KEN'S KORNER -SEPTEMBER 2008
FORGET TV - I LOVE RADIO
BY AUTHOR, EDUCATOR & DRIVER KEN SKAGGS
A friend of mine asked me, “How do you do it?” He was referring to the long days and sometimes weeks I spend on the road. I’ve also been asked several times why I don’t have a TV in my truck. It’s true – after all these years of trucking, I never really had a TV in my truck. Well, I did once, for just a few weeks, and it just got in my way. I eventually thought of a better idea for that shelf space. The truth is, I’d rather listen to the radio. I enjoy radio much more than TV. There are a lot more choices on the radio and it helps the miles go by faster.
To me, TV’s are a hassle. You arrive in a strange town and spend ten minutes going up and down the dial, and for what? A fuzzy station showing a new sitcom you never heard of with too much laughing from the crowd. Or a local newscast that offers just as many commercials as it does shortened news stories. No thanks. I’d rather hear radio. Full news stories with plenty of elaboration and opinion. I want to know the weather and traffic conditions. I need an occasional fix of classic rock, blues, heavy metal and bluegrass. Now that’s entertainment – and I like it all – from sermons on a Sunday morning to Phil Hendrie at night.
I like to get into the local culture, too. Whenever I pass through Louisiana, I have to find some zydeco. When I get near Memphis or St. Louis, I need some blues or jazz. College towns call for some alternative rock, or maybe public radio. I can’t drive through Kentucky or Tennessee unless there is some bluegrass playing. Speaking of local culture, I also like to get some of the local food wherever I go, like steak sandwiches in Philadelphia, bread-bowls of clam chowder in San Francisco (or even a small east coast town), barbecue in Texas, tacos in any south-western state, hot dogs in Chicago, pizza in New York (I’m getting hungry now), but that’s another article.
Radio is my thing. I grew up on it. I remember when AM radio played top-40 hits and nobody listened to FM. Then, later on, top-40 music seemed to die away and everybody started listening to FM. Nobody listened to AM for a while. Nowadays, of course, AM radio is back on top, big-time, with conservative talk shows. I like most of them; Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Michael Medved, Dr. Laura, Bill O’Reilly, even Michael Savage. The only conservative I don’t really like is Neal Boortz. I can’t explain why, but that guy just gets on my nerves. There’s just something about his personality that clashes with mine. Even when I agree with him he still bugs me. Maybe it’s the way he always thinks he’s right, even when he’s not.
Rush Limbaugh always thinks he’s right, but he usually is, so I still like to listen to him. No personality clash there. He has had the number one radio show in the country for about fifteen years straight now. And I think he deserves it. He laid down the foundation for conservative talk and showed everybody else what works – personality, intellectual honesty, a sense of humor and a good grasp of the issues. He often jokes about his show transcripts being taken by armored car to his “wing” at the radio hall of fame, but I think one day there will be a complete building dedicated to him. He was the pioneer, the original conservative talker. Who would have ever guessed, not only that he would be on top for so long, but also that the market had room for so many more to follow him and reach radio stardom doing basically the same thing.
I try to listen to more liberal talk shows every once in a while, but so far I haven’t found one that entertains and informs the way most of the conservative shows do. Alan Colmes is one I like to listen to. He’s about the only one on the left that I think is well informed and intellectually honest, though not all that entertaining. All the others just seem to make things up as they go along and really say anything just to kill time. In case anyone reading this is wondering why liberal talk shows don’t achieve the same heights and recognition as conservatives, I’ll tell you why – it’s the same exact things that made Limbaugh so famous – personality, a sense of humor, a good grasp of the issues, and, above all, intellectual honesty. People see through the crap. That’s why I think Alan Colmes is on top on the left – he is intellectually honest.
For a real radio fan like me, you can’t talk about radio without mentioning Phil Hendrie twice. He cracks me up. It makes my day when I’m scanning the dial and it finds him. His phony guests are just hilarious. Greaseman is pretty funny too, although he is not as widely syndicated. There doesn’t seem to be enough funny people anymore. I love a good bit with a fake character. Comedy is one thing that I can’t seem to get enough of. You can still find a few funny guys here and there, but not like it used to be before talk radio got so serious. Some of the funniest shows I’ve ever heard were small-time guys in medium sized markets, that I only heard once or twice and then forgot their name.
There are a lot of talented people out there on the radio and you never know what you’ll find from one town to the next. Most “normal” people who commute to work in their car have a favorite radio station or two, but I’d like to urge all of you to push the “scan” button on your radio and see what else is out there. Even if you never leave your area, there is probably a good show on right now that you never knew about that will not only enlighten and entertain you, but it just might also help your drive go by faster.