Editing Talk radio (section)

===Political===
{{see also|Conservative talk radio|Progressive talk radio}}
The [[United States]] saw dramatic growth in the popularity of talk radio during the 1990s due to the repeal of the [[Federal Communications Commission]]'s post-war [[Fairness Doctrine]] of 1949, in 1987. The mandate of the [[Fairness Doctrine]] was to require that audiences were exposed to a diversity of viewpoints.

It had required the holders of broadcast licenses to "present controversial issues of public importance" and to do so in a manner that was, in the commission's view, "honest, equitable and balanced". Its repeal provided an opportunity for a kind of partisan political programming with commercial appeal that had not previously existed.

The most successful pioneer in the early 1990s' talk radio movement in the US was the [[American conservatism|politically conservative]] commentator [[Rush Limbaugh]]. Limbaugh's success demonstrated that there was a nationwide market for a passionately delivered conservative polemic on contemporary news, events, and social trends, and changed the face of how the talk radio business was conducted. Unrestrained (by the Fairness Doctrine), cheering for one's political party, and especially against the other, had become popular entertainment which rapidly changed the way politics nationally was discussed, perceived, and conducted.

Other radio talk show hosts (who describe themselves as either conservative or [[Right-libertarianism|libertarian]]) have also had success as nationally syndicated hosts, including [[Hugh Hewitt]], [[Sean Hannity]], [[Jon Arthur (radio host)|Jon Arthur]], [[Glenn Beck]], [[Michael Medved]], [[Laura Ingraham]], [[Neal Boortz]], [[Michael Savage (commentator)|Michael Savage]], [[Bill O'Reilly (commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]], [[Larry Gaiters]], and [[Mark Levin]].

The [[Salem Radio Network]] syndicates a group of religiously oriented Republican activists, including [[evangelicalism|evangelical]] Christian [[Hugh Hewitt]] and Jewish conservatives [[Dennis Prager]] and [[Michael Medved]]; these are mostly distributed in a 24-hour network format among Salem's stations, and they generally earn ratings much less than their syndicated counterparts.

In the summer of 2007, conservative talk show hosts mobilized public opposition to the [[Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007|McCain-Kennedy immigration reform bill]], which eventually failed.<ref>{{cite web|first=Duncan|last=Currie|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/628wcxju.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080123222723/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/628wcxju.asp|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 23, 2008|title=Beyond the Border|publisher=Weeklystandard.com|date=2008-01-22|access-date=2008-11-24}}</ref> Conservative hosts Limbaugh, Ingraham, Bennett, Prager, Hannity, Beck, Levin, and Hewitt coalesced around endorsing former Massachusetts governor [[Mitt Romney]] for [[President (government title)|president]] at the end of January 2008 (after [[Fred Thompson]], the described favorite of some of the hosts, dropped out), to oppose the nomination of Senator [[John McCain]];<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dotan.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/limbaugh-ingraham-bennett-prager-beck-hannity-levin-and-hewitt-plan-concerted-attack-on-sen-mccain-over-the-airwaves-to-promote-romneys-candidacy/|title=Limbaugh, Ingraham, Bennett, Prager, Beck, Hannity, Levin, and Hewitt plan concerted attack on Sen. McCain over the airwaves to promote Romney's candidacy|date=3 February 2008|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref> however, Romney suspended his campaign in February of the same year and endorsed McCain. During the primaries, Limbaugh in particular had endorsed a plan to do whatever it took to prolong the Democrats' nomination by encouraging political conservatives to cross over to the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] and voting for the trailing candidate, a plan he called "[[The Rush Limbaugh Show#Operation Chaos|Operation Chaos]]".

Conservative talk show hosts also lent their unified support for congressional candidate [[Doug Hoffman]], a conservative third-party candidate who was running in [[New York's 23rd congressional district special election, 2009]], against a liberal Republican ([[Dierdre Scozzafava]]) and a mainstream Democrat ([[Bill Owens (congressman)|Bill Owens]]). The unified support from the conservative base helped propel Hoffman to frontrunner status and effectively killed Scozzafava's campaign, forcing her to drop out of the race several days before the election. This effort backfired on the conservative hosts, as the Democratic candidate Owens won in part thanks to Scozzafava's endorsement of Owens. Local hosts, such as Los Angeles's [[John and Ken]], have also proven effective in influencing the political landscape.

[[Libertarianism|Libertarian]]s such as [[Dennis Miller]] (based in [[Los Angeles]]), Jon Arthur, host of ''Jon Arthur Live!'' (based in Florida), Patti Brooks [[KGMI]] (based in the Pacific Northwest), Free Talk Live (based in [[New Hampshire]]), [[Penn Jillette]] (based in [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]]), [[Jay Severin]] (based in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]]), and [[Mark Davis (talk show host)|Mark Davis]] (based in [[Fort Worth]] and [[Dallas]], [[Texas]]) have also achieved some success. Many of these hosts also publish books, write newspaper columns, appear on television, and give public lectures.

Politically [[liberal talk radio]] aimed at a national audience also emerged in the mid-2000s. [[Air America (radio network)|Air America]], a network featuring ''[[The Al Franken Show]]'', was founded in 2004. It billed itself as a "progressive alternative" to the conservative talk radio shows.

Some prominent examples of liberal talk radio shows either previously or currently in national syndication include: [[Dial Global]] talk show hosts [[Ed Schultz]] (who moved on to hosting on [[MSNBC]] and later on [[RT America]]), [[Stephanie Miller]],<ref>The Stephanie Miller Show http://www.stephaniemiller.com/</ref> [[Thom Hartmann]],<ref>The Thom Hartmann Show http://www.thomhartmann.com/</ref> and [[Bill Press]];<ref>The Bill Press Show http://www.billpressshow.com/</ref> [[Norman Goldman]]<ref>The Norman Goldman Show http://normangoldman.com {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150417200639/http://www.normangoldman.com/ |date=2015-04-17 }}</ref> (not with Dial Global and is a self-described independent) is still included on syndication stations – see [[WCPT (AM)]]. Goldman began as the high-rating fill-in host and "Senior Legal Analyst" for Ed Schultz before launching his show; [[The Young Turks (talk show)|The Young Turks]]; Fox former co-host of Hannity and Colmes, [[Alan Colmes]], First Amendment Radio Network libertarian host [[Jon Arthur]], and [[Mike Malloy]], progressive radio [[WFTE]] FM's [[Dorothy And Dick]], and Premiere's [[Randi Rhodes]] (not on radio 2015).

In some markets, local liberal hosts have existed for years, such as the British talk host [[Michael Jackson (radio commentator)|Michael Jackson]] (who was on the air at [[KABC (AM)|KABC]] in Los Angeles beginning in 1968 and is currently at [[KMZT (AM)|KMZT]]); [[Bernie Ward]] in [[San Francisco]]; Jack Ellery in New Jersey and Tampa; [[Dave Ross]] in Seattle, and [[Marc Germain]] in Los Angeles. A few earlier syndicated programs were hosted by prominent Democrats who were not experienced broadcasters, such as [[Jim Hightower]], [[Jerry Brown]], [[Mario Cuomo]], and [[Alan Dershowitz]]; these met with limited success, and Air America has been faced with various legal and financial problems.

Air America was sold to a new owner in March 2007, hired well-known programmer David Bernstein, and began its "re-birth." Bernstein subsequently left in early 2008, but the struggling network remained on the air with a revamped line-up.

On January 21, 2010, Air America radio ceased live programming citing a difficulty with the current economic environment and announced that it would file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy production and liquidate itself. The network ended operations on January 25, 2010.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/01/air_america_radio_goes_silent.html|title=Air America Radio Goes Silent, Makes Bankruptcy Filing|website=NPR.org|date=21 January 2010 |language=en|access-date=2019-09-23|last1=James |first1=Frank }}</ref>

Clear Channel/iHeartMedia, with nearly 1,300 radio stations under its ownership – along with other owners – has in recent years added more [[liberal talk]] stations to their portfolio{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}. These have primarily come from the conversion of AM facilities, most of which formerly had [[adult standards]] formats. Many complaints (all radio stations are required by the FCC to maintain, in their public files, copies of all correspondence from the public relating to station operations – for a period of three years from receipt) have been received from fans of this musical genre ([[Tony Bennett]], [[Frank Sinatra]], [[big band music]]," etc.) – but the left-leaning talk programming leans toward a much younger [[demographic]]{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}, a group that advertisers covet. More recently, however, Clear Channel has been dropping liberal formats in favor of their own [[Fox Sports Radio]] network. By 2014, most liberal talk stations had abandoned the format, forcing hosts to find other ways to distribute their programming.

Liberal opinion radio has long existed on the [[Pacifica Radio|Pacifica]] network, though only available in a small number of major cities, and in formats that more often act as a volunteer-run community forum than as a platform for charismatic hosts who would be likely to attract a large audience. The one major host to become popular on the network is [[Amy Goodman]], whose ''[[Democracy Now!]]'' interview and journalism program is broadcast nationwide.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Conservative critics have long complained that the long-format news programming on [[National Public Radio]] (NPR) shows a liberal bias, although this was disputed once in 2004 by [[Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting]] (FAIR), a ''progressive'' media criticism organization, which found that, for example, "representatives of think tanks to the right of center outnumbered those to the left of center by more than four to one: 62 appearances to 15."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1180|title=How Public Is Public Radio?|publisher=FAIR.org|date=May–June 2004|access-date=2009-05-01}}</ref>
National Public Radio itself denies any partisan agenda.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/about/ethics/ |title=NPR News Code of Ethics |publisher=National Public Radio |date=n.d. |access-date=2009-09-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090917095958/http://www.npr.org/about/ethics/ |archive-date=September 17, 2009 }} Section III of the code states that NPR "...separate<nowiki>[s]</nowiki> our personal opinions – such as an individual's religious beliefs or political ideology – from the subjects we are covering. We do not approach any coverage with overt or hidden agendas."</ref> Politically oriented talk programs on the network are in the mold of ''[[Talk of the Nation]]'', which was designed to be a soundboard for the varied opinions of listeners.

While politically oriented talk is still heard on the AM dial (mostly the conservative format), it has seen some expanding onto the FM dial. One notable example was [[WPGB]] in [[Pittsburgh]], which switched to a talk format in 2004 after years of having several different music formats, branding itself as "FM News Talk 104.7" due to the relative uncommonness of politically oriented talk on the FM side of the dial even in 2013 while FM talk, in general, has expanded. Owned by Clear Channel and stylized as one of Clear Channel's typical conservative-leaning AM talk stations, WPGB's ratings were steadily high during its time as a talk station, whereas the station's numerous music formats were among the lowest in the Pittsburgh market before switching.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/tv-radio/radio-notes-wpgb-tops-morning-drive-ratings-256997/ | work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | title=Radio notes: WPGB tops morning drive ratings – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette}}</ref> Clear Channel, which owns WPGB, has shifted some of their talk stations from full-power FM signals to lower-range translator stations which use AM or [[HD Radio]] subchannel stations to originate those broadcasts; WPGB fired its [[The War Room with Quinn and Rose|morning show]] in December 2013 and switched back to music in August 2014, selling the format rights to AM station [[WJAS]].