Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Limbaugh and Stern

True confession time: When I’m not listening to Bruce Springsteen on my iPod, I listen to a lot of talk radio. And two favorite talkers are Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern. (Granted, I probably add a couple of decades to my stint in Purgatory every time I tune into Stern, but isn’t that what Purgatory is for?) So I really liked an Ann Althouse post that riffed on Limbaugh, Stern, and blogging. Money quote, but do go read the whole thing:

[Limbaugh says:] “You know, I’ve had a problem with substance abuse. I don’t deal with the future anymore. I take things one day at a time.”

That last line is self-deprecating and (I think) humorous, but I think he knows that doing things day-by-day keeps the show alive and makes it work. It’s what works in blogging too. If you have a whole planned agenda and you just crank out the propaganda, people will get sick of you. It’s when you are talking/writing to figure out what you think, to find out what you want to say, that you are interesting. (They didn’t do that on Air America.)

...

“Rush is just an amazing radio performer,” says Ira Glass, a star of the younger generation of public-radio personalities. “Years ago, I used to listen in the car on my way to reporting gigs, and I’d notice that I disagreed with everything he was saying, yet I not only wanted to keep listening, I actually liked him. That is some chops. You can count on two hands the number of public figures in America who can pull that trick off.”

Glass compares Limbaugh to another exceptional free-form radio monologist, Howard Stern. “A lot of people dismiss them both as pandering and proselytizing and playing to the lowest common denominator, but I think that misses everything important about their shows,” he says. “They both think through their ideas in real time on the air, they both have a lot more warmth than they’re generally given credit for, they both created an entire radio aesthetic.”

Glass — who is one of the public figures in America who should be counted on those 2 hands — is absolutely right about Limbaugh and Stern. That explains very well why I listen to all 3 men. (IMPORTANT NOTE: Rush, Howard, and I have the same birthday.)

What Limbaugh and Stern have in common is that they are both masters of their medium. Both can be outrageous, offensive, and off the wall, but both can make “must listen” radio. Just as Althouse can make “must read” blogging.

As for me, my guess is that Althouse would lump me into the category of those who “have a whole planned agenda,” but I’m really just making this stuff up as I go along. I have three hobbies: cooking, wine collecting, and blogging. My blogging’s a lot like my cooking and wine drinking: it all depends on what I’m in the mood for.