Suddenly yesterday, after the 9-12am airing of the Stephanie Miller Show (guest hoster by Elaine Boosler), Boston's progressive radio station switched to a Latin music format. 1200 (and 1430) AM Boston is now calling itself, "Rumba 1200 Orgullo Latino."
As of this morning their commercials were still the same familiar ones they'd been airing under the old format. It was a sudden switch, apparently without any notice given.
1200 and 1430 AM are Clear Channel-owned stations.
I was never an advocate of the "Fairness Doctrine", but I might be coming around. You see, Clear Channel never gave progressive talk radio much of a chance.
I live about 20 miles south of Boston yet I was never able to get a really clear reception. In the evenings it was impossible to get a signal at all. Even when in Boston the reception was often terrible.
My guess is that Clear Channel never really wanted the station to work. They are a famous for supporting Republican causes so it was a great surprise to me when they started airing Air America and other progressive programming a couple of years ago. But I grew suspicious when they never increased their signal strength, as they had claimed they were going to do on self-promoting spots.
Now Clear Channel can claim that it tried progressive talk radio and that it just didn't work. But ratings are inevitably going to be poor when listeners can't even get a good signal a few miles from the station.
Boston still has its share of rightwing talkers. You can listen to the filth of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, Michael Graham, Jay Severin, Mike Gallagher, Laura Ingraham, and many more on various local stations, but there are few if any liberals or even "moderates" on the air.
I can only imagine what freepers and other assorted GOPers would be saying if the one conservative station in a market were to switch to [gasp!] a Spanish-language format. I've listened to a little and it's not half bad, but it's not my thing, and I'm sure going to miss Al Franken's show.
If anyone has strong opinions, one way or another, and would like to educate me on the fairness doctrine, please feel free to do so.