Talk Radio Host Hate Mail
[posted by Justin Levine]
I’ve been given some new extra duties recently at KFI. I’m now in charge of collating some of the best hate mail from Bill Handel ‘fans’ and posting it to the ‘Handel Wall of Hate’ on the station’s website. Now you too can experience the joy of reading the classic missives from Handel critics that we get on a regular basis. (Though if you are accustomed to reading the ‘comments’ section of political blogs that don’t edit the feedback too often, some of this might seem familiar.)
Enjoy! [R-rated language alert]
Now I’m curious. Can I tune in to Bill Handel in Chicago? I get Michael Savage who is as hateful a moron bigot as you can get. I’d like to see where Bill Handel fits in.
nk (7c00c1) — 7/9/2007 @ 7:54 amBecause I love to yell at my radio, I love to listen to KFI’s Bill Handel and John & Ken. Especially with regards to local political scandals and court drama, there’s nothing better than a hearty helping of righteous indignation to get me through my morning commute.
Leo Laporte’s tech show is very good, too.
Fritz (d62210) — 7/9/2007 @ 8:19 amNK, I wouldn’t be surprised if Handel on the Law is broadcast in Chicago. We get in in Richmond, VA for three hours every Sunday afternoon. I called the show once and was coached to avoid saying “good morning” or anything identifying the area I was calling from because it could be broadcast anytime, anywhere.
Xrlq (69d423) — 7/9/2007 @ 8:42 amnk –
Handel actually has 2 shows: A weekend legal advice show [‘Handel on the Law’] and a 5-day-a-week news/morning show [‘Handel Yourself In The Morning’].
A list of affiliates for Handel on the Law can be found here:
http://www.handelonthelaw.com/TuneIn.aspx
The 5-day-a-week show is only broadcast in Southern California. However, you can listen to it over the internet via live streaming or podcasts at: http://www.kfi640.com
(Click on ‘Listen Live’ for live streaming; Click on ‘KFI on Demand’ for podcasts. You may have to register on the site – but its free.)
Justin Levine (20f2b5) — 7/9/2007 @ 8:52 amEditing Handel’s hate mail should be full time! The people that like him are likely unable to read or write. Who cleans the mic after he is through with his slobbering gibirish?
Linda in California (d6e142) — 7/9/2007 @ 9:36 am@#5. Plees sint 2 Kube, Michelle Me woul do but hev trubel wit redin and ritin unerstanin 2
Ms. Judged (becd1d) — 7/9/2007 @ 9:56 amEditing Handel’s hate mail should be full time! The people that like him are likely unable to read or write. Who cleans the mic after he is through with his slobbering gibirish?
I know what you mean, I’m against the mandatory spay-neuter bill too-even though it doesn’t effect me personally.
BTW it’s spelled “gibberish”.
expat (2eb53c) — 7/9/2007 @ 11:17 amLinda, were you trying to make an ironic point about the illiterate morons who hate Bill Handel, or are you one of them yourself?
Xrlq (c70197) — 7/9/2007 @ 1:34 pmThat’s simply scary.
There are plenty of people I disagree with. Some I even loathe. If something unpleasant happened to Michael Moore or Rosie O’Donnell, I wouldn’t exactly be weeping.
In fact, I’ve even e-mail Moore. It wasn’t a very friendly e-mail … but it was thoughtful, cogent, and hopefully somewhat persuasive.
I argued, and I may have expressed contempt for his positions. But I didn’t feel a bizarre need to attack his ethnicity or religion or heritage.
But more to the point … I never, ever would have even bothered to take the time if it wasn’t e-mail. It’s just freaking scary that people would write friggin’ post card, put postage on it, and take it to the mailbox.
If you’re willing to put that kind of effort into third-grade simplistic hate-rage … somebody needs to be watching you.
Scary stuff. Who ARE these people?
Call me nuts, but when I hear something stupid on the radio … I change the station.
Anybody who gets mail like this should be armed.
PB (df860b) — 7/9/2007 @ 3:18 pmI used to listen to KFI when I lived in Los Angeles, but after a while, coz there were only right wingers on the air (after the BRIEF tenure of Bill Press of all people… at least he was an articulate “liberal”)it all got sort of stale and boring. The talk show person would put out some topic, get a bunch of people kissing his/her butt, then get a caller with an opposing viewpoint, use lawyeresque rhetorical tricks to put the caller in the dirt without actually having to defend their position or shout over the person and go to commercial if they HAD to defend their position. Start Again. Then do it again. then again.
Ed Wood (6c95fb) — 7/9/2007 @ 4:12 pmThat seems to me to be talk radios problem these days. Since everyone is working off of variations of the SAME SHTICK the only place they can go is into shock jock land. So the rest of us get stuck with warmed over Rush Limbaugh with a good helping of Howard Stern, and occasionally (if that poor unfortunate woman Coulter is talking) a little Marilyn Manson thrown in (no disrespect to Ms(?) Manson.
Skipping over the “Fairness Doctrine”, having a more diverse set of viewpoints…that means a radio show or two from people who are not “conservative”… would make things so much more interesting. And it would give all the dittoheads out there a chance to pull their noses out of Rush’s/Malkin’s/whomever’s butt, get a breath of fresh air, and compose THEIR hate mail letters for Ed Schultz’s/Randi Rhodes’/whomever’s wall of hate (BIG wall of hate for Ms Rhodes… if anyone bothers to listen that is…).
The Tragedy of the Commons comes to right-wing radio, Ed?
alphie (015011) — 7/9/2007 @ 4:17 pmYou want diversity in radio? You mean that deal where someone has a station and sells ads to those who want to market their products and services? And said station owners in order to make the most profit would logically seek out content which will bring in the most listeners and allow them to increase their ad rates, correct?
That capitalistic thing. But if one truly desires some Fairness Doctrine application away from the business oriented station owners, it would be quite apropos to do just that with taxpayer supported broadcasters. That’s their raison d’etre, isn’t it? Probably quite unnecessary, though. Since they are tax funded they surely broadcast content that would represent a wide spectrum of US politics and ideology. It’s the American Way. Diversity, too, how inclusive is that?
allan (360237) — 7/9/2007 @ 7:04 pmTaxpayer funded Diversity? You mean like PBS?
Another Drew (8018ee) — 7/9/2007 @ 7:46 pmEd
Bill Press was the only liberal on LA radio?
Geez… did you live in So Cal for about five minutes or what, or how else did you miss the years of Michael Jackson on KABC 790 directly opposite Limbaugh on KFI?
What, you were listening to Limbaugh rather than supporting the liberal competition? But you want the radio station to ignore the ratings loss because liberals can’t make it on their own??
And LA radio hosts only put on syphocants? And they are all screamers?
Hmmm… Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Larry Elder, Hugh Hewitt … all give lie to your assertions. Every single one of them puts callers who disagree to the front of the line.
Geez, this afternoon I heard a caller to Medved stating the best thing for the United States was for Bush to die right now with Medved immediately following.
Such butt kissing, eh?
Oh..and if you want talk radio to “diversify?” Let’s see the major newspapers, commerical television, and the universities start it first…then we’ll talk.
Darleen (187edc) — 7/9/2007 @ 7:51 pmWow, nobody who responded to my post actually bothered to read it. I didn’t say the taxpayers should pony up for anything, nor that talk radio people only let on sycophants, etc.etc. I only said that KFI got pretty stale when I was in LA hearing the same right wingers re-hash the same points and deal with the people who disagreed with them in the same way. I listen to a lot of AM radio and it’s no different now (yeah sure, trot out a list of stations that I don’t know about I will definitely check them out).
Ed Wood (6c95fb) — 7/9/2007 @ 8:19 pmI guess Allan is right that radio stations as businesses are gonna put what sells ad time out there and if that happens to be righty shock jocks then that’s how it is. Yeah sure, it just gets old listening to the same topics recycled in the same ways and since, if you “just change the channel” you get the same stale lukewarm Limbaugh there is really no where to go on the radio. Air America? that’s just lukewarm Limbaugh from the left.
I just don’t buy it that there aren’t some people out there with interesting things to say that could sell ad time without having to agree with everything that comes out of the Heritage Foundation or whichever right wing political administration is running the country at the time.
Ed didn’t say Bill Press was the only liberal on LA radio, just that he was the only liberal on KFI. Which is still a crock, of course. Ultra-liberals Tom Leykis and Barbara DeAngelis were on at the same time Press was, and the yammering idiots who replaced Leykis in the afternoon slot may not be liberals, they aren’t exactly doctrinaire conservatives, either; certainly not as predictably knee-jerk right on every issue as Press is left. Then again, neither is Bill Handel, John Ziegler, or just about anyone else on that station except Limbaugh.
Xrlq (c70197) — 7/9/2007 @ 8:23 pmOk, ok, Ed #15. I don’t care what you do to Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilley, etc. Just don’t mess with Laura Ingraham. She’s my morning main radio squeeze. 😉
nk (37e215) — 7/9/2007 @ 8:34 pmEd
I dare you to listen to Dennis Prager and tie him into the “stale, recycled, rightwing think tank toadie” meme you’re expounding.
Sorry Justin… I like Handel because he’s so damned unpredictable and he does rant from time to time (he’s a rant artist!). But I switch stations often because I can’t stand Rich the SportsIdiot who thinks he knows everything about history or politics.
Darleen (187edc) — 7/9/2007 @ 8:40 pmBTW Ed… if you didn’t like Limbaugh, how come you weren’t listening to liberal Michael Jackson?
Darleen (187edc) — 7/9/2007 @ 8:42 pmI did like Limbaugh. That’s why I was listening to him. And maybe I missed all those other “Ultra-Liberals” whatever that means, I just remember Bill Press. Hey maybe I’m wrong, maybe I am turning the dial, hearing the same ol thing and turning the dial again too soon. I’ll listen to Dennis Prager and see if he has anything new to say. Not holding my breath tho.
Ed Wood (6c95fb) — 7/9/2007 @ 11:10 pmOK, so you didn’t listen to Michael Jackson. No shame in that. I didn’t, either. Come to think of it, neither did anyone else! Maybe that’s why his show isn’t on anymore.
Xrlq (c70197) — 7/10/2007 @ 4:36 pmQuestion: Justin, why does KFI (i.e. you) omit the full names and/or e-mail addresses of the fans from your postings?
Jeff (f4a7db) — 7/10/2007 @ 9:40 pmJeff –
It was a company decision. I guess some were worried about possible blowback if unruly masses turned on the hate mailers. But I agree with the implication in your question – we SHOULD post the names and e-mail addresses. But alas, I still take my orders from THE MAN.
Justin Levine (20f2b5) — 7/11/2007 @ 1:55 am