2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumDid Putin get Trump's team listen to 1000's of hours of talk radio in 2014?
Last edited Wed Jan 11, 2017, 01:13 PM - Edit history (1)
If Putin and whatever the KGB morphed into wanted to undermine American democracy and standing in the world, why not use Republican talk radio? It’s been working overtime on the same objectives for 30 years.
Their goals are so similar that talk radio gods like Limbaugh have transitioned seamlessly into defending Putin vs US intelligence services. At least he’s not a commie Democrat. And he sure the hell isn’t Hillary Clinton.
In “Operation Trump” (April 3, 2016, New York Magazine), Gabriel Sherman wrote:
Throughout 2014, the three (Roger Stone, Michael Cohen, and Sam Nunberg) fed Trump strategy memos and political intelligence. “I listened to thousands of hours of talk radio, and he (Trump) was getting reports from me,” Nunberg recalled. What those reports said was that the GOP base was frothing over a handful of issues including immigration, Obamacare, and Common Core.
Was Trump smarter than the thousands of political strategists, writers, and politicians who routinely ignore talk radio? Why would he invest ‘1000’s of hours’ of high cost brain work in that effort?
For those looking for corroboration between Trump and Putin maybe there are clues there. Are Trump or any of his minions on record mentioning or hinting who may have come up with that bright idea?
Why would Trump study it?
Who could convince him to do that, to invest his time and resources in that, and for what goal?
The US Army PSYOPS Manual has high praise for radio as a propaganda tool (Psychological Operations Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures 12/2003 - available online). Some excerpts, via republiconradio.org:
Repetition is necessary for oral learning; therefore, key themes, phrases, or slogans should be repeated to ensure the TA (target audience) gets the desired message.
Talk radio is much better than TV, print, and internet for doing just that.
According to the PSYOPS manual, advantages of radio include:
Emotional Power: A skilled radio announcer can exert tremendous influence on the listener simply with pitch, resonance, inflection, or timing. and The emotional tone conveyed by the voice may influence the listener more than the logic of arguments.
Or, as Limbaugh would call it, "talent on loan from god".
Wide coverage: Radio programs can reach members of large and varied audiences simultaneously.
And, Since radio can reach mass TAs quickly, radio is useful for all types of PSYOPs.
Speed: Radio programs can be quickly prepared for broadcast. Speed is important when attempting to capitalize on targets of opportunity.
Perfect for spinning and distorting breaking news.
Ease of perception: Radio requires little or no effort to visualize the radio message. Illiteracy does not prevent the listener from forming his individual image as he listens.
Somehow, most Americans think a few hundred think tank-coordinated liars repeating the same talking points from a well-protected monopoly of 1200 radio stations is just another expression of free speech.
Russians observing American politics the last 30 years would recognize it as a propaganda operation.
The best part for Republicans, and Putin, is that there is still no record to read or study. It’s a perfect propaganda operation, ignored and invisible to those who it attacks.
When it comes to the role of talk radio, American political and media analysts trying to figure out what happened to our democracy might as well be studying fish without water.
The internet has been getting recognition as a major source of disinformation lately but talk radio is the only major medium with NO direct political counterpart. Talk radio blowhards can lie all they want and repeat the same lies over and over without being noticed until it hits the MSM and its too late to correct. For the same reason the effects and results of that propaganda are usually always then analyzed without considering talk radio and explained without mentioning talk radio.
When Drudge or Breitbart publish fake news only radio can spread and repeat it for weeks and years all over the red states and give it serious ongoing buzz with weight and momentum in the MSM.
The Russians wanted Trump to win and 1200 coordinated radio stations played a big part in their success. Now they will lead the defense of Putin's interference in our election.
And this morning at 9AM PT Limbaugh will again begin laying out a growing smorgasbord of prechewed excuses and rationalizations for the media and faithful Putin stooges to browse on.
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LaydeeBug
(10,291 posts)certainot
(9,090 posts)limbaugh's saying net neutrality will allow big (liberal) govt to shut down con web sites!
and competition will lower cost and expand wifi! same argument the shits used for a decade to push the tel com act in 96.
betsuni
(27,255 posts)
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)And then Nunberg advised Trump.
Anyway, I certainly agree that talk radio is impactful. Of course, I also think there's a lot of confirmation bias at play. People turn to the likes of Limbaugh because they share his point of view. More than anything, talk radio fires up the base and gets out the vote.
A base, by the way, that wasn't frothing over trade agreements or jobs.
certainot
(9,090 posts)he wouldn't be listening to and summarizing it on his own time.
on
confirmation bias
in most of the US including 40 states with 80 senators there are NO free easy alts for politics while driving or working.
rw talk raido doesn't just confirm to the faithful or reflect their political 'market', it creates the dominant buzz in much of the us. and it has secondary and tertiary effects outside of the avid listener. there are millions of casual listeners driving and working, trying to get some current events or politics or weather, sports, etc before going home to the tv and family, and the 95% to 5% rw monopoly is protected to ensure there is only one message.
it is a psyops, not a reflection of 'demand' in any way. it's mom and pop vs wall mart and ignoring that continues to be the biggest political mistake in history. there's not much time to start fixing that.
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)...makes it sound like Trump himself was the one who was oh so smart and dedicated to study those many hours of talk radio. Trump has the attention span of a gnat, according to his biographer.
Again, I think talk radio has an impact. I think the biggest impact is keeping the base fired up enough to vote. And that's huge. They have to be hammered repeatedly with nonsense so as to not lose faith and energy.
But I'd bet most of the people listening to Limbaugh today are the same people who listened yesterday and the day before that and the day before that and the day before that. I suspect most have their preset stations and stick with those. There are some who just happen upon talk radio and might be swayed to believe something they wouldn't otherwise believe, but I'm not sure that's a large number of folks. I could, of course, be wrong about that. I haven't seen any evidence to support or dispute that. I can certainly be swayed by solid evidence that talk radio is converting a substantial number of people.
My hunch is that those who believe the nonsense that's spewed by Limbaugh, Savage, Hannity and the rest are, for the most part, inclined to believe that nonsense. People driving around aren't blank slates. Their upbringing, personality type, education, brain chemistry and much more all play a role.
There is far more right wing talk radio than left wing talk radio, because that's the way corporate sponsors like it. There's a good deal of community radio, which is often progressive, but it relies upon public funding and doesn't reach nearly as far. So I agree that it's akin to Wal-Mart vs. mom and pop.
certainot
(9,090 posts)but i agree someone else had to think of it. it sounds like something the russians, observers from outside of the country and familiar with propaganda operations, had to sell to him or his guys and then pass on to him. i suppose its also possible he might have not wanted to pay for it and got the russians to pay for.
i think the effect of coordinated repetition of the same material from 1200 unchallenged radio stations has widespread secondary and tertiary effects. it reaches 50 mil a week and a lot of that in 40 states/ 80 senators where there are no free easy alternatives. the primary listeners and believers spread it to the apathetic and the too-busy and everyone in rural communities was hearing the hillary lies reinforced from different sources, for instance. dinner table, bar, barber shop, checkout line, work - the alternate reality is ubiquitous
liberals have to challenge it directly in real time to get them to question and doubt the talk radio gods
Orsino
(37,428 posts)(Theirs, actually.)
mopinko
(71,741 posts)those radio stations, because they follow you around, and are a background voice much of the time, just slip past a lot of filters.
we really need to take this on. what happened w air america should be studied. and one thing that the party should wear the jacket for- what candidates took out any air time on aa? none.
to this day i am po'd at john kerry. a few big ad buys from him might just have helped the whole thing get off the ground.
they pay off the teevee people w their campaign money, but not a radio station from our side. that has to stop. .
certainot
(9,090 posts)are long gone. it wall mart vs mom and pop.
obama just again mentioned talk radio and totally ignored - again, by the left
liberals need to protest those universities until media notices. gop will freak out and advertisers will flee. the monopoly can't survive that.
then things will open up.