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(noun) a podcast influencer, always male, who presents himself as an enemy and antidote to the liberal elite
“A broadcaster is the opposite of a broadcaster” is the kind of joke you’d expect from a broadcaster. It’s anti-woke, insidiously sexist in an old-fashioned way, and seems more conceited than funny. Women in the media learn to make themselves the butt of jokes, while straight men don’t self-deprecate.
Joe Rogan is one of the most popular podcasters in the world and a proto-brother. His podcast, launched in 2009, set the template. He has over 14.5 million followers on Spotify. A YouGov poll of British people found that more than four-fifths of listeners were male, with the majority aged between 18 and 34.
Logan’s own political beliefs are difficult to categorize, but he gives airtime to fringe scientists, political extremists, and conspiracy theorists. The host uses the same cutting style toward flat earthers as he does toward Donald Trump and Elon Musk, so no one is enthusiastic about it. At least part of Logan’s appeal is the feeling that he can easily defeat his guests if he ever tires of them.
Although Logan has a reputation for supporting men’s rights, the station’s anchors who have followed his lead are trying to stir up long-standing resentments. Andrew Tate, a former kickboxer and self-identified alpha male, is the manosphere’s most notorious activist, with a virulent brand of misogyny that resonates in school playgrounds.
In the mainstream, broadcasters are seen as successors to shock jocks like Howard Stern. Their irreverence and boundary-pushing profanity appealed to Gen Xers because it was wrapped in a layer of ironic distance.
Then the direction of the wind changed. The manufactured anarchy of talk radio has been replaced by the manufactured credibility of influencers. There’s no irony in Jordan Peterson’s self-help mental chatter, Stephen Bartlett’s executive fist bumps, or former Navy SEAL Sean Ryan’s machismo. They all want to be taken seriously as seekers of truth while being admired as caricatures of masculinity. Broadcasting is what happens when your audience wants answers, but they’ve heard enough from the experts.
