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Posted on 10/12/2001 12:22:44 PM PDT by callisto

WASHINGTON - A full-time conservative radio network plans to go head to head with left-leaning National Public Radio in the next year.

"We see ourselves as a conservative counterpart to NPR,” proclaims Radio America President James C. Roberts in an exclusive interview with NewsMax.com. An alternative, he says, "in terms of thoughtful discussion of the issues and thoughtful discussion of the news, although from a different perspective than NPR has.”

Radio America, which began on a shoestring operation back in 1985, has expanded to a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week broadcast network with 400 affiliates, mostly radio talk show hosts. An "affiliate” is described as a station that carries at least one network show each week. And 300 of those stations carry at least one of the network’s offerings each day.

Radio America held the grand opening of its new studios Tuesday night on 15th Street in downtown Washington.

Some of its biggest stars, including talk hosts Oliver North and Blanquita Cullum, were on hand for the festivities, as the network president told the well-attended gathering of his ambitious timetable for expansion.

The full-time talk show network has plans to become also a full-time news network, big time. By early 2002 "if all works out well,” Radio America will acquire a radio station in Washington to serve as the "flagship’ for the network and give RA a highly visible presence right at the seat of government and the news capital of the world. By the end of 2002, Roberts envisions a full-time news bureau, with newscasts on the hour and half hour around the clock.

Why is a Radio America necessary? Easy question to answer, says Roberts.

"I just don’t think there is very much balance in the coverage of the news.” The lack of balance, he adds, is not sufficiently offset by a preponderance of conservatives in talk radio. Very few liberals are in national talk radio, he observes. Popular talk show host Rush Limbaugh has opined that this is because one can already get plenty of liberal perspective in the news outlets of the mainstream media. Hence the conservative void that has fed a hunger for conservative talk hosts.

Roberts does not disagree. "If you look at the news media, whether it’s print in newspapers and magazines, or television and radio in the broadcast media, the vast majority of the editors, producers, hosts and reporters are on the liberal side," as studies have clearly shown.

More conservatives are needed in the national broadcast media "so that the public gets additional perspectives than the ones that are available to them.” Roberts says this is one reason why Fox News Channel on cable TV is so popular. Its "fair and balanced” format fills that void. "It alone provides that, I would say.”

So, does the 16-year broadcast veteran see his Radio America as a potential radio counterpart to TV’s Fox News?

"That’s not a bad comparison" in some ways, he allows, although there are differences, chief among them being that though Radio America is nonprofit, Fox News is a for-profit organization.

NewsMax.com asked Roberts how he defines news. What is his news philosophy?

"Everybody, left, right and center” agrees the terrorist attacks on America qualify as "news.” What’s more important, as the Radio America boss sees it, is "not so much what is news, but how the news is covered and who the experts are that are chosen to explain the news. I think that’s a problem, and I think there’s an imbalance still, in television and radio, on the liberal side.”

Another problem with mainstream news coverage, and one that Radio America will seek to redress, is "a lack of depth, a lack of substance, and a lack of knowledge on the part of many of the reporters who are covering beats” - economics, health care, military, etc. That leads to superficial coverage "without giving the public any context, any understanding of the issues” behind the news headlines.

That is an area "where we would want to make a contribution. I think NPR does that better than most [albeit with a] simplistic point of view. I would see us probably providing an alternative point of view” with "context” and "frame of reference.”

Col. Oliver North, whose pro-freedom work for the Reagan administration made him a villain to the radical left but a hero to millions worldwide, "is currently the biggest name on Radio America," where his talk show originates. His work on the network has been especially useful in the past few weeks since Americans came face to face with the kind of evil of terrorism that North dealt with when he was in government.

"Ollie is one of the foremost experts in the country on terrorism,” says Roberts.

Other RA regulars, as mentioned above, include Blanquita Cullum, president of the National Association of Radio Talk Show Hosts.

Fred Barnes, who like North and Cullum is well known to TV viewers, does two shows weekly; one is a critique of how the media do and do not cover the news, and a radio version of TV’s "McLaughlin Group,” a roundtable political discussion.

Greg Corombos hosts "Dateline Washington,” the hourlong magazine-style wrap-up of the day’s events in the news. He is believed to be "the youngest [mid-20s] nationally syndicated news anchor on radio, or television, for that matter.”

Allan Nathan hosts a midmorning show called "Battleline” where liberals spar with conservatives and Democrats argue with Republicans. "A very lively program” that on a given day, says Roberts, might feature Molly Dickinson and Phyllis Schlafly.

Radio America includes "a whole range of interesting weekend programs” featuring experts in their respective fields.

Although profitability is "not in the plan,” Roberts does not rule it out. Radio America enjoys the best of both worlds in that it is largely supported by foundations and contributors, while still able to accept advertising to mitigate the expenses and help pay the bills. Advertising, individual contributions, foundation grants and syndication fees are its main sources of income. The new studios will also enable the company to charge fees to outside groups wanting to use its facilities to record commercials or documentaries.

The radio network’s biggest benefactors include the Bradley, Olin, and Carthage foundations. If Roberts gets his way, Radio America will give conservatism a prominent place in the nation’s capital, where such liberal outlets as NPR and the Washington Post have long been perceived as conventional wisdom. But he makes no bones about his belief that in Washington, as throughout the country, the "alternative perspective” is long overdue.

Editor's note: Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com’s Washington correspondent, is a veteran broadcaster who occasionally is guest host of Radio America’s "Dateline: Washington” program.

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