Tim Cuprisin took a break from his American Idol summaries to write a story in the Journal Sentinel Saturday about how "vigilant" Milwaukee radio will be in the wake of the Imus firing. The article is a classic piece of tripe in which Cuprisin dutifully discusses these serious matters with program directors of the two wing-nut radio stations in town, and finds them both minding the store with the utmost concern for their vulnerable listeners. In fact, both could care less what crap they put on the air, as long as it furthers their political agenda.
Take WISN’s Jerry Bott – please. When he’s not arranging time-slots for slime-masters like Mark Belling, Jay Weber, Sean Hannity and Mark Levine, Bott has also sidelined as a substitute wing-nut himself. Bott, who proudly kept the race-baiting Belling on the air after he called Hispanics "wetbacks" a few years ago, is no doubt proud of the racist promotional spot that plays on his station repeatedly, promoting the ridiculous Weber’s morning show. The spot features an outrageous Chinese voice caricature, who announces that he is "Mao Tse-tung in Hell", come to sing the praises of Jim Doyle’s "tax increases". I tell you, it’s a stitch. Other spots declare the station "Your Conservative Home" and say it fights against "poverty pimps" and "Democrat traitors". Yes, sir – Bott is just the guy to talk seriously about civility on the radio.
I’m not sure Cuprisin quite understood what Bott was telling him. The Bott quote is such a mush of double-speak, you can almost hear the asides running around in his head: "Any time you go through an incident at your station [like that "wetback" thing, can you imagine those damn whining minorities? What a pain in the ass.], it certainly puts a sharper focus on the potential problems [or defines what we might be able to get away with] that broadcasting such material could put forth [unless you are ready with attack dogs that can provide cover]...And it makes you more vigilant [so that we can continue poisoning the political discourse without all these damn questions].
Likewise, TMJ PD Jon Schweitzer, who did nothing last week when Charlie Sykes called Al Sharpton a "pimp", except, maybe, give him another raise. "[A]nything you say is gone the moment you say it," said the obviously-brilliant Schweitzer, who presides over such local gone-sayers as Sykes and the atrocious Jessica McBride. Proving that anything goes on the formerly respectable TMJ, Schweitzer defends the placement of syndicated hatemonger Michael Savage on the late shift. "Anything we carry on our air is our responsibility...Obviously, we have less control." Well, whatever. You wouldn’t want to break your back trying to get some programing on the air that isn’t demeaning, racist, homophobic, war-mongering and otherwise inflammatory. I mean, that’s just asking too much, isn’t it?
The only thing that gets the radio wing-nuts even slightly off the hook for their deliberately divisive tactics is that someone else decides that they get to be on the air in the first place. Immediately after the Fairness Doctrine was eliminated by Reagan’s FCC in 1987, program directors around the country took advantage of the situation to poison the public airwaves with patronizing conservative talkers, seeking the angry-white-male demographic. That evolved into the current situation, where the now-established wing-nuts take GOP spin and talking-points and run them into the ground, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all over the country.
The effect of this development on the national discourse is to skew, divide and destroy the entire political atmosphere, like smog on a clear day. The program directors most responsible for the right-wing hijacking of the airwaves should not be held out as responsible "vigilant" radio executives. Well, they're "vigilant" alright, but it has nothing to do with decent radio and everything to do with creating support for Republican policies that, especially these days, would not otherwise exist.
3 comments:
Why project so much hatred on Bott? Your little side comments reflect your own warped sense of tolerance and the mighty regard you hold for yourself.
You claim that conservative policies would not exist without Sykes and Belling--give me a break. Why not try to contend with some of their ideas they have instead of looking for that gotcha moment? The reason conservative ideas exist is because they are sensible.
How often can you harp on the same tired lefty talking points yourself? Sure, Skyes and Belling are racists; Sykes and Belling are racists; Sykes and Belling are racists; Sykes and Belling are racists...Blah, Blah, Blah. That's your own straw man, distraction, emotional attack. You can't find a counter argument to Skyes or Belling so you--and your lefty buddies--have to destroy them. Notice that every idea they have you denounce as racist?
Look at what a disaster Air Lefty turned out to be. People want more than emotions and, unfortunately, since the left can muster little more than bumperstickers there's not much need for airtime.
You're ust as bad as you claim they are, defending Sharpton who called jews "diamind merchants"; who called peole moving into a neighborhood "white interlopers"; whose involvement in the Tawana Brawley rape lies constituted the basis for his race-pimp status.
You condenm them for such closed mindedness and hate--but what, if not hate, drives your irrational and short sighted criticisms? Imagine where you would be if Belling hadn't said "wetbacks"? At least half your ideas would be gone. Yet you would deliberately ignore and excuse anyone else (read any lefty) who made similar comments.
Why not go work on a post where you preserve the memory of Mao.
Go ahead. Call me a racist now. Isn't that how it works?
"Patrick":
Wow. What a great comment. "Why not go work on a post where you preserve the memory of Mao."? Far out! Is there such a place? Sign me up! Sure beats racist caricatures on two-bit, low-wattage radio stations.
Why go off on Bott? Why not? I used to catch his Belling impersonation when he tried to fill in years ago -- it was pathetic. But, as long as he followed the talking-points, he was OK, in his and your world.
My talking points? Pretty much whatever I think, which stands on its own, without repetition by anyone I know of. When EVERY wing-nut talks about Pelosi's head-scarf; when EVERY wingnut defends Biskupic by citing Peg Lautenschauger (Lautenschlauger!); when EVERY wingnut talks in the SAME way about the SAME things every day, what do you think that means? That they are all coincidentally arguing the same brilliant points in the same way? It's far more likely that they are being led around by the nose -- and happily so.
And, yeah, bring any one of them in for a debate. They can't handle it and they never offer. Brilliant points like Pelosi's scarf only get so far. Then I show a picture of Laura Bush in a scarf in the Middle East, and then where are we? They can only exist in their own echo chamber.
Yeah, all I have is emotions, right -- that's Limbaugh's favorite phony definition of the left. Forget about the ugly facts in Iraq. Forget about Georgia Thompson, her four months in jail and the 7th Circuit smackdown. It's the right that plays on emotion, mainly the Fear of 9/11 and the Racism of old Milwaukee. Was it the facts or Belling's manipulative imagination that bought on all the nonsense about Mayfair a month or so ago? It certainly wasn't the facts.
I can't help it if Sykes and Belling display their racist stripes from time to time. If Belling making fun of the Speaker of the House being taken hostage (as he did while I was on hold on Thursday) isn't outrageous enough for people, there is always more. If they don't like it that people are actually listening to call them on their racism and other outrages, that's their problem. Quit hiding behind my outrage and be proud about it. Come on, Sykes, proclaim how proud you are that you called Sharpton a pimp. Can't/won't do it? Wimp.
My favorite comment, though, is that conservative ideas are "sensible". Does it make sense to keep our troops as sitting ducks in Baghdad, based on a lie? Does it make sense to stop stem cell research when those thousands of embryos in fertility clinic Perti dishes are going to be discarded anyway? Does it make sense to put prosecutorial power in the hands of political hacks who will pursue an innocent civil servant just so people like you can have something to talk about during a political season? Does it make sense to pretend human-generated climate change isn't happening just so your radio listeners can feel better driving around in their SUVs? I can't think of one supposedly conservative value that makes any objective sense except for balancing the budget. And we know what happened to that.
Nice to get your attention, "Patrick". Stayed tuned -- there's lots more.
I listened to Sykes and McIlheran this morning on Sunday Insight (for a very brief time) discussing the Imus incident (damn, McIlheran looks weird with a beard and goatee).
Anyway, the Mr. Sensible Ideas twins could not find one thing to say about what the firing of Imus means for shock radio/TV. They could not even find it within themselves to speak about the national discussion that has begun regarding bigotry and hate speech that targets, among other characteristics, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and ethnicity.
No, they had to go off and wonder out loud why Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have not apologized for comments made in the past. And, they questioned, who nominated those two as arbiters of racial discussion.
Typical of wing-nuts. Change the subject and attack black people. That usually works for their audience.
And, why is it that Sykes, McBride and McIlheran seem so obsessed with everything black (Mayfair, Jackson, McGee, Obama, etc.). There's so much more they can offer "sensible" ideas about.
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