The marketplace ought to decide the content of radio broadcasting, Pat. And the “conservative” talk shows (especially Laura Ingraham, R. Limbaugh, Hannity, formerly “the black avenger”, Ken Hamblin out of Colorado…) have been very popular and attracted substantial advertising & revenues.
Obviously, there is a big appetite for this kind of political discourse (with phone ins) in this country.
So I’d say that the people who (in your words) “own the airwaves” have already spoken on the topic of nationally syndicated “talk radio”. By tuning in and listening in numbers that have made those shows very attractive to advertisers.
Nothing has stopped the other side of the political spectrum from being successful over the airwaves…nothing except themselves, the lack of an audience and, subsequently, the lack of advertisers.
I’d say the movement afoot among many Congresscritters at the moment to revive the (anti) Fairness Doctrine is because Harry Reid couldn’t stand the months’ long ridicule he (very rightly) deserved and Nancy Pelosi can’t stand to have it pointed out that she’s not very astute. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico strikes me as a shallow fool. Chuck Schumer ? eeks. However, I’d like to point out to those folks that we, the (rest of the) people have every single right in the universe to use the airwaves to point out the shortcomings, prejudices and personal limitations of our, uh, elected leaders.
It’s not the talk show hosts you mention who started the FD talk this go round. There’s quite a recent history of Congresscriters (most notably, Pelosi) pushing for its resurrection. Is it a coincidence that some of the biggest supporters of the (anti) Fairness Doctrine in Congress have been some of the biggest targets of “conservative” talk radio ?
You seem quite focused on the notion of “hate speech” and that (somebody, somewhere) ought to be regulating and controlling it. There are restrictions on using the airwaves for profane and vulgar attacks already, correct ? Much of the movement to notions of “hate crimes” and “hate speech” seems an offshoot of political correctness…”hey, you can say this but you can’t say that.”
However, I always wonder who, exactly, should be the definer and arbiter of what constitutes “hate speech” in a country based around a principle of free speech.
Some yahoo or yahoos at the FCC ? Pelosi ? (she’d like that…)
For the record, you drive through the Southwest these days and it’s tough to find a station that isn’t in Spanish ! LA is positively saturated with Vietnamese radio stations. Sheesh, so damn much “localism”, I’m choking to hear something in the lingua franca of America, English ! Anyway, I detect no freaking lack of “localism” over the nation’s airwaves at present, so, I will continue to argue that’s it’s the end around that it is to further control radio that “the Left” doesn’t like.
