They Just Wanted to Entertain

They Just Wanted to Entertain

No one set out to turn the airwaves into a political weapon—much less deputize talk-radio hosts as the ideological enforcers of a major American political party. Instead the story of how the GOP establishment lost its power over the Republican message—and eventually the party itself—begins with frantic AM radio executives and a former Top 40 disc jockey, Rush Limbaugh. Listeners had migrated to FM because music sounded better on there, and advertising dollars had followed.