One element that clever radio host constantly took advantage of was the sense of embattlement—that everyone was out to get you.  The pundits delivered this and the people loved it. There was a common feeling among people in America, particularly, in rural America, that the elites held them in contempt and eagerly ridiculed them. By the 1960s, according to Justin Ling, “this was a learned habit.”

This sense of resentment was the common denominator of hordes of talk radio listeners. It was the water in which they swam. And as we have learned at least since Friedrich Nietzsche. Resentment is a shockingly powerful force, never to be under estimated.

The advent of FM radio opened up the radios for excellent music. But that did not kill AM radio. Far from it. Because that left AM radio open for those who wanted to produce political hate. National networks could be created for super cheap. This was a golden opportunity for those who wanted to use radio.

Paul Matzko wrote the book called The Radio Right: How a Band of Broadcasters Took on the Federal Government and Built the Modern Conservative Movement. He wrote about how in recent years trust in traditional media has declined sharply. As a result many people in North America no longer believe what they hear or see on traditional or mainstream media and have started to turn to “echo chambers” where they see themselves reflected. This has led in turn to the ideology of their group cementing the bonds of the group. According to Matzko this is not the first time this has happened.

In his book Matzko writes about the far right that was frustrated by what they saw as liberal bias in the mainstream media. This started with what many of them thought  of as a sycophantic relationship between the media and the administration of John F. Kennedy. The media saw Kennedy as their golden boy from Harvard, rich, liberal, educated, and haughty. The media liked this. The people who resented this turned in reaction to news and particularly commentary from a resurgent ultra-conservative mass media on the radio.  Truckers in particular, driving across the country took up the right-wing causes with passion and exuberance. I have taliked to some of them. Networks turned to television so radio provided a home for hundreds of popular right-wing radio programs, programmers and pundits. The more bombastic the better. There was not premium for moderation. Extreme opinions were in vogue.

It is also interesting that resentment has never stopped from being a critical force in the right-wing movement down to present times. It is constantly triggered by modern Fox News pundits like Sean Hannity and former Fox host Tucker Carlson.

There is no better fertilizer for political hate than resentment and the right-wing knew how to take advantage of that. And they still do.