Talk Radio Documentary Gets Noticed by Talkers Magazine

We’ve blogged a few times about Brien Farley’s documentary “Liberty or Lies” which examined the Milwaukee conservative talk radio scene.

Now the magazine Talkers has noticed the production, and is featuring it on its front page (the link is to a page that should remain up indefinitely).

Conservative Talk Radio Documentary Getting Attention (and Ratings!) on Public TV in Milwaukee.

Former talk radio producer and talk show host Brien Farley’s new documentary film “Liberty or Lies?” examines the popularity of conservative talk radio in the Milwaukee market. The film was initially a graduate level independent study that took off and eventually found a home on Milwaukee Public Television where a two-hour version of the film premiered on January 30 from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm and aired again on February 4. Interestingly, Farley’s work on the film began just before Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Republican state officials faced recall elections in 2011 that put the state in the center of the national discourse about public policy relative to public workers’ labor rights. Farley’s film covers talk radio in the market from the perspectives of its biggest local stars, its biggest media critics and many perspectives in between. He tells TALKERS that local response to the film has been excellent noting that public television audience research firm TRAC Media Services reported the film garnered a 1.6 share for the January 30 airing. Farley is an admitted fan of the format and says he believes the Milwaukee news/talk stations serve the market well. “I think the Milwaukee market is a fantastic example of the vibrancy and power of news/talk radio when done right. The programmers at WISN and WTMJ are very tuned into their audiences and responsive to what the people want…which is the real power of the news/talk format. They’ve also corralled some excellent homegrown talent which means a lot to local listeners.” The question, “Why is conservative talk radio successful?” is an ongoing curiosity among many mainstream journalists. In fact it’s a question TALKERS editors are asked almost daily by journalists working in the consumer media. Farley says he believes his film, in many ways, shows Milwaukee to be a microcosm of news/talk’s success on the national level. “AM radio is perhaps the lowest rung of the broadcast venues and yet the impact of the genre is huge! In Wisconsin, this was manifest in the November 2010 election results in which we saw the most comprehensive turnover in power – from Democrat to Republican – of any state in the country. This would not have happened without Milwaukee’s conservative talk radio. And now with the attempted recall of Republican Governor Scott Walker, conservatives, right-leaning independents and converted Democrats are flocking to talk hosts like Jay Weber and Vicki McKenna of WISN and Charlie Sykes and Jeff Wagner of WTMJ to hear the latest and find out what they can do to join the fight. Like it or not, Wisconsin is becoming a very different place because of conservative talk radio. I believe the same can be said of our nation thanks to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin et al.” Read more about Farley’s film and watch it here.

Interestingly, nobody in the Marquette Communications school would agree to supervise this project as a graduate student academic course. So Farley had to come to us in Political Science (he actually needed no supervision, being a seasoned communications professional). Are the faculty in Communications thinking that they goofed? Or do they just wish that conservative talk radio would disappear?

Tonight! Liberty or Lies: Milwaukee Conservative Talk Radio

You can see the entire show here.

Milwaukee Conservative Talk Radio to be Discussed on MPTV

It’s official.

Brien Farley’s documentary “Liberty or Lies” will be aired on Milwaukee Public Television at the end of January.

We were Farley’s academic adviser on the project, although in fact Farley is a seasoned broadcast professional who needed little advice or guidance.

Farley is himself rather conservative and favorably inclined toward conservative talk radio, but his documentary gives both the defenders and supporters of the genre plenty of time to state their case. It includes extensive interviews with all the local conservative talkers (Belling being the only exception) and equally extensive interviews with journalistic critics (Bruce Murphy and the late Tim Cuprisin, for example). and local political activists (Jay Heck of Common Cause and Chris Kliesmet of Citizens for Responsible Government, for example).

This will be a “must watch” show for anybody interested in local politics.

Documentary on Milwaukee Conservative Talk Radio / More

We’ve blogged about a project by Marquette’s Brien Farley: a documentary on Milwaukee-area conservative talk radio.

When we first blogged about it, only three of the six parts were available.

Now, part four is. We hope the rest appear soon.

This is an excellent opportunity to hear both the prominent Milwaukee talk radio hosts, and their critics, discuss this insurgent medium.

Documentary on Conservative Talk Radio, With a Milwaukee Focus

Marquette’s Brien Farley (an employee of University Advancement) has spent several months working on a documentary about conservative talk radio, and has interviewed all the top talk radio hosts in the market (with the exception of Belling) as well as the most visible local critics of the genre.

The entire thing will be six parts, but at the moment the first three parts are available as streaming video on his website.

These are an absolute “must see” for anybody interested in conservative talk radio, Milwaukee politics or indeed the media in general.

[In the interests of full disclosure: we technically “supervised” the project as a Marquette internship for academic credit. In fact, Farley needed virtually no “supervision” as he is quite media savvy and politically savvy.]

Your humble blogger is one of the people featured in the video.