Abstract

Talk radio in the US has been an enduring player in the media landscape for decades. It tends to be highly partisan (largely conservative) and rife with varieties of misinformation. Talk radio is often framed, in media and research, as alternative ‘infotainment’ on a dying medium.

There is thus a comparative dearth of research into talk radio and related media forms/actors, especially in comparison to platform-focused work. Yet US conservative talk radio – and the stations that carry it – maintain important sociopolitical and even quasi journalistic roles today, particularly in rural contexts. These stations contextualize and normalize topics for their distinct audiences. They produce highly trusted local news and national news framings as hybrid digital broadcast actors. They even serve as lively grounds for conservative politicking on the national level—from senatorial visits to sparsely populated farming country to call-ins directly from the Trump administration.

Drawn from in-depth research at several rural US talk radio stations during recent US elections, these findings underscore the importance of approaching media, politics, and power in term of both continuity and change.

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