Credited with shaping presidential elections and blamed for creating a climate of intolerance, talk radio rose to prominence in the 1990s by offering Americans a free, unfiltered, and often national forum. Whether the issue was a pushy boss, a hapless sports team, or a downtown parking crunch, talk radio became a sort of water-cooler for the masses. The rise also reflected the increasingly combative nature of American discourse, with on-air arguments, taunts, and racy, satiric routines often the key to a talk show's success. As ratings increased, so did the critics who believed that the radio hosts were, in part, to blame for the increasingly hostile environment that led to a series of high-profile incidents, including the terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City. Leading talk show hosts Howard Stern, G. Gordon Liddy, and Don Imus were branded "shock jocks" for their brash, obnoxious, and often controversial points of view. As Howard Kurtz notes in Hot Air, "When White House chief of staff Leon Panetta wanted to attack Newt Gingrich, the strongest insult he could muster was to accuse the House speaker of acting like 'an out-of-control radio talk show host.'" But whether agitator or great equalizer, talk radio offers anyone with a telephone a chance to become part of the national debate. And its influence can be felt off the dial as well, as radio jocks write best-selling books, star in films, and are spoofed on the television sketch comedy show, Saturday Night Live.

The emergence of talk radio came about because of technological advances as much as the need for an open forum. Commercial radio had existed since the 1920s, but the toll free telephone lines and satellite hook-ups that encouraged the spread of the format were not in place for another 60 years.

In the early days of radio, before television, the best known voices were comedians making the jump from the vaudeville stage, old-style newsmen, and sportscasters. The first true talk radio host may have been celebrity interviewer Barry Gray, who began broadcasting out of New York City in the mid-1940s. But Gray's show was without one key element: the caller. Jerry Williams, who went on the air in Boston in 1957, became the first to take calls. He used two tape recorders to comply with the federal regulations requiring delays.