quote:

---

After airing for less than a year, Hannity's weekly show was canceled in 1989, when KCSB management charged him with "discriminating against gays and lesbians" after airing two shows featuring the book The AIDS Coverup: The Real and Alarming Facts about AIDS (The Independent, 6/22/89). Written by homophobic Christian-right activist Gene Antonio, the book crankily argued that AIDS could be spread by casual contact, including coughs, sneezes and mosquito bites. Antonio charged that the government, medical establishment and media covered up these truths in the service of "the homosexual movement."

When Antonio appeared by phone on one of the shows, Hannity and his guest repeatedly slurred gay men. At one point, according to the UCSB campus newspaper The Daily Nexus (5/25/89), Hannity declared: "Anyone listening to this show that believes homosexuality is a normal lifestyle has been brainwashed. It's very dangerous if we start accepting lower and lower forms of behavior as the normal." According to the campus paper, Antonio responded by calling gay men "a subculture of people engaged in deviant, twisted acts."

When a fellow KCSB broadcaster called the show to challenge the host and his guest, Hannity pointed out that the caller, a lesbian, had a child through artificial insemination, and Antonio dubbed the child a "turkey-baster baby." When the caller took issue with that "disgusting" remark, Hannity followed up with "I feel sorry for your child" (The Independent, 6/22/89; KCSB, 4/4/89).

---

quote:

---

Hannity's first big-city success in talk radio came on Atlanta's WGST-AM, where by all accounts he was no less confrontational than in California. African-American clergy groups, according to the Atlanta Journal and Constitution (9/15/95), charged WGST with spreading hatred on the airwaves, specifically citing Hannity's show. The paper reported (3/27/96) on Hannity's campaign to get "Oscar attendees to wear blue ribbons, in support of the L.A. police officers who beat Rodney King." Also according to the Journal (4/30/96), a blurb promoting Hannity on the WGST website touted him as "making a proud name for himself by insulting lesbians."

---

quote:

---

On his WABC show, as with his earlier radio shows, "the left" and its various constituencies were blamed for the nation's problems; and crime, affirmative action, welfare and "illegitimacy," all talk radio staples, were discussed ceaselessly. But Hannity really distinguished himself with his crusading efforts to defend the police against charges of brutality. When Haitian immigrant Abner Louima accused New York City police officers of sodomizing and badly injuring him with a wooden rod in 1997, Hannity used his WABC show for a vicious counter-offensive targeting the victim.

The father of chief defendant Justin Volpe, an NYPD police officer, regularly appeared on show during the 1999 trial. And Hannity and various guests repeated rumors that Louima's injuries resulted from a "gay sex act" and not from police brutality. Playing on the homosexual rumor and inconsistencies in Louima's story, Hannity and his producer sang a parody of Lionel Richie's song "Three Times a Lady," changing the words to "you're once, twice, three times a liar." Hannity stopped referring to the victim as "Lying Louima" only after Volpe confessed to sodomizing Louima with the help of another officer (OnePeoplesProject.com).

---

 

---

Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
 
I still just can't get through this book. I tried listening to his show once. He was railing about Michael Moore but his voice was so irratating...
I keep trying to dart from passage to passage but there's a thorny forest of "liberal", "elitist" and phrases like that. *blood pressure rising*
 

---

Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
 
So why do you want to read his book?
 

---

Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
 
Trying to understand the conservative point of view... It's good to see things from both sides, plus I finished this Al Franken book that mentioned his...
The writing is also not that good... Especially in Deliver Us from Evil...
 

---

Posted by A Rat Named Dog (Member # 699) on :
 
I really wish the conservative side could get some less obnoxious people as their public faces. I used to watch Hannity and Colmes all the time, but Hannity drove me away. I used to be more conservative back then, even, but I just couldn't take his attitude and his treatment of the guests ...
 

---

Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
 
Sean Hannity is less scary and annoying that Michael Savage, but more scary and annoying than Bill O'Reilly.

I've been listening to all three off and on for the past few months during my evening commute, ever since the local NPR station changed its format to move Fresh Air so late that I miss it. I listen out of curiosity, because I felt like I was getting a lot of liberal viewpoints but missing out on the conservative side. I wanted to see what people over there were talking about (not that I consider the liberal side to be "over here").

Now that I have a feel for Michael Savage's views and style, I can hardly stand to listen to him anymore. I can listen to Sean Hannity, but I find him a little dim and much, much too closed-minded. However, I am starting to enjoy O'Reilly's show. His personality is very unattractive, but he usually seems pretty smart, and despite the rants and accusations of the left, he doesn't appear to be a knee-jerk Republican homer. I find myself nodding about as much as I shake my head. With Savage, I spend the whole time shouting at my radio.
 

---

Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
 
So are there any (non-obnoxious) conservative radio talk show hosts that folks DO like? (Or are all conservative talk radio hosts obnoxious?)
 

---

Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
 
What? You don't like Limbaugh?

FG
 

---

Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
 
There is an early-morning conservative talk show here in Las Vegas, hosted by a pair of old fogeys. Their target audience seems to be insomniac retirees living in Sun City and feeling crabby about the left. They aren't obnoxious or annoying, but they also aren't very smart or articulate, which means they aren't much fun to listen to.
 

---

Posted by FoolishTook (Member # 5358) on :
 
I used to listen to Sean Hannity at lot, but I find myself doing what Farmgirl does and turning the channel when he starts getting into the "Just answer the question" bit. Sometimes his opponents have interesting points, and I'd like him to either refute those points or accept the fact that he may be wrong on some issues.

I still listen to him on occasion. He's on the radio when I drive to work, so it's either Hannity, 80's music, R & B, or the trailer trash "rock" station that plays a mix of AC DC, Kid Rock, or Guns and Roses.

What do you guys think of Glenn Beck? He has a wickedly funny sense of humor, but his below-the-belt attacks are tasteless. His rant about Michael Moore's weight, for instance, was offensive and completely devoid of substance.
 

---

Posted by Yozhik (Member # 89) on :
 
Does anybody live in an area where they get Tony Snow? I rather liked him as the host of Fox News Sunday.
 

---