A rapier-witted FBer, now a Chicago media baron, is also a fan of the “Host: Talk Radio in America” article:
I must have missed the part of his essay where David Foster Wallace attempted to apply journalistic standards to talk radio. His message, as you correctly pointed out, is that some of the most popular talkers are the ones who are willing to say things only a lunatic would believe. This attracts the two most loyal camps of far-right- and far-left-wing radio listeners: those who are actual, bona-fide lunatics, and those who are so habitually apoplexed by such lunacy that they’ve become addicted to the rush of anger it engenders.
