Triumphs and Tribulations of a Talk-Show Host by Leonard Peikoff

From 1995 to 1999, Objectivist philosopher Leonard Peikoff hosted a radio talk show, The Leonard Peikoff Show. In this 1997 lecture, he discusses the challenging task faced by a talk-show host with a radical philosophy to sell.

Offering humorous anecdotes along the way, Peikoff recalls shows that were unexpected hits or total bombs and assesses the results of his experiment to bring philosophy to a wider audience.

In addition to reflecting on what he learned during his first two years on the radio, Peikoff muses about how to create enthusiasm around philosophic issues.

The talk is followed by an extensive Q&A on such topics as:

● The motivating power of prizes
● What Peikoff learned from interacting with the general public
● The type of people who are reached by a radio program about philosophy
● Peikoff’s experience as a guest on the television show Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher
● The popularity of Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, and Dr. Laura
● Radio versus television and newspapers as a communications medium
● What Peikoff enjoyed most and least as a radio talk-show host

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[benjaminwilson]

He is cracking me up! Such a great sense of humor.

[Mr.Witness]

Appreciate all the work everyone is doing

[aporia]

Thank you for this! Definitely will be using this for our channel!

[bryanbonar]

It seems that the audience for intellectual content has really blown up since this talk. Think of the success of conceptual podcasts on the internet -- definitely no need any longer for explosive whizz-bang visuals. Maybe the TV audience is still stunted in that way, but who watches TV anyway?

[YashArya]

This is back in 1997, and it may as well have been recorded today. That's sad.

[VaraLaFey]

I don't relate to society well either (and I get worse as I age), but still I'll speculate that 'Pictures as Propaganda" worked because the pictures were perceptual and the intent of them was emotional manipulation, and "Dirty Words" worked because it was about the same thing: emotional manipulation. To Objectivists those topics were about epistemology; to callers they were a personal hot-button, and I'm sure they smelled a rat and wanted Dr Peikoff to help them sort it out. People like sharing horror stories, and they like having it explained how they can avoid manipulation.

As an Objectivist for 30 years, I absolutely believe Dr Peikoff could literally make sex uninteresting. But I'd guess that if he'd talked about _weaponized_ sex, he might have gotten callers sharing their horror stories looking for advice, and he could have used those horror stories to illustrate the same philosophical point.

BTW: the most destructive Dirty Word anti-concept of all time? I vote for "capitalism". It replaces the essential of individual economic freedom with the non-essential of previously accrued wealth - i.e., "capital". And people are hoodwinked by this almost without exception, just as Karl Marx intended. 'Capitalism is a game of the rich', and all that crap. I also say that Marx is the biggest con artist since the Renaissance began, if not the biggest of all time. His fanbase and influence is larger than Jesus and Mohammad combined because his reach is literally into every nation in the world.