Making talk radio

By
Bill Press,                                                                          Read Spanish Version

The
sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Well,
you’d think it was, if you’ve been listening to right-wing talk radio
lately. Conservative talk show hosts are positively apoplectic over
calls by two Democratic senators to bring back the Fairness Doctrine.

First
up, Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow. While not calling for restoration
of the Fairness Doctrine as such, Stabenow did assert, on my radio
show: "We’re going to have to have some accountability,
something that requires that in a market with owners that have
multiple stations that they’ve got to have balance. . . . There has
to be some community interest balance standard that says both sides
have to be heard."

A
few days later, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin went even further. Referring to
a column I’d published in The Washington Post lamenting the shutting
down of Washington’s only progressive talk radio station, Harkin
volunteered: "I ripped it out, I took it into my office and said
‘There you go, we’ve got to get the Fairness Doctrine back in law
again.’"

He
might as well have lobbed a nuclear bomb into conservative talk land.
In typical hyperventilating fashion, Sean Hannity warned Sen.
Stabenow: "But if you think you’re going to grab this microphone
away from me and the American people, you’d better be prepared,
because we’re going down to the last breath. And you’re going to have
to come into my radio studio and rip this microphone out of my mouth.
How do you like that, Senator?"

Hey,
slow down, Senor Hannity. Nobody’s talking about ripping the
microphone out of anybody’s mouth. The Fairness Doctrine, cancelled
by Ronald Reagan’s FCC in 1987, simply required that owners of radio
stations devote some time to discussion of controversial issues and
do so in a manner that is "fair and balanced."

That
is clearly not the case today, in the absence of the Fairness
Doctrine. Talk radio is owned, controlled, locked up by the right
wing — with little or no opportunity for liberal voices. According
to a study released by two think tanks, the Center for American
Progress and Free Press, there are nine hours of conservative talk
for every one hour of progressive talk.

Why?
Station owners complain they can’t get good ratings or make any money
with progressive talk, but that’s nonsense. In Minneapolis-St. Paul,
independent owner Janet Robert has operated KTNF (950 AM) profitably
for five years. In Madison, Wis., WXXM (99.1 FM), just scored its
highest ratings ever. And KPOJ (620 AM) in Portland, Ore., soared
with progressive talk from No. 23 in market ratings to No. 1. Owners
of Chicago’s WCPT (820 AM) experienced so much success with
progressive talk, they converted three FM stations they owned to
progressive talk.

Nationwide,
progressive talkers Randi Rhodes, Ed Schultz, Thom Hartmann and
Stephanie Miller have proven that, given a level playing field, they
can more than hold their own in ratings — and make money for their
stations. The once-widely-held theory that liberals can’t do talk
radio has been totally discredited.

In
fact, the only reason there’s not more competition on American
airwaves is that the handful of companies that own most radio
stations do everything they can to block it. In many markets —
witness Philadelphia, Boston, Providence, Atlanta, Houston — they
collaborate in providing not one outlet for progressive talk. Now the
blackout extends even to Washington, D.C., where Democrats outnumber
Republicans 10 to one.

And
that must change. Not necessarily by bringing back the Fairness
Doctrine, but by requiring owners of broadcast licenses to serve the
general public. We need government oversight by the FCC of radio
station owners, just like we needed government oversight by the SEC
over Wall Street banks. Today, we have neither.

Forget
all the right-wing hysteria about liberals trying to "hush
Rush." What the whole flap over the Fairness Doctrine boils down
to is this: Companies are given a license to operate public airwaves
— free! — in order to make a profit, yes, but also, according to
the terms of their FCC license, "to operate in the public
interest and to afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of
conflicting views of issues of public importance." Stations are
not operating in the public interest when they offer only
conservative talk.

Make
room for progressive voices on the radio. That’s what the American
people want. How do you like that, Mr. Hannity?

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "Train
Wreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too
Soon)." You
can hear "The Bill Press Show" at his Web site:
billpressshow.com. His email address is: bill@billpress.com.
(c)
2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.