The Right Wing Media Empire Hiding in Plain Sight
Notes from America with Kai Wright
WNYC Studios
4.4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 17 November 2022
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Far-right conspiracies and incitements to violence have found a comfortable home on the nation’s radio airwaves. This is the story of how.
During the 2022 midterms, election-denying and pro-Trump candidates ran on a platform of falsehoods about voter fraud in 2020. But there's a much more present source introducing this narrative into American homes: the country's largest Christian conservative multimedia company. We learn how the far-right came to dominate Christian talk radio and we meet Salem Media Group – perhaps the most influential media company you’ve never heard of.
The Divided Dial is a new series from our colleagues at On The Media about how one side of the political spectrum came to dominate talk radio – and how one company is using the airwaves to launch a right wing media empire. You can listen to future episodes here.
The Divided Dial is hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. You can follow her work on Instagram or on her website. The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is technical director. Art by Michael Brennan. With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Companion listening for this episode:
Church, State, and the Soul of our Nation (10/10/2022)
Christian nationalism – the push to have laws, policies and social norms reflect Christian values – is a growing movement in the U.S. As its rise continues to influence contemporary politics, how should we consider and prepare for its impact on our government? Pastor and executive director of Vote Common Good, Doug Pagitt, walks us through the history of the movement, and tells us how he and other faith leaders are finding ways to combat the effects of Christian nationalism in their own faith communities.
“Notes from America” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on notesfromamerica.org or on WNYC’s YouTube channel.
We want to hear from you! Connect with us on Instagram and Twitter @noteswithkai or email us at notes@wnyc.org.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey, this is Kai. |
| 0:02.2 | Our friends over at On The Media have made something important, and honestly personal |
| 0:07.4 | to me because it illustrates one of the big reasons I am glad this podcast also became |
| 0:14.3 | a national radio show this year. |
| 0:17.6 | Reporter Katie Thornton has made a five-part investigative series on right-wing radio. |
| 0:23.4 | As Katie explains, it turns out radio, good old broadcast, it is still incredibly influential, |
| 0:29.6 | and the far right has figured out how to dominate it. |
| 0:33.0 | Many of the election deniers and conspiracy theorists who have been de-platformed elsewhere |
| 0:38.1 | are thriving on radio stations across the country, reaching millions more people than, |
| 0:45.4 | say, this public radio show. |
| 0:48.5 | And they're doing this using public airways. |
| 0:53.2 | This series, Katie has made, it's the story of how and why that happened, and I'll let |
| 0:58.2 | her explain the rest. |
| 0:59.9 | Here's episode one of The Divided Dial. |
| 1:22.3 | A few weeks after the 2020 election, radio host Eric Mataxis had one of his frequent guests |
| 1:29.2 | back on the air. |
| 1:30.7 | Colonel Doug Mastriano. |
| 1:33.0 | This man is an American hero. |
| 1:36.6 | Doug Mastriano, freshman Pennsylvania State Senator and recently defeated 2022 Republican |
| 1:42.1 | nominee for governor, was at the vanguard, promoting allegations of widespread fraud right |
| 1:47.6 | after the 2020 election. |
| 1:50.2 | And so was conservative Christian talk show host Eric Mataxis. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.