June 21, 2007...2:22 pm
Are we not better served by more competition and a broader diversity of opinions?
Regardless of which side of the right-left issue you are coming from, don’t you want our airwaves to be used in a manner than fosters diversity of opinions?
I understand that it’s important to have commercial viability, but if all stations could be profitable by only having Howard Stern or Temptation Island on all day, I don’t think I would call that great success.
Read the posting by Michelle. She frames the attack as the left attacking the right wing hold on radios. She might be right that this is where it is coming from. Still, succeeding there would be good for all.
- First, how many Rush Limbaugh look alikes do you really need?
- Second, don’t you want to hear what the other side has to say?
- Finally, how often have you felt that even “your” side is not reprensenting you adequately.
When I used to live in the Bay Area, even though all hosts were so called liberals/libertarian (Owens, Ward and Burns), no one I thought represented the Israeli-Palestinian situation very well. On the other hand, I am sure that I must have agreed with them when it came time to criticize the Republicans.
I listen to Air America Radio. I enjoy it, I would tempted to accept if someone told me they could fill every airwave possible. We have to resist to that temptation. The country is better served by having all sides of an issue covered - not just one or two sides.
4 Comments
June 21, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Just one fact you seemed to have missed! This is a free market! What are you going to say when the Republicans get back in power and want to have “fairness” within the newspaper industry and the big networks? Won’t be so good then,huh? LET THE MARKET DETERMINE WHAT IS ON THE RADIO. I listened to Air America a few times, was pretty boring for the most part and a lot of whining. Let me leave you with a thought …”diversity” isn’t the end all . It’s a by product of our culture, not some government directive. Quit whining and be more vivacious and entertaining and I may listen more to “progressive” (misnomer) radio.
June 21, 2007 at 8:32 pm
First, it’s not a free market. There are a limited amount of airwaves which belong to the public and that we license to companies. Therefore, we have to be careful about the licensing model we use.
Second, I think letting the market decide assumes that the market always self regulates in a perfect manner. I don’t think this is the case. I know this is tangential, but we have the FCC for example fining shows that the market finds perfectly acceptable.
Finally, and that’s my point, diversity is important. You shouldn’t just see it as a by-product of culture, but as something that creates culture. If we don’t have diversity to begin with, we will have less and less diversity as a result. From your comment, you sound like you consider only talk ration as entertainement, but I think it serves a bigger purpose (exchange of ideas, discussions, information, etc.)
I want republicans to have an outlet so that I can hear their ideas. I want libertarians to also have a chance to tell me what being a libertarian is all about. I don’t want a “winner takes all’ approach. This isn’t a boxing ring, it’s our country!
August 14, 2007 at 5:53 pm
This subject always makes me do a mental double take. First, its much ado about nothing. There is “public radio”, commercial radio, and opportunities abound for anyone with a “sale-able” show. Those who have a more liberal bent can listen to public radio if they are way to the left or if they are middle of the road they can listen to KGO or some other A.M. radio station, whatever. However if you are more conservative you only have A.M. radio. Airamerica didn’t work because nobody listened, and on commercial radio people have to listen or they go out of business. It really is that simple. There are no hidden agendas.
September 3, 2007 at 2:19 am
No, it’s not that simple. As I am sure you know, sometimes a company will have to make loses for the first few years before turning in a profit. It seems that so far AirAmericaRadio has being able to withstand the test of time.
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