Beer, Babes, and Balls: Masculinity and Sports Talk Radio

Contents

contents Foreword by Eric Anderson xi Acknowledgments xv 1. Opening Pitch: Thinking about Sports Talk Radio 1 Sports Talk Radio 2 Theorizing Masculinities 5 Development of Manhood in Twentieth-Century United States 8 Masculinity and the Sports Media 10 Media and Cultural Studies 14 Critical Radio Studies 15 Outline of the Book 17 PART I THE CLIMATE FOR SPORTS TALK RADIO 2. The Sports Talk Radio Industry: From Rush to Rome 21 Radio Deregulation and Talk Radio 22 Sports Talk Radio: An Extension of Political Talk Radio? 26 3. Inside the Sports Radio Industry: Ads and Lads 28 Influence of Advertising, Ratings, and Corporate Radio 29 Sports Radio and Public Discourse 33 Romantic Belief in Sports 37 Hanging Out at the Station 43 PART II READING SPORTS TALK RADIO 4. The Jim Rome Show: “Myspace. om” For Men 53 Jim Rome: Hip Sports Talk Radio Host 54 Speech Codes and Themes: Learning How to Survive in the Jungle 58 The “Jungle”: A Site for the Performance of Masculinity 59 Male Rite of Passage on The Jim Rome Show 61 In-Group Humor on The Jim Rome Show 64 The Contradictions of Masculinity 66 5. Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Jungle 68 Gender: Competing Masculinities 69 Gender: Women in the Jungle 72 Queer Eye for the Sports Guy 75 The Race Card 90 Rome Has No Class 99 Jungle Nationalism 102 Hegemony or Hope? Sports Talk Radio’s Potential 106 PART III THE AUDIENCE OF SPORTS TALK RADIO 6. In the Jungle with the “Clones” 111 Interviewing the “Clones” 112 The Entertainment Value 117 Homosociality 118 The Audience Does Social Issues 120 7. Where Everybody Knows Your Name 124 Cheers to Monday Night Football 125 Lou From Lodi 130 A Community of Callers 136 Among the Clones Hooligans 141 8. A Sports Radio Intruder 148 My Take on the Audience of Sports Talk Radio 151 viii Beer, Babes, and Balls c 9. My Final Take 155 Sports Talk and Civic Discourse 156 Sports and Sexuality 159 Masculinity and Sports 161 Notes 165 Bibliography 173 Index 185 contents ix ...