"Talk Radio" Movie Reaction

                         

                            

I recently watched the movie, "Talk Radio" starring Eric Bogosian, a movie about the occurrences of a disc-jockey shock jock. Here is my reaction writing on what I had to say. 

!!WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW!!

Oliver Stone’s movie, “Talk Radio” stars actor Eric Bogosian, as shock jock Barry Champlain. The movie based on the play, “Talk Radio” and the book, “Talked to Death” by Stephen Singular about talk radio host Alan Berg, a talk show shock jock who was brutally murdered. Parts of the film itself is inspired by Berg’s story. The film opens with Champlain hosting his talk radio show, “Night Talk” on the KTAB radio station in Dallas, Texas. Champlain is arguing and using offensive humor with the callers, much like a shock jock does. A shock jock is usually a disc jockey who uses vulgar, offensive, and controversial language to get a reaction and public attention. More than half of the movie is Champlain in his studio arguing and voicing his offensive opinions. After the first scene in his studio, he gets a visit from the president of Metro Wave Chicago. Metro Wave according to Champlain is, “A giant media corporation specializing in broadcast radio and has 357 affiliate stations in the United States and Canada.” The president offers him a deal to go national. Everyone was really thrilled to hear about this, and it would allow him to gain more publicity. His job is clearly important to him. His ex-wife left him due to his head being fully in his job, and only his job. However, after he got the national deal, he called up his ex-wife to come help support him. He flew her in, and she came offering a heart full of love to give to him.

However, one notable theme in the movie is filled with hatred. The movie is filled with hateful listeners and callers who send him hate mail and death threats. Once on air, a caller said he had sent a bomb to the studio, instead it was a dead rat with a threatening note. This theme progresses on the movie as hateful callers threaten and send him hateful mail. This is a normal daily occurrence for shock jocks. Shock jocks say controversial and offensive things on the daily. This builds up not only a fan base, but a hate base, with violent individuals. One of the scenes where he was not in the studio was when he was at a basketball game where he was called up to speak. He was booed off the court by the audience. At the basketball game, a woman throws a drink on him after she says that she only listens to him for time to go by, he then negatively talks her down. Towards the end of the movie a caller says to him, “Why does an intelligent fellow like you spend so much time hurting people”. This then leads Champlain to talk about his job saying how fear becomes entertainment as well as anger. The end of the movie leads to an unexpected twist where Champlain was shot multiple times by an angry listener. The movie ends off with his listeners, callers, and co-workers talking about him and their experiences. 

The movie portrays an accurate description and storyline of the occurrence’s disc-jockey, shock jocks go through every day. Their jobs follow them expressing their opinions, stirring up drama, arguing and talking about controversial and sensitive topics. Due to this, you can gain a hate base with haters and those who disagree. Some may even go through extreme lengths to express their hate. Examples include the dead rat, threatening notes, vandalism, and assault. Many journalists receive hate on the daily, however not many of them receive extreme threatening letters. Journalists receive threats due to them sharing world news, of course many people disagree with what journalists share which stirs up hatred and drama in the journalism industry. 

The movie overall had a good description and representation of the radio industry and shock jocks themselves. The movie as well-made sense to be filmed in a studio for more than half of the movie. I enjoyed the flashback part of the movie where it shows how Champlain became who he was, it gives the audience a backstory and description. This movie helped me gain a little more knowledge on the jobs of shock jocks, radio hosts, and broadcast journalism. The scenes are quite exaggerated, but it does allow you to gain an understanding of the field. I would recommend this movie to others especially if they are interested in broadcast or journalism. Overall, I enjoyed the movie and was interested in finding more knowledge about the radio industry. I found it interesting and would watch it again. 

Thanks for reading!