(Nasty Attic) Talk Radio

Talk Radio is a 1987 play written by Eric Bogosian, who up until this, was mostly known as a performance artist doing monologues. Back then the technological media landscape was strikingly different. The world was not yet online and social media was a few folks in Usenet chat rooms. Radio was still a huge influence and onto the airwaves came a number of ‘Shock Jocks’. These were pioneers of using the notion of ‘Freedom of speech’ to say just about anything which came out of their mouths to a broadcast audience. A shock jock was the radio equivalent of a tabloid newspaper. He was there to entertain the listener by being outrageous and unpredictable. Ironically it was the predictability of their bad behaviour which drew fans and haters to them. During the years I worked on a construction site I listened to my personal fav of this mode called Bob Grant who was a veteran of broadcasting in New York City. He is considered a pioneer of the “conservative” and “confrontational” talk radio format. Whose abrasive manner and attacks on people who phoned in, would always end the call with his popular catch phrase “get off my phone!!!“, as he hung up on them. Eric Bogosian created his own ‘Bad boy’ called Barry Champlain, a brilliant but monstrous anti-hero who over the course of the play, taunts, provokes and antagonises callers of every political persuasion. A woman pontificating about the dangers of drugs is lectured by him on the CIA’s role in the narcotics trade, a 16-year-old is berated for falling pregnant and an African-American man who praises the show is accused of being an Uncle Tom. What’s dangerous about Barry is not his beliefs but his lack of them; he’s the king of the trolls. Before any of us knew what that meant.