Every weekend Slate shares a Longform-curated selection of non-fiction pieces about a common topic. This weekend the topic was talk radio, and all of these articles should be of interest to Radio Survivor readers.
I’m still working through the list myself, including the history of the fundamentalist Christian settlement of Zion, Illinois and its pioneering radio station as well as a profile of conservative hate-monger Michael Savage. I read Alexander Zaitchik’s multi-part investigation into the making of Glenn Beck when it first appeared in Salon, but now is a great time to revisit.
In fact, although it isn’t specifically about talk radio, I would also suggest Eric Boehlert’s fantastic muckraking on Clear Channel from more than a decade ago. In his reporting for Salon Boehlert revealed the dirty pay-for-play tactics that the nation’s largest radio company captured to rake in additional profits just as commercial radio jumped the shark, and continued to track the company’s shady dealings for years.
