative stereotype of a conservative. Racist, dumb and crass. He called all those in favor of having Mrs. Schiavo die a pejorative disgusting enough so that I can't even censor it properly.

CP

1.)What do you think of talk radio? Is it too simplistic on the issues that we face today?

I assume we're discussing only politcal talk radio here, since much of talk radio is about legal, financial and medical advice, gardening, home improvement, child care, computers, sex, people's personal problems, and a good many other things, most of which don't interest me.

I like political talk radio very much, and that's what I mostly listen to when driving, depending of course on what shows are on. The problem I have with it is the nature of it as a broadcast medium. That necessarily means a limited number of stations and shows, and so I often can't hear the ones I want, like for example, Larry Elder and Neal Boortz, a couple of my favorites.

Sure, they're a bit superficial, since time is limited and they have to keep the pace up to keep listeners. That's an inherent limitation of both TV and radio, and there's nothing to be done about it except to get your news analysis from newspapers, books, magazines and the internet instead. All of those have limitations of their own of course.

2.)Do we need legislation to regulate the balance between right and left on the airwaves that the public owns?

Why yes, we sure do! NPR gets taxpayer money, yet tilts pretty sharply to the left. That should never be allowed!

(J/K -- Though NPR is strongly biased to the left, that's not really a problem. There's plenty of other PoV's present elsewhere.)

But in the private sector, it should be strictly hands off. What kind of left/right balance ensues is none of the gummint's danged bizness, and the market is taking care of it just fine, thank you. That the airwaves are publicly owned will soon be a technological anachronism anyway, as satellite and internet streaming become the norm.

3.)Do you prefer talk radio or national evening news?(i.e.-ABC,CBS, NBC)

They're not in competition. Talk radio offers news analysis from varying PoV's with conservative being the most popular. The networks offer news with a leftish bias built in. Cable TV offers both news and analysis, with some choice of bias. Oh, and I forgot C-SPAN: they really are unbiased, about the only place you can find it, but that's because they say nothing and jsut roll the cameras.

I tend to rely largely on the internet for both news and analysis, and just use those other sources to supplement it.