SAN FRANCISCO IS one of the most liberal communities in the nation – but you'd hardly know it to listen to local talk radio.

A team of Bay Guardian researchers monitored talk shows on radio stations that were ranked in the top 20 for total listenership on the latest survey by the respected research firm Media Audit. We picked two days at random (July 6 and July 7) and tracked the topics discussed, the overall tone of the discussion, and the origin of the program (syndicated or local).

The results:

• There's very little actual talk or public affairs programming on the top 20 stations. We wound up surveying 14 shows on 5 different stations.

• The topics tend to be almost identical – and the political viewpoints very similar. In fact, aside from KQED, 88.5 FM (which is a public station and thus carries more-liberal National Public Radio material as well as open-minded Michael Krasny's Forum), all the talk shows ranged from moderate (KGO, 810 AM's Bernie Ward and Gene Burns, who is against the war but insisted on the air that he is "not a liberal") to far-right conservative.

• The hate and vitriol on even some locally produced shows is startling. David Gold, filling in for KSFO, 560 AM's Brian Sussman, announced that "Islamofascism is toppling this country" and complained that "there are more people in the U.K. in mosques on Sunday than in churches."

The big news of the day was the nomination of Sen. John Edwards as Sen. John Kerry's running mate, and not surprisingly, the conservatives on KSFO (which is all right-wing, all the time) were sharpening their knives. Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan, on the early-morning show, claimed that the Beauty and the Beast theme song ought to be the theme for the Kerry-Edwards campaign. In between complaining bitterly about taxes and discussing the benefits of a colonoscopy, Rodgers raised such important questions as "Why is 'bra' singular but 'panties' are plural?"

Rush Limbaugh, whose syndicated program airs on KSFO from 9 a.m. to noon, proclaimed that "the liberal press going gaga over Edwards doesn't mean anything, folks. It's no different than his wife and kids going gaga over him." Then he announced, "It's 11 o'clock. Time for welfare recipients to get up!"

On the other hand, KQED's Krasny hosted an in-depth (and balanced) discussion on the state of the California economy and, later, one on the impact Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 may have on the November elections.

Burns continued his long history of attacking the Bush administration and its record of misinformation. "Democracy can't work with lying government," he said. He wasn't terribly supportive of Kerry but insisted that "it is my obligation to vote for him to get Bush out of office."

Ward took perhaps the most overall progressive line of the commercial talk shows we monitored, endorsing Edwards's criticism of NAFTA, supporting the right of trial lawyers to sue corporations, and denouncing Republican deregulation. One of his most cogent points: "Let's look at the local radio situation today. Can anyone tell me that radio has gotten better since 1996?"

Research by Kara Andrade, Allison Raaum, Thea Lavin, Rina Palta, Kristina Rizga, and Martin Ricard