Is Dr. Laura The Only Talk Show Host Who Does This?

Over the last three decades plus, I've listened to a lot of audio talk shows that take calls. I still listen to many.

I have to ask: Is Dr. Laura the only host who either doesn't understand normal over-the-phone dialogues, or does she simply reject the standard etiquette?

Cross talk in such situations is extremely common (as it is with normal phone calls people make to each other). It probably happens on more calls to audio shows than not. There are going to be times a caller starts talking before the host has finished what they were saying (often because it sounded like they were done), or the host will jump in to say something while the caller is still talking and the caller won't notice that the host has started talking. Stuff like that.

Usually, the host or the caller will repeat what they said, or the host will invite the caller to repeat what they said.

That's every show that takes any calls.

Except for the Dr. Laura Show.

She takes it as a personal insult if the caller says anything while she is talking, even if it is just "I agree" or "Right", and she also gets upset if the caller doesn't stop talking the millisecond she cuts in, even if it is the middle of their sentence.

"You can hear me, I know you can hear me!" she'll insist. "You're talking over me!"

She think they're talking over her out of a lack of thoughtfulness or respect. Or, the only other possibility in her thinking is that there are technical problems with the phone lines so that callers aren't hearing her. I feel for the technical personnel who are handling those phones, because every once in a while she'll say on-air that it needs to be taken care of, and if she's saying that on the air, she's probably said it many times during breaks, but not as sweetly. It sounds like nobody has ever sat her down and said that crosstalk, especially on call-in talk shows, is normal.

I've said many, many times on this blog how great her show is and how much I appreciate her. If I didn't listen to every minute of the show, I wouldn't know this stuff about the show. It's a bit sad that she lets this get to her so much. She should listen to a few other shows, especially the kind where things can get heated, and she'll see how common crosstalk is.