My earliest talk radio memories are going to bed listening to local on-air giant Alan Christian talk me and the rest of Baltimore to sleep.
Alan was far from boring. At age 10, I was mesmerized. His spontaneous brilliance was my first education about talk radio and how it’s not just news or information, it’s entertainment. More memories followed — the bawdy Johnny Walker to the thoughtful Ron Smith.
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My first radio appearance was a forgettable performance on “Conference Call” on WCBM. I will never forget Ken Maylath giving me my chance. I listened and I learned — from Ken or from the sagelike wisdom of Harry Shriver as he set to teach a much-younger me about radio.
Talk radio evolved a lot after the Federal Communications Commission opened up the regulations in the 1980s. Now there is a big move afoot to make conservative talk history, not current events. If you listen to WBAL or WCBM, Christian talk radio or other conservative shows, then you may get a rude lesson in realpolitik when the Obama administration takes over.
The media landscape that will greet the new president is simple. Broadcast networks, most major newspapers and magazines tilt so far left they look like they will finally fall over. Most of cable — CNN, MSNBC [the loony spinoff of NBC] even the Weather Channel, is largely the province of liberals. Fox is the lone major exception.
Even the taxpayer-paid networks of PBS and NPR are ridiculously left-wing. The left even has its own radio networks like Air America.
That’s not enough “change” in Washington or for the prickly new president-elect who exiled reporters when their newspapers daringly endorsed his opponent. The morons in charge of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and our own House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-5th, want the return of something called the Fairness Doctrine.
In theory, the Fairness Doctrine is designed to encourage political speech of all kinds on the public airwaves. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) told Albuquerque talk radio station KKOB that he supported making every station present a “balanced perspective.” But the rules exempt news, so this is what supporters call it, the “Hush Rush bill” since it targets conservative talker Rush Limbaugh and those like him.
The left is unhappy with dissent. This election, the only disagreeable voices about Obama’s quest to be messiah, er, president, were found largely on talk radio.
As they say in movie trailers, this time it’s personal.
Conservatives take losing their rights very personally, too. They have nicknamed the idea the “Censorship Doctrine” and plan to fight it every legal way.
But that fight needs you. Remember the outcry when WYPR removed host Marc Steiner. We need to make this issue as much of a fight on a national level. Obama has said he would oppose this change, but he’s politically flexible. That means he and your congressmen need to hear from you.
If you value the ability to dissent, then you should wake up and make your voice heard. In return, you’ll help keep local institutions and free speech from being put to sleep.
Dan Gainor can be seen on the new Fox Business Network. He is T. Boone Pickens fellow at the Media Research Center’s Business & Media Institute, a career journalist and media commentator. He can be reached at [email protected].
