30 years ago when reagan killed the fairness doctrine they put carnival barkers on every corner and stump in the country, and most of them were limbaugh, screaming that all day about liberals - for 30 fucking years, and liberals just walked by.

ignoring them is the bigest political mistake in history, it's been trump and putin's best friend and the most important component of the right's media.

the dem advisors who told dem politicians over the years to ignore talk radio should be fired and never work in politics again and these 88 universities should be protested until they stop supporting it

talking abouit talk radio is exactly what they don't want. we want the true leader of the republican party, the guy who they all fear to be out front. we need to put a RUSH tattoo on all gop reps and disasters, especially trump.

naming limbaugh but particularly talk radio is exactly what should have done again and again is what limbaugh and fox would like us not to do

When the Gulf Stream stops and Europe freezes will 88 universities stop supporting GW denial?

and to all the people who think its's a bygone technology, know that it's selling the end of net neutrality now.

Dems have buried their heads in sands all this while. I recall when it was the general opinion in DU and other liberal blogs shouting and clamoring for some rich liberal supporter(s) to help fund liberal media (radio and tv) to counteract the RW talking heads but to no avail. The Dem leadership blew off the calls and instead put forward the argument that recruiting and supporting blue-dog Dems was the answer. And that has been a disaster of one kind or another.

a result of it.

I looked at the comment section of a Yahoo story when Boehner quit, and it blew my mind to see Republicans celebrating because he was a "crying RINO" who cooperated with Obama too much.



Boehner?! Cooperated with Obama?! What kind of alternate universe do they live in?!

didn't follow the drumbeat of ultra-right-wing propaganda.

helping to take back the midwest governorships. Start wth Illinois, then Wisconsin, then Michigan. Campaign every year against the GOP mindset. They are not your friends. They are not America's friends.

and be willing to operate these entities at a loss (which is what the GOP did for the past 30 years, considering it a "donation" to their political causes) and run our own syndicated programming on them 24/7.

We can't keep saying on one hand - "Well no one listens to AM radio" and then on the other hand bemoan "Look at the digital divide in many rural areas!" I.e., because of that "digital divide", much of the "news" available to those areas ultimately comes out of those hundreds of low power AM stations that liberals dismiss(ed)... because that is all those folks have outside of maybe dial-up internet (AOL & Earthlink are still alive and kicking), satellite TV, and/or some barely receivable TV (with the right antenna).

I have watched over the past 15 years or so how many small stations around the tri-state (PA, NJ, DE) area were bought up, and the original car talk/gardening/real estate/DIY-type programming was dropped in favor of ilk like Savage Weiner, Beck, Hannity, Levin, and the like.

I had spent the previous 20+ years listening to a variety of programming including the early RW talk just to get the view from the other side... But when I had had enough, I could usually switch that off and go to other programming. I am now pretty much left to streaming the non-political type of talk because it is no longer available from any station around the area.

These stations don't make much money and tend to buy syndicated rw talk to fill the hours where no local programming exists.

Even if the ratings were low, the stations still got money from them.

It's also bad that companies, like iHeartMedia (formerly Clear Channel), are allowed to own own both the broadcasting stations AND the programming that's aired by them!

For example, Rush Limbugh is employed by Premiere Networks, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of iHeartMedia which owns the numerous radio stations that always broadcast him.

Edit: It's bad because, even if people complained to radio stations about programs by Limbaugh, Hannity and others, the stations won't act because they're all owned by the same people! It's not like the old days when a radio station might drop a program because it's not getting decent ratings or for other reasons.

Under Raygun, they pushed to deregulate and when that happened, "bundles" of low power (10,000 - 20,000 watts) independent stations (many that probably used to be sunset stations originally only broadcasting from 6 am - 6 pm or maybe to midnight) suddenly came on the market "for cheap". These stations were snapped up, the original hosts were fired, and the programming was replaced with the lineup that you basically see on SiriusXM's "Patriot" channel (at least the earlier version of their lineup that used to include Bill Bennett, Hugh Hewett, Michael Medved, Dennis Prager, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, etc). You could turn on any of those stations anywhere in the U.S., and there they were - all in unison. On the bigger stations, Limbaugh directed he be on from 12- 3 no matter what and sued any station that refused to air him at that slot. In fact, Premiere had a conniption fit when a station in Baltimore became the very first station in the 15 years that he had been on the air, that finally broke that "12-3 edict" (apparently after he checked into drug rehab).

The only liberal/progressive that I am aware of who availed herself of some station bundles was Cathy Hughes (who had formed Radio One and eventually TV One) for predominately black/urban-oriented programming). Although most of her stations are music oriented (she owns the right to the Tom Joyner show), her flagship station WOL had black talk, some of which was also syndicated on the few other black-talk stations around the country. And this is someone that basically comes from a demographic in this country that has "the least" in terms of economics... yet she persevered with it.

Imagine what we could do if we could tap some of those deep pockets to get some of that programming that pretty much now is relegated to pay satellite radio, and just pump it nationwide? I know Al Franken tried with Air America, but like anyone else, he had the programming but didn't own the stations to broadcast that programming on. Eventually the RW owners ceased running that type of programming altogether, and that pretty much killed Air America, forcing it to fold.

own the stations too!

He who owns the megaphone or the microphone, controls the story.

It's like "he who wins the war, writes the history".

There have been many on DU who have in the past pounded and continue even today, to pound on Obama for "not using the bully pulpit", etc. The problem is when he has done so, ask yourself who covered it (and who owned whatever outlet did or did not cover it)? And if they did cover it, who did they bring on afterwards to do what my mother used to call "the wrap-around" (i.e., the spin)? How many times have we complained about McCain and Graham on the Sunday TV political shows week after week after week - in most cases, shows that featured perhaps 4 or 5 tyrants from the right and maybe 2 weak folks from the left? And the minute a "strong" guest from the left comes on, they are not invited back or if they had their own show, they were fired or rescheduled to an obscure slot?

We don't own NBC, CBS, or ABC. Nor do we own Fox, MSNBC, or CNN (although "we" - Ted Turner) used to own CNN, and after he sold it, it literally went off the cliff.

The sad part is that no sooner than we saw Fox take a near death-blow with the loss of Ailes, we are literally watching NBC & CNN scramble to pick up the pieces of the Fox debris to add to their own lineups - all to further hawk the RW alternate universe.

K & R

I'm a radio listener too and I couldn't agree more. I remember the first time I listened to right wing bullshit.. I kept thinking, why is this guy allowed to lie, lie and lie? It was not in the least critical, it was 100% lies. Finding truth on the radio became more and more difficult.
I've found Sirius. I pay for it, but, in my opinion, worth it. No matter where I am in the country, I have a choice. Right now I'm listening to AM Joy on MSNBC and then it'll be Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and Prairie Home Companion.. and later, some sports talk. John Fuglesang is there, Stephanie Miller too. I used to listen to two Denver stations for Ed Shultz and others.. both are gone.

I wish the wealthy Hollywood liberals would pool their assets and tap into the minds of people who tune in to AM radio and be willing to operate at a loss to keep a message of truth and hope out there.

including when it merged with Sirius to become SiriusXM.

But back in 2007, I had been occasionally watching simulcasts that CSPAN did of early morning talk shows and that's how I found Joe Madison (having been a fan of his for a long time before then - he still appears regularly on MSNBC). He used to be on the graveyard shift on WWDB here in Philly back in the late '80s and was fired after 5 months on the air. He later landed on WRC in Virginia where I followed him whenever I traveled down to that area (his show was sandwiched between Oliver North and G. Gordon Liddy...ack). He eventually landed on XM (originally the station called "The Power" that was recently renamed to "Urban View&quot and he was my main reason for getting the subscription. Of course they also have the other Progressive stations (where I listened to Ed Schultz and Bill Press and Stephanie Miller, etc). I also listen to CSPAN radio along with MSNBC, CNN, BBC, various music channels, etc.

But the sad thing is that to get liberal/progressive programming, the listener has to pay for it whereas RW drivel is "free" to the listener.

I used to listen to WOR (NY/NJ) for decades, notably on weekends to hear Ralph Snodsmith who would have his 2 hour gardening show on Sunday mornings. But when WOR was finally sold and the programming re-jiggered to squeeze even more RW crap in (plus simulcast Meet the Press in the slot where the gardening show was), that is what left me to streaming - and even doing that, the shows are on those same small RW-owned AM stations where outside of some college sports, nothing but RW propaganda is spewed all around what little of the community-interest type programming remains.

they stop broadcasting sports on 257 limbaugh stations. those are some of the loudest in the country. and those numbers are incomplete - there are a lot more schools and stations doing that

if just a few unis started considering looking for apolitical alts it would send the gop into fits, they'd be screaming "free speech!" and media would notice.

then advertisers would flee. that could spread and a lot of stations would not only finally be noticed but might have to go back to music etc. and eventually if it shakes out to businesses that love trump there might be 20% of them that could survive without overt republican subsidy

here are the 88 unis, and they are excellent places to protest in solidarity with any anti trump protests

Don't get me wrong. I love President Obama. But I always was very disappointed in how conciliatory he always wanted to be to Republicans. He should have abandoned that stance a week into office instead of a week from leaving.

Decades of RW talk radio was worse than Breitbart & FOX & absolutely laid the groundwork for the fascist moment we are in.

I've been talking about it for years and got mostly ho-hum reactions.

Obama knows. And now everybody is starting to realize it, way too late.

And all talk. Seems like football and some local programming brings a lot of listeners to these hate radio sites.

Someone bankrolling it. Face it- the GOP gets many donations because those people all expect to profit big time. There's a lot less expectation of that on our side.

I think any president can dominate the news cycle every day if they choose. I understand the financial meltdown before Obama even was inaugurated might have kept him a little too busy at first, but after that there wasn't a really good reason not to be on the offensive every day touting his and Democratic achievements. Sometimes you have to have a mean streak and go for the juglar. That's just not Obama.

As an example, my governor, Tom Wolf, another quiet andnice guy, recently closed 3 state unemployment call centers because a stubborn GOP state senator shut down an agreement between the gov and the legislature that would have provided funding to resolve a tech modernization program issue. Did he shut down call centers in D districts? He did not, he closed 3 offices all located in GOP held districts. This little action even caused one GOP senator to tell the senator who caused the problem not to bother visiting his district to talk with the laid off state workers. I'd bet the state Rs now understand their actions have consequences to their constituents. There are ways to bring obstinate lawmakers around or to put the consequences on their actions on their constituents.

"Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we are discovering we work for Fox"

Video here
http://mediamatters.org/video/2010/03/23/frum-republicans-originally-thought-that-fox-wo/162116

Frum got fired from AEI for saying that.

We are very much in need of each other at this time. And, yes, we are a very divided nation.

I am sick of 30 years of repuglican hate speak. I'll never get over it.

It is no accident at all that FOX viewers know less about the
world than those who watch no news at all.

http://www.businessinsider.com/study-watching-fox-news-makes-you-less-informed-than-watching-no-news-at-all-2012-5

Much of what the Reich spews is "fake," and done with malice.

They totally knew that both Benghazi and the Emails were phony.

But they pushed them anyway.

I can remember feeling sick as time after time Republicans looked the other way as President Obama was shown terrible disrespect. That fellow who yelled out, "You lie." --he should've been publicly humiliated by McConnell and Boehner. Republican leadership stopped leading and started obstructing. And they will forever be in the dustbin of history. Their hatred for President Obama has led us to Trump. A foul-mouthed disgusting game show host managed to eke out a presidential win because Republicans decided to see what would happen instead of stopping him when they could.
I have NO INTENTION of respecting Trump. I am going to throw everything I saw thrown at Obama right back. I'm sorry Michelle, but this "We go high when they go low" isn't working for me right now. The pussy-grabber will NEVER be my president. Both he and Pence need to be carted away in handcuffs for colluding with the Russians. As far as Limbaugh and Alex Jones and all of them? We need to organize boycotts like never before. Disgraceful. They are nothing but hate mongers appealing to the very worst in the deplorables.

Instead of passing a new fairness doctrine, Nancy Pelosi decided to make nice with the Republicans. We all see where that has gotten us. I am of the opinion that if we had put our boot heel down on the throat of the Republicans starting in 2009, there would have been no Republican Party to oppose President Obama in 2012.

the entire time. McConnell, Chaffetz, Ryan and the whole disgusting, deplorable lot.

Minus Fox and right wing talk radio there would be no Trump. Oh and decades of the right whining about "liberal bias" in MSM has not helped either.

Right wing talk has warped people's minds. When I mention healthcare being cheaper in Canada someone always counters saying people wait forever to get an appointment. They are trained seals basically. Of course the truth is you may wait a bit for elective surgery, but not open heart surgery.

Again, Fox and right wing nut job radio functions here just like Goebbels in Nazi Germany.

Especially annoying is "Fox and Friends". And none of this would work if people did their own research.

The dumbing down of so many has brought us to the brink with a reality doofus in the WH who likely is a Russian asset. Other than that everything is swell.