David- In re: Brinker's radio style. My recollection, subject to
amendment, is that Bob Brinker has told us that he began radio
as a sports announcer. Certainly, Brinker is an avid sports fan
and seemingly delights in calls where "sports talk" is an ancil-
lary component of the conversation. It might be surmised that
part of Brinker's avowed appeal and one reason his popularity
has steamrolled onward, for more than a dozen years nationally,
may be that his broadcasts capture an essence of the financial
markets, viz., the oft-times brutal contest between bulls and
bears wherein, betwixt the two, the pigs are ever slaughtered.
Obviously, the remarkable fact that Brinker has been dead-on
about these markets for well more than a decade running, until
this point in time, is the central reason for his smashing popu-
larity, and his superb record has doubtless granted him, during
his time, certain rights to flamboyancy. In any case, washing
the occasional flamboyance out of a Brinker may yield a Flan-
agan, and it is doubtful that a soporific Flanagan could con-
tinue to hold four million plus souls spellbound each week-
end.
"I think the value of this thread," as you state wisely, "is in
sharing critical thinking, not in adulation of a guru."
As long as there are those on this thread who remind us of this
facet and offer thoughtful critical commentaries, which you are
wont to do, this thread can remain a tent under which writers of
good faith can offer all manner of perspectives and opinions pur-
suant to the matters at hand. Most writers and lurkers alike now
understand that a sister thread, whose charter is far more strict-
ly constructed than this one, is available to Brinker fan purists. |
