From: Jasper
Date: 1/12/01
Time: 9:30:31 AM
Every time I do a radio call-in show I know in advance that it will be structured in a way that will either permit me to make my case or they will say things that make a reasoned conversation impossible. Sometimes I can tell which it is going to be by the format of the show.
For instance, I have done nine or ten shows on rock stations; seven with Iago and one with The Invisible Warriors. I don?t do interviews on rock stations anymore because one hundred percent of the disk jockeys who interviewed me on stations with that format have been hard-core racists or jerks who were certain that I was an idiot and treated everything I said accordingly. The people who called in usually reflected the mind-set of the host and there was, in retrospect, nothing that I could have reasonably expected to gained that was worth the hassle. I?m not saying that Rock-jocks or the people who listen to them are racists or jerks, just the ones who felt comfortable in coming in showing those aspects of themselves with me.
I had similar experiences with conservative talk shows, only they seem to fall into extreme categories of hosts who are very, very sharp or very, very stupid. It doesn?t matter which because neither asks for the interview to learn anything or even to have an honest exchange of opposing views. I now by my some my friends and you know by Charlie (who is a Conservative) that these people do not represent honest conservative opinion. Honest Conservatives are horrified by any abuse of government power where individual rights are concerned. But I didn?t say anything about honest opinion as far as O.J. Simpson is concerned. I usually discover very quickly that my only reason for being invited on those shows is to give the hosts an excuse to expound on something they feel strongly about with someone they think is a weak opponent. These are the shows where the host usually pulls the plug when he boxes himself in.
One thing I learned was that some of these shows that you think are live - even some listener-call in shows - are not broadcast live. Some parts are, and some parts aren?t. Depending on how well an interview goes from the host?s point of view, that interview may or may not be broadcast. I found that out when I did what I thought was a local call-in show two years ago somewhere in Florida. The host was extremely polite, will-informed and quick on his feet. The show went exceedingly well for me because he kept asking questions he was sure I didn?t have a reasonable answer for. I surprised him every time. I recognized his technique. He was trying to give me plenty of rope to hang myself. Only it wasn?t working. Toward the end, I could tell that he wasn?t nearly as sure about O.J.?s guilt and Fuhrman?s innocence that he was when we started. It was the best interview I ever did - but I got no responses from it on this site or in my e-mail.
Two days later the NPR station I stay tuned to was running a fund-raiser or some other thing (I really can?t remember what it was) that caused me punch into a Detroit call-in show I used to listen to sometimes. The host sounded familiar but I couldn?t place who he was. Then there was a station identification break and I found out that they guy I was listening to was subbing for Rush Limbauh and the program was being broadcast nationally from Florida. I still didn?t catch on that the substitute host was the man I talked to a couple of days before until I heard a man call in to ridicule top-ten lists of "most admire people." One list he quoted included the name O.J. Simpson. It was the same caller I heard when I was on the line waiting to go on the air. He and the host were engaging in the same banter. I realized then that the show I did was taped and I was listening to the segue. I got all excited, round up some people at work and had them listen to the show. I told them that I was going to be next.
Well, you know that I wasn?t next. It was another caller talking about an event that had happened only that morning. This was clearly happening in real time, and you can imagine my shock when I heard it. You can imaging how confused I was at first by what I didn?t hear and how pissed I was when I realized what would have happened if I?d crashed and burned. If I had mad a fool of myself you can bet your boots that the interview would have been broadcast in full. ---Jasper