Where I live I have two propaganda outlets right next to each other on the radio dial-
WMAL at 105.9 on the dial is a ‘news’ channel that carries non-stop right wing talk shows all day on weekdays ( Chris Plante, Dan Boningo, Mark Levin etc)

WZHF AT 105.5 is one of the very few radio stations in the USA that broadcasts Radio Sputnik- it is programming created by the russian state to push the state propaganda. American and UK ‘personalities’ put a western face on the blatant propaganda coming from the Kremlin… where russia found these amoral whores, I do not know- but they do their best to earn their pay from their Russian masters.

I have written before about how I have switched between the two propaganda outlets and heard the exact same message from both- with only differences in tone and style to appeal to different target demographics…

Right wing radio panders to idiots- people proud of their ignorance, people that resent the experts and intellectuals… people with an IQ lower than their body temperature and proud of it. It appeals to racial and religious bigotries and FEAR- Its purpose isn’t so much to sway people to the conservative cause, instead its goal is to further radicalize those already on the right- to keep them in a constant state of manufactured outrage.

Radio Sputnik, however, takes a different approach- they target a different segment of the population. They go after the pseudo-intellectuals- those that have maybe an IQ of 110, those just ‘smart’ enough to feel they know more than the ‘supposed experts’. The people on your facebook feed that condescendingly argue that there really is no difference between the democrats and conservatives, both are evil and corrupt- there is a high probability that those people would love the garbage spewed by Sputnik- it targets the pseudo-intellectual independents and disaffected left- with occasional red-meat for the far-right.

A few months ago Sputnik was somewhat subtle with its propaganda… stories and ‘discussions’ attacking vaccine mandates, talk shows pushing the narrative that democracy has failed- Occasionally outright promoting the Russian narrative on some geo-political issue, but generally not being too blatant about pushing a pro-Putin agenda- mostly presenting itself as neutral ‘alternative’ world affairs talk radio.

But when I listened TODAY all pretense was gone- it was the most insane Russian propaganda turned up to full blast. One talk show host (He sounded American) actually repeated the claim that the Ukrainians are Nazis, a discussion panel all concurring that NATO and the US forced Putin to invade Ukraine… that Ukraine was preparing to deploy nukes to threaten Russia.

They were all also very outraged by the recent Washington Post story on radio Sputnik: https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/03/07/radio-sputnik-wzhf/

The first show I listened to (‘Fault Lines’? not sure what the name was) the hosts (both seemed to be American whores hired by Sputnik) put up a good act, but they seemed a little rattled by what they had gotten themselves into- there was an edge of panic in their tone, their laughter seemed a little forced and shrill… as if it was suddenly dawning on them that becoming propaganda mouthpieces for Putin might not have been the wisest career choice… The show that followed, though, was all in for Putin- claiming Ukraine is a Nazi run regime, constant vitriol against Zelinsky, pushing the narrative that Putin is simply defending his people…

The propaganda was clumsy, desperate- heavy handed… but it must work on some people I suppose… particularly those that had been drawn in by the more subtle propaganda of the past few years…

I find it fascinating to listen to propaganda, to see how it’s crafted to be seductive… to try and glean from it what the true intent behind it is… but it is so damn depressing that it apparently is effective on a sizable segment of the American population.