This isn't an original diary on my part but a post of an e-mail I just received from THE PEN highlighting the recent shake-up in KTLK's progressive line-up. How a radio host that calls us left wing wacko's ends up on a supposed progressive radio station is beyond me. But clearly this is a situation that we can and should help Los Angeles get the progressive station they deserve. It clearly appears that the popular Harrison was dropped for a real piece of work called Mr. K.
I'm at odds about going after the advertisers here. I don't see the effectiveness.
More simply, I think Air America and Jones radio network should find a new station to license with in LA. Clearly the management at KTLK doesn't want to hear, see or allow progressive talk in Los Angeles.
So here below is the body of the text from the Pen, going after Clear Channel's advertisers is a sound tactic. But, as I said above, the listeners should demand a new station with a mangement that isn't so obviously hostile to progressive talk. As you'll read below, it looks like the local LA listeners are doing great work to get this Mr. K buffoon off the air. Please take the time to get involved and help Los Angeles get the progressive radio station they deserve!!!!
From the Pen:
"HELP CALL A COUPLE OF CLEAR CHANNEL'S NATIONAL SPONSORS TO COMPLAIN ABOUT HOW PROGRESSIVE RADIO IN LOS ANGELES IS GETTING STABBED IN THE BACK BY IMPOSTER TALKERS
Orrick Vacuums: 1-800-989-4200
Total Transformation (Legacy Parenting): 1-800-460-2235 (customer service number)
Estate Finance (inheritance funding): 1-866-559-3863
Countrywide Loans: 1-800-799-5540 (customer satisfaction dept)
EXAMPLE AUDIO CLIPS: http://38.118.217.133/...
When you make your toll free calls be PAINSTAKINGLY polite, we are not mad at the sponsors . . . yet. And the key points to make (succinctly) are
1) Be sure to give them the call letters of the station, KTLK in Los Angeles, and identify the show with the good guy, Harrison On The Edge, and tell them that the replacement Mr. K has got to go. Because they are national sponsors they need to know exactly what station and show you are calling about.2) You are calling to ask them to pass on your complaint to the station about the firing of Harrison without cause or notice, and you don't have a problem with THEM, the advertisers, but are asking them to let station management know that they are hearing from upset supporters of the Harrison show.
All over the country they are trying to scuttle strong progressive radio stations, like in Madison, WI (where we the people beat them back), and in Boston where they got away with it. And now they have a new politically hostile strategy, to squeeze out our strongest and most courageous voices and REPLACE them with weaker substitutes.
In Los Angeles KTLK, the local Air America Radio affiliate, just this week terminated in the coldest possible way the top rated "Harrison on The Edge" show, led by one of the most dynamic progressive activists in the country. Harrison has been inspiring and leading people to send thousands and thousands of constituent messages to Congress, and was personally responsible for organizing a massive peace parade in Los Angeles this last October.
The net result is that they have given the prime 3-7PM afternoon drive time slot to a self-avowed "law and order" centrist/libertarian who now calls himself "Mr. K", while they push Harrison completely out into the street. The outrage in Los Angeles is building rapidly.
Over a thousand L.A. listeners have already emailed the station management with protests, and today their sponsors started getting phone calls, and we are told it's already having a big effect!
To understand and hear for yourself what incredible bad news the new interloper is, here are just two sound clips from this first full show in the new time slot. Click on the play buttons on the left to play or repeat.
AUDIO CLIPS LINK: http://38.118.217.133/...
In the first audio clip, Mr. K gets challenged on his support for the Iraq authorization to use military force, and makes up a total fairy tale about how all the Democratic senators supported it too. Notice how when the caller does not have the presence of mind to call him on this despicable lie that Mr. K goes for the throat to try to make the caller look ridiculous. Kennedy in particular has said recently his vote AGAINST the AUMF was one of his best.
In the second audio clip, Mr. K reassures a right wing caller (who already knows him well) that he won't be one of those left wing nuts like the personalities already on Air America Radio, and confesses that he was brought in as a replacement precisely based on his politics. He accommodated multiple other calls to make fun of those "left wing wackos", which is to say US.
Now that you've heard for yourself what they are doing to try to sabotage progressive radio, we are asking you to help call a couple of the national sponsors of KTLK above to add to the pressure to chase out the shuck and jive imposter, and bring back the real progressives. Also canned in the same putsch were David Bender and the Young Turks, and guess who else they are bringing in instead . . . Alan Colmes, who said on the air today he thinks the Fox News department is perfectly fair.
We are not saying that Mr. K does not have a right be on the air somewhere else to peddle his lies. What we object to is having them try to palm him off as a progressive on OUR radio station, with so few precious outlets out there where we can actually broadcast the truth. They are trying to poison the format, and then if they bring down the whole station they can gloat that there never was an audience for progressive talk anyway.
We're not going for it. They're not going to turn OUR progressive radio stations into the new home of inane babble at best, or worse yet, politically hostile ridicule. And your voices can stop this subterfuge in its tracks.
Thank you for speaking out. It's making a real difference right now!
Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.
If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at http://www.usalone.com/...
Or if you want to cease receiving our messages, just use the function at http://www.usalone.com/...
Powered by The People's Email Network
Copyright 2006, Patent pending, All rights reserved
Again, I give all the credit for the body of this text to the People's email network.