Last month I bought a 1968 Mercedes 250S at an estate sale. This was not an act of middle age angst, by the way. I’d been looking for a dependable, inexpensive used car to buy because I had promised my current car (a 3-year-old VW) to my niece who will attend Kansas University in the fall. The Mercedes fit the bill.

Before any of you become worried that this column is going to be about used cars, let me reassure you that it’s not. It’s about AM talk radio. I mention the Mercedes because all it has is an AM radio and, therefore, I’ve had the unaccustomed experience of listening to AM radio for the past month. It’s not been pleasant, but it has been revealing.

After one month of listening to a variety of talk radio shows I’ve come to some conclusions. First, I think Hank Booth’s show on local history is terrific. Second, other than Hank’s show, I’ve decided that the talk radio I’ve heard is dangerous.

My overwhelming impression is that talk radio show hosts are, for the most part, very angry people who seem to use their shows as a form of public therapy. Half the time, I really can’t figure out what they’re angry about or why. I certainly can’t say that I find their anger amusing.

One show has as its slogan that it’s “entertaining and enlightening.” To my mind that’s grossly false advertising. I also have been rather astounded at how rude many of the hosts are to their callers. It’s obvious that the hosts enjoy the ability to cut off their callers at will and to shout them down by not so subtle use of their volume controls.

The other aspect of so many of these shows that I find astounding is the frequency with which the hosts make false or misleading statements. It seems to me that someone who has the privilege of having a radio show also has certain responsibilities, among which ought to be an obligation to tell the truth and be accurate as much as is possible.

I’m not talking about political statements. These are obviously matters of opinion and people can differ about them. What I’m talking about are matters of fact. I have just been shocked by the number of times I have heard talk show hosts make incorrect statements of fact. Sometimes I think that they simply make things up as they go along. I suppose that the explanation for this may well be that no one can know everything and since people often telephone with obscure questions, one cannot expect the host’s show to know all the answers. But must they give incorrect answers?

I’ve tried over the last month to figure out who is the audience for these shows. My sense is that the listeners tend to be people in cars and trucks, elderly folks sitting at home, and those who, for one reason or another, have little better to do. These shows have the advantage of being interactive. Unlike most televison programs, talk radio actually lets the listening audience take part in the show. But I have to believe that the radio industry could do better.

Isn’t it time to get rid of the “shock jocks,” the angry, bitter, outrageous talk show hosts, and the ignorant masters of nothing and begin to offer radio programs that entertain and educate rather than reinforce prejudice, intolerance, and hatred? I hope so. But in the meantime, I think I need to save my money to buy an FM radio for the car.