Posted by Ir (Helen) on: 07.19.2006 /
On his blog, Hemant (the eBay atheist) just wrote about a radio show on which the guest a) ranted about the opposing viewpoint and b) showed no interest in trying to have a calm reasoned dialog with anyone who holds that viewpoint.
Hemant closed with:
[Here's] why I like Off the Map and this blog. The people who comment publicly and write me privately come from a whole variety of backgrounds, but they want to have these dialogues without resorting to one-way diatribes.
The question is how we get people to listen to this type of conversation instead of the voices on both extremes who are unwilling to admit any weak points at all.
It’s a great question.
I wonder where the problem lies. Is it that people wouldn’t listen? Or is it that radio hosts don’t think people would listen, so they don’t invite people on their shows who would have calm reasoned dialog? Is it that hosts have trouble finding people willing to have calm reasoned dialog?
Must radio shows air rants if they want high ratings?
What do you think?
Leave a Reply
Comment by: Julie Marie
1 07/19/06 10:21 AM | Comment Link |ya gotta wonder. The Jerry Springer show, for instance. Just who was watching that? Someone evidently…it was on for many years. Granted, that was TV, where you can show lots of drama visually.
I wonder, do the radio hosts generally pick types that agree with their POV to speak? I know, for instance, Focus on the Family would NEVER invite someone who didn’t tow the “party” line to hold the microphone for a few minutes. Are the atheist radio shows equally as protective of their airtime?
Comment by: Siamang
2 07/19/06 11:44 AM | Comment Link |Julie,
ARE there any atheist radio shows?
This was about the NPR Radio News Quiz Show “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me!”
I think the only currently running atheist radio shows are on the internet, and they don’t have time constraints.
Comment by: Eliza
3 07/19/06 12:43 PM | Comment Link |To clarify, Hemant was talking about two rants by the guest which he heard at the taping of the show, and which the host mentioned to the audience, but which were cut from the final show. (This is a news quiz show, not a show by or about atheists or christians.)
Ira Glass, host of the NPR show “This American Life”, is an atheist. He’s quoted as saying so (though not using that term) in an interview from 2000 here and said so (using the term “atheist”) on stage with Julia Sweeney in Seattle this spring. (I was in the audience). But while his show has touched on religion now and again, it’s quite eclectic; it isn’t a show about atheism by any stretch of the imagination. And usually the topics are non-religious.
Comment by: Julie Marie
4 07/20/06 5:46 AM | Comment Link |ARe there atheist radio shows?
I’ve assumed the links provided from time to time here were to radio shows; I didn’t realize they were internet based. Technology is several steps ahead of me.
Comment by: Ian
5 07/20/06 10:17 PM | Comment Link |actual civil conversations and dialogues aren`t sexy enough to draw the required commercial interest. ABC (Disney),CBS (Viacom) ,FOX (News Corp) ,CNN (Time/Warner,NBC (G.E) they are all businesses and dealing with insightful indepth discussions about issues doesn`t get the big bucks in . There has to be 1 or a 0 talking point to butt heads to simplify (dumb down) the issues to hurry it up , get to the yelling and the uncivil discourse so we can get a soundbyte and get to the commercials .
There has to be arguments/diatribes/polemics whether it between christian/athiest or between left/right. The radio shows we think of aren`t adding anything to the national (or in my case international :) ) conversation..it is big time wrestling without the spandex and steel cages.
Comment by: everett
6 07/25/06 12:16 PM | Comment Link |the media industry as a whole i do believe is ratings based. the higher the ratings the better advertisements they can sell the higher the price tag and so goes the fourth estate. like politics which are poll driven the media is ratings based. the web has become a better place to post blogs where people can get their views across without some one saying time for a commercial break we need to pay our bills.