Kennedy Slams Coleman Over Radio
20 July 2007 9:01 am by Taylor Marsh
The most democratic form of talk radio doesn’t come through paid satellite
radio or the internets. It comes through good old fashion terrestrial radio;
the medium Republicans own and that Karl Rove has used to get out the vote ever
since Bush road in to Washington. It’s the medium used in the 1990s to smear Bill Clinton, charge up impeachment, as well as push the negative press on Hillary Clinton, which continues today. It comes through your a.m. (and sometimes
f.m.) dial. Republicans know it and that’s why they keep pushing legislation against the Fairness
Doctrine. It’s not Democrats who are offering up all this legislation. It’s
Republicans and there’s a reason for it.
This paragraph in their
online petition gives them away.
Revival of the “Fairness Doctrine” would have the chilling
effect of censoring conservative talk radio by requiring radio stations to
air liberal content. Air liberal content or your station license will be revoked.
Republicans simply don’t want liberal talk hosts on the air. It’s not “censorship”
to offer both sides. But because they have a virtual lock on a.m. radio there
is no room for progressives. Get it? Nothing could be any clearer.
Republicans continue to support the owners so
they can keep their virtual monopoly on talk radio. That’s what the campaign
by Sen. Norm Coleman and wingnut bloggers intend to continue to do, as they
promote radio censorship against anyone not conservative, cloaked in the argument
of “free speech.” However, Sen.
Ted Kennedy stopped the monopoly motion of Coleman, which is just a plot
to keep progressive talkers down.
Wingnuts cry “free speech,” but there isn’t free speech when you
can only get to a microphone that you buy yourself.
Wingnuts cry that there are all sorts of outlets, from satellite to internet
and beyond. But none have the audience of terrestrial radio, which progressives
can’t get on.
What Republicans are lying about is that progressive talkers can’t get to terrestrial radio. Republicans like it that way and intend
on keeping it that way, too. Plain old a.m. – f.m. radio is still the biggest
game of all; offering the most ears for the buck. Anyone can turn it on. It’s
the great equalizer, especially in rural America, inner cities and the open
road. Satellite radio costs money that many cannot afford. But everyone can
afford an a.m. – f.m. radio.
Old fashion terrestrial radio used to be the most democratic form of communication, because everyone could listen and afford it. Right up until Republicans scuttled regulation and Rush and conservative talk burst on to the scene, while the Democrats slept. Now wingnuts own the medium, which is no longer democratic, but almost completely conservative.
The Fairness Doctrine may not be the answer, but it is the avenue that recharged
the discussion about radio and the inequities in station ownership and the progressive lockout in many markets. Without it the conversation would go silent. Keeping
the conversation alive is important, because people need to understand what’s
going on in radio and how Republicans are using it to change our elections.
Even with Ed Schultz’s ratings and outreach, he cannot get into Philly. Why
not?
ABC radio offers no progressive talkers; it’s all wingnut, all day. Why is
that?
Cities like St. Louis don’t have Air America. Why?
Republicans argue it’s the market, then point to Air America’s financial woes
since its inception. Air America is one avenue, which mostly exists through
satellite radio or on very low band stations. Jones network, which produces
Schultz, Miller and Bill Press, is doing gangbuster business. But those are
the only games in town, with Jones willing to take meetings, but if you can’t get ratings the conversation stops fairly quickly. If you can’t get on the air to make ratings, you’re
stuck on the internet with half the audience of satellite, because station owners
have locked out progressives from even trying out their shows on a.m. – f.m.
dial.
No one is asking for radio welfare, but the a.m. dial is in virtual wingnut
lock down. Republicans are very aware that terrestrial radio is their secret
weapon. They have no intention of ceding that territory, no matter how many
progressive hosts they censor through their virtual monopoly.
If you can’t get on a station to talk, have the time to prove your financial viability, because conservatives lock you out, free speech doesn’t exist. Republicans like it that way.
Remember, they kept progressives off Armed Forces radio until 2005. It wasn’t by accident. It was by design.
