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They have a chat room where I visited while the show was on the air. The show runs for 2 hours on weekdays.
If you're going to jump in, you had better have some good debating skills and knowledge of current issues. You will always be outnumbered. Your assertions will be challenged, so it is useful to have internet links to supporting documentation. These information sources should be as party-neutral as possible, because there will be attempts to dismiss them as 'liberal propaganda' if they are anywhere to the left of Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Liely.
I learned from the experience, which lasted over a year, and enhanced my debating skills during that time. I came to respect some of the regular callers and chat room visitors. Many of them respected me also, because I did my best to follow the advice I just offered - particularly having supporting documentation to back up my assertions.
The talk show host eventually came to resent me, and probably even felt intimidated by me. He started cutting my calls short, and would sometimes ridicule me throughout the rest of the broadcast. Callers got plenty of air time if they called in to challenge a position I had taken. In this scenario I had no fair opportunity to defend myself.
One day he dumped me out of the chat room and blocked me from getting back in, because he misunderstood something I had said there - or that was his later claim. I emailed one of the right-wingers to let her know what he had done. She and others jumped all over him for doing this, and he had to apologize to me on the air and had to allow me to regain access to the chat room.
Not long after that (about 6 months ago), he had Don Blankenship, the CEO of Massey Energy, on the show to take questions from callers. Massey owns the southern West Virginia coal mine where two miners recently died. Blankenship hasn't run for any office, but likes to maintain a high right-wing profile. He bankrolled a successful 2004 political campaign to install a lapdog as a WV Supreme Court justice. Blankenship said once to me that he thought those contributions should have been tax deductible, since they really were to save the children of our state, more than anything else.
So he had Blankenship on the show, as I said. Most of the segment consisted of the talk show host kissing his butt, and people calling in to worship Blankenship. I called in to remind Blankenship what he had said about his contributions, and asked if he could tell me how many children had been saved so far. The host went into a tirade, after which I pointed out that I had directed my question to Blankenship, and not to him. He cut me off, then it was, "kissy kissy, that mean old caller shouldn't defame you like that, please sponsor some more ads on my crappy radio show that about 12 people listen to."
That was it for me. My last entry in the chat room was, "I've had just about enough." I logged off after that and have never been back. I have never again called the show, and have not tuned in to listen. I know one of the co-hosts that he regularly has on the show, and I told her she could tell him he could kiss my ass.
I am not afraid to engage in fair debate, even when outnumbered. But I was not interested in playing a role of a Democratic straight man for the right wing talk show host. You see, you can't effectively argue with the man who has the microphone - or in this case, the cutoff switch. He unscrupulously used this advantage to suppress my views, because he was afraid to debate me fairly.
This host was fond of saying that he encouraged people to call if they had opposing views. But this was true only if callers were unable to defend their views. Some, but not all, of these people like their right wing echo chamber and resent it if 'the enemy' invades, no matter how fairly and politely this is done. I do not regret the adventure I just described, and hope my story helps if you decide to embark on one of your own.
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