The History of Talk Radio.

• Author: Rothenberg, Robert S.

Almost half a century ago, the American public stopped listening passively to the radio and began to talk back. The airwaves have never been the same. Barry Gray was the first to hold conversations with listeners during the 1950s, and Long John Nebel instituted the seven-second delay that has managed to keep obscenities and other over-the-top objectionable material from going on the air.

Through a series of interviews with some of the most notorious and outspoken talk radio hosts, this video provides an engrossing picture of those who keep America amused, irate, and exasperated from morning drive time to the wee hours of insomnia. From the acerbic audience-baiting of Bob Grant, Alan Burke, Barry Farber, and Morton Downey, Jr., to the raunchy, irreverent spewings of shock jocks Howard Stern and Don Imus, to sex specialist Dr. Ruth Westheimer and "Femme Forum" host Bill Ballance, the words spew back and forth, seemingly non-stop.

A new phenomenon has arisen with the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine a few years ago by the Federal Communications Commission, clearing the way for political...