sowny.net | The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum


You are not logged in. Would you like to login or register?

August 30, 2020 7:00 pm  #1


Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

Adler has been "parting ways" with conservatism over the past year or so and now has officially declared himself a supporter of "Canadian liberalism". The final straw was a Tory MP tweeting out support for the anti-Semitic George Soros conspiracy theory and a second MP retweeting it - without being condemned for it by leader Erin O'Toole. In the world of open mouth radio, not being a conservative is a rarity (even if its transactional - something a personality claims to be for career reasons). How will this go over with audiences? (Even if most of the general public is not conservative, most talk radio listeners are, largely I think because of a vicious cycle - if most of your hosts are conservatives, only conservatives are going to listen to your station, so the rare liberal host has a much tougher time getting an audience. 

https://twitter.com/charlesadler/status/1300033486305153031?fbclid=IwAR3pXd72S3yAWgr72BCq0becFkFX7PqURYJFAG3F4xAdagf3sqhmCVY97Qc

Last edited by Hansa (August 30, 2020 7:00 pm)

 

August 30, 2020 7:39 pm  #2


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

How refreshing. A talk radio host who isn’t foaming at the mouth. I listen fairly often and I detected a real change in Charles over the past several months.
 

 

August 30, 2020 7:58 pm  #3


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

The rare liberal host has a much tougher time of getting an audience?  Don't know about that, John Moore does alright, and he definitely is not conservative.  I would hope liberals tune into supposed conservative talk stations and hosts.  Jim Richards would be another that wouldn't be considered conservative, and Evan Solomon??   Both of these gentlemen seem to be reasonably popular as well.

This is interesting since CBC radio is always considered to be overly liberal friendly and  biased to various social causes, unions and social engineering. And I don't mean to argue that they aren't. I don't know since other than some comedy and music I don't listen to CBC radio. 

However conservatives seem to listen to CBC radio.  All across the country generally CBC radio does very well ratings wise even in traditional conservative provinces and cities.  Calgary and Edmonton CBC radio 1 is always in the top three stations and in Edmonton often number one. 

So, does this mean that conservatives could actually be  more open to other points of view if they listen to CBC radio in large numbers?  Do conservatives really only listen to so called conservative radio stations or hosts??  This seems open to debate... And as I mentioned above I would hope that those more on the left spectrum would be open to listen to other points of view as well. 

Hopefully radio listeners aren't so polarized that they wouldn't even consider another point of view.  I am actually wondering if the opposite might happen for Adler.  I have never been a big fan of his but this change may bring in new listeners for him.

 

August 30, 2020 8:33 pm  #4


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

Do you remember when Adler was apolitical?

 

August 30, 2020 8:43 pm  #5


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

In April 2019, before the Alberta election, Adler had a huge on-air falling out with now Premier Jason Kenney, because he refused to drop a candidate who made homophobic and anti-abortion remarks. The resulting interview stirred up a hornet's nest with Conservatives, who thought he was on their side and would make their guy look good. 

Instead, the opposite happened. 

And that's when a lot of this transition to the other side seemed to start.

Charles Adler’s fiery interview with UCP Leader Jason Kenney

 

August 30, 2020 8:47 pm  #6


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

Adler only found out in 2019 that the Right in Canada was buzzing hive of bigotry? I find that hard to believe.

 

August 30, 2020 9:09 pm  #7


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

its kinda poignant that the whole hardcore left/right argument is a construct drawn from what's happening south of the border.  as someone said recently, Kamala Harris is considered hard left in the US, but in Canada she could be the leader of the conservative party.

in canadian media.... Liberal/Conservative/NDP/Green/Rhino, the voices should all be heard to create a discussion, not an argument.
 

 

August 30, 2020 9:17 pm  #8


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

Worth noting that he polished his thing in a major market before being punted back to the bush league. He was lucky to have been rescued by the Aspers, who allowed him column inches to smear his excrement.

 

August 30, 2020 10:01 pm  #9


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

splunge wrote:

its kinda poignant that the whole hardcore left/right argument is a construct drawn from what's happening south of the border.  as someone said recently, Kamala Harris is considered hard left in the US, but in Canada she could be the leader of the conservative party.

in canadian media.... Liberal/Conservative/NDP/Green/Rhino, the voices should all be heard to create a discussion, not an argument.
 

Very true,  many canadians, and certainly on here SOWNY seem to focus a lot on american politics and news coverage.  Other than SOWNY's american registered users and readers, very few on here can actually vote in november's election.   It is odd how some don't seem to separate the differences in politics and media here and south of the border.  There are some big and obvious differences.

Many will disagree but I find our democracy and news media as bad and as lacking as they can be, more balanced and fair than many other places. At least there is an attempt. 

One of the big reasons for this is what splunge said above, it is about the discussion not the argument.  Endless verbal insults, splitting of hairs and constantly blaming "the other" is the road to nowhere.  And this applies equally to those on the left and right.

As interesting as it all is, the current hyper polarized situation that our american friends find themselves in is not our battle.  And regardless what some like to think, conservatives in canada  are not a lot like many conservatives in the usa, even europe for that matter.  Same with those on the left, the ndp is not that similar to hard left leaning parties in europe. 

Canadians for the most part stay away from extremes including our media.  It is surprising that so many people don't seem to understand or acknowledge that.

Do we actually really have conservative talk radio stations in canada?  We have conservative hosts and  shows, but stations that only have one point of view?  If there are, the numbers are not great.  And if there are any, how popular are they?  CBC radio biased and left wing?  True they often do present an alternative point of view or another side.  Does this make them biased?  If we don't agree with a point of view either right or left, does this make the show or host biased? 

It's all about the discussions and the trip along the way, not about the arguments and the dead end around the corner.  

 

August 31, 2020 9:30 am  #10


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

Seems that what used to known as conservatism has been pushed so far to the right, especially the U.S, that anyone who was a centrist or moderately conservative is now considered on the liberal-left. Perhaps it's time we dumped these labels  which date back to the French Revolution!

Last edited by Broodcaster (August 31, 2020 9:30 am)

 

September 1, 2020 9:32 am  #11


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

Adler outlined his new position in a half-hour long explanation on his show Monday night. Here's the text of some of what he had to say. 

Charles Adler on why he’s no longer a conservative

 

September 1, 2020 11:13 am  #12


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

The only thing Charles Adler is, is an opportunist. If you listened to him more than a couple of times over the years, it was fairly obvious his right-wing stance was shtick. Now that it's too crowded on the loony right side, he's had this great epiphany. Yeah, right.

 

September 1, 2020 7:09 pm  #13


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

Broodcaster wrote:

Seems that what used to known as conservatism has been pushed so far to the right, especially the U.S, that anyone who was a centrist or moderately conservative is now considered on the liberal-left. Perhaps it's time we dumped these labels  which date back to the French Revolution!

 
Both major parties overall in the US have actually been going left over the years, especially in economics and spending.

 

September 1, 2020 7:50 pm  #14


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

LongTimeLurker wrote:

The only thing Charles Adler is, is an opportunist. If you listened to him more than a couple of times over the years, it was fairly obvious his right-wing stance was shtick. Now that it's too crowded on the loony right side, he's had this great epiphany. Yeah, right.

But to play devils advocate what is there to gain for Adler to say he now is a liberal?  If talk radio tends to be conservative, won't his change of heart actually hurt him?  And you could even argue that pundits on the left have a somewhat crowded field too, so I don't see how this move will help his career at all.  

 And look at Michael Coren, his income and profile went down considerably when he moved from the right to a more "progressive liberal" point of view six years ago.  He now considers himself a socialist and is pro-choice and recently ordained in the Anglican church.  His media profile is nothing like it was 6-10 years ago.

 

September 3, 2020 12:33 am  #15


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

Chrisphen wrote:

Worth noting that he polished his thing in a major market before being punted back to the bush league. He was lucky to have been rescued by the Aspers, who allowed him column inches to smear his excrement.

Conservatives are never short on hyperbole.

 

September 3, 2020 9:54 am  #16


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

Charlie wrote:

Hard to believe Coren is the same guy who used to rant daily on CFRB with his 'Coren-ucopia' segment.  Probably the most right-wing programming Toronto radio has ever seen.  It would never be allowed today.
 

One might suggest he has much to atone for.
 

 

September 7, 2020 10:14 pm  #17


Re: Charles Adler is now officially a liberal

Charles Adler went on his national show Labour Day Monday and now says he's neither a Conservative or a Liberal and - because he can lean either way depending on the issue - he's rejecting all labels and won't call himself either. 

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends...