Friday night UPDATE:
I just saw Glenn Beck on O’Reilly, discussing his pending departure from FOX News. (video)
You know when you give your two-weeks notice at that job you hate, and for the next two weeks you’re so relieved, you go around in this giddy, almost post-coital state of hilarity just a few degrees below Jane Fonda clapping her hands on top of the anti-aircraft gun?
That was Beck just now.
Arnie’s like, “He’s crazy, you know.”
I’m still not sure. But he looked thrilled as hell.
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My NEW Talk Radio Watch column is now up and running!
Enjoy FREE webcam and audio highlights from the week in conservative talk radio, including:
- “Obama” sings “Born in the USA”
- Michael Savage reads from my Pajamas Media article on Muslim welfare fraud
- Laura Ingraham talks to Mark Steyn
- Everyone reacts to Glenn Beck’s departure from FOX News…
and lots more!
Here’s more radio stuff:
You know those goofy uber-fans of yours? The ones that come to every remote broadcast and often drive you utterly bat-shit insane. They are more likely than the average person to tell everyone about a bad experience they have with a brand, or in this case, your brand.
Keep that in mind the next time you see one of your nutty super-fans walk into your appearance wearing a five-year old station t-shirt and a goofy grin. Give them a friendly hello and direct them to the free pizza because fans are hard to come by and can become dangerous enemies.
* In response to Jay Severin’s firing this week for boasting on the air about having sex with interns, Atlantic Wire presents — “Quiz: Can You Guess What a Radio Host Has to Say to Get Fired?”
(As I noted in the comments, Limbaugh’s use of the word “retards” was an intentional poke at Rahm Emmanuel’s use of the same word to describe fellow Democrats. Rush does that. You have to listen to the entire show, every day of the week, for months or years at a time, to truly appreciate how he weaves this stuff in, on purpose, to “tweak” the media, who fall for it every time. He has a bunch of expressions and “throw away” remarks dating back to the Clinton administration that only long time listeners will really “get” Never have has the phrase “taken out of context” been more pertinent than when you’re talking about what Limbaugh said one day. The whole backstory of why he says it can be extremely hard to explain in a short space, especially if you’re a journalist and/or a garden variety idiot “activist”.)
* Talk Frontier’s “Lessons from Simon Conway”:
By the time you read this, Talk Frontier Media client Simon Conway will have been announced as the new afternoon drive host on legendary talk radio station WHO/Des Moines.
So what, you ask?
Well, just 18 months ago Simon Conway was a real estate agent and occasional fill-in guy with a dream of hosting his own daily general issues talk show.
What can you learn from Simon’s Conway’s achievement? Four things…
More than one PD told Simon that his British accent “would be a problem in this part of the country.” To repeat, Simon Conway will hosting PM drive in Des Moines, Iowa.
Says Conway elsewhere:
“I’ve been American in my attitudes for as long as I can remember. My conservative outlook was forged in my native UK, where I experienced the considerable downsides of European-style socialism. I have a unique insight into health care and all the other trappings of a socialist society. I’ve already lived through where we are headed.”
WHO PD Van Harden (…) adds, “He’ll have a hay-day since everybody that wants to be President will want to sit in his guest chair between now and Iowa Caucus time next February!”
* The Ricochet Roundtable podcast debuts:
Mark Steyn, Jonah Goldberg and Rob Long riff on Muslim doughnuts, the budget battles, why Lindsay Graham is persona non grata, and the unique, teachable moment Mark’s son recently experienced…
* PLUS: Mark Steyn talks to Hugh Hewitt…
I learned this in my battles up in Canada, and in similar fights in Britain and Australia and Europe, that the liberal media, who congratulate themselves on their courage non-stop, who hand themselves awards for their courage, who talk about their bravery far more than soldiers or firemen do, that when it comes to it, they will not be there for you on the free speech issue. So almost all the newspapers found it easier to beat up on the no-name pastor than actually say wait a minute, is Lindsey Graham out of his mind? A United States Senator presuming that the national government regulates the bounds of public discourse in this republic? I think Lindsey Graham is unfit for office. And it’s pathetic that it needs some rinky-dink, no account foreigner like me to say that, rather than the editor of the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times and CNN and all the rest of it.