Re: WSRO sold

[WhomFAN <WhomFAN@aol.com>]

In a message dated 98-04-17 15:10:25 EDT, ASchinella@aol.com writes:

> 
>  While it is true some right-wingers reign on talk radio, and more left-of-
>  center types are never given enough chances to speak, never mind to shine, 
> the
>  spin is more corporate than conservative. Everything has the big business,
>  corporate spin to it and if you don't tow that line; whether from the left 
> or
>  the right, you won't get on the air with the big companies or syndicators. 
>  
>  A perfect example is Jim Hightower. When Hightower had his weekend show
>  syndicated by ABC, WRKO would never put him on. To their credit, WRKO had
>  local weekend programming, even if it was hard right-wingers like Chuck 
> Adler,
>  Janeen Graf and Mike Wiley (both, out of work local hosts who could be
added
>  to that list I posted a few weeks ago) and later the Two Twits. Even one of
>  the Boston Globe editorialists, who happened to hear Hightower's show while
>  vacationing on the Cape, called on WRKO to put him on the air in Boston! (
> How
>  often does something like THAT happen? Especially from the Globe who have a
>  special hatred for the format, unless you are Chris Lydon, of course.) Yet,
>  surprisingly, when Hightower was fired, and replaced by business-friendly,
>  liberal, Bernie Ward, WRKO put him on, canning those local hosts or
shifting
>  them around to fill-in slots. 
>  
>  Personally, I don't like NPR and don't count it in the same respects as
>  commercial talk radio. Maybe that is a flaw on my part. Commercial radio
has
>  to play by the forces of the dreaded market whereas NPR do not. And
whenever 
> I
>  listen to NPR, with the exception of Lydon who I find interesting most of 
> the
>  time, the spin is very safe and unchallenging to those dominant corporate
>  powers who own everything in media. WBUR doesn't take any chances, which 
> they
>  should because they are in the position to, yet they are beholden to their
>  corporate interests who continue to fund their drives. I mean, come on...
>  Lydon does a show on expansion of NAFTA last year and invites on Ira
Jackson
>  of BankBoston; a major campaign and NPR contributor, a major global player 
> who
>  could give a damn about displaced America workers or enslaved Chilean 
> workers,
>  with direct monetary interests concerning the policy, and he is on for a 
> whole
>  hour almost unchecked. It is disgraceful. 
>  
>  To WRPT's credit, they do have local hosts now (with a conservative/pro-
>  business spin), which they didn't when they first started, for most of the
>  day. Don Feder, Dr. Lori Roth and John Napolitano (sp?) are all broacast 
> from
>  WRPT's studios. I don't know if they lease the time or they are hired, but
>  they are local, which is a positive thing, I think. 
>  
>  There are so many other examples there are too many to mention. Needless to
>  say, it is a very sad state of affairs when one of the most liberal,
>  progressive, whatever, state in the United States has no opportunity to
>  compete. It is discrimination by opinion and it is wrong. 
>  
>  Just my $2.00, Tony
>  
I agree.......It is not a left or right wing media/press it is a corporate
press looking out for 
themselfs... With some help from the great telecom reform "act" of 1995...
my $.02....GOOD DAY

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