Doubling the cost of radio to subsidize liberal talk

[vchimpanzee]

Go to mikehuckabee.com and click on "on demand". Select the transcripts option and it should be easy to see which broadcast this is.

This is a crackpot idea from some liberal who just doesn't understand that if liberal talk made money, there would be liberal talk.

Other than on NPR, of course.

I only listen to Mike Huckabee because eh replaced Paul Harvey where I live. He has some good ideas. But I'm no conservative.

[Sean Gilbow]

Go to mikehuckabee.com and click on "on demand". Select the transcripts option and it should be easy to see which broadcast this is.

This is a crackpot idea from some liberal who just doesn't understand that if liberal talk made money, there would be liberal talk.

Other than on NPR, of course.

I only listen to Mike Huckabee because eh replaced Paul Harvey where I live. He has some good ideas. But I'm no conservative.

Huckabee is crying wolf. 

And companies such as Dial Global, which syndicates four progressive talkers (Ed Schultz, Thom Hartmann, Stephanie Miller and Bill Press) along with likes of Michael Smerconish and Neal Boortz, would certainly see no need for subsidy.

Huckabee doesn't even discuss anything involving subsidizing in the transcript.

Non-issue.  Can we move on to something of more substance?

[Frank Provasek]

This garbage is caused by the wingnut rumors that Obama has established a new post at the FCC  -- a "diversity officer" and appointed  A BLACK MAN!!!  to censor right wing talkers and tax conservative radio 100%

The FCC does indeed have a "diversity officer," Mark Lloyd.  But federal agencies are REQUIRED to have "diversity committees" which make sure that the government HIRING follows equal opportunity laws.  It has nothing to do with diversity of PROGRAM CONTENT.  And the President of the US does not appoint chairs of internal committees of government agencies.

Not a peep from the wingnuts when Lisa M. Fowlkes was appointed to the same post in 2006 under George W. Bush.

[jh]

A few years ago, Mark Lloyd wrote a book "Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America" where he proposed commercial stations be taxed with the funds used to support public radio.  He's also proposed more diversity of programming and ownership.  But he hasn't proposed this in his role with the FCC.

[willcail]

Dial Global doing just fine. It might be the only commercial syndicator thats not loosing money. Westood One, Premire/CC are not doing so well. Plus Dial Global just sign Ed Schultz fill in for a show.

Randi Rhodes is with CC.

If you think that the Huckabee Report is "news". Then you aren't that bright.

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Our civilization would have a much better chance of surviving if we could get at least a few people to realize and remember that not all discussions, not all conflicts are made up of conservative and liberal issues.

Yes, some people are proposing that because conservative talk is more abundant on radio that maybe a mechanism should be put in place to insure the presence of adequate liberal talk.  May I propose that is putting the cart before the horse.

Whether a city should adopt 25 mph or 35 mph as the default speed limit for all streets that do not have a posted speed limit is not a conservative or liberal issue.  It can be contentious.  People will have various opinions on what is the appropriate limit.  If this is a topic in a given town,  radio should make time for it to be discussed.

Whether property taxes should be due in September or be due in November does not strike me as a conservative vs. liberal issue but we should expect various media to make discussion time/space available on some kind of a fair and equitable basis.

If radio in a given community is in the discussion and debate business,  and they figure out how to handle these "non partisan" issues,  then they will probably be capable of handling the hot-button issues with grace and dignity.

If debate and discussion is seen only as a cash cow, then there will be no interest in these not-so-partisan issues and there will be no training of the audience and training of the on-air talent on how to discuss differences gracefully.

And if that is where we are,  then kiss self-government as we know it good-bye.  It may take 30 to 90 years for the corpse to die,  but die it will.  Looks to me like we are now about 20 years down that path.

[jimwalsh2001]

Forget about the political agenda and focus on finding hosts who know how to entertain and galvanize the audience.

All right, I said it.  Let the brickbats fly...

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Forget about the political agenda and focus on finding hosts who know how to entertain and galvanize the audience.

All right, I said it.  Let the brickbats fly...

We emulate what we know.  We know what we hear on other radio stations.  Do we know how to entertain and galvanize?  Or do we only know how to mimic the trash around us?  If you found a human being who could entertain and galvanize,  how would you keep him/her from gravitating to the food-fight that dominates the airwaves?  How would you convince the audience that this strange but refreshing program is what they should embrace?  After all,  competitiors have done a good job of convincing the audience that this is a blood sport and if there is no blood, it is NOT good ralk radio.  How do we overcome that?

[vchimpanzee]

Dial Global doing just fine. It might be the only commercial syndicator thats not loosing money. Westood One, Premire/CC are not doing so well. Plus Dial Global just sign Ed Schultz fill in for a show.

Randi Rhodes is with CC.

If you think that the Huckabee Report is "news". Then you aren't that bright.

Normally it is. But when he rants like he did that day, I have to question him like I do Rush Limbaugh.

[smedge2006]

Getting back to the original title, the whole problem with radio these days is too many operators trying to cheap it out. Something that would cause them to double the amount of money (and double the amount of hiring) they put into the product is a good thing. Since when is it good to keep local people sidelined for The Best of Limbaugh, The Best of Hannity, the Best of Rusty Humphries (?), the Best of Blanquita Cullum, and the Best of Infomercials?