WYPR's firing of Marc Steiner generated much gnashing of teeth and bemoaning of the state of public radio. I don't have an opinion on Marc Steiner one way or the other; I don't listen to WYPR because its progressive tilt does not appeal to me. However, in nearly all press and opinion accounts, the comparisons of Mr. Steiner's show with conservative talk radio were vapid at best, and at worst a slur upon conservative talk-radio listeners.
Baltimore Examiner columnist Michael Olesker described Mr. Steiner's show as a format where "smart, informed people shared the news and the cultural trends of the day. ... It wasn't a chorus line of ditto-heads echoing each other's cheap shots; it was a true marketplace exchange of ideas."
Sun columnist Dan Rodricks - who is taking Mr. Steiner's place at WYPR - continued the theme: "I have never understood why people who work in public radio seem determined to appeal only to the informed 2 percent of Listener Land." (The obvious implication being that conservative talk radio is nothing more than an echo chamber for the other 98 percent of us Cro-Magnons.)
Another Sun article suggested that conservatives are not capable of "controlled discussions" and that progressive hosts like Marc Steiner do not have "blatant political slants."
All this reveals two things: Local commentators - like many others in the national mainstream media - don't know much about conservative talk radio, and they don't understand why conservative talk radio is successful, as opposed to its liberal counterparts, like Air America.
The fact is, conservative talk radio is not a monolithic agreement factory full of Rush Limbaugh's "ditto-heads" repeating what he tells them to think. John McCain's decisive win in the Maryland presidential primary proves that point; though Mr. Limbaugh has been very critical of the senator, 52 percent of voters identified as frequent talk radio listeners voted for Mr. McCain.
Confounding another liberal trope are the disagreements among conservative talk show hosts. Ron Smith and Bruce Elliott at WBAL hold diametrically opposing views on the Iraq war. Before Mr. McCain became the presumptive Republican nominee, Salem Radio personalities Hugh Hewitt and Michael Medved were at odds over the nomination, reflecting movement conservatism's row with the Republican establishment. Mr. Hewitt supported Mitt Romney, while Mr. Medved defended Mr. McCain's conservative bona fides.
