ABSTRACT
Access to political talk radio can mean many things involving the way the medium is used by audiences: opportunities for highly passive exposure to the medium, exposure accompanied by a modicum of attention to portions of what is being said (Crittenden, 1971), close attention to and psychological engagement with what is being said (Hofstetter, Smith, Zari, & Hofstetter, 1999) and attention to discussions about public affairs with callers in the broadcasts, personal discussions with other persons about topics discussed in programs (Bennett, 1998; Hofstetter, 1998), intellectual stimulation (Hollander, 1995b; Hofstetter, Barker, Smith, Zari, & Ingrassia, 1999), contributions to the development of a public sphere of discourse (Herbst, 1995), or influencing the manifest content of public discussion (Avery, 1990; Page & Tannenbaum, 1996; Squires, 2000), just to mention some possibilities. The burgeoning body of research about political talk radio and its implications for a democratic polity has touched on all of these topics during the last several decades.
