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The Making of Dr. Laura Schlessinger
The Making of Dr. Laura Schlessinger
A Paper Submitted for Consideration to the
Commission on the Status of Women
Of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
by
Phylis Johnson, Ph.D.
Southern Illinois University
and
Max V. Grubb, Ph.D.
Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University
Department of Radio and Television
MAILCODE: 6609
Carbondale, IL 62901-6609
OFFICE: (618) 453-6987
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March 2002
_Copyright
RUNNING HEAD: The Making of Dr. Laura Schlessinger
The Making of Dr. Laura Schlessinger
When Jimmy the Greek disparaged African Americans, he got fired. But when Laura Schlessinger calls gays and lesbians biological errors and pedophiles, Paramount gives her a TV show. While Ms. Schlessinger is free to malign minorities, corporate America is not required to subsidize it, in the names of Matthew Shepard, Brandon Teena and too many more, join us in a stand against intolerance. (Coalition, 2000)
Introduction
Ever since the evolution of radio into a broadcast medium, talk radio has existed both on network radio and among various local stations. The first talk radio programs were typically roundtable discussions centering on topics like politics, economics, and agriculture. By the 1930s, talk radio shows included everything from medical advisors to religious pundits. During the 1950s, with the invention of the seven second delay, the radio medium experienced the appearance of telephone talk radio ("The Talk Radio Research Project," 2001).
In the last two decades, the United States has seen an upsurge in the growth of talk radio. According to The Talk Radio Research Project (2001), there were only 75 talk radio stations on the air in 1980. Since that time, talk radio has experienced notable growth where in 1990 there were 200 talk radio stations, 500 in 1992, 1000 by 1994 and 1,350 talk radio stations by 1998.[1] The growth of talk radio during this period was precipitated by developing technologies in satellite and digital telephone communications, the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, and the entrance of Wall Street investors, bankers, and venture capitalists into broadcasting. With these developments and a new entrepreneurial approach to broadcasting, an environment for talk radio to grow and flourish emerged.
As deregulation occurred, the American broadcasting system has shifted from objectivity to an advocacy model. Each broadcaster now asserts his or her right to put forth their political agenda. The result, the distinction between news, information, and entertainment has blurred - all in the name of constitutionality, but more likely in the name of ratings. Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus, Bob Grant, and Laura Schlessinger, and other shock talkers are paid to be controversial, in essence increase audience ratings that translate into increased profits.
The top three talk show hosts in the nation, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Schlessinger, and Howard Stern, succeeded by catering toward specific audience appeals that potentially alienated certain populations based on: (1) race, ethnicity, and/or gender (Grant, Stern, and Limbaugh); (2) political views (Imus, Limbaugh, and Schlessinger); and/or (3) moral values (Schlessinger and Limbaugh) ("The Talk Radio Research Project," 2001). Limbaugh, Stern, and Schlessinger are perhaps characteristic of talk radio - each representing a unique niche. Rush Limbaugh's success has been achieved mainly through 'poli-tainment,' while Stern achieved his ratings through 'sex-tainment.' Schlessinger conversely accomplished her success through what the writers characterize as moral-tainment. Conservative moral platitudes drive the content of her show. While many male talk radio hosts have successfully duplicated Limbaugh's and Stern's shock radio style, few woman have been able to duplicate these approache
s on a national level (Carter & Shiffman, 1998; Martin, 1995; Hinkley, 1998a). Schlessinger is the exception. She has been criticized for promulgating what certain groups have referred to as hate speech, not unlike Limbaugh and Stern (Anderson, 1993; Cohen & Solomon, 1994; Wood, 1992; Yes, 2000).
It is the intent of this discussion to analyze the historical events that led to the acceptance - and the rejection - of the moral platitudes of Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and her subsequent rise to fame. Is she just another shock talker - like Stern and Limbaugh - who uses morality as a gimmick toward higher ratings? Is Schlessinger really saying anything more hateful than what her male counterparts have already said on the air for many years? Did her "kid's mom" status give her more or less the perceived right to lecture on morality than her male shock counterparts, and did it lead to a different audience expectation of appropriate content for her show? Indeed, it would be impossible to address thoroughly all those issues in this article. Saying that, it would seem the most appropriate way to initiate any discussion is by an examination of hate radio, and the larger issue of shock radio, for this is the context into which Dr Laura rose to fame or infamy.
Rise of Hate Radio
You know what was largely responsible for that guy's [Matthew Shepard's]
death? Those two guys who killed him did not go out looking for a homo-
sexual to kill that night. They were shooting pool. He went to the bar. He
left with two guys he thought he was gonna have sex with. He got
murdered. How many women has that happened to? How many women
have left bars thinking they were gonna get some action with some guy who
raped and murdered and tortured and murdered them? Far more women than
homosexual men have ended up dead that way, I would guess. Is that a hate
crime against women? I think so but they specifically picked the woman
who was willing to leave for sex. If Matthew hadn't been willing to leave
for sex, he might still be alive. That certainly doesn't make him responsible for
his own death but when you put yourself into a situation of going off
to have anonymous sex with people you meet at a bar, what kind of person is
gonna leave with you? Usually scum.... This was a terrible tragedy but it's
also one that might have been avoided if he had simply gone home with
his friends instead of thinking he was gonna get a little."
-Dr. Laura Schlessinger (Transcript, 1999)
To many in America, to deny "hate" would be to deny one's constitutional rights. Therefore, some might say that the development of an industry definition or a policy on curtailing hate speech would not only seem futile but unconstitutional. On occasion, individual radio stations have attempted to negotiate hate speech policies with individuals or community groups that have complained about the accuracy and fairness of broadcast content. Yet, the debate on hate speech is not unique to the U.S. Radio Netherlands Media Network (2000) broadly defines hate radio as "encouraging violent activities, tension or hatred between races, ethnic, or social groups, or countries for political goals and/or to foster conflict offering one-side and biased views as opinions." Hate radio is a form of propaganda, and by its very political nature devoid of an accurate and balanced presentation of the issues and alternative sources of information ("Media Network," 2000).
Moreover, hate radio is not a new phenomenon. The "father of hate radio" was Charles Coughlin, a Canadian Roman Catholic priest, who aired anti-Semitic broadcasts every week on the Columbia Broadcast System (CBS) network in the U.S. during the 1930s (Warren, 1996; "Canadian radio," 2000). The FCC has only "symbolically" addressed discrimination and hate speech toward racial, ethnic, and other special interest groups, in essence with little major change to the U.S. broadcasting infrastructure (Fife, 1987, p. 488). The dilemma is that federal law does not prohibit epithets and the Bill of Rights protects freedom of speech. Local authorities may take action if language appears to instigate violence, but in many cases the FCC has failed to find any "clear and present danger of imminent violence"[Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'Rith v. FCC 403 F 2d 169 (1969); Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395, U.S. 444 (1969); Julian Bond, 69 FCC 2d 943 (1978).] Even despite reports of bomb threats during one incident [Letter to Lonnie King, 36 FCC 2d 636] and numerous attempts by community leaders to regulate hate speech, the FCC has refrained from action against these stations (Fink, 1990).
Since 1989, the FCC has fined a number of highly rated talk shows for airing sexually explicit material (Flint, 1993a; Flint, 1993b; Samoriski, Huffman, & Trauth, 1995). Other content matters, such as the broadcast of epithets, are more likely to be challenged by special interest groups within the community, rather than by the commission. Reverend Jesse Jackson called for an advertiser boycott of shock talker Bob Grant of WABC Talk Radio, after he aired racist and sexist epithets on WABC Talk Radio (Brady 1993; Gourevitch, 1994). The protest, however, did little to improve the politically incorrect nature of Grant's show ("Jackson," 1994). On another occasion, a gay rights group protested controversial statements about gays and minorities outside the studios of Hot Talk KSFO in San Francisco ("Protesters'," 1994). Again, the media coverage actually helped promote the antics of the shock jock personalities.
Another case involved a state-wide effort to halt the rise in hate crimes. In this instance, a Minnesota state law banned symbols that provoked "anger, alarm, or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender" [R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, Minnesota, 112 SCT 2541 (1992)]. In June 1992, the Supreme Court struck down the state law in an effort to classify "hate" speech as protected First Amendment activity. The Court concluded that the government is not allowed to silence speech on the basis of comment [R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, Minnesota 112 SCT 2538 (1992)]. St. Louis Journalism Review columnist Dan Hellinger (1993a) wrote that the print media have a responsibility to "monitor and expose racism" in radio, but added that the ultimate responsibility is "with the public and advertisers" (p. 1).
Hellinger's commentary came at a time when St. Louis was divided over an racial epithet incident. One of the main hosts of the "Steve Shannon & D.C. Chymes" show at contemporary hit WKBQ-FM verbally bashed an African-American caller during a discussion on affirmative action, and said "nigger" seven times in a matter of 30 seconds. As the show continued, Shannon and Chymes told another female caller, who called into complain about their remarks on lesbians and African Americans that she had "fantasies about [singer ] Whitney Houston" (Yearwood, 1993a). Over the next couple of days, listeners called into the show - some to complain and others to congratulate the deejays. During this time, "Steve & D.C." aired a phone call from a man who said that he had been discriminated by a Korean employer. The deejays mimicked an Asian accent, and then they closed the show by asking the news director Kim Furlow, alias Madame Kutchie, "to close her legs and say goodbye" (Hellinger, 1993b, p
. 10.) The two deejays were fired one week after the incident and after the station had lost $50,000 in advertising support, but they returned to St. Louis airwaves only 18 months later with a cleaned up version of their show. In addition, a local independent station dropped the duo as the hosts of "The Cosby Show" (Freeman, 1993; Yearwood, 1993b).
The Larger Issue of Shock Radio
Some of the early shock jocks pulled hoaxes on their listeners, while others pushed forward the limits of indecency. As early as the 1950s with the emergence of rock-n-roll, young audiences applauded the antics of local radio personalities who attempted to outshock their on-air competitors with crude and risque jokes and "unmentionable things" (Smith, 1989, p. 222):
Restricted to the top-forty format, they relied more on their wits and quickness
than on music for entertainment. If possible, they became even more of the show. Hyper-talk and gimmickry became the focus. (Smith, 1989, p. 226)
Dick Biondi, George Lorenz, and The Wolfman were some of the first "shock" jocks in the 1960s, with "triple and quadruple entendres" (Smith, 1989, p. 268) routinely aired on the radio. Subsequently, in an effort to protect its family airwaves, American Broadcasting Company (ABC) forced radio personalities to comply to a contractual clause holding them liable for their ad libs. WABC's Dan Ingram was one of those free spirits who pushed the boundaries of decency, paving the way for other radio personalities to offend audiences for the sake of higher ratings (Sklar, 1984).
By the early 1980s, many radio stations played the same hits. Speculators purchased radio stations, which were sold and bought for profit within months (Sklar, 1984). Seeking fast profits and large market shares, programmers bribed radio audiences with big cash prizes or car give-aways (Ladd, 1991). Still, many of these stations sounded the same. It was during this time that radio stations were forced to distinguish themselves from the competition, and some began to experiment with variations of the morning show format.
In the mid to late 1980's, audiences were captivated - sometimes offended, often amused - by the brashness of shock radio personalities who tested the boundaries of indecency and community standards. Radio managers, who had sought out ways to distinguish their stations from competitors, were rewarded with dramatic increases in their market shares (Ladd, 1991; Sklar, 1984). By the late 1980s, radio stations across the United States hired or created Zoo Morning Crews or similar formats, comprised of at least two men and a female sidekick who read a little news or maybe did the traffic reports. The morning airwaves on rock and pop stations were filled with sexual innuendo and often risque discussions of explicit sex. The FCC attempted through policy, but ultimately failed in practice, to restrict foul language to late night hours (Fink, 1990). Music intensive stations began to find it profitable to limit or eliminate songs in morning drive and instead woke up listeners to brash a
nd boastful shock jocks.
As television talk shows began to attract large female audiences away from radio, full-service stations began to redefine their formats. Many stations added songs and decreased their news and public service commitment Talk radio on FM remained in television's shadow until the abolishment of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987. A wave of talk radio personalities surfaced in large cities (Zerbinos, 1995/1996), and some of the most popular shows began to erode the ratings of music intensive stations. Indeed, talk radio began to boom in the mid-1980s about the time that shock talk personality Alan Berg was at the peak of his career. His controversially liberal views on sex, religion, and race led to his assassination by a member of "The Order," a group affiliated with the White Power/Aryan Resistance movement.
But it was "The Howard Stern Show" that sent out a battle cry against hypocrisy and blandness in American media and opened the gates of Hates, so to speak, unleashing a wrath of hateful epithets and lewd sexual innuendo (toward female listeners and sidekicks) across the airwaves, all in the name of entertainment. It was Stern that redefined shock and talk radio. His empire was launched in New York in the early 1980s, and it reached into Philadelphia by 1988. Although not the founder, Stern became symbolic of the shock radio craze that began to sweep the nation, and eventually small towns across America. It was the late 1980s, shock radio - with its juvenile pranks and sexual innuendo - began to include a heavy dose of name-calling and racial, gender, and ethnic slurs, and legitimized these stereotypes to its listeners. Following Stern's lead, a number of shock jocks, primarily white male, became suddenly popular - and unpopular - by injecting hateful epithets into their show. The targets were often women, gays, blacks, and other groups.
As this new breed of shock jock gained control of the airwaves, primarily in metropolitan U.S. markets (in what has been referred to as the post-Zoo era}, audiences became addicted to that "extra on-air juice" that began to distinguish the on-air competition from each other (Boehlert, 1994, p. 125). In Stern's case, his claim to fame was his "corrosive mixture of sexual innuendo, racially charged derision, and bathroom humor" (Wood, 1992, p. 24). As early as 1993, he had 16 million loyal viewers that tuned to hear him sling insults at gays, women, and ethnic groups. A Time/CNN Telephone poll reported that the majority of Americans believed that Stern was more demeaning to women (72%) and to blacks and other minorities (61%) than Limbaugh (41% and 34%, respectively) (Andersen, 1993, pp. 62-63). In 1993, Stern earned over 9 million dollars, yet that same year Infinity Broadcasting was fined by the FCC only $600,000 for indecent material aired on "The Howard Stern Show." It wa
s the "largest fine ever imposed on a broadcaster" in radio history (Flint, 1993a, p. 62) - but comparatively insignificant to Stern's earnings and the advertising revenue generated by his huge market shares in a number of cities across the U.S.
Stern's predecessor, Don Imus was well known for asking his female callers whether they were naked. By 1994, Broadcast & Cable Magazine acknowledged Imus as "The Thinking Man's Shock Jock." His dry sense of humor and sarcasm directed at mainly politicians and high-profile personalities became his trademark (Petrozello, 1994). By the mid 1990s, other shock radio personalities, such as Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy, and Bob Grant, and a host of right wing conservatives had been unleashed on talk radio. In the ten years span - from 1985 to 1995, the number of talk personalities had quintupled, mostly likely due to the FCC's repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 (Mattussek, 1995). The problem, according to Reibstein & Springen (1994), is that these shock talkers - without any real obligation to their audiences in terms of accuracy and balance - are considered an important source of information to many listeners.
Stern's put-downs are now syndicated every morning to many of the largest and smallest cities in the United States. Similarly, talk radio hosts like Imus, Grant and The Greaseman have offended and excited listeners with their vulgarity, offensive language, and racist and sexist epithets since 1980s. "Greaseman" Doug Tract was a shock jock at WWDC-FM, Washington DC. He need an armed escort to his next show, after he remarked, "Kill four more and we can take a whole week off," referring to the legislation that had passed in 1986 making Martin Luther King's birthday into a federal holiday. Thirteen years later, Tracht was fired in 1999 when he said, "Now you understand why they drag them behind trucks" (referring to the Texas truck-dragging murder of James Byrd Jr.) after playing a Lauryn Hill song ("Shock jock," 1999). As a result, Tract caught the attention of ABC's Nightline, and appeared as a guest on the show March 4, 1999.
Five years earlier, Reverend Jesse Jackson called for an advertiser boycott of WABC in 1994 when Grant aired racist remarks on his afternoon show (Jackson, 1994). As the host of the highest rated talk show on New York's WABC, Grant earned more than 7 million dollars in 1994 for a drive-time show that was blasted by his critics as "a Ku Klux Klan rally of the airwaves-cruel, racist, with hints of violence" (Cohen & Solomon, 1994). Two years later, Grant was fired by WABC after he announced on his radio show that he wished that Commerce Secretary Ron Brown was dead - in the midst of the search for survivors from the 1996 plane crash. A few months later, he was hired by Manhattan's WOR-AM and resumed his talk show, even as protesters clamored for an advertising boycott of his sponsors (DeRosa, 1996).
The Rise of The Shockette
Some of the first voices on the radio were women. As early as the 1920s, Halloween Martin hosted a morning show on Chicago's airwaves (Halper, 1991). By the 1940s, female talk show hosts - Mary Margaret McBride and Kate Smith - became popular icons to women listeners who eagerly tuned in for advice on children, relationships, gossip, and the right detergent (Lazerfeld & Dinerman, 1979; Poteet, 1975). Audience research indicated that 80 percent of the household purchasing decisions were made by women; subsequently the success of female radio personalities was often evaluated in terms of their ability to move merchandise (Marzolf, 1977).
Aside from a few notable exceptions like radio personality Martha Jean Steinberg who traded her homemaker show and apron for a fast paced rhythm and blues show on WDIA-AM, Memphis, the advancement of women into mainstream radio in the 1940s and 1950s remained fairly stagnant (Smith, 1989) with one spectacular exception. WHER-AM in Memphis became the first all-female radio station in 1955 - with women running the station in every capacity from sales to producing to on-air until the 1970s.
In 1968, New York's WNEW-FM created an all-female line-up of disc jockeys called "Sexpot Radio" (Associated Press, 1995a). Unlike WHER-AM, the short-lived experiment did little to eliminate stereotypical perceptions of women, but it did increase their visibility in broadcasting. Beginning in January 1979, WOMN-AM, Connecticut promoted itself as America's first women's radio station, although it was actually owned by a man. It aired news stories about women and one-third of its play list was devoted to female artists (Karpf, 1980). By the late 1970s, Sally Jessy Raphael had established herself as a popular radio talk show host, offering relationship advice to a late night call-in audience, at a time when talk was just beginning to blossom.
It was also in the late 1970s that a large number of women were hired for weekends and nights slots-after women's groups had pressured the FCC to revise its affirmative action policies earlier in the decade. But radio was becoming big business and audience measurement was becoming sophisticated. Radio consultants-assisted by automation-had transformed the very nature of selecting and playing music into a science (Sweeney, 1975). By the end of the decade, community and Pacifica stations across the U.S. had challenged mainstream perceptions of women with shows like "Lesbian Sisters." Yet, the female voice remained a distant second to the attention commanded by mainstream male deejays pounding out the hits on AM.
By the 1980s, female deejays were incorporated into morning shows as news or traffic readers, and many would giggle on cue to the jokes and antics of the male hosts. But during this time, a number of women deejays were watching along the sidelines, and taking notes. Although one or two female deejays actually sued a male host for sexual harassment, most women just collected their paycheck every other week and said nothing. But things were changing in Rhode Island. There was a woman afternoon personality who had shocked her way to number one on Providence radio. Carolyn Fox was quick-witted and could be just as brash as Stern, who had not yet become a national icon. Robin Quivers was Stern's sidekick, and she was second in command to Stern. She listened, laughed, and shook her head as Stern shot epithets about gays, lesbians, straight woman, and racial and ethnic groups across the airwaves. But Quivers was no Carolyn Fox.
It was Fox and Stern that paved the way for future talk shockettes. In the 1990s, a handful of women deejays, some of who had been nightime personalities or sidekicks to male hosts, began to emerge as shock radio personalities during morning and afternoon drive. Denver's Caroline Corley, San Francisco's Darian O'Toole and Sara Clark, Detroit's Kelly Walker, and Austin's Sara Trexler became the new shock jocks of the 1990s (Carter & Schiffman, 1998; Martin, 1995).
Sexual innuendo and politically incorrect jokes aimed at men were some of the programming offerings. Corley, unlike Rush, talked freely about drugs, verbally attacked conservative politics and corporate America, and ranted about anything in the headlines-in between her favorite recording artists. In 1999, Liz Wilde debuted her tough girl image on Cleveland's legendary rocker WMMS-FM. Karin Begin (a.k.a. Darian O'Toole) has been credited as America's First Shockette (Douglas, 1998). Known also as the "Caustic Canadian Swamp Witch," O'Toole was born and raised in Nova Scotia. She worked at a number of small Canadian stations in the late 1980s before deejaying in New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Sacramento. In San Francisco, she would become known as Darian O'Toole - and to some observers, she was the female Howard Stern (Hinckley, 1998a, p. 2). Her on-air career was short-lived, with a brief (but lucrative) stint in New York City and a subsequent invitation to go back to San Francisco. She remained there for a few months unt
il low ratings determined her fate.
Female shock jocks have become an integral part of programming strategy at many stations. Many of these female shock jocks tend to be white, politically left and more similar in style to Stern than Limbaugh. In contrast, male bashing is fairly common among this new breed of female radio personalities. Another shocker, Stephanie Miller, moved to Los Angeles in 1994, after deejaying at radio station "Hot 97" in New York. In Los Angeles, she worked at KFI and KABC, did her own television show for a few months, regularly appeared as a guest on "Politically Incorrect" and "Larry King Live," and hosted the Oxygen Network's "I've Got A Secret." She was fired from KABC in March 2000. At the time, her show was on more than 20 affiliates across the U.S., and her ratings were the highest in nearly all of the station's targeted demographics (Looney, 2000). Stephanie Miller, on her web site, claimed:
The major reason for my firing was the somewhat racy content of
my show. This from the people that brought you the black hoe promotion.
(Miller, 2000)
She seemed to rationalize her firing with what she referred to as the "vast right wing conspiracy" theory:
Here comes the vast right wing conspiracy part. This is a management so conservative, that not only was I told what words and sounds I can't use, but
that there is no such thing as hate crime and that I do too many gay topics (huh?). Here is a partial list of things that were prohibited on my show: bitch, son of a bitch, bastard, pissed off, a-hole (not even the whole word), bleeping of swear words, open phones, having Rev. Fred Phelps as a guest, or even mentioning him or the word fag, having white supremacist Matt Hale as a guest, any remote broadcasts because "she can't be trusted with a microphone" outside the studio, a sucking sound effect, and, my personal favorite.....no farting sounds. You know when you get the "no flatulence" memo that your days are numbered. (Miller, 2000)
The female shockers often sounded just as rude and controversial as their male counterparts, and just as likely to rely on sex and profanities to boost ratings and publicity. However, none of these shock jockettes seemed to achieve the national 'icon' status as Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh - until Dr Laura Schlessinger entered the talk market. She became the beacon of morality across the talk radio dial. She embraced Rush Limbaugh conservatism and attacked what she viewed as left-wing liberals and the moral decline of America, whereas O'Toole and other shock jockettes were part of a younger generation that grew up listening to Stern, Fox, and others like them on music stations. In contrast, Schlessinger presents herself as moral leader and has attracted the attention of a large loyal conservative constituency of female listeners seeking alternatives to the liberal mainstream media.
The Grand Mistress of Morality
The Dr. Laura Show went on the air in 1993[2], and within two years it ranked among the top radio talk shows in the United States. Five years later, Laura Schlessinger's number one rated talk show in Los Angeles beat out her competitors, Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, Art Bell, Don Imus, and Gordon Liddy (Looney, 1998). Her approach has been described as confrontational with a lot of "nagging, preaching, and teaching" and less than motherly at other times (Bernstein, 1996; McDowell, 2000). And as for any sense of compassion for her morally-challenged callers, she reiterates her mission as the grand mistress of morality, "This is not a mental health show, it's a moral health show (Bernstein, 1996). Her books, Ten Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives and How Could You Do That?! The Abdication of Character, Courage, and Conscience are both best sellers. In 2000, she wrote the forward to Richard A. Cohen's Coming Out Straight: Understanding and Healing Homosexuality, a book that promises to "cure" homosexuality.
Schlessinger is definitely the queen of tough talk, and it would seem that her relentless preaching would discourage listeners from calling into the show, and admitting to a moral lapse in their judgment. Yet, they do. She is the judge and jury for numerous daily callers that seem to thrive on negative reinforcement Not to be mistaken for compassion or sensitivity, Schlessinger introduces herself on her radio show as "my kid's mom."
But Laura Schlessinger is no mild-mannered mother next door. This radio talk-show host is as outraged as Rush Limbaugh and as outspoken as G. Gordon Liddy--two leading voices of the conservative revolution. "Doctor Laura" is the personal, nonpolitical side of that revolution, a therapist who rails against anything-goes mores. From her Los Angeles studio, she frowns on live-in relationships, opposes abortion and blames feminism for turning families into an impediment to women's progress. Just two years after going national, she now ranks among the top talk-show hosts, drawing 10 million listeners a week over 290 stations. This month, she dethroned Oliver North from the afternoon drive-time slot on his home station, WWRC, in Washington, D.C. (McDowell, 2000)
Also atypical of the conservative mom image that she projects across the airwaves are some nude photos that surfaced on the Internet in 1998. In October 2000, one of those photos surfaced again on the ABC network's The View after Schlessinger made a derogatory comment about an advertisement that Arts & Entertainment network aired to promote the Barbara Walters' upcoming "Biography. When asked about her less than perfect past in a Time interview, Schlessinger simply retorted that she never said she was "divine" (McDowell, 2000). Her apology on her show went as follows:
"Friends, we're going to have a little talk," said the family values champion as she opened her WABC (770 AM) show yesterday - three days after a judge lifted an injunction on the 23-year-old explicitly nude photos taken by a former lover_In my 20s, I was my own moral authority," said a contrite Schlessinger. "The inadequacy of that way of life is painfully obvious today. I have undergone profound changes over the course of my life, the most important of which is my journey from basic atheist to an observant Jew," Schlessinger continued. "My early experiences have taught me how much better it is to live by an objective and absolute standard of right and wrong ... And that is the hard-won wisdom I try to pass along to others as I preach, teach and nag every day on this program."
(Schult, 1998)
Yet, Dr. Laura - the television show - born amidst controversy - struggled unlike its radio counterpart to find its identity from its inception. Produced and distributed by Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Domestic Television, the decision to halt production came March 29, 2001. Since November 2000, it aired mainly overnight in 29 of the top 30 media markets. Moreover, approximately 90 sponsors eventually dropped ads on her television show after a national campaign by gay and lesbian groups. On April 2, 2001. Dr. Laura made her first public appearance on CNN's Larry King Live, and blamed the gay and lesbian community for her TV show's failure. Only weeks later, she boasted of a radio audience of 18 million people, which she claimed was a 15 percent increase in first quarter ratings in a speech to the National Religious Broadcasters. Indeed, Talkers Magazine (2001) indicated that Dr. Laura Schlessinger's radio show had the second largest U. S. audience - with more than 14 million listeners - compared to top ranked Rush Limbaugh with more than 15 million listeners, and Howard Stern, coming in third, with more than 8 million. With a failed TV show in her past, and with the longevity of her radio career - as well as an accurate count of her listeners - a debatable issue among industry analysts, Dr. Laura's ability to capture a national radio audience is not a matter of dispute.
The Politically Incorrect Dr. Laura
Dr. Laura began her radio career in the midst of the super shock jocks - Howard Stern, Bob Grant, Greaseman, and others - that had already earned a reputation for outrageous ideas, stunts and offensive racial, ethnic, and gender epithets. She entered the national marketplace when women increasingly began to assume the reigns of morning and afternoon shows. She was a college-educated professional mother who began to question the moral fabric of America - during a time when many listeners were grasping for quick solutions to moral dilemmas, and after Stern and his followers had already elevated depravity to a new level. In the case of Dr. Laura, however, the personal moral struggles of her callers became the entertainment. People tuned to listen as one by one the callers would lower their voices in shame. Her listener testimonials would serve to exemplify what was wrong in this country. And her ratings soared past the kings of syndicated talk. She is the anti-Stern (pro mor
ality), the female Rush (i.e., conservatively right; family value-oriented) - and in the end she is no different from any of them - she is both loved and hated, and has been accused of fueling hatred and stereotypes all in the name of free speech and morality (or in the case of Stern, immorality). Her plans for a TV program met resistance by the gay and lesbian community, and their efforts encouraged sponsors to pull advertising dollars in March 2000 to protect their corporate image and to avert customer boycotts of their products:
Those of us opposed to Schlessinger simply are informing Paramount and potential advertisers that sponsoring the proposed show -- while it is their right -- will alienate and disenfranchise millions of Americans. It is a specious argument and sets a dangerous precedent for Schlessinger's right-wing defenders to say her free-speech rights are contingent on silencing those who protest her. The accusations of censorship are even more absurd when one looks at the right-wing organizations pointing fingers. The American Family Association, the Family Research Council and other far-right groups that are masquerading as free-speech advocates conveniently forget that they did everything in their power to keep Ellen off the air when she came out. These groups attacked ABC and aggressively pressured advertisers to pull out of the show -- and this is their right. But if it's acceptable for these groups to protest Ellen, then why is it notequally acceptable for other groups to protest Dr. Laur
a? Can we say hypocrisy? ("Yes," 2000)
Indeed the battle lines were drawn on what was referred to as a cultural war (Buchanan, 2000). Schlessinger supporters protested outside Procter & Gamble headquarters with signs that read "MATT IN HELL" and "GOD HATES FAGS"("Video," 2000), after the company withdrew its advertising support for the Fall 2000 Dr. Laura TV show. Anti-Schlessinger protesters caught the eye of the media in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Atlanta, St. Louis, Phoenix, Seattle, Las Vegas, Washington DC, and New York City. Subsequently, SkyTel, Geico Insurance, Xerox, ToysRUs and other radio sponsors pulled their ads from Dr. Laura's show, after being inundated with complaint letters (Coalition, 2000). Even in the midst of this controversy, rumors emerged with regards to Schlessinger as a possible running mate for Presidential Reform Party Candidate Pat Buchanan:
USA Today reports that Pat Buchanan is considering her as one of six possible running mates for his bid for president on the Reform Party Ticket. In addition to Schlessinger, Buchanan is also reportedly considering Republican Alan Keyes, Congressman Tom Coburn (R-OK), Oliver North, Teamsters President James Hoffa, and former Boston University president John Silber. Buchanan and Schlessinger would make a noteworthy, if not controversial, team. ("Dr. Laura," 2000)
Buchanan's positioning statement on his web page decried the need to wage a cultural war against immorality:
In politics, conservatives have won more than they have lost, but in the culture, the left and its Woodstock values have triumphed. Divorce, dirty language, adultery, blasphemy, euthanasia, abortion, pornography, homosexuality, cohabitation and so on were not unknown in 1960. But today, they permeate our lives. The critical change has come in the attitudes of our elites. What our leaders once believed to be symptoms of social decline many now celebrate as harbingers of a freer, better society. What was once decried as decadence is now embraced as progress_What is needed today is the same awareness that finally hit the conservative men of America in the early 1770s. Loyal to their king, they had rejected the counsel of Sam Adams to rebel against him and fight. Finally, it dawned on these conservatives that they had to become radicals; they had to overthrow the king's rule to keep what they had. And they found in George Washington a conservative leader with the perseverance to take
us to victory over an enemy superior in every way but courage and character. (Buchanan, 1999)
Not unlike Buchanan, Schlessinger continues to wage a war against immorality. And she is also in the midst of a daily ratings war against other shock talkers, as she attempts to climb to number one in the nation's top markets. Not unlike Stern listeners - even those who hate Dr. Laura tune in to hear what she will say next. The controversy even prompted the regulatory arm of the Canadian media to investigate the appropriateness of Dr. Laura's radio show, in light of its country's policy on human rights and first and foremost her misrepresentation as a "doctor:"
The Councils are left with the uneasy sense that there is an understandable cumulative effect of Schlessinger's positions on so many matters which concern the gay and lesbian communities. The result of this perspective may well be that, while she does not herself advocate any of the homophobic hostility or, worse, brutality, which can be found in criminal corners of society, from her powerfully influential platform behind a very popular microphone, Schlessinger may well fertilize the ground for other less well-balanced elements, by her cumulative position, to take such aggressive steps. With the power emanating from that microphone goes the responsibility for the consequences of the utterances.
("Canadian," 2000, p. 15)
In a statement released in May 2000, The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled that the approximately one million listeners of Dr. Laura across the 450 Canadian TV and radio stations must be warned of her "abusively discriminatory" comments on homosexuality in a public announcement during prime-time hours ("Canadian radio," 2000).
Discussion
Hate speech, according to the U.S. courts, is one that instigates violent acts. So hate radio in this sense fails to adequately define the shock talk craze, which has not inspired violent acts. However, a broader definition, as exists in Canadian broadcast policy, of hate appears much closer to the complaints and protests by offended individuals or community groups. In essence, hate radio, on a much global level, is a human rights issue in countries like Canada, South Africa, and the Netherlands. As such, these countries attempt to curtail hate speech before it develops into hostility toward or between racial, ethnic, or social groups. Indeed, the CBSC stated concern about Dr. Laura's insinuation that Matthew Shepard was to blame for his own murder ("Canadian," 2000). Her unproved assertions about gays and lesbians and her deceptive presentation as a medical expert indicated to the CBSC that Schlessinger failed to present an accurate and balanced show:
_the use of terms such as 'aberrant', 'deviant', 'a [biological] error', 'disordered' and 'dysfunctional,' which appear to have a medical connotation to them, is exacerbated by the host's insistence on describing herself as Dr. Schlessinger, when the degree which she has earned [Schlessinger's doctorate is in physiology] has no relevance to the opinions which she expresses. ("Canadian," 2000, p. 6)
With the syndication of national icons like Stern, Limbaugh, and Schlessinger, it becomes evident that the community perspective is lost amidst the consolidated airwaves. Robin Breedon, WPGC-FM (Washington D.C.) morning host, is an example of "peace" radio, as opposed to hate radio. Her decade of community activism in Washington, D.C., profoundly changed the lives of African American listeners and the larger community - while at the same time winning the ratings war against her white male shock talk competitors (Stern and Tract). (Rosenfeld, 1991)
But there is another issue of concern, and specifically relevant to American media, and that is the question of a double standard for female shock talkers. Schlessinger is by no means June Cleaver, and far from the soft-spoken nationally syndicated nightime host and advisor to the lovelorn, Delilah.[3] ("Nighttime delight," 1998) Schlessinger's male counterparts - Howard Stern, Bob Grant, and Don Imus, and others like them, have built an empire on hate and cynicism. The irony of it all is that Dr. Laura, as a shock talker, might have been readily dismissed as another gimmicky talk show host, but as a mother and a degreed professional, the question is, "Is she held to a higher standard than Rush or Stern or Grant?" Grant was on the air for more than 25 years, and survived numerous complaints and protests about his hateful and prejudicial remarks - yet he was fired only once since 1986. The contracts of Rush and Stern will likely continue to be renewed, unless they decide to step
down from their respective thrones. The show expectancy of Dr. Laura Schlessinger has yet to be written in broadcast history. Nevertheless, some observations might help clarify her role in the larger shock phenomena.
By identifying herself - first and foremost - as her "kid's mom," Schlessinger inadvertently may have defined herself too narrowly to the public. Stern is not viewed as a father, and then as a shock jock. His role as a family man is viewed secondary to his shock jock status. Rush Limbaugh, on the other hand, has defended traditional American family values, and put out a call to all fathers to assume moral leadership within their home - all the while slinging racial, ethnic, and sexist derision at any attitude or action that challenges his beliefs. Yet, Limbaugh does not regularly refer to himself as "my kid's dad," but he has mocked Schlessinger's moniker.
Stern, Grant, and Limbaugh have all bashed gays, blacks, women, and a number of ethnic groups in the media, but none have received such on-going national attention as Dr. Laura. Stern has survived numerous complaints and FCC indecency fines. The day after the Littleton incident made headlines, Stern jokingly asked if the shooters "tried to have sex with any of the good-looking girls?" (MacArthur, 1999). He never apologized for the comments:
His affiliate in Denver apologized for what was said. Stern never did, even though some of his fans said he had gone too far. In the end more people probably tuned in to Stern over those next few days to see what the fuss was about than at any other time before_ For Stern, nothing is taboo. He makes racial slurs that would get the Greaseman, the city of Washington's popular on-air talker, fired five times over. That Stern's sidekick Robin Quivers just happens to be black allows him to get away with it. (MacArthur, 1999)
Schlessinger is a product of her shock talk predecessors within this post-Fairness Doctrine era. She is not all that original. Hate speech on radio has been rampant in the U.S. since the doctrine was abolished. Hateful epithets aimed at a particular group of people are not an innovative programming strategy in this period of broadcast history. So why all the fuss about Dr. Laura? Maybe, just maybe, someone who introduces herself as "I'm my kid's mom" is not expected to spread propaganda and hate. And while it is impossible to legislate kindness - and no doubt unconstitutional, it is not necessary for American advertisers to sponsor such activities.
But then again, that all depends on the image that advertisers want to project to the public. In the end, all ideas are part of the larger marketplace of ideas. Consider ABC Nightline correspondent Chris Bury's editorial comments regarding the actions of shock radio host Doug Tract:
_ Ted Koppel pierced the mantra of Tracht's apologies to discover that the shock jock does not think he deserved to be fired _ making clear to a national television audience that "The Greaseman" may still not fully understand how offensive his comments were to so many people. In a time when talk radio hosts are rewarded for "pushing the envelope," I feel strongly that reporting on racism and hate talk is responsible journalism. If that somehow "advances" the Greaseman's career, the fault lies not with the journalists who expose racism, but with the radio stations which profit from "shock" programming and the listeners who tolerate it." - Chris Bury (1999) Nightline correspondent ("Shock Radio," 1999)
So we might extrapolate from Bury's analysis that some shockers just don't get the big picture - nor the idea that we all have human rights and unequal access to the airwaves. If Dr. Laura did not fully comprehend how offensive her comments were to the gay and community, why did Paramount entrust her with three hours of national air time every weekday? Likewise, Stern has spoken for millions of politically incorrect listeners, who arguably become empowered to hate vicariously and anonymously through shock radio. Could Dr. Laura's defamation of gays and lesbians be a symptom of a larger problem in American broadcasting: the quantification of "hate" into dollars and ratings. Indeed, it is unfortunate that disdain for each other's diversity and humanity (by males and females) can generate high ratings and large profits for many broadcast companies and sponsors.
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The Making of Dr. Laura Schlessinger
Abstract
Since the 1980's Fairness Doctrine's repeal, the American broadcasting system has shifted from a model of objectivity to advocacy, with broadcasters asserting their rights to put forth their agenda. The distinction between news, information, and entertainment has blurred - all in the name of constitutionality, but more likely in the name of ratings. This paper analyzes the events that led to the acceptance - and rejection - of the moral platitudes of Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
[1] This is the last year statistics are available.
[2] Around 1990, a trend toward friendly feminist talk radio with noncontroversial topics had only moderate appeal in some large markets (Hansen, 1992).
[3] The opportunity for women to relate to other women is also what made female talker Mary McBride so popular in the early days of radio. Delilah (no last name) has aired on more than 100 affiliates across the U.S. since the 1990s.