Where they always turn: the public teat.
Posted on 09/18/2006 7:44:21 AM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult
When it began broadcasting back in 2004, Air America was supposed to be the great leftist hope, the radio network whose hosts would floor the dominating conservatives on political talk shows, especially Rush Limbaugh, the undisputed champion of the genre.
But things went from bad to worse as the network received low ratings in too few markets and was involved in a scandal because of borrowing money from a nonprofit organization. The network’s chief on-air personality, Al Franken, concedes that cash-flow problems have kept him from being paid.
Having seemingly failed to knock Limbaugh out in the free market, where, oh where will the liberals turn? We already have the answer. If Democrats win control of Congress, the plan of some is to legislate radio time for liberals through reinstituting the Fairness Doctrine and thereby, in all likelihood, silencing Limbaugh and conservative friends. In other words, if speech gets too free to make you happy, bring your heel down on its head.
Let’s have some history here.
The Fairness Doctrine went into effect in 1949 as a regulation of the Federal Communications Commission. It essentially said that stations had to provide opportunities for other sides to be heard if someone said something politically controversial on air. The consequence was a quietude strikingly at variance with this democracy of ours.
Then came the presidency of Ronald Reagan, with its understanding of how governmental controls so often diminish us and its trust in a free people to find their way without the instructions of know-it-all bureaucrats. His administration dropped the regulation along with many others, and guess what? Talk radio began to flower.
You would think believers in our democracy would rejoice in the burst of debate, but many liberals didn’t.
A chief reason was that the most popular hosts of these shows were conservatives. Millions of Americans happen to be conservative in at least some roughhewn way, and they didn’t see their views reflected in the mainstream media. In talk radio, they gained a voice, frequently a rambunctious one but a voice that was subject to correction in the marketplace of ideas. That’s especially true in an era of the Internet, cable TV, satellite radio and other outlets that provide a wider variety of news and opinion than available at any previous time.
The conservative cause was also helped by personalities such as Limbaugh, who comes by his 15 million listeners a week not through accident, but because of extraordinary alertness, quickness of mind and, most of all, a good humor and wit that the pompous among us miss and the leftist ideologues among us despise. He is funnier than Franken, and seriously, folks, Franken is not to be taken seriously on any level. So here come the liberals in Congress to fix things.
Democratic members of the House have already introduced legislation that would restore the Fairness Doctrine in such a way that radio stations carrying Limbaugh at great financial advantage would have to carry someone like Franken for an equal length of time at what would almost certainly be a great financial disadvantage. Hey, the stations might decide, let’s go with rock music - or whatever - because it’s easier and more profitable. If Democrats take back Congress, this anti-speech legislation could have a good chance of enactment, something to keep in mind when you enter a voting booth.
President Reagan was correct to get rid of it. There's no reason to bring it back.
Where they always turn: the public teat.
If it's re-established, I will seek out what's available on satillite radio.
I would hope that President Bush would veto a restoration of the Fairness Doctrine, but he hardly ever uses the veto power. If the Democrats were to take Congress (God forbid!), I would hope that the President would change his behavior with respect to exercising the veto.
Never happen.
Air America was doomed to failure, why do libs need Air America when they already have the mainstream media?
Talk radio is conservative, because it is the only counter-balance to the libs stranglehold on the media.
How many times has he used it?
Now Jeaneane Garafolo will have all those tapes from her Air America Show to listen to while she watches her performance in Cable Guy with the sound on mute.
To paraphrase Rush Limbaugh, talk radio IS equal time.
cash-flow problems = no listeners = no advertising revenue
According to this chart, he has only used the veto once (for the stem cell bill). I hope he uses it more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_vetoes#George_W._Bush
The network’s chief on-air personality, Al Franken, concedes that cash-flow problems have kept him from being paid.
________
"cash-flow problems" Typical Liberals trying to run a business.
They had a "profits" problem.
Ever notice most capital buildings look like a big teat?
(Or not. Maybe I should get out more.)
Exactly. People will support sponsors of conservative radio and apparently won't support the genius of Err AmeriKa (which is a Blessing from Heaven!).
They probably pay Franken in cocaine.
cash-flow problems = no listeners = no advertising revenue
no listeners = no advertising revenue = cash-flow problems
Fixed it for ya! No charge!:-)
Bringing back the Fairness Doctrine in this context wouldn't be fair at all. Currently, demand of the free market is what keeps Limbaugh, Hannity and others on the air and Franken off the air.
You could force radio stations to carry Franken, but you can't force anyone to listen or advertisers to pay for it. With the influence of broadcasters in the US, bringing back the Fairness Doctrine will be a hard sell.
One ironic aspect of liberal talk radio is that their target audience doesn't care to listen to talk radio in the first place. They're more content listening to MP3s and watching trash video on YouTube and reality TV.
Haha, the Medieval Times waitress! That was probably her best role as she was only on the screen for about 10 total seconds.
I HAD TO listen to her last Airhead America show and it was a hoot, they were so angry.
BUT, she did say she never wanted to get married OR have kids so she is doing the World and Mankind a huge favor there and I thank her for the lack of contribution.
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