Recently I got a whiny email from Bob Carson of Carson’s Corner.  Bob is very, very put out that I think he’s a terrible interviewer.  I expressed this opinion in the written introduction to my six-part interview with Frank Dux (whose exploits were supposedly the inspiration for the Jean-Claude VanDamme movie, Bloodsport).

Specifically, Bob comes from the “let the listener or reader decide” school of “journalism.”  By that I mean he applies a George Noory-like wide-eyed credulity to his interviewers, politely accepting anything and everything his guests have to say without ever really challenging them on it.  He’ll let someone like Frank Dux, Ashida Kim, or their contemporaries ramble on for an hour or more while lobbing softball questions and never actually trying to confront them with the factual errors or logical implausibilities of what those guests are saying — because, after all, we’re supposed to be letting the listener decide who’s right and whose wrong, aren’t we?

from Bob Carson < carsonscorner13@yahoo.com >
to Phil Elmore
date Sat, Jul 17, 2010 at 3:32 AM
subject Some Problems With Your Article.

One of my listeners forwarded me your article about my recent interview with Frank Dux. Although I respect a man’s right to have his opinion, your article was offensive to me.

First of all, to suggest that I threw softballs at Frank Dux is ridiculous. During the interview that you referenced in your article, Grandmaster Soto accused me of asking ” ferocious questions’ towards Mr. Dux. In fact, every person who took place in the interview- Harris, Benson, Kim, Soto, Dux- felt  I was working with Bullshido.

Furthermore, what you failed to note in your article, is that I had Harding and Browning on the show to talk about Dux. You see, sir, when it comes to interviews, I am a journalist. I don’t approach an interview with a bias like you had towards Mr. Dux. I let the audience decide. Judging by the fact that all the interviews I’ve had with Dux have received rave reviews and tens of thousands of downloads, I say I am doing a good job. Go on any MMa forum and ask people who they think is the best interviewer of all time- it’s me, sir. I’m universally recognized as the host who asks the questions no one will ask. Please review some of my work before making derogatory statements.

I did have an opportunity to hear some of your “interview” with Frank Dux. Aside from the audio problems, every “question” you asked towards Frank was an accusation. You asked no down the middle questions, which is what journalists do. Frank had to make numerous corrections and clarifications, which suggests you have a bias towards him.

Thank you for reading my response.   Good luck with what ever you are doing.

Remember, Bob is a guy whose hard-hitting, insightful interviewing technique includes comments like, “I’m not really familiar with what ninjitsu is” when interviewing Frank Dux.  Wow.  And here I thought when I said to Dux, “What’s wrong with your face?” I was asking the questions other people wouldn’t ask.  I guess Bob told me, dammit.

Now, for some perspective on this email: Bob Carson is awesome.  Just ask him; he’ll tell you.  Bob Carson is, in fact, “one of the most talked about MMA hosts on the planet.”  The only person I can find who seems to think this, however, is Bob himself, as that description — including references to his show’s “humor, sharp wit, controversial views and the best interviews on the web” — appears on his own podcast site and nowhere else I can see.  Bob is also the host of “New Jersey’s only FM progressive radio show,” in the course of which “some have compared Bob to Ed Schultz.”  Again, the only person I can find comparing Bob Carson to Ed Schultz is Bob Carson himself… but from this we can take away the fact that Mr. Oh-so-unbiased is, in fact, a pinko commie-lib progressive who probably throws darts at a picture of George Bush every night before bed.

I can’t reconcile the self-promotion in Bob’s description of his shows with actually listening to his interviews.  On air he’s bland, often less than informed (at least insofar as his interviews with Frank Dux, Ashida Kim, et al are concerned), and even has an annoying speaking voice (no asset to a radio host).  He doesn’t make much of an attempt, if any, to redirect or challenge his guests in order to keep them on topic, and he makes no judgments and raises no questions even when people like Dux and Kim say things that are flatly outrageous.  If this is “letting the listener decide,” it is also poor investigative journalism.

I also take issue with Carson’s snide comment about “audio problems.”  If you listen to the introduction to his Carson’s Corner MMA podcasts, you’ll probably find yourself turning down the volume during the garbled, almost inaudibly corrupted clips that he’s sewn together as the intro to the show.  That’s a serious audio problem right there, Bob.

Finally, I’m not sure how a “universally recognized” host like Bob Carson finds the time to care about the “offensive” opinions of someone like me.  While I think it’s likely that “one of my listeners forwarded me your article” translates to, “I found your article while Googling myself,” I just don’t understand why Mr. Carson, who is so incredibly successful and roundly lauded by an intergalactic community of radio listeners, needs to worry that a nobody like myself thinks his interviewing method, well, sucks.

Live and learn, I guess.