Post by bossradio93 on May 31, 2004 23:14:16 GMT -5
Where have the liberals gone?
by: PAUL JACOBS - For The San Diego North County Times Californian, 5.29
One of my favorite expressions is, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they're not out to get you." I suppose it's a warning to not let your guard down and to maintain a healthy level of skepticism.
Where I once routinely discounted conspiracy theories overheard on late-night talk radio, some of those theories are starting to morph into reality. Growing up as a child of the '60s, I remember hearing the hippie slogan to question authority, but these days a disconcerting number of Americans prefer blind trust, and disdain those who dare challenge questionable actions of our government.
After moving to Temecula in 1995, my wife and I became fans of talk radio and primarily station KFI. Their 50,000-watt signal rarely fades during our travels to and from Orange County, where our family and my job still reside. In the 1990s, KFI featured local radio hosts offering a variety of programming.
Believe it or not, I would turn the dial when hosts such as Tammy Bruce or Ted Rall ventured off in some radical leftist opinion and I would do the same when Rush Limbaugh became a windbag of conservatism. I suppose like most Americans, I am a political moderate, believing in a sensible application of governance from somewhere in the middle and it was reassuring to hear both views presented on the same radio frequency.
With the acquiescence of the FCC, KFI was eventually assimilated by megacorporation Clear Channel Communications. Initially, I ignorantly believed that the corporate takeover would not dictate local program content. I was proven wrong as programming became increasingly syndicated with local hosts reserved mostly for the morning and evening drive times. Original and progressive talk shows were ultimately rescheduled to odd hours or jettisoned in favor of talk show hosts more conducive to the media conglomerate's streamlining of content.
Perhaps the events of Sept. 11, 2001, exacerbated a decided move toward more Republican talk radio, but the pendulum has remained stuck to the right. While there was once some semblance of balance on the airwaves, it seems only fringe stations broadcast anything contrary to the multitude of talk show pundits parroting right-wing rhetoric up and down the radio dial.
My wife and I have even given up on a once-favorite evening comedy radio program, because the host effusively embraces Bush administration policies, even as he claims to be a Democrat. We were also once fans of comedian Dennis Miller, but he too seems to have taken a giant leap to the right, if for no other reason than to remain gainfully employed in a shrinking market of "liberal media."
When old Germany and the former Soviet Union broadcast a single ideology over the airwaves, our country of liberty and free speech called it "propaganda." In the new corporate-controlled United States, we call media support of the ruling power "patriotism" and the few drowning voices of dissension are called un-American.
Balance is important to most things in life. I wonder if our freedom of speech is headed toward calamity, much like our president suffered on a Crawford Ranch bicycle ride last weekend ---- a fall from leaning too far to the right.
Los Angeles Radio People-May 30, 2004
by: PAUL JACOBS - For The San Diego North County Times Californian, 5.29
One of my favorite expressions is, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they're not out to get you." I suppose it's a warning to not let your guard down and to maintain a healthy level of skepticism.
Where I once routinely discounted conspiracy theories overheard on late-night talk radio, some of those theories are starting to morph into reality. Growing up as a child of the '60s, I remember hearing the hippie slogan to question authority, but these days a disconcerting number of Americans prefer blind trust, and disdain those who dare challenge questionable actions of our government.
After moving to Temecula in 1995, my wife and I became fans of talk radio and primarily station KFI. Their 50,000-watt signal rarely fades during our travels to and from Orange County, where our family and my job still reside. In the 1990s, KFI featured local radio hosts offering a variety of programming.
Believe it or not, I would turn the dial when hosts such as Tammy Bruce or Ted Rall ventured off in some radical leftist opinion and I would do the same when Rush Limbaugh became a windbag of conservatism. I suppose like most Americans, I am a political moderate, believing in a sensible application of governance from somewhere in the middle and it was reassuring to hear both views presented on the same radio frequency.
With the acquiescence of the FCC, KFI was eventually assimilated by megacorporation Clear Channel Communications. Initially, I ignorantly believed that the corporate takeover would not dictate local program content. I was proven wrong as programming became increasingly syndicated with local hosts reserved mostly for the morning and evening drive times. Original and progressive talk shows were ultimately rescheduled to odd hours or jettisoned in favor of talk show hosts more conducive to the media conglomerate's streamlining of content.
Perhaps the events of Sept. 11, 2001, exacerbated a decided move toward more Republican talk radio, but the pendulum has remained stuck to the right. While there was once some semblance of balance on the airwaves, it seems only fringe stations broadcast anything contrary to the multitude of talk show pundits parroting right-wing rhetoric up and down the radio dial.
My wife and I have even given up on a once-favorite evening comedy radio program, because the host effusively embraces Bush administration policies, even as he claims to be a Democrat. We were also once fans of comedian Dennis Miller, but he too seems to have taken a giant leap to the right, if for no other reason than to remain gainfully employed in a shrinking market of "liberal media."
When old Germany and the former Soviet Union broadcast a single ideology over the airwaves, our country of liberty and free speech called it "propaganda." In the new corporate-controlled United States, we call media support of the ruling power "patriotism" and the few drowning voices of dissension are called un-American.
Balance is important to most things in life. I wonder if our freedom of speech is headed toward calamity, much like our president suffered on a Crawford Ranch bicycle ride last weekend ---- a fall from leaning too far to the right.
Los Angeles Radio People-May 30, 2004