Using radio to inflict painI don't know what it is about right wingers and their incessant need to put down a certain class or segment of our national community but there it is nevertheless. Don Imus' unceremonious exit has not even faded from our topical consciousness and the public is being greeted with another conservative radio "personality" to fill the intellectual void with even more vacuousness. We learn that MSNBC is replacing their simulcast with another Imus clone: Michael Smerconish. Media Matters gives us the bad news:
"According to an April 20 article on Philly.com, the website of The Philadelphia Inquirer, "The Big Talker 1210 AM morning show of Daily News columnist Michael Smerconish is to be simulcast Monday through Wednesday on MSNBC." The article noted that Smerconish will fill the slot previously held by Imus in the Morning. MSNBC announced on April 11 that it would no longer broadcast Imus [...]"
Then we are given several examples of Smerconish's "shtick." This one in particular stands out because of it's snide aside to gays:
"Substituting for host Bill O'Reilly on the April 4, 2006, broadcast of The Radio Factor, Smerconish repeatedly discussed "the sissification of America," claiming that political correctness has made the United States "a nation of sissies." Smerconish also claimed, several times, that this "sissification" and "limp-wristedness" is "compromising our ability to win the war on terror."
At the point it is not that big of a stretch to come to the conclusion that the only reason right wing radio is able to succeed is by appealing to the lowest common denominator of human beings. MSNBC must be aware of this formula because their search didn't take long. All they had to do was dig deeper than Imus and see what was underneath to continue that success. Congratulations MSNBC. Your probing of those depths just hit pay dirt.
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