Dr. Laura Modifies Her Show

Call-in talk shows, especially those relying on drivers for a good chunk of their audience, are dealing with generations who are not making as many phone calls in general. Tom Leykis dealt with this problem on his live show.

In recent weeks, Dr. Laura was telling listeners she had open lines on a daily or almost daily basis, something I can't recall hearing on her show before. Heading into the Memorial Day weekend, she announced this past Friday that, rather than restricting calls to those she'd begin with "How may I help you?" that were strictly about moral dilemmas and relationships (how to handle a mean coworker, what parent is to do about their troubled teen, should the caller keep dating this person) with the occasional "Just want to tell you that you've helped me so much", she would open it up to broader, seemingly apolitical topics. "What do you want to chat about?" became the opening of each call.

It's really a contrast from just a few months ago, when she'd say "No more calls today about your husband cheating on you or your adult kid being a snowflake who won't move out", which further narrowed the acceptable calls.

Rather than resuming the previous, long-term format after the holiday on Tuesday, she kept the newly adjusted format going.

Another huge, simultaneous change, is that she's being softer and more mellow in her voice and tone. Whether this is due to market research, a lack of calls (people being afraid to be chewed up and spit out), or some good thing in her personal life, I don't know. But the result seems to be positive. A majority of listeners commenting like the show better this way, and I agree it is easier on the ears.

If our culture moves further and further away from phone calls to other ways of communicating, Dr. Laura might have to, reluctant as she may be, incorporate some live social media involvement in her show. Calls and letters from listeners are great, but adapting to more might be necessary.

I hope her show is around as long as she has said she wants it to be.

Does Saving It Make it Better or Divorce-Proof Your Marriage?

A letter was printed at drlaura.com from someone who endorses saving sex for marriage:

Abstinence until marriage is the best!!! It's also the BEST gift you could ever give your future spouse.

To say you WAITED for them, instead of shacking up and throwing the benefits and blessings of marriage to the wind. If you do have sex without the blessing of marriage, you rob yourself and your partner of the best blessing you will ever know.

Its not anything special if you don't wait.

No indication is given as to the sex of the writer, but I think it is safe to say it is a written by a devoutly religious married woman who is happy with her husband, at least for now.

Let's look at it bit by bit.

Provocative Women on Twitter

Dr. Laura has repeatedly told wives who call into her show who don't like their husbands watching porn that it is OK for him to watch as long as he's not neglecting his obligations and the porn is of women or women with men, and not of "children or small farm animals". (It's still OK if he watches gay male porn, but it means he's gay, so it was bad of him to marry her.)

During the first hour of today's show (May 8, 2019) she got a call from a woman upset that her husband follows "provocative women" on Twitter. Without hesitation, Dr. Laura responded like this was not acceptable.

Why?

What is the difference between "watching porn" and "following provocative women on Twitter"? In some cases, there is no difference! Some men watch their porn on Twitter. The "provocative women" are probably models who post pictures and videos.

I have to wonder if there was information on the screen Dr. Laura didn't share with us?

More likely, though, this was simply a part of Dr. Laura's bias against technology and especially social media. She makes it clear that, although her show has a Twitter account, she doesn't use Twitter and doesn't handle the show's account. So maybe she just doesn't know enough about Twitter?

She probably doesn't realize that some of the previous "my husband watches porn" calls were about husbands watching on Twitter, or Tumblr, or some other social media. She probably just assumed it was the husband going to website that isn't social media, or watching videos on discs or streaming services.

So, it sounded like this caller got a different answer than Dr. Laura has given so many others due to a misunderstanding.

Fortunately, she continues to have a great show and help a lot of people. (Also, at the end of the call, the wife was saying she was going to stay, so hopefully a marriage wasn't unnecessarily broken up.)