John Batchelor Show Gone

Pundita is on a tear about the John Batchelor Show being gone from ABC radio. I can't say I disagree. It was always an interesting and often an informative show. From the first time I started listening in after 9/11, I found myself captivated.

I have no complaints with Laura Ingraham, though the new guy in the 8-10 slot didn't do much for me in the short time I heard him this evening. But does ABC have to be all political ranting all the time? Batchelor's show at least got away from that long enough to actually pass along some good information, as opposed to just more of the usual anti-Liberal shtick.

Check out Pundita's blog if you want the low down as to what is currently going on with ABC radio.

Comments

[kate]

I am not an expert on talk radio but enjoy listening to it on long trips. I think Rush is brilliant and an excellent analysis plus entertaining. Sean Hannity has become unlistenable to me. He is mediocre but has a very high opinion of himself and constantly keeps the focus on him. He is becoming increasingly nasty and rude. He tries to imitate Mark Levin, who I don't listen to but read occasionally on NRO, and Hannity does not have the intellect to match Levin.

I find the more up and coming talk show hosts are interesting since they keep more to issues.

[Phoenix]

Agree, Kate. Hannity is ridiculous for the reasons you cite.

I can't listen unless the talk is cool and measured. I wish Charles Krauthammer had a show. Watching him on Brit and reading his columns will have to suffice. Michael Barone is another brilliant man who is unconcerned about image. He is just passionate about psephology and knows it all. I love listening to him.

[Jauhara]

I agree with you, too, Kate. Sean merely rehashes his television show for the radio. I just don't like his show. For me, the delicious naughty pleasure is listening to Glenn Beck. He is definitely out there. If I just want to give up and be pissed off all the time, I will listen to Michael Savage. What is interesting, is that I have quit watching television news altogether, and just started listening to Israel National News. Very interesting perspectives, and JerusalemOnline has some good television news. But overall, the main diet consists of the Blogosphere. HotAir is great VBlogging, too.

[Daniel]

1) I think dumping "John Batchelor" was a big mistake. I saw on Wikipedia that the new owners of ABC Radio dumped him because of his obssesive involvement in israel\jewish politics. I am not jewish, but I really liked every subject he spoke, even Israel.
2) I can't understand how "Sean Hannity" has the second biggest audience. He speaks of the same issues and the same points most days.
3) I think that "John Gambling" is as smart and independent as Bill O'reilly, but lacks bill's luck.
4) "Laura Ingraham" is the cleanest radio talk show host and she dosen't spin like others.

[caravaggio]

There has not been any other news source that compares to the John Batchelor show. It breaks my heart that WABC actually took him off him the air. His ratings were excellent. I called the station and they told me his ratings were the reason, then they didnt want to talk about it any longer. And you have listened to his show, you know it was not about money. He provided more factual open source info on his show than 5 years of ALL media combined. GO figure, just a small 3 hour radio show and they got nervous. I cannot believe it. He was the only real outlet to open source information you could not find anywhere else. From Sept 12, 2001 -> Sept of 06 i have listened. And as a new yorker, no one put me at ease mentally like he and Paul Alexander did. Of all media that exists, his best guest, John Loftus gave me more insight to factual realities about current world events, than I could ever find on my own. Batchelor and Alexander changed the way i think about politics and renewed a profound interest in the last 100 years of history. Truly outside the box, and a true "thinker", John was able to make the complex understandable in this extraordinarily complex global mess. If for any reason he was let go from WABC, it was because John discussed or got "too close" to truths that goverment and media do not want americans talking about and asking questions (as of yet). If he does not return to radio - its going to be a tough 5 years ahead. One last comment for this particular post - John Batchelor getting canned at WABC really shows you where America's head is at. We adore SHIT and poo-poo the great work - including GOOD ART.

[David]

I too valued Batchelor's show more than any on radio. Ok, so ABC blew it - why doesn't anyone else pick him up. It was far more informative than any other show by far. Bring back John!

[Jan]

I can't believe the concern over "protecting" talk radio shows from those with other outlooks. In my opinion the absolute best with great ratings has been yanked already. I heard no outcry from Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, and only a few comments from Laura Ingraham and Barbara Simpson. I found Batchelor fascinating. I first found him very late one night (he was on 3-5AM in my area). So I could both live my life and listen, I learned to stream radio on the internet. I felt like I'd found a window on the world that has since gone opaque.

Instead they put on Opie and Anthony that find it hilarious joking about raping Condaleeza Rice and Laura Bush? Come on, what garbage. We're worried about free speech? I fear the good part is already gone. I am dismayed that this show has not been brought back. It has been almot a year now. What about webcasts? Who needs ABC?

[Rumpole in Taiwan]

I just stumbled onto this thread doing a Google search on John B. I listened to the J.B. show here in Taiwan nearly everyday and therefore got a good feel for the subtle changes that were taking place in the program. Here are some thoughts and "conjectures" on the show.

(1) Alexander left shortly after hectoring J. Loftus, something which seemed very strained and uncomfortable. Batchelor could feel the vitriole and didn't like it. Alexander semed to be challenging Loftus on his typical "insider" (usually far out) analysis of what was going on in the secret world of spies and intrigue -- I think it was his assertion that WMDs were buried in the Bekka Valley of Lebanon. I could feel the ice coming out of the speakers that day.

(2) John did his show from Israel on occasion and was clearly pro-Israeli, but he is not a standard talk show (Republican) conservative in the same sense that Hannity, Levin, and Ingraham are. He was indeed difficult to classify and it was always refreshing to hear his take on domestic politics.

(3) John made a big thing out of the corruption at the UN; and rightly so. I suspect that the entire UN hated him (except for the US ambassador). He interviewed all the reporters who were impolitely challenging the UN hierarchy including C. Rossett, Beni Avni, and others. He had some pretty harsh words for Kofi Annan and family. I guess this didn't earn him any friendship in NY social circles and positions of power.

(4) John's show had no call-in component and that made it very appealing to me, but probably rubbed the empty suits upstairs the wrong way. The other shows all let the plebs call in and give their usual uninformed opinions and "you're a great American" bull. This really helps to stoke the egos of the people who call in, but I find it a waste of time. John had the courage to take his show to the Hoover Institution at Stanford and he even covered the elections on location here in Taiwan. Who else would be willing to discuss topics like the Hubble telescope and bird flu? Perhaps he was too cerebral for the Everyman tuning in. He was an elitist and it showed. But I forgave him for that because the shows were thought-provoking.

(5) John routinely had people on that wrote pieces in newspapers, but who were very poor speakers. He would always call up his well informed friends and proceed to drag the listener through a miserable dialog full of stutterings and "uh" "you know" ..... It was excruciating sometimes. I won't bother you to name the reporters, but you all know of whom I am talking.

(6) John interviewed on more than one occasion known terrorists in the Palestinian movement. Some people may have raised their eyebrows at this. During the interview (which was translated), he seldom would vigorously challenge these people who were hiding from the Mossad and the IDF -- although after the interview he would change his tone and try to give the impression that he took the terrorist to the cleaners. That always seemed a little hokey to me.

(7) John hated the Chinese politburo. After Tien-an-men massacre, he frequently called the Chinese leaders the Butchers of Beijing. However, I can tell you that he has very little understanding of what is going on over here in Asia. I am an American who has lived in Taiwan for 20 years. I think he would be surprised to find that there are over 1 million Taiwanese in China doing business on a daily basis. He always saw things in that 1960's standoff-way between Beijing and Taipei. Things are not that way here now and convergence is taking place very quickly. The next election will set things on a very even course for the next twenty years. The only losers will be the US arms and weapons manufacturers who will no longer be needed to supply defensive weapons to Taiwan.

I miss the J.B show and if John happens to see this posting, please get back on the air soon. We all miss you.

[caravaggio]

John Batchelor back on the air this Sunday Oct 7th, 2007 7-10 pm EST permanently (Sundays only).

[Hotrin]

I find it outrageous that John Batchelor is back on the air at WABC with the same "no caller" format. I wrote an email to Batchelor way back complaining about this setup and he claimed it was because he was too "technically challenged" to work the equipment, hence no listener calls. What a crock of shit.
Add to the mix, John Loftus spewing all kinds of wildly unsubstantiated theories that Batchelor never follows up on or challenges, and you have a show that is nothing more than folly. John claims he is a journalist. Actually, he's far from it. I predict he won't last long on WABC.