The Divided Dial

Despite constant predictions of its eventual demise, broadcast radio remains one of the most powerful media channels in the United States, if not the world. Grounded in this knowledge, “The Divided Dial,” by the journalist Katie Thornton and the team at WNYC’s On the Media, offers listeners a sobering window into the rise of Salem Media Group, a conservative Christian radio network that has steadily grown from fringe player to a formidable custodian of power and influence over the political right within the last few decades. Synthesizing dogged business reporting with a clear sense of how right-wing talk radio has fundamentally reshaped the Republican Party, Thornton and On the Media have produced a remarkable, vital, and unparalleled document that outlines the uneasy conflict over truth in American civic life. For its robust and unprecedented look at a formidable political force in the United States, “The Divided Dial” is recognized with a Peabody Award.