From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Talk radio are radio stations and programs which focus on holding some sort of public discussions. Listeners participate in the programs by calling a phone number, usually speaking to a call screener who selects the most interesting callers before reaching the actual talk show host. Many political talk radio hosts tend to antagonize their callers (and vice versa), often by engaging in shouting matches, interrupting frequently, and simply hanging up on them.
The first radio station to adopt an all talk show format was KMOX, 1120 AM in St. Louis, MO. Legendary station manager Robert Hyland developed the format after he arrived at the station in 1960. At the time, KMOX had seen its ratings slip to the bottom of the St. Louis market, the result of the popularity of AM "Top 40" music radio stations. Almost immediately, KMOX became the highest rated radio station in St. Louis, a position it has held for forty years.
In the late 1970s, as more and more listeners abandoned AM music formats for the cleaner sound of the FM dial, the Talk Radio format began to catch on in more large cities. Former legendary music stations such as WLW/Cincinnati, WHAS/Louisville, WHAM/Rochester, NY, WLS/Chicago, KFI/Los Angeles. and WABC/New York made the switch to all-talk as their ratings slumped from the listener migration. In addition to AM, many talk radio programs can be found on NPR (National Public Radio).
In the 1990s in the United States it grew to heretofore unseen popularity, primarily due to the popularity of programs by controversial right-wing political conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy, Matt Drudge (Los Angeles), Bill O'Reilly, and Michael Reagan, libertarians such as Neal Boortz, Gary Nolan, and "shock jock" Howard Stern.
There have been many other subjects of discussion in talk radio, including advice about morality (for example, from Dr. Joy or Dr. Laura), mental health (from David Viscott), computers (Leo Laporte, Kim Komando), cooking, consumer advocacy (e.g., Clark Howard), automobiles (for example, Car Talk), and finance (Bob Brinker's Money Talk, Dave Ramsey).
Others specialize in talk radio comedy such as Phil Hendrie. George Noory hosts the late-night talk radio show Coast to Coast AM, which deals with paranormal topics.
See also: talk show
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