The Divided DIal
FROM WNYC’S ON THE MEDIA, my Peabody award-winning series reveals how the American right came to dominate talk radio — and how one company is launching a media empire from the airwaves
In 2022, 17 of the country’s top 20 talk radio hosts were right wing. And on many talk radio shows, far-right misinformation and conspiracy theories are preached commonly — and are often untraceable due to the ethereal nature of the radio. How did the right come to dominate talk radio, and what strings does the medium continue to pull in US politics? In my Peabody-winning five-part podcast series with WNYC’s On the Media, I find out.
“Despite constant predictions of its eventual demise, broadcast radio remains one of the most powerful media channels in the United States, if not the world. Grounded in this knowledge, ‘The Divided Dial,’ by the journalist Katie Thornton and the team at WNYC’s On the Media, offers listeners a sobering window into the rise of Salem Media Group, a conservative Christian radio network that has steadily grown from fringe player to a formidable custodian of power and influence over the political right within the last few decades. Synthesizing dogged business reporting with a clear sense of how right-wing talk radio has fundamentally reshaped the Republican Party, Thornton and On the Media have produced a remarkable, vital, and unparalleled document that outlines the uneasy conflict over truth in American civic life. For its robust and unprecedented look at a formidable political force in the United States, ‘The Divided Dial’ is recognized with a Peabody Award.”
- Peabody Awards
Episode 1 - The True Believers
In 2016, Christian talk radio host Eric Metaxas begrudgingly encouraged his listeners to vote for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. By 2020, he pledged his life to fighting the “stolen election” while talking with Trump on the air. Ahead of the midterm elections, Metaxas and many of his fellow talk radio hosts made sure the falsehood of massive 2020 election fraud was top of mind — on the airwaves and beyond. And while election-denying candidates didn't do as well as many on the right had hoped, at least 170 such candidates have been elected to state and national offices, some of whom will be in charge of future elections. We meet the company whose hosts never backed down from the lies of the stolen 2020 election: Salem Media Group, the largest Christian, conservative multimedia company in the country – and perhaps the most influential media company you’ve never heard of.
Episode 2 - From Pulpit to Politics
How did the little-known Salem Media Group come to have an outsized political influence? In this episode we trace the company’s rise to power from its scrappy start in the 1970s to the present day — a growth that paralleled and eventually became inextricable from the growth of the Religious Right. We learn that Salem is tightly networked with right wing political strategists, pollsters, big donors, far right leaders and Republican party mainstays thanks to their involvement with the Council for National Policy — a secretive group of Evangelical and conservative leaders. For decades, the CNP has been working behind the scenes to get a specific, highly influential subset of voters to act. And Salem has been a megaphone for their cause.
Episode 3 - The Liberal Bias Boogeyman
How did the right get their vice grip of the airwaves, all the while arguing that they were being silenced and censored by a liberal media? In this episode we look at the early history of American radio to reveal that censorship of far-right and progressive voices alike was once common on radio. And we learn how, in the post-war and Civil Rights period, the US government encouraged more diverse viewpoints on the airwaves — until it didn’t.
Episode 4 - From the Extreme to the Mainstream
In the 1970s, talk radio was hitting its stride, with hosts and listeners from all political persuasions. But the radio dial was about to change forever. Community needs assessments, requirements to offer public service programs and multiple perspectives, and limits on how many stations a single company could own were all eradicated. Technological and legal changes would consolidate the radio industry exponentially, allowing conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh to take over the airwaves. In this episode, we look at radio’s last four decades to understand how we got to where we are today, and how conservative talk radio came to dominate a medium that once thrived on varied viewpoints.
Episode 5 - There’s SOmething about Radio
Highly politicized, partisan companies like Salem have a hold on the airwaves — and they don’t plan to give it up. Senior Vice President of Salem, Phil Boyce speaks candidly to Katie about the personalities he handpicked to spread Salem’s message and about the company’s plans to expand into the media world off the airwaves. And in this final episode of the series we ask the perennial question: peddling election denialism seems to be a solid business model — but is it legal?
BOnus Episode - Talking Back
We covered a lot of ground in the series, so in this bonus episode we wanted to give space to some of the voices we couldn’t fit into the story: a concerned citizen who tried to take the issue of combatting on-air conspiracy theories into her own hands, a journalist who went into the belly of the beast, a former talk radio host, and some of the people on the receiving end of the right wing broadcasts... the listeners.
The Divided Dial was researched, reported, written, and hosted by me, Katie Thornton. Edited by On the Media's inimitable executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton, and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan. With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
We are grateful that The Divided Dial was honored with a Peabody Award, the Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism, and a Mirror Award nomination.