Michael Savage
Michael Alan Weiner known by his professional name Michael Savage, is an American author, political commentator, activist, and former radio host. Savage is best known as the host of The Savage Nation, a nationally syndicated talk show that aired on Talk Radio Network across the United States until 2021, and in 2009 was the second most listened-to radio talk show in the country with an audience of over 20 million listeners on 400 stations across the United States. From October 23, 2012, to January 1, 2021, Michael Savage had been syndicated by Cumulus Media and Westwood One. He holds master's degrees from the University of Hawaii in medical botany and medical anthropology, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in nutritional ethnomedicine. As Michael Weiner, he has written books on nutrition, herbal medicine, and homeopathy; as Michael Savage, he has written several political books that have reached The New York Times Best Seller list.
Savage has summarized his political philosophy in three words: borders, language, and culture. He has characterized his views as conservative nationalism, while critics have characterized them as "fostering extremism". He supports the English-only movement and argues that liberalism and progressivism are degrading American culture. Although his radio delivery is mainly characterized as politically themed, he also often covers topics such as medicine, nutrition, music, literature, history, theology, philosophy, sports, business, economics, and culture, and tells personal anecdotes.
In 2009, Savage was permanently banned from entering the United Kingdom for "seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred".
Early life and education
Savage was born Michael Alan Weiner in the Bronx, New York, one of three children of Benjamin Weiner, a Jewish immigrant from Russia. His mother, Rae, was from Montreal, Canada.He described his childhood as difficult, with a "gruff, profane" father who would frequently criticize and belittle him. His younger brother, Jerome, was born with developmental disabilities and was unable to hear or speak. Jerome died in 1969. His father, the owner of an antiques shop, died of a heart attack at age 57 in 1970, and his mother died in 2003.
After graduating from Jamaica High School in 1958, Weiner attended Queens College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in biology in 1963. After college, Weiner taught high school for several years in New York City. His first marriage in 1964 to Carol Ely ended in divorce, and he remarried in 1967 after meeting his current wife, Janet. During this time, Weiner also worked for famous psychedelic drug advocate Timothy Leary as keeper of the stone gatehouse on the Hitchcock Cattle Company estate in Millbrook, New York, to which Leary had been given access. Leary hired him to the post because Savage did not use LSD. Weiner then studied at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, earning a Master of Science in botany in 1970 and a Master of Arts in anthropology in 1972. He obtained a PhD in 1978 from the University of California, Berkeley, in nutritional ethnomedicine. His thesis was titled Nutritional Ethnomedicine in Fiji.
Shift in political opinions
Weiner introduced himself to certain writers in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco in the 1970s. He befriended and traveled with Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Weiner maintained a correspondence with Ginsberg consisting of ten letters and three postcards across four years, which is maintained with Ginsberg's papers at Stanford University. One letter asked Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti to come do a poetry reading, so others could "hear and see and know why I adore your public image." Another acquaintance was poet and author Neeli Cherkovski, who says that Weiner dreamed of becoming a stand-up comic in the mold of Lenny Bruce.Acquaintance Robert Cathcart says that by 1980, in his private conversations with Weiner, he knew him to have conservative political views. Schwartz stated Savage became alienated from the North Beach scene in the early 1980s. Weiner had intense arguments with his liberal friends. When asked about his shift in politics and other views, Weiner replied, "I was once a child; I am now a man." Weiner has cited many occurrences in his life that helped shape his conservative views. Weiner states that his opinions on welfare were partly shaped by his first job out of college as a social worker. He described one incident in which his supervisor had him deliver a check to a welfare client to furnish their apartment, while his own apartment was furnished with cardboard boxes. Another turning point occurred for him as a writer of health and nutrition books in the 1980s, when he experienced what he saw as "political opposition" after making the suggestion that the closure of homosexual bathhouses might be necessary in response to the emerging HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 1994 his final health and nutrition manuscript, Immigrants and Epidemics, was rejected by publishers for being inflammatory.
In 1996 after Weiner rebranded as Savage, he applied to become the Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. The university instead selected award-winning journalist and China scholar Orville Schell. Savage sued the university, contending discrimination for being conservative. Savage later dropped the lawsuit.
Career as commentator
Radio
The rejection by publishers of his 1994 manuscript about illegal immigration and epidemics prompted Weiner to record a demo tape with a mock radio talk show about the contents of the work. He mailed this tape to 250 radio stations in an attempt to change careers and become a radio talk show host. On March 21, 1994, Savage began his radio career on KGO as a fill-in host for liberal Ray Taliaferro's overnight show and later as a weekend host. At the time, his slogan was "To the right of Rush and to the left of God." The show quickly became a local hit.Later in 1994, KGO parent company Capital Cities/ABC Inc. purchased the station KSFO and changed it to a conservative talk format. On January 2, 1995, the first day of KSFO's new format, Savage debuted as host of afternoon drive time show The Savage Nation. By 2000, Savage was the most popular afternoon drive host among all adults in San Francisco Arbitron ratings.
In 1999, Talk Radio Network began syndicating part of The Savage Nation nationally. Starting September 21, 2000, The Savage Nation became an entirely national show distributed by TRN.
In mid-2006, Savage had 8–10 million listeners per week, which made his show the third most widely heard broadcast in the United States at that time. Savage has described his listeners as "literate callers with intelligence, wit, and energy." He has described his show's production as one with a "... hard edge combined with humor and education ... Those who listen to me say they hear a bit of Plato, Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, Moses, Jesus, and Frankenstein." Mark de la Viña of the San Jose Mercury News wrote of Savage: "In contrast to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Schlessinger, Bay Area-based Savage mixes conservative diatribe and blunt observations with acerbic humor and the gift of gab."
By 2009, The Savage Nation had an audience of 8 to 10 million listeners on 400 stations across the United States, making it the second most listened-to radio talk show in the country at the time. Around that time, Savage asked his audience for their opinion prior to consenting to a profile interview by Kelefa Sanneh of The New Yorker; Savage eventually accepted that offer and the New Yorker profile, titled "Party of One", was published in the August 3, 2009, issue, which covered Savage's life and personality in great detail.
On September 10, 2009, KNEW in Savage's home market of San Francisco announced that it was dropping his program and replacing him with John and Ken from sister station KFI —Los Angeles. John Scott, program director of KNEW said in an email that the station was headed "... in a different philosophical and ideological direction, featuring more contemporary content and more local information." According to Arbitron monthly ratings, KNEW dropped in the ratings since Savage was let go. San Francisco station KTRB picked up the program for the San Francisco market, and saw a ratings boost in the afternoon drive. However, the program was among the first casualties when KTRB went into receivership in September 2010.
On January 22, 2010, Savage revealed to his audience that a writer for Playboy had contacted him via email to do a lengthy interview, and again asked his listeners if he should accept the offer. During the show, Savage read from personal emails between the Playboy writer and himself. The writer admitted to being a listener of the Savage Nation but a critic of the profile done by The New Yorker. The writer also stated that the purpose of the interview was to "rattle" Playboys readers. On May 12, 2010, Savage revealed that he had granted the interview at his home. Playboy published the interview in June 2010. He read from a pre-publication copy of the 8,000-word Playboy interview, in which the writer expressed animosity for Savage and his views. Savage said that he was disappointed at the lack of journalistic objectivity, but did not harbor hatred for the writer. He referred back to the New Yorker interview by Kelefa Sanneh, and praised Sanneh as a "real writer" who had understood his subject.
On September 27, 2012, Savage's talk show left the airwaves after he won a legal battle with Talk Radio Network, his longtime employer, and his attorney said discussions with new networks were underway. Savage began an occasional series of video webcasts via Ustream on September 30, 2012. On October 17, 2012, Savage and his new syndicator Cumulus Media Networks announced that they had made a deal and the program, after several weeks off the air, would be returning as of October 23, 2012. By April 2013, according to the radio industry's Talkers Magazine, Savage had 3.5+ million weekly listeners, putting him in a six-way tie for sixth place, and six talk show hosts getting 7.5+ million weekly listeners. On September 26, 2013, Cumulus Media Networks announced that Michael Savage's radio show, The Savage Nation, would move to the 3p-6p ET time-slot beginning in January 2014. This time slot had been occupied by Sean Hannity.
In January 2015, it was announced that Savage and Westwood One had reached agreement on a long-term contract renewal for The Savage Nation. In January 2019, Savage in collaboration with Westwood One introduced a podcast format with a mixture of live-broadcast and studio material. On March 24, 2019, Savage celebrated the 25th anniversary of the radio show. On January 1, 2021, The Savage Nation was discontinued by Cumulus Media and Westwood One.