"Shock jocks"

[kentuck]

Charlie Kirk was a modern-day shock jock. He would say things that shocked people.

Alan Berg was a shock jock in the 1980's on KOA radio out of Denver. He would say shocking things but, in my opinion, not as shocking as some of the things that Charlie Kirk would say. He was assassinated in June of 1984 by white supremacists.

But, it seems, there is always an over-abundance or right-wing nuts and white supremacists that are willing to take on these "shock jocks" when they become too vocal.

Charlie Kirk was using his First Amendment right of free speech. But, it seems it is only "free" up to a point.

[stopdiggin]

1. free speech does NOT mean, 'free from any consequence, any adverse reaction'

Killing people is wrong (in either greater or lesser degrees of absolute - depending on - factors)
Punching somebody like Charlie Kirk in the nose ....
Working to see that Charlie loses his house, his job, his car, his wife, his kids, every friend he ever had and his good name .....

[rsdsharp]

2. I understand your point, but neither Kirk or Berg were "shock jocks."

Kirk was a right wing provocateur; Berg was a liberal radio talk show host.

The term shock jock was coined in the late 1960s, early 1970s, and had a specific meaning. A shock jock was a radio disc jockey, who actually played music within a format, but who pushed the limits of what was acceptable with his comments. Don Imus and Howard Stern were shock jocks — before they became a talk show hosts. The Greaseman was a shock jock, at least until he got fired.

There weren’t many true shock jocks because they walked in the edge of violating nine of the ten rules for jocks set down by WABC program director Rick Sklar. One of those rules was to get ratings. The other nine were to protect the station license.

They rarely lasted long, because they had to continue to shock, which required continual escalation — to the point of endangering the license — although what they said fifty plus years ago would seem rather tame now.