"Shock jocks"

[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.