Savaged
By Mitch Berg
I listen, occasionally, to Michael Savage for about the same reasons I occasionally listen to Steve Vai. The material itself bores me stiff, but the sheer technique is fascinating.
Savage has mastered the art of pushing listeners’ buttons; he is a virtuoso of manipulative talk-radio technique. And, like any virtuoso, watching them riffing can get pretty dull after you watch the same arpeggio for a while.
So I don’t listen much anymore.
But this view into life behind the scenes on the Savage show…:
Kicking off hour three of last night’s live broadcast, Savage dropped the “F-bomb” onto unsuspecting affiliates from coast- to- coast.
While some sharp- eared station board operators may have kept the offending words from reaching the airwaves, it’s highly likely that most were unable to catch it.
…is interesting, if only because it’s so much like a day at the NARN with Chad, Brian and King.
(And you can tell Brian Maloney’s been in the bigs too long; he thinks most of Savage’s stations have actual live board operators…)
February 2nd, 2007 at 2:56 pm
We know they don’t have anyone there. AM1280 has doubled up news and comercials at 6:30 AM three times this week. Or is that a revenue maximizing strategy?
February 2nd, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Just out of curiosity Mitch, what’s the potential liability for something like this?
Is it a set fine per F-bomb times the number of affiliates who broadcast it? And if so (a) what’s the per incident fine and (b) how many affiliates broadcast this smut?
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Frankly, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened years ago to Savage. After reading his first political book, he strikes me as someone who can, with a full head of steam, cuss the wallpaper off the wall.