About Fox brainwashing millions and hate Radio dominating rural areas.

[Kaleva]

Only a tiny percentage of adults in the US tune into Fox each night. About 2 million out of a population of 250,000,000+ adults.

https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/thursday-sept-9-scoreboard-fox-news-once-again-outrates-msnbc-and-cnns-combined-audiences/488559/

https://www.reference.com/world-view/many-adults-live-usa-b830ecdfb6047660

While one sees numerous articles about how Fox dominates cable news, you don't see many comparing Fox to the broadcast news networks. ABC World News Tonight alone has about 4 times the viewers that Fox News Primetime has.

"Nielsen data for the week of Aug. 30, 2021 is in, and ABC World News Tonight with David Muir was once again the most-watched show on television, averaging 8.52 million total viewers for the week. It also remained the top evening newscast among adults 25-54, averaging 1.66 million from the key demo....

NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt averaged 1.36 million adults 25-54 and 7.12 million total viewers this past week, which is the newscast’s largest average audience in 25 weeks....

CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 5.16 million total viewers this past week, the show’s largest average audience for a week since April, and +10% more than what it averaged the previous week. "

https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/week-of-aug-30-evening-news-ratings-world-news-tonight-remains-no-1-and-posts-year-over-year-growth-among-adults-25-54/488232/

Looking at the number of viewers each news show gets and roughly totaling them up, it appears that about 10% of the adult population in the US watch the news each evening and much of that is dominated by ABC, CBS and NBC.

Based on the above, I find it hard to believe that Fox is capable of brainwashing half the country or a quarter of it or even 10% of it.

As for Hate Radio dominating the airwaves in rural areas, I have yet to find sources that would either confirm this for refute it. The best I've come up with so far is a list of radio stations located in Upper Michigan and norther Wisconsin. Out of over a 100 FM radio stations listed 2 are talk radio. Out of 21 AM stations listed, 5 are news/talk and 2 are talk. Of these, the only one I can verify is RW Radio is WERL out of Eagle River, Wisconsin. Clearly, at least in rural Upper Michigan, hate radio does not dominate the airwaves.

http://www.michiguide.com/up/

The idea that Fox and hate radio have brainwashed a large segment of the population is based on, IMHO, on belief rather then facts.

[samplegirl]

1. Somebody is watching

Soon as Tucker Carlson opens his trap people ran to get horse dewormer. They have been brainwashing for decades. Haven’t forgotten the Hannity And Colmes days when I tuned in to see what lies were being told.

[Kaleva]

3. Yes but very few when compared to the adult population as a whole.

[LakeVermilion]

25. I think we miss the larger conservative reinforcement mechanism...

Christian radio is massive in rural America. A lot of it is locally produced, but they work the right wing doctrine into their conversations.

[SharonAnn]

43. Exactly. My sales territory was rural. Only Christian and RW talk radio.

Had to go to audio books and recorded music.

[Evan1980]

41. I wonder how many of their viewers are Democrats.

You admit that you used to watch. Given the sheer number of comments and articles by Democrats about Fox, I wouldn’t be surprised if we are a significant percentage of their viewership. Sorta like the Howard Stern effect where people who hated him listened to his show more than his fans.

[eShirl]

2. they watch clips on Fascbook

[hlthe2b]

4. As for conservative radio dominating the past 2 1/2 decades, you've never driven across

"flyover" country, have you? What world have you been living in?

Yes, it most certainly has and does.

The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/reports/2007/06/20/3087/the-structural-imbalance-of-political-talk-radio/

Talk Radio Is Turning Millions of Americans Into Conservatives
The medium is at the heart of Trumpism.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/09/opinion/talk-radio-conservatives-trumpism.html


https://newrepublic.com/article/157926/rights-reign-air-waves
The Right’s Reign on the Air Waves
How talk radio established the power of the modern Republican Party


Understanding the Rise of Talk Radio
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41319965

Why All The Talk-Radio Stars Are Conservative
https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2015/07/13/why-all-the-talk-radio-stars-are-conservative/?sh=6f3ade2b2788

Right-Wing Radio Monopoly and the Myth of the Liberal Media
https://www.aristotle.com/blog/2014/09/right-wing-radio-monopoly-and-the-myth-of-the-liberal-media/



Do you assume all these rural residents are listening to paid SIRIUS_XM or other content? Because AM radio is nothing but conservative talk radio and that has very much slopped over into FM as well.

***********************

Not to mention, it is not only FOX, but Sinclair that has taken over local tv stations throughout rural areas


Sinclair, the pro-Trump, conservative company taking over local news, explained
Sinclair reaches 40 percent of households — and soon will reach 72 percent.
https://www.vox.com/2018/4/3/17180020/sinclair-broadcast-group-conservative-trump-david-smith-local-news-tv-affiliate



I'd really like to know what brought you to this thesis?

[Kaleva]

6. Again, here is what I found about radio where I live in Upper Michigan

"As for Hate Radio dominating the airwaves in rural areas, I have yet to find sources that would either confirm this for refute it. The best I've come up with so far is a list of radio stations located in Upper Michigan and norther Wisconsin. Out of over a 100 FM radio stations listed 2 are talk radio. Out of 21 AM stations listed, 5 are news/talk and 2 are talk. Of these, the only one I can verify is RW Radio is WERL out of Eagle River, Wisconsin. Clearly, at least in rural Upper Michigan, hate radio does not dominate the airwaves."

http://www.michiguide.com/up/

[hlthe2b]

28. You are seriously out of touch applying this to all rural areas. Are you just outside Detroit or

another suburban area? That and other areas of SUBURBIA is NOT rural America.

And what you are passing on, whether you realize or not, strikes me as a meme in defense of Fox and other RW media consolidation...

I'd give it some thought before passing this along. It is not only wrong, but I can't imagine why you would WANT to belive it?

Oh, and btw, guess who just bought the leading (albeit often disgusting) purveyer of celebrity culture, TMZ--yup. Murdoch and FOX "NEWS"... So, now they can brainwash the rest of the low information viewers, 'readers,' and listeners.

Fox buys TMZ from WarnerMedia, deepening its ties with the gossip brand.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/business/fox-tmz-warner-media.html

[Kaleva]

37. Can you quote the part where I said this applies to all rural areas?

This is what i said:

"As for Hate Radio dominating the airwaves in rural areas, I have yet to find sources that would either confirm this for refute it. The best I've come up with so far is a list of radio stations located in Upper Michigan and norther Wisconsin. Out of over a 100 FM radio stations listed 2 are talk radio. Out of 21 AM stations listed, 5 are news/talk and 2 are talk. Of these, the only one I can verify is RW Radio is WERL out of Eagle River, Wisconsin. Clearly, at least in rural Upper Michigan, hate radio does not dominate the airwaves."

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=15853061

This is the 3rd time I've said the above in this thread.

[hlthe2b]

42. You just did. Your very first bolded sentence.

You know that the sentence you JUST posted says just that. The word "all" does not have to appear in a declarative sentence making a global claim.

I give you credit for trying to walk away from it, though. At least it appears you know when you've posted something ridiculously nonfactual. The question remains, why? Unless you have stock in Fox Corp., Sinclair Broadcast, Cumulus, or Clear Channel/IHeart Radio, I can't imagine why it would be so important to diminish the role of far RW monopoly in radio, tv, and other broadcasts upon rural America--especially to those posting on a very counter-based politically progressive web forum.

[Hortensis]

29. Those who drive across the mountain and midwest states at night

(the ones I have experience with) will find that very conservative radio stations boost or maintain high power so that they're heard from often hundreds of miles away while other stations mostly disappear. I first realized that when I found that the amazing station I was listening to while driving across the Nevada desert was in the midwest. But it was repeated other times elsewhere.

I've never forgotten driving through the lonely desert at night listening to this kind of thing: Like a paternalistic adviser counseling 3 women gathered for the purpose that they were right to fear credit cards and the evil plotters offering them because women couldn't handle them; but apparently they were being seduced to evil by the introductory offers, so he explained it was okay to take advantage of them as long as they cut the cards up as soon as they got the incentive for opening them. How to protect morality by stealing. Another claimed CIA agents he met secretly on the side of biblical Mt. Ararat leaked to him that climate was actually warming.)

I'm from urban California! People really listen to this stuff? Yes. And that was before they went totally crazy.

[Kaleva]

39. I'm still looking for ratings for RW radio stations but have been unsuccessful so far.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

32. FWIW, the stations on that list that carry WVCY programing are definitely hate radio.

Last edited Tue Sep 14, 2021, 10:21 AM - Edit history (1)

It's a spicy mix of evangelical fundamentalist programing and shows that bemoan the crumbling of western civilization, hype up deep-state conspiracy theories, scare listeners with "red-green alliance" (communists and Islam) stories, etc. It's thinly veiled white supremacy sandwiched between gospel hours and sermons.

[Kaleva]

40. Which stations are those?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

44. The ones that list WVCY as the parent station.

[UpInArms]

21. Thank you ...

I am in flyover country …

The radio is awful

[Xavier Breath]

24. It is indded, and thank God for satellite radio.

We live in a purple are, so in a perfect world there would be differing viewpoints on local radio. Yet it is still saturated with RWNJ voices to the exclusion of all else. Satellite radio is my link to sanity. I listen locally only for sports coverage.

[UpInArms]

26. I could not walk in my local grocery store

Without having to list to Mike Fuckabee

[crickets]

47. What an excellent post, hlthe2b. Thanks for all of the links. nt

[underpants]

5. It's repetition and they spread the gospel

For a right wing news consumer they get the same information all day everyday. FromFox & Friends to talk radio (anytime they are in the car) back to Fox at night and then the Primetime shows. In addition they have YouTube and social media reinforcing it.

In the early 90’s rightwing operations (I think Grover Norquist was involved) created “blast fax” which was a daily fax with talking points to be shared at work - water cooler. That has spread to media. We didn’t used to talk about politics or religion at work but that’s a captured audience to spread the word. We spend as much waking time there than at home often. Once thy are in the cult it’s all about casting the net for wayward fish or sheep and bring them in.

[Kaleva]

8. Maybe. Like people repeating that Fox has brainwashed half the nation. Others come to believe that.

[Tomconroy]

7. I did use to drive in the south a couple of times each year

I would usually try to find an NPR station. But when I would sometimes search the dial to find a local talk station (which I would find interesting) Rush Limbaugh seemed to be everywhere.

[Kaleva]

9. If I have time, maybe I'll look at lists of radio stations in other areas of the country.

But that would be a time consuming task and i don't think I'll do it. It took me awhile just to find a list for my area and then look at the individual news/talk and talk stations.

[hatrack]

30. "Rush Limbaugh seemed to be everywhere" . . . .

Not any more.

[Irish_Dem]

10. So where is the propaganda coming from?

We know the magats are spouting nonsense all the time.

[Dream Girl]

12. Glad you asked.

Facebook!

[Irish_Dem]

13. We know Russia has been working on Facebook. Spreading propaganda.

Trying to spread chaos and division.
Making the US look ridiculous.

[Kaleva]

15. Facebook? YouTube? Discussion forums? Alt News sites?

Alt news sites is a common source for crazy over at Free Republic.

[Irish_Dem]

16. Looks like more research is needed.

[Kaleva]

17. Yes. More then I can possibly do.

[Evan1980]

38. Joe Rogan's podcasts get about 11 million viewers on average.

5X more than Fox.

[Irish_Dem]

45. Wow, I had no idea.

I don't really know much about this guy.

Welcome to DU!!!

[no_hypocrisy]

11. Part of the problem is that there literally is nothing else to listen to in those regions.

Small, local radio stations have either been purchased or gone out of business. 40+ years ago, a lot of these communities listened to country or country/western fare with a smattering of community news, local weather, someone's cow was missing, etc. (I know, I worked at one of those stations.)

Now, with the syndication of RW programs, there just isn't anything else to listen to on their frequencies.

[Kaleva]

14. There's over a hundred FM and AM stations in Upper Michigan and northern Wisconsin

Of these, very few are talk and I could only verify one to be a RW radio station.

http://www.michiguide.com/up/

[no_hypocrisy]

18. Point taken. I was thinking about the southern states.

[Kaleva]

19. You could be correct about stations in the South.

[Irish_Dem]

46. So they were ripe for picking in terms of GOP propaganda machines.

They have been quite successful, sad to say.

I come from a long line of small town rural dairy farmers and a missing cow is a very big deal!!
The cow is worth a lot of money, and it brings in a daily income after milking. If the cow produces a high fat content milk then it is worth even more.

When visiting the farms in the summer as a teen I loved reading the local small town newspaper with all the "news."
Who played cards with whom. Possums and skunks getting into a hen house. Joe and Madge Smith had a big dust up and the sheriff had to be called in. Fred Jones had too much to drink at the local tavern and spent the night in jail.
Police investigation regarding a knocked down mailbox.

[Botany]

20. Fox is brainwashing right now. They just had on a heart surgeon* saying we don't need vaccines ....

.... because 10s of millions of Americans have natural immunity to the corona virus and by not
taking that into account the vaccine mandates violate a person's Constitutional rights. They also
labeled him as an immunologist too. And the little shit doing "the interview" Brian Kilmeade is
vaccinated too.

Fox News is a terrorist un-American organization. They are deliberately spreading misinformation in
order to keep the pandemic going.


* Hooman Noorchashm, MD, PhD Cardiothoracic Surgeon

[Cosmocat]

22. Not sure what your point is with AM radio

Whether there is only 1 radio station these zombies can get or 100, the listen to it.

Over the last three decades, during my adult life I have have had cause to knock peoples doors and stop by businesses, you would not believe the # of municipal/township shops that I have been in that had Rush Limbaugh on during the day. I have knocked the doors and heard people listing to AM radio or Fox.

There is a really nice girl who does our pet grooming, would not think she was a zombie necessarily, except one time I got there early to pick up our dog and she was listening to Laura Ingram.

The first time I was exposed to Rush Limbaugh was when I went the gym in 1992 - I was working out and was like, WTF is this incoherent idiot babbling about limousine liberals that they are blaring in this place? I mean, I work out to Rush the band, not this shit that kills brain cells. Then I looked around and realized most of the people there was into it.

Fox is on in nearly every gym I have been into (The gym I use now is corporate and only pipes in its stream, but nearly every time I am in the mens locker room there is a zombie playing conservative brain washing while changing), it is on during the morning in most of the hotels I have been at, it is on at doctors office's, a lot of the garages where I get my car worked on, hell, the McDonalds in our area has it on now.

The # of stations available now over the airwaves had declined due to internet access - these people are directly streaming the mental meth more and more.

You really need to get out of your bubble if you think it isn't completely pervasive in this country.

[genxlib]

23. I think there are a number of things this analysis is missing

I would agree with you that the numbers don't add up at face value. But Fox has undue influence way beyond those numbers for a bunch of reasons.

- Most importantly, they are an important gear in a machine that leverages every bit of information to shoehorn stupid shit into brains. There is a broad RW media infrastructure that uses Fox, social media, internet, newspapers, think tanks, pundits, youtube, books and the actual GOP themselves to provide maximum penetration. It provides multiple conduits for bad information and each conduit reinforces the other so it seems more valid.

- Second, the network news is a once a day shot to capture eyeballs. Cable news runs 24 hours a day. So you have to consider there are potentially millions of other people catching shows in the morning, afternoon etc. Even if some of those people are the same viewers, the repetition provides reinforcement to those individuals by cramming the same information into them from different talking heads so it leaves the impression of higher validity.

- I have often said that the most dangerous part of Fox news is the Chyron. The fact that it is often played in diners and waiting rooms throughout the day means there are exponentially more people who casually see Fox on TV. It only takes a glance to see those outrageous declaratory statements that are always on screen. Many people are very loosely connected to current events so this might be the only exposure they get to news during the day. Worst of all, it can generate negative feelings where the individuals don't even realize they are being manipulated. For instance, how many people had very generic negative reactions to Hillary without actually being able to say what they didn't like. Sure some of it was misogyny but therein lies the danger. It is easy for Fox to leverage preexisting bias with those chyrons.

- Don't underestimate the power of social media. I know this is an extension of my first point above but I am talking about average people and not the people in on the deception. Social media is inherently manipulative because it uses your preexisting relationships to reinforce both the reach of the message and its validity. Combine that with the targeted advertising and algorithms and it can capture people and send them down rabbit holes very quickly. Twitter is its own kind of machine. Reducing the dialog to 140 characters lends itself nicely to manipulating the message to generate outrage. I have had to call out my friends a number of times for the mischaracterization of underlying stories for the purpose of revving up outrage.

- And of course Religion...It provides a pot for it all to stew in. It is a network of like minded people to influence and provides its own infrastructure for gathering and communicating to people. And of course the willingness to buy into fanciful stories from authority figures.

So your underlying point is correct so far as it goes. Fox does not have that kind of power in a vacuum. They are not in a vacuum

[Lars39]

27. It doesn't take 24/7 hate radio, just

a right wing morning show and maybe an afternoon show. And all the hate is then catapulted on facebook, and reinforced by the preacher on Sundays and Wednesday nights. They’ve created their own information bubble.

[Hortensis]

31. Huge missing element: RW listeners are having THEIR OWN preconceptions,

prejudices and fears played back to them, but reinforced, augmented, and spun to serve the interests of their manipulators.

RW media moved their listeners to the far/radical right through those wide-open doors to gut-level acceptance and immediate EMOTIONAL REACTION to input, mostly bypassing or minimizing the intellectual processing functions of the brain. New deceits were delivered on the backs of "information" viewers already believed to be true.

Note that Fox's initial, enormously successful, business model was to provide conservative "news" to conservative viewers. Roger Ailes identified a whole, large market of potential viewers who were repelled and offended by ideologically neutral information they didn't want to believe, which contradicted how they were taught to think while being raised and which their own conservative natures didn't allow them to feel could be right. Just imagine how welcome and refreshing finally being able to tune in to real "truth" would have felt. In any case, from then until now, Fox figures out what its viewers want to hear and feeds its versions back to them.

This has been going on so long that whole populations have been moved to the far right and beyond; but much of what today's RW radicals/extremists wanted was searched out and found by them at even more extreme sources than Fox.

[Kaleva]

34. I agree with you

[Lars39]

35. Yes, and there definitely are more extreme source out there.

I keep thinking back to about 20 yrs ago when a guy in my home county bought up a huge amount of acreage in the sticks. He was KKK. one of the first things he did was start up his own am radio station. That little county went from being a blue oasis back then to rabid right wing now.

[Hortensis]

36. Wow. Unfortunately for the receptive minds in that blue oasis,

and of course for you and what happened to your county.

[Kaleva]

33. The good folks at FR brainwash themselves by getting their news from little known RW news sites