Peter Laufer, long-time journalist, is the James Wallace Chair Professor of Journalism at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication and visiting professor at the Sapienza University of Rome Department of Communication and Social Research.Christian Ruggiero is Associate Professor in Sociology of cultural and communicative processes at the Department of Communication and Social Research, Sapienza University of Rome.

“This book brings together an international community of radio scholars to explore the role talk radio plays in everyday life and does so in a new and original way. It brilliantly captures and describes the ambivalence of talk radio, both as a community aggregator and as a means of polarizing public opinion. It will certainly be a reference book for the burgeoning community of radio, media and communication studies” — Professor Tiziano Bonini, University of Siena.

• Preface, by David Hendy;Forewords, by Peter Laufer and Christian Ruggiero; Section 1: Making Euros & Dollars with Talk Radio, with contributions by Peter B. Collins, Mihaela Gavrila and Giorgio Zanchini; Section 2: Grabbing Listeners Ears, with contributions by Mark Davis and Giorgio Simonelli; Section 3: Securing Listeners Loyalty, with contributions by Christopher Chávez and Marta Perrotta; Section 4: Selfishly Broadcastinfg Divisiveness, with contributions by Markos Kounalakis, Mauro Bomba and Aida Picone; Section 5: Commercial Propagandizing va. Public Discourse, with contrributions by Terry Phillips, Mihaela Gavrila and Marta Perrotta; Epilogue, by Peter Laufer and Christian Ruggiero; Index