Front Page  »  

Conservative talk radio accused of using actors as callers

March 5, 2011

Glenn Beck

Allegations are being made, accusing conservative talk radio show hosts, including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck, of using paid actors to portray angry callers into their nationally syndicated programs. [Columbia Journalism Review]

Published reports suggests that the call-in shows use actors provided through Premiere On Call, a subsidiary of Premiere Radio Networks. Premiere, which is the largest radio syndicator in the country, currently offers the broadcast trinity of Beck, Limbaugh, and Hannity to thousands of stations across the country.

“Premiere On Call is our new custom caller service,” read the service’s website, which disappeared as this story was being reported. “We supply voice talent to take/make your on-air calls, improvise your scenes or deliver your scripts. Using our simple online booking tool, specify the kind of voice you need, and we’ll get your the right person fast. Unless you request it, you won’t hear that same voice again for at least two months, ensuring the authenticity of your programming for avid listeners.”

The talk show actors had to audtion to be considered. According to one man who participated in the charade, if the actor passed the audition he would be invited periodically to call in to various talk shows and recite various scenarios that made for interesting radio. He would never be identified as an actor, and his scenarios would never be identified as fabricated—which they always were.

Premiere Radio Networks is owned by Clear Channel, Inc. Conservative talk radio shows can be heard locally on KPRL (Paso Robles), KVEC (San Luis Obispo), KUHL (Santa Maria), and KSMX (Santa Maria).

 

 

 


Loading...
Subjects:         
Related:


57 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

This has been pretty obvious to me for a long time, and just shows that these hate radio talk show hosts have no respect for their “loyal” listeners who they treat like fools who will fall for anything.


Employees at KVEC in San Luis should feel ashamed that they are part of this massive, on-going deception. How low will they go to try to boost ratings for these despicable shows that crap all over our community with lies, propaganda and any other form of deception and manipulation they think they can get away with?


0

I gotta tell ya, you sure sound full of hate yourself.


0

No need to get personal with your attacks, “seniorcit”. Besides, there’s no foundation to your allegation, which is not relevant anyway.


You’ve said yourself in this forum that you haven’t even heard these type of hate radio programs, so, no offense, but once again, you literally don’t know what you are talking about. But why you feel compelled to defend liars and hate-mongers is not clear.


0

You mean to tell me Beck, Limbaugh and Hannity are frauds? I’m shocked!


0

My only question is how is the right going to spin this so that it is the fault of the left? Amazing. I have called in to many different talk shows over the years, including once to Bill O’Reilly (he had a guest host on), Sean Hannity (it was just a segment where each caller said a single word), Thom Hartmann (a couple of times), Randi Rhodes (several times) and of course, Dave Congalton. I have heard callers on Thom and Randi’s shows that are hard core conservatives as well as middle of the road types as well as the liberals like myself that would usually listen to their shows, but I cannot imagine that either one of them would ever stoop to a really dumb trick like this allegation.


0

It’s Bill Ayers fault, he’s behind this!!! bob you are so righ on, t they will spin this. ‘The liberal elite at the far left publication Colombia Journalism Review are once again trying to denigrate us” bla bla


I like Rhodes, she screws up once in while, she gets pretty passionate but over all she’s a very smart woman and she doesn’t take any cr@p. Congressman Weiner would make a good talk show host, he’s very bright and quick witted and of course HONEST. Franken, Donahue, good honest Americans. I’m trying to think of a lib host that would attempt to be so disingenuous like this,,,I’m sure there’s one out there, no ones perfect and definitely not Clear Channel, not by a long shot.


@Dave, I know you can’t help it, you never know who might buy your station. I feel bad that you have to work for such a disingenuous organization.


0

This is no surprise. Some of the callers seem pretty obvious. I’ve always suspected this, especially of the those particular people, insaHannity is the worst. They always make sure that when a lib calls that they are really stupid libs, even the libs seem planted IMO. Look at S. Palin, she can’t go on another network other than Faux because the question’s won’t be fixed for her. There is a group (not all) on the right that if they don’t get tossed soft ball questions then they’re lost. I’ve often wondered what Palin would do if she were elected to prez, would she fix the press conferences with all Faux type of people to ask her questions? It’s like those group sessions that Beck does when he supposedly has a group of regular Joe’s in the audience that he can ask questions to as to see how the average American thinks,,yea right, if those are average Americans then we’re really in trouble.


0

I can confirm the truth of this story. I am a voice actor, I responded to a posting for actors and was given a script to audition from. I declined the audition. I cant tell you how disappointed I am. If you cant trust Rush or Sean or Glen, who can you trust?


0

I can confirm the truth of this story. I am a voice actor, I responded to a posting for voice actors and submitted my demo, I was given an audition script, but I declined to read for it. I am so disappointed, if you can’t trust Rush Limbaugh then who can you trust?


0

Yeah, right.


The next thing Columbia J Review is going to have us believing is that there is no Santa Claus.


0

Why is anyone suprised? The Average Limbaugh listner cant put a sentence together longer than “Ditto” and Hannity and Becks callers are even more, uh, …vocabularily challenged


0

Good point ososkid, but unlike Oberman’s and NPR’s listeners at least they still have a full set of teeth.


0

I think you’re thinking of the BBC.


0

This hacky tactic of using canned “callers” is nothing new. Though it’s traditionally been the domain of morning-zoo type shows as opposed to those that deal mostly in politics. Premiere On Call has to be the first time I’ve ever heard of an organization that was specifically designed to provide these fake callers.


I wonder how these guys will spin this news on their respective shows?


0
1 2 3