drudge blog

This in the New York Times this morning. Same points, same sound bites, same year, different publication.

Correction: My press archives show that Drudge has claimed to work up to 15 hours a day (not 14, as I’ve repeated in September). I want to say 16, because there was one spring 2005 radio show where he mentioned his man hours but I was not taking notes. Again, the figures fluctuate from year to year, from interview to interview.

Matt Drudge has left the airwaves. At least for the regularly scheduled Sunday night slot. If you’ve liked Drudge’s radio show, the swan song was a good one. He chose to have no guests but opened the lines for questions about anything, him included, and spent a generous amount of time explaining the logistics of the show and other assorted whatnot. While it was the typical replayed clips, he didn’t ramble and he kept things positive.

The first Sunday night I listened to Matt Drudge in 2004, I fell asleep. I’m not into talk radio, particularly not conservative talk radio, so this is it for me and rancid ear candy. I can’t even evaluate Drudge Report Radio as a typical consumer, because I’ve multitasked Drudge with either a notebook or a keyboard. During that first year, those last three hours of Sunday were a niche of very limited time to focus on the novel manuscript that his presence in the news helped inspire.  I thought at the time that I’d done all the research my project really needed, but was still curious about how this personality, which came alive in print via raw interviews and news stories, translated onto radio. The short answer is that I tuned in out of curiosity to see what I’d get out of it.

Drudge is a conservative-slash-libertarian-slash populist who straddles the edge of party lines, who forced me out of my political comfort zone and nudged me toward trains of thought I’d never other wise hop onto.  Three years later, my values and tastes haven’t changed. I’m still concerned that humans do have an effect on global warming. I’m still not impressed with his idol Pat Buchanan, nor do I read any occult implications into Harry Potter. 

Something about him was entertaining – both intentionally and unintentionally – in a way that most radio ga-ga isn’t. He made Dick Morris and Ann Coulter digestible (in tablet-sized sound bites) and Nikki Finke palatable. A chat with Camille Paglia made her as fabulous as ever.

Given a mike and a three-hour daypart, Drudge is often a good servant but a bad master. He can be annoying, inane, kneejerk, shortsighted, repetitive, disrespectful, and oblivious. But, dang it, dude has verve. When he’s good, he’s very, very good. When he’s bad, he’s still worth the time.

Matt well earned his nickname of “Dead Air Drudge” when I first began listening (not so much recently). When I hear the same clips for the fifth time, I can totally envision him as a babbling grandpa rehashing the same tired story ad infinitum. He must have known as he called Walter Cronkite “old goat,” that he wasn’t immune to the same disease. Nor was he above criticizing an invited guest post-interview with whom he disagreed. But what I did regret about Drudge was the occasional lack of sensitivity and humility toward callers who deserved – well, at least a little better.

CALLER: Mr. Drudge, it’s the Christmas season, and I’ll give you a chance to take back the terrible things you said about retarded people….(explains a previous show in which Matt said that Spider Man 2 was a movie “for the retarded”.) I raised a 19-year-old retarded son, and you did not.

DRUDGE (with an edge of irritation): Well, then, what should I say, sir?  (Quickly, as the station break sounds go off) Spider Man is a movie for all races, creeds and colors…

But usually he could hold his own at nobody else’s expense:

CALLER WITH SUPPRESSED VOICE: What is the percentage of neocons who are Jewish?

DRUDGE (who’s Jewish): I think I saw you in the Borat movie this weekend. (Plays a clip of Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Throw the Jew Down the Well”). This one’s for you, Mel.

Drudge’s show was the most fun when he was caught off-guard.  Women with soft voices seemed to gelatinize his steel armor.

FEMALE CALLER (after a few sentences of gushing) You should win the Nobel Peace Prize! Are you married?

DRUDGE(softening, a little nervous): Thank you…you’re embarrassing me a little.

FEMALE CALLER (after another sentence of gushing) Are you married?

DRUDGE: Um, no.

It’s never been 100% clear to me how much of the on-air persona was really Matt.  He’s gone off on the occasional tirade – most notably, a William Buffett quote in which his voice morphed into a peculiar snarl – when I wondered if he might be slightly losing it. Or maybe it’s like a high school friend told the Washington City Paper – he has a knack for coming off the wrong way. When he went off on the Mark Foley jag about teenage “beasts”, I knew how it would come off. But even as I poked holes in his fallacious reasoning, I knew where he was coming from, and I developed a respect for him.

And then, the one-liners:

“I’m in that wonderful Drudge cynical mood.”

“News is where you find it.  Don’t you agree, you Internet pioneer, you?”

“I’m a sucker for a cheap cry.”

 “I find comfort in historical context – that we’ve been through this before.” 

 “To me, it’s comforting for someone to wear their politics on their sleeve…”

Re: suggestion of doing another TV show: “I am so not on the market right now. I’m allergic to the pancake makeup.”

On Dan Rather: “I think he’s a patriot, I really do.” 

On Washington: “The real stinky fishbowl.”

(Clapping his hands underneath the mike, reminding me of a monkey playing cymbals) “Oh, and I’m so proud of these kids getting all cleaned up.”

Drudge Radio, in many ways, was an extension of the website, but it was also an outlet for an inherently creative person to flesh out ideas, tones, and attitudes that translated differently on the page. What got him fired up on-air wasn’t necessarily apparent on the site, and vice versa. It was compelling on a more intellectual plane. Perhaps like observing wildlife in their natural habitat: either you appreciate what you observed or you didn’t. Either you had the patience to sit still and listen, or you didn’t. If you’re staking out the scene with a cocked gun and listening only for what you want, you’ll only come away with what you want: a dead shell of something vibrant.

What I’ll definitely miss is that direct communication that translates only through an autonomous radio show. News consumers see and hear from Drudge what they want to see and hear. Conservatives want someone to affirm their values, liberals want confirmation that he’s a buffoon or a slimeball. But if you lowered your expectations, and your guard, and listened without prejudice, something interesting happened.

On a more personal level, Matt Drudge has been the most fascinating research project I’ve taken on. The end of the show means that there really is nothing left to glean, at least insofar as my book goes. It’s the end of a three-year routine, of turning over every possible stone, keeping my eyes and ears alert for every conceivable source of useful information. For three and a half years, if it wasn’t a Jewish holiday and I was in the United States, Drudge was my plans on Sunday night…whether I was in the mood or not.

My archives are complete. The research is done. All there is now to do is move forward with the finished manuscript. For Drudge and for me, it’s the end of an era.

Damn, that was fun. 

As Spanky and Our Gang sang, “Sundays will never be the same.”

RegoPark is a freelance writer with a background in marketing communications. She has recently completed a novel on the relationship between PR and new media. She can be reached at regopark@arcticmail.com .

Sorry, guys, I just had to say it.  Drudge’s final broadcast pretty much confirmed all the things I talked about this month.

He actually READ a question I flashed him a minute later and answered it at 9:35. It’s just one of those surreal moments. I’m sitting here laughing my ass off.

All right. I got it out of my system. Back to adulthood…

In the month since the news first leaked about Matt Drudge’s decision to end his popular radio broadcast, the silence on both the Drudge Report and the show itself is deafening. No direct comment has been offered to the press, excluding a public comment box posting from an indeterminate source. We’re down to the wires, kids, and there’s no telling what old Mattness is going to pull over the airwaves at 10 Eastern. Anything…I repeat, anything…is possible.

He could break his silence up front and announce/admit that this will be the last broadcast. Or, he could wait till the final hour, after the final station break..or (and I will not put it past him) he might actually go the entire three hours without even making a peep goodbye, leaving some listeners to find out after the fact.

He could break some unexpected news about himself…retirement, career move, engagement, parenthood, health issue, lawsuit.  Or, he may offer no comment on his decision to hang it up. (Or, he’ll restrict it to one “I Know When to Retire, Unlike Rather and Cronkite” monologue.)

He could get mushy. (One of his favorite quotes is “I’m a sucker for a cheap cry” – a sentiment he’s test-driven in at least one public 1998 speech and “teared up” when he hit the “Enter” key on the Monica Lewinsky post. Or, he could be a rock and an island and steel himself till the end.

He could be generous with callers…or he could go wait till the final half of the show to take them, if at all. Maybe tell them how boring or stupid he really thinks they are.

He could focus on making the best show possible…or he could go out with a ramble and a whimper. Maybe throw in an FCC violation or two.

He could turn the swan song into a retrospective…or he could be strictly business as usual and produce the exact same kind of show he’s always done.

He could have something up his sleeve…or he could be too damned tired to care.

Nothing he can say or do tomorrow night can possibly shock me. Nothing he can say can be expected, either. Except this: Drudge is going to do what Drudge is going to do. And that involves enjoying himself enjoying news.

RegoPark is a freelance writer with a background in marketing communications who has recently completed a media novel. She can be reached at regopark@arcticmail.com .
 

Despite the fun some people have had speculating about Matt Drudge’s retirement from radio, I can think of (and have shared) enough compelling-but-boring reasons why ten years might be a mighty good time to call it a life. At the time I announced the possibility on this space this month, it was still unclear whether Drudge was only leaving the Premiere Radio syndicate or whether he was leaving the industry altogether.  I’m not especially wild about sowing the seeds of gossip, especially when my words will be taken out of context by journalists and readers with less than stellar reading comprehension (which, indeed, they were.) For what it’s worth, let me throw this out before moving along:

If the news of a radio host’s departure is newsworthy enough to report and speculate about, should a journalist:

(a) Seek further information from the syndicate (length of contract, termination clause, date of tendered resignation)

(b) Interview sources in the radio industry for pertinent industry information, radio contracts or other commentary that might offer legitimate clues,

(c) Scour available information on the radio host (other obligations, the tone and nature of recent broadcasts, any significant changes in work, life or job performance)

(d) Scour the grapevine?

Obviously, blogs and mainstream gossip columns aren’t written like term papers. They aren’t written for posterity or the historical record.

You might guess that I’m a real backseat driver when it comes to journalism, and a consummate legalist at that. I don’t go for hooded tribunals or kangaroo court, and if hearsay doesn’t have a place in the U.S. justice system, it won’t occupy one in my mind. To me, anonymous sources mean jack shit. I am not interested in anyone’s imaginary friends. Creative writing has its place…and is no more legitimate a presence in a news story than it would be in a legal brief or scientific abstract.  I also have yet to be sold on the philosophy that “gossip is the glue that holds society together and shows that we all care about one another.”

But I do believe that the media is a court of sorts, and everyone is theoretically entitled to due process. That Matt Drudge is a less than reliable news source himself doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be fair and accurate reporting about him as well.

I can say this about anyone or any news subject. Drudge just happens to be one of my research subjects. That’s all.

While I could be wrong, I have doubts that the “Matt Drudge” commenter in Jeff Bercovici’s Portfolio column is the real McCoy. The documented e-mails and online interviews show Matt’s type in all-caps with shoddy spelling and punctuation.  It’s more the exception than the rule for reporters never to hear from Drudge, who’s received daily e-mails in the thousands since the late 90s. One Miami New Times reporter, who was granted a 2001 interview, waited weeks for a response.

Why would Matt Drudge, who has not even acknowledged he is leaving radio (let alone commenting on the reasons), promptly post a response in a public comment box?  It’s withing the realm of possibility but outside the realm of probability.

The Top Ten Unsexy Likelihoods Why Drudge is Leaving Radio

1. He’s done it ten years and has always expressed disdain for old fogeys like Walter Cronkite who don’t know when to hang it up.

2. He works 10-14 hours a day even without the show.

3. He travels 30% of the time and has to either broadcast from a studio in a major city, secure appropriate equipment, or arrange for a substitute every Sunday night.

4. Either Drudge or his syndicate wants to make changes in the contract that aren’t amenable to the other…and it seems like a good time for an amicable departure.

5. As he told Miami New Times: “The callers are boring.”

6. He may be serious about his radio rantings that he’ll leave the country if a tax-and-spend Democrat enters the White House.

7. His social or personal life is changing and something has to go.

8. He has to reduce his stress, even if the issue isn’t being forced right now.

9.  Lowering his profile would be kinda-sorta nice, even if he isn’t ready for an icehouse in Minnesota.

10. He’s focusing on what he really has a passion for, doing it as long as he can.

RegoPark is a freelance writer with a background in marketing communications. She has recently completed a novel on the relationship between PR and new media. She can be reached at regopark@arcticmail.com .

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My observation of Matt Drudge thus far is that he knows publicity but not public relations.  The news of him leaving the radio show has been around for a week, perhaps despite a news embargo (it leaked when his replacement on a local outlet expedited a press release). The news has now been picked up on Page Six and still no acknowledgment on the Drudge Report nor last Sunday’s radio show.

If he wanted to deflect further attention from the media — which he’s been eluding for awhile now — his best course of action would have been to post an announcement on the site as soon as the news leaked (if not before) and acknowledge it on last week’s radio show to diffuse the time bomb. Keeping an open line of communication with publics doesn’t necessarily mean baring one’s soul, but it can save lots of headaches. Unfortunately this is probably the last way to get the results he really wants…which, from all he’s alluded, is to be left alone to work on his site.

So the reason I’m following this with fascination is probably different from most of you. Why he’s leaving the radio show isn’t nearly as interesting as how he’s choosing to communicate the fact…the strategy or non-strategy he’s working right now. What raises my whiskers is not a public figure’s personal life, but how he or she chooses to interact with the media. One thing I’ll miss about the radio show is the raw, unedited monologue. As a PR person, I understand the intrinsic value of a sound bite. Yet the news consumer in me feels that quantity IS quality.

In any case, I can’t say it’s not getting interesting…Meanwhile, his rant last Sunday pretty much reflects what I’ve understood before (but expressed more humorously…check out the 10:00 segment on Drudge Radio Archives for the September 9th show)…

Enough already! Oh! And that’s just a snippet. I mean, that’s just a snippet. (Laughing) What is…Okay, one guy, sitting in front of a computer, with a WiFi connection. And all of this? Come on, give me a break. Snap out of it, guys!  I mean, obviously there’s not enough news to report, so…you know, I guess they’re reporting on me. Obviously you know, a, a country of 300 million people is not fascinating enough and they’re, they’re, you know concentrating on little old me, sitting here with this mouse and this keyboard and this monitor…Come on! Not all that!  The mania! The mania. Now that was from the, uh, Fox News media show. So I — are they trying to get me back on television, is that was it is, are they trying to seduce me, “The most powerful man in the world!” “The most powerful man in journalism, Matt Drudge!” (Chuckles) Come on! All right, yeah, the website’s interesting, I agree; I give it my all, all right! Cool! Fun! Welcome, jump in! But all of this? I mean, this is just – this is a little – this is a little much, guys!

(Replaying clip) “…terms that is what?”“Convergence of gossip and trivia with politics…”