Howie Carr elected to Radio Hall of Fame

[David Tomm]

There's a reason that conservatives get their tighty-whities all in a  
bunch when the subject of restoring the Fairness Doctrine comes up.   
The right wing dominance of talk radio began with it's abolition and  
would wither away and die in many markets if there were mandates in  
airing all points of view on public airwaves.  But as I've mentioned,  
I don't favor restoring it.  The industry needs to figure it out.  It  
sounds as if WDEV is doing local talk that reflects it's community.   
If WRKO (and WTKK for that matter) were truly doing talk programming  
that reflected it's community it surely wouldn't be primarily  
syndicated wingnut fare.

It's easy to blame local PD's, but they're not the problem.  Do you  
honestly think the program director at WRKO makes the decision on  
whether to run Rush Limbaugh or not?  Or to sign Howie Carr for that  
matter?  Look at the mega-million dollar deals Rush and Hannity just  
got.  For Citadel and Clear Channel owned Premiere to make those  
numbers, they need clearances.  That means programming mandates.  
Those two companies own a ton of stations in major and medium  
markets.  Those are decisions made well above the local level.  Look  
at WABC/NY.  They run Imus, Rush and Hannity.  If the PD there all of  
a sudden wanted to "go local" he'd be in the unemployment line.  Like  
it or not, the big corporations do have agendas.  Not political ones,  
but economic ones.  In any instance, the agenda does not include  
serving the public interest or the local community.

-Dave Tomm
"Mike Thomas"

On Jul 21, 2008, at 12:21 PM, Bill O'Neill wrote:

> David Tomm wrote:
>> The industry needs to make the move back toward the center on it's  
>> own.  Most importantly, it has to return to local hosts and  
>> issues.  All points of view need to be heard, including moderates,  
>> liberals and even (gasp!) minorities.
> Although I can't fully embrace your premise re: the Fairness  
> Doctrine, I do embrace the notion that the industry needs to do  
> whatever it needs to do with minimal governmental interference.  If  
> you are get a chance to visit Vermont, tune in WDEV (550//96.1//&  
> translators). They have a decent blend of local talk, primarily  
> liberal, even in the non-talk jock banter from time to time.  That  
> works well with the landscape, demo, and a good deal of the state's  
> liberal pods (Montpelier, Burlington).  The very fact that Boston,  
> host to such a liberal gene pool, isn't blasting that perspective  
> throughout the Hub has more to do with the quality of the talker.  
> Opinionated person first and Talker second fails every time.   
> Broadcast professional talker first and opinionated person second  
> builds slowly but far more deeply.  Blame the the decision makers  
> with hiring authority in the local markets and then pass the blame  
> on up to the "big nasty corporations with a big agenda." Verdict:  
> Local programming bosses suck.  And in the stylings of Steve  
> Sweeney in the stylings of former Boston Mayor Kevin White, "I'm  
> not bittah!  I am nWot bittah!"
>