fairness doctrine

[Donna Halper]

At 03:55 PM 11/6/2008, Jim Hall wrote:
>Am I mistaken, or did not talk show hosts such as Jerry Williams, Steve
>Fredericks, Avi Nelson, Paul Benzaquin, etc., operate their programs just
>fine during the time the Fairness Doctrine was in force?

That's exactly my point.  It's a myth-- usually put forth by my 
friends on the right-- that all freedom of opinion was stifled under 
the Fairness Doctrine.  Quite the opposite is true, as my 
soon-to-be-released book will point out.  The 1960s was the first 
major era of opinionated talk shows, and those talkers came from both 
the right and the left-- righties had plenty of big stars-- it was 
the era of Joe Pyne ("Go gargle with razor blades!") and other 
conservative talkers of the Michael Savage ilk, and they all had no 
problem getting huge ratings.  But there were liberal talkers on 
their stations, and they too got huge ratings.  And the public heard 
both sides of all the major issues, and life went on.