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Not a Nation I care to Live In
Jul. 10th, 2003 08:56 pmOne of the things going through my head this week...
The headline read: "Michael Savage fired from MSNBC"
Thank Goodness. What a creep. Mr. Savage is a vitriol-spewing hate-bag who broadcasts from San Francisco, strangely enough. Why this guy hasn't been gang-raped in a dark Castro alley escapes me.
His talk show (called The Savage Nation) is just him bringing his views to the masses about Borders (close 'em), Language (english-only), and Culture (what was good for the 1950's is good for him - and you). Anyone who disagrees is met with a bunch of bile. He loves to create catch phrases that his listeners can glom on to and repeat, (though not by me) creating more publicity for his show.
I've listened to my fair share of Conservative talk radio, and Savage (not his original name) is a different breed. Unlike most who at least try to bring a good argument and cite sources, Savage just goes out there and says anything he wants, just spewing from the mouth.
Don't think that this isn't calculated, he's smarter than he sounds, he knows that the only way he gets noticed among his competition is to be more outrages than they are. Sort of a twist on the Howard Stern/Jerry Springer effect. Don't worry about listener's sensibilities of community standards, just do whatever's necessary to get noticed, and people will come to see the train wreck.
So Savage got caught in a trap of his own making. MSNBC, the ratings-challenged news network wanted Savage for two reasons. 1. The wanted a conservative voice to challenge Fox News (dumb strategy) and 2. He's loud and obnoxious and noticeable. He makes publicity for himself he's there to make an ass out of himself just to grab a bigger share of the pie.
So in his 15th show, on Saturday, Savage got a call from a guy who does pranks for a radio morning show. Larry king gets these all the time, and when he was still on radio was often called by Howard Stern's flunkies. King would dismiss them and move on, quickly and professionally. Savage knows nothing of the professional demeanor of King or even his other conservative brethren.
The caller was muted before he got the name of the morning show out, MSNBC knew who this guy was. Savage, still hearing the caller didn't know this and decided to kill him with his usual kindness, calling him a "sodomite" and telling him that he was "a piece of garbage," adding to "Go eat choke a sausage and choke on it," and "get AIDS and die".
Beautiful.
So the normal dripping sarcasm from Savage was missing from the retort and the caller didn't get all the publicity that he wanted, but MSNBC stuck to their guns and fired him, despite the publicity - or maybe because of it. Savage's ratings had been miniscule and losing him certainly wasn't a loss to the struggling news channel. They wanted publicity, they got it.
Unfortunately, so did Savage. A few stations took him off the air, but this is just the thing he needed to get more people to look at him (yep, I know by writing this that I'm doing it too, but that's also what I'm commenting on). His show, losing in most markets will get more people listening, especially those that love him using the word "sodomite" in such a directly offensive way.
Trust me, he still has his supporters. There's plenty of people who want to hear someone who hates immigrants, women and gays. the man has no business being on a 'news network' if you can indeed. call CNN, Fox News and MSNBC such a thing. They have become infotainment - news delivered to titillate or provoke, not to inform.
Savage says he was set up by the caller and apologized to his "many listeners in the gay community." Really? I surely doubt that.
Set up? With television not his finest medium and his ratings falling, I'm pretty sure he set himself up. You know he needs the publicity.
The headline read: "Michael Savage fired from MSNBC"
Thank Goodness. What a creep. Mr. Savage is a vitriol-spewing hate-bag who broadcasts from San Francisco, strangely enough. Why this guy hasn't been gang-raped in a dark Castro alley escapes me.
His talk show (called The Savage Nation) is just him bringing his views to the masses about Borders (close 'em), Language (english-only), and Culture (what was good for the 1950's is good for him - and you). Anyone who disagrees is met with a bunch of bile. He loves to create catch phrases that his listeners can glom on to and repeat, (though not by me) creating more publicity for his show.
I've listened to my fair share of Conservative talk radio, and Savage (not his original name) is a different breed. Unlike most who at least try to bring a good argument and cite sources, Savage just goes out there and says anything he wants, just spewing from the mouth.
Don't think that this isn't calculated, he's smarter than he sounds, he knows that the only way he gets noticed among his competition is to be more outrages than they are. Sort of a twist on the Howard Stern/Jerry Springer effect. Don't worry about listener's sensibilities of community standards, just do whatever's necessary to get noticed, and people will come to see the train wreck.
So Savage got caught in a trap of his own making. MSNBC, the ratings-challenged news network wanted Savage for two reasons. 1. The wanted a conservative voice to challenge Fox News (dumb strategy) and 2. He's loud and obnoxious and noticeable. He makes publicity for himself he's there to make an ass out of himself just to grab a bigger share of the pie.
So in his 15th show, on Saturday, Savage got a call from a guy who does pranks for a radio morning show. Larry king gets these all the time, and when he was still on radio was often called by Howard Stern's flunkies. King would dismiss them and move on, quickly and professionally. Savage knows nothing of the professional demeanor of King or even his other conservative brethren.
The caller was muted before he got the name of the morning show out, MSNBC knew who this guy was. Savage, still hearing the caller didn't know this and decided to kill him with his usual kindness, calling him a "sodomite" and telling him that he was "a piece of garbage," adding to "Go eat choke a sausage and choke on it," and "get AIDS and die".
Beautiful.
So the normal dripping sarcasm from Savage was missing from the retort and the caller didn't get all the publicity that he wanted, but MSNBC stuck to their guns and fired him, despite the publicity - or maybe because of it. Savage's ratings had been miniscule and losing him certainly wasn't a loss to the struggling news channel. They wanted publicity, they got it.
Unfortunately, so did Savage. A few stations took him off the air, but this is just the thing he needed to get more people to look at him (yep, I know by writing this that I'm doing it too, but that's also what I'm commenting on). His show, losing in most markets will get more people listening, especially those that love him using the word "sodomite" in such a directly offensive way.
Trust me, he still has his supporters. There's plenty of people who want to hear someone who hates immigrants, women and gays. the man has no business being on a 'news network' if you can indeed. call CNN, Fox News and MSNBC such a thing. They have become infotainment - news delivered to titillate or provoke, not to inform.
Savage says he was set up by the caller and apologized to his "many listeners in the gay community." Really? I surely doubt that.
Set up? With television not his finest medium and his ratings falling, I'm pretty sure he set himself up. You know he needs the publicity.
