In the world of right wing talk radio hosts, San Diego's Rick Roberts has to keep ahead of the curve. His daily show on KFMB-AM Radio ranks behind competitor KOGO-AM (Chip Franklin) and his audience is pretty much limited to the teabagger fringes of the Republican rank and file. Need to know what topics will be covered on his show this week? Just surf over to any of the Fox News discussion boards and look for the most inflammatory material: that's what you'll be hearing on the show this week.
Basking in the glory of helping out his buddy Congressman Darrell Issa (and regular recipient of Big Pharma/Healthcare PAC $$) fill a couple of "Town Halls" this past week, Rick wants you to know about the next big thing on the horizon: a boycott of schools on September 8th.
John Cole wondered today what goes on in the heads of the Republican wealthy elite. It didn't seem possible to him that the people who control the purse strings could be so stupid or short-sighted as to truly believe the crap they spout to their base and to Fox News-watching public.
Well, once in a while a wealthy Republican lays it out in such a way that the depth of their greed and arrogance cannot be hidden. When the truth is laid open, it becomes clear that they are just as stupid and short-sighted as their rhetoric makes them out to be.
Every Friday at 11AM, I am a guest co-host (in my capacity as President of the Ventura County Young Democrats) on KVTA 1520 in Ventura, CA for half an hour along with Brian Leshon, Communications Director for the local Democratic Party. Our show is called Reality Check, and is sandwiched comfortably in between Fred Thompson and Sean Hannity, thus providing a flicker of light in a sea of AM talk radio darkness. We talk about various topics every week usually related to state and local issues, with particular emphasis on economy and taxes.
Toward the end of the discussion, an articulate, seemingly intelligent woman called in to defend six-figure income earners, and in the process demonstrated the depth of the arrogance and selfishness that are at the heart of the wealthy Republican ethos.
CALLER: "One of the gentlemen said that if you made six figures, you can help out a little more. If I were making six figures in Dubuque, I could pretty much agree with him. But oh my gosh, if people with combined incomes between their husband and wife, etc., are making six figures in Ventura County, they're just comfortably affording a very modest home."
ME: "You know what, let me apologize, let apologize because I was being very shorthanded. You are absolutely correct. Though I would point out that the taxes aren't on combined income, they're individual, so we're still talking individual here, but you're absolutely correct."
CALLER: "You throw a couple of your kids in there too and it's like, wait a second, a family of four needs to be making $150K just to live comfortably."
ME: "I agree 100%. And the only tax increases that we're talking about say on the national level were people making $250,000 alone--not combined--alone, $250,000 or more. But that said, you know, it's really difficult to say that in Ventura county you need to be making combined income of $150,000 or more just to live comfortably with two kids."
CALLER: "I mean, if you're buying a home."
ME: "Absolutely if you want to buy a home, and that's a problem, isn't it? Because then you're talking about property values and all those things, but you've got to realize that the vast, vast majority of the people, even in California, are not making anything --anything--close to that kind of money. You know, I'm not."
CALLER: "Well, maybe they shouldn't live here then!" I mean, if you can't afford a home here and stuff, maybe you should live where it's cheaper.""
This is the Republican mentality in a nutshell: the only people that matter are the people in the Ownership Society. If you're not part of that elite Ownership Society club, you not only don't belong influencing public policy, you don't really deserve to be breathing the same air. If you happen to occupy the same space as a wealthy Republican elite, you had best stay out of the way and not complain about the lot granted to you. You serve at the pleasure of the elite. And if that means additional public employee furloughs and teacher layoffs in order to protect their precious marginal rate, then so be it.
It is worth noting that in 2007, prior to the economic crisis, the median household income in Ventura County was just over $72,000. Our official unemployment rate now stands at 9.5%. Yet people like our educated and prosperous caller have absolutely no shame saying this sort of thing on the air.
Or, as one wealthy Republican put it at a national business conference I attended a few years ago in Washington, D.C.:
The goal needs to be to put everyone's savings into stocks. If everyone owns Halliburton, then we wouldn't have all these problems. People would say, "hey, I own that: it's mine!" and they wouldn't cause so much trouble over it.
It would be a pleasant fiction to believe that the other side of our two-party system were not quite so venal, quite so short-sighted, and quite so extreme in their views of the ideal society. But it's simply not the case.
The people who hold the purse strings and dictate the policies of the Republican Party cannot be compromised with, because their vision of society does not and will not include anything but the most meager scraps for 95% of the population. These are people who see Gordon Gekko as a hero and role model. It's no use looking behind the curtain to determine what reality they really believe in. Their worldview really is as scary as it looks.
I've got a big announcement! A year and a half after San Diego lost its only liberal talk radio station, it's getting a shiny NEW liberal talk radio station on 1700 FM. Why is this such big news? Well, because it's not Air America or one of the usual Clear Channel affiliates. We are no longer depending on conservative companies to bring radio shows from liberal talkers to liberal listeners. We go on the air TOMORROW at 3pm with the Jon Elliott show.
But there's more that you should know. This new radio station - which will be an important part of the 2010 election for governor, the CA-50 race, and whatever ballot initiatives we're voting on - WILL NOT EXIST WITHOUT YOUR SUPPORT. The original plan was to get the station off the ground with advertising. It was totally going to work... and then Bush went and broke the economy. So we're going with a hybrid model. As much advertising as we can get + $10/month from anyone willing to be a member. Members get podcasts and other benefits (invites to events & more). Sign up at http://www.jontalk.com
Last, this new station is not just San Diego news. We intend to use this model to start up liberal talk stations all over the country. But first we need to get this first station off the ground. It's a solid business plan, and I'm thrilled that my liberal radio will not be vulnerable to the whims of Clear Channel. Please consider becoming a member to support us.
I will be guest hosting the first hour of the KRXA 540 AM morning show here in Monterey this morning at 8. KRXA is our locally-owned progressive talk station, which usually runs syndicated programming like Stephanie Miller and Thom Hartmann but has a local show in the morning, as well as local programming at night and on weekends. You can listen live via the website and I'll be on from 8-9. They don't currently post archived shows.
I'm going to have John Laird on as my guest the first 1/2 hour to discuss the budget. I have a list of questions but if you all want me to ask anything specific, let me know.
The second 1/2 hour will be a bit more free-flowing, with discussion of state and local political issues. I have a feeling total recall will come up. Maybe Palin's fundraiser, maybe Abramoff Republicans.
This should be fun. Especially if I don't push the wrong buttons. Feel free to critique my performance in the comments.
Title stolen from Media Matters. They listen to right-wing talk radio to keep an eye on what they are saying thank goodness. Today in the wake of the announcement that Sen. Teddy Kennedy has a brain tumor Michael Savage decided to play the Dead Kennedys "in some respect for" the Senator. Here is the Media Matter's summary. You can listen to it on their site and read the full transcript. digg it
On the day it was announced that Sen. Ted Kennedy had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage opened his show by interspersing audio of Kennedy singing "Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes" with clips of news reporters discussing Kennedy's diagnosis and audio from Kindergarten Cop in which Arnold Schwarzenegger's character says, "It's not a tumor." Later, Savage played the Dead Kennedys song "California Über Alles" after stating: "The poor guy's been suffering for years, you know? Unfairly he's been accused of alcoholism, but we see now that it was something much more deep-seated. And so, to cut this out in some respect for Ted Kennedy, here's a tune coming at you from the Dead Kennedys. Go ahead and play it, please."
This is absolutely despicable. Senator Kennedy is revered on both sides of the aisle as a "senator's senator" and is at least partially responsible for just about every major piece of positive legislation in the past 40 years. He will go into the history books as one of the greatest and most influencial Senators in United States history. While Savage may not like his politics, Sen. Kennedy is owed respect, especially this day of all days.
That wasn't all Savage had to say.
At one point in the program, he told a caller, "You know I'm playing the Dead Kennedys not to mock Ted Kennedy. It's just appropriate, that's all."
You know what is appropriate...for Savage's advertisers and the stations that cary him to hear from you. Savage is SF based and aired all over the state. According to this site, these stations carry Savage's radio show.
KNEW Oakland
KFMB San Diego
KERN Bakersfield
KSTE Rancho Cordova
KIXW Apple Valley
KTIE San Bernardino
KFMB San Diego
KFMB San Diego
If anyone listens in during his show tomorrow, please make a note of his advertisers and let us know. I have to assume that this is going to be a blogosphere wide project in the coming days.
[crossposted at Daily Kos; please visit that diary as well to increase visibility of this event]
For those of you who haven't been tuned in, Clear Channel is threatening to add San Diego's KLSD (K + Liberal San Diego) to the long list of radio stations to lose progressive talk. The company's modus operandi seems to be:
(1) Buy up as many stations as the FCC will allow one company to own (which is a lot).
(2) Stick progressive talk on the weakest signal in town and...
(3) Hope no one notices.
(4) If, despite a dearth of promotion or local staff, ratings soar and a loyal audience gathers, then flip the station to another format and...
(5) Hope no one notices.
A concerted effort thwarted this plan in Madison, however, and will hopefully throw sand in the gears in San Diego as well. A big crowd turned out for an August 27 rally, and the hope is to get even more people to show up at a rally this Friday morning (link to more details near end of diary).
Before the August rally, I interviewed Jon Elliott, one of KLSD's hosts, who has joined the struggle to save progressive talk. In honor of Friday's rally, I've interviewed another Jon involved in the battle, fellow Kos community member Jon Monday.
On Saturday I blogged here and on Daily Kos about how we need to save KLSD, the lone progressive talk radio station in San Diego, which may be flipped to sports unless enough listeners make themselves known. I mentioned the rally that will be taking place this morning (Monday) at 7:30 a.m. Pacific time outside the Clear Channel office (9660 Granite Ridge Drive). See details on the SaveKLSD.com website.
I live near Boston myself, but every progressive talk radio station is crucial. In the words of noted radio expert Ben Franklin, we who are trying to defend progressive talk "must, indeed, hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."
Yesterday I spoke with Jon Elliott, a talk show host on the station, and followed up with Kate Reifers, his director of research. His show is syndicated across the country, but his residence and his heart are in San Diego. Below the fold I'll tell you about my conversation with Jon.
[cross-posted at Daily Kos -- any suggestions for other CA/San Diego blogs would be welcome]
I've been posting on progressive talk radio a fair amount this year, focusing on the efforts of our Boston group to buy a station as a solid home for progressive talk. Relying on the kindness of Clear Channel and similar media behemoths, as we have discovered, doesn't work.
While we're making good progress (hey, we're progressives, after all), many stations across the country are still dependent on the whims of these media giants.
Now San Diego's KLSD (yup, that's the real name) is in trouble. This is a call to action, not an extensive analysis, so much of the content comes from the SaveKLSD.com website. If I have a chance, I'll update it later. Thanks to NonStopRadio.com and Daily Kos member rougegorge for alerting me.
KQED, San Francisco's powerhouse public broadcaster, has a number of quality programs produced for the TV side and the Radio Side. That being said, I think few can touch the greatness that is Forum. It's a two-hour show every weekday, split into two single hour shows. They're always one of the best resources for California and local Bay Area politics, news, and culture. And they occasionally have some really interesting stories totally unrelated to anything local at all, like this 60th Anniversary Special for India or this program on Zimbabwe.
But, more relevant to this website is their terrific, in-depth coverage of California politics. They usually get good guests to discuss really interesting topics. This week they've discussed the budget and today, the Dirty Tricks Initiative. You can subscribe as a podcast or listen to individual episodes at their archive.
Well, you can still listen to the show! Yesterday's show is now in the online archives. Go ahead and listen now, or download the podcast and play it in whatever you use to play mp3 files later.
So would you like a little sneak peek as to what we talked about on the air yesterday? And would you like to know who will be coming on to Ken Burke's radio show soon? Well then, follow me after the flip for more...
Hey, have you heard the big news? We have a new progressive radio show in Southern California! The Liberal OC reported yesterday that longtime Orange County Democratic activist Ken Burke now has his own radio show on Sundays at a local radio station in the Inland Empire.
Now today, I have some more good news for all of you. One of our very own local bloggers at Calitics and Trash Dirty Gary will be among the guests on the very first "Red, White, and Burke" show. Yes, I will be on the radio to talk about Orange County/Inland Empire Congressman Gary Miller (R-Culture of Corruption), his many scandals, and why we need new representation in the 42nd Congressional District.
But wait, that's not all! I hear that there will be another special guest on Ken's radio show at noon on Sunday. I've heard that someone who'd like to challenge Gary Miller next year will also be on the air on Sunday. This might be a chance for all of us to learn more about just how serious of a challenge Dirty Gary might get next year. I know I'm looking forward to it!
But wait, there's more! Follow me after the flip to find out how YOU can participate in this very special radio show on Sunday...
