HolyCoast: Lib Senators Want to "Fix" Talk Radio
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Friday, June 22, 2007

Lib Senators Want to "Fix" Talk Radio

With a presidential election coming up next year, candidate Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barbara Boxer, two of the more lefty of the Senate Dems, want to "fix" talk radio. By "fixing", they really mean "ending" conservative talk radio, because that's the only fix that's acceptable to them. Breitbart TV has a video report on that subject here.

Think Progress has an analysis of a companion report from a lefty organization on the evils of conservative talk radio and what they think will fix it. The lefties clearly don't understand market dynamics.
Our conclusion is that the gap between conservative and progressive talk radio is the result of multiple structural problems in the U.S. regulatory system, particularly the complete breakdown of the public trustee concept of broadcast, the elimination of clear public interest requirements for broadcasting, and the relaxation of ownership rules including the requirement of local participation in management. […]

Ultimately, these results suggest that increasing ownership diversity, both in terms of the race/ethnicity and gender of owners, as well as the number of independent local owners, will lead to more diverse programming, more choices for listeners, and more owners who are responsive to their local communities and serve the public interest.

They don't get it. They try to dismiss the fact that conservative talk radio has succeeded because it's entertaining and appeals to large numbers of listeners from both sides of the aisle. So called "progressive" talk is little more than a litany of whining, complaints and half-baked conspiracy theories. Who wants to listen to that? Not that many people, apparently. If Air America couldn't succeed even with massive funding, it tells you it's not a funding or ownership problem, but a programming problem.

Clinton and Boxer understand the power of conservative talk to derail their wacky plans, and they won't stop in their efforts to silence it. Thankfully, I believe that conservative talk has gotten so big and has so many millions of dedicated listeners that it's unlikely they'll be able to muster enough support in the Congress to reenact the Fairness Doctrine or other equally unconstitutional legislative efforts.

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