Up until a couple of years ago, I used to listen to more rightwing radio bloviating blowhards than I do now, for reasons ranging from simply keeping tabs on what the other side was talking about, to giving myself a reason to be righteously pissed off (I actually like being angry for a good reason). I called in relatively often when I felt strongly about a particular issue and, arguing from a position of principle and fact, was able to regularly stump and fluster the hosts, since their positions so often relied on emotion and prejudice.
I've found, though, that they have been getting worse and worse over time. Especially since the emergence of Obama on the national scene, their attacks have grown more and more blatantly racist and xenophobic, and I'm just getting too old to subject myself to their semi-coherent bullshit much any longer.
Last week, though, I chanced upon a some blatantly false anti-Obama bullshit on Houston's Clear Channel-owned 950 am KPRC. This was broadcast by Walton & Johnson, a noted pair of syndicated know-nothing jackasses who purport to "tell it straight" to an audience that, if the callers are any indication, knows less than they do.
I tried to call in to refute this poisonous duplicity, but was never able to make it on the air, despite holding for half an hour.
Here's my letter to Clear Channel Radio's Sanda Coyle regarding the incident.
Dear Ms. Coyle,
I was passing by your station 950 am KPRC this morning and I heard your morning show Walton and Johnson spewing a pack of absolutely disgusting and borderline racist lies about presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama. These lies included:
- Comments about his "Black Muslim tendencies" (Obama is not a Muslim and never was, but even if he had been, so what?),
- False comments stating that he had not been born in the United States and was thus not a US citizen and not eligible to become president,
- False comments stating that his birth certificate showed a different name than it actually does,
- False comments stating that his birth certificate had been examined by "forensic experts who pronounced it a forgery",
- Comments to the effect that all this was being covered up by the "vast left-wing conspiracy of the media",
- And other assorted nonsensical bile and conspiracy-theory tripe.
I wish I could say that I was amazed by the impenetrable stupidity on display and appalled that your corporation would willingly subject your listeners to this provably false and hostile idiocy, but sadly I'm not. It's pathetic and offensive that a station with such a long and storied history as KPRC would sully the public airwaves in such a shameful manner. I emphasize that the airwaves belong to the public and they should serve the public good. Lying to and inflaming an ignorant and xenophobic section of the populace is NOT serving the public interest.
Differences of opinion are fine to air; hearing different sides of any issue is invaluable to making an informed decision. But broadcasting such vicious slander strays far beyond the bounds of good taste and good business, and ventures into a whole different, completely unAmerican territory. Use wikipedia to look up Father Charles Coughlin for an example what territory this strays into.
I used to listen to 950 on a daily basis -- back when they featured Pat Gray, Chris Baker, and Jon Matthews -- but the format change drove me away. Whenever I switch back to listen in now, I am assaulted by the mean-spirited mess of alternate reality blather that seems to pass for programming on KPRC these days.
Rest assured that I will listen to 950 during the Walton and Johnson show one final time, specifically to take down the names of all the advertisers, whom I will contact regarding this trash and express my disappointment that they would have their good names associated with such malicious and brainless swill.
Sincerely,
[Me]
Spring, Texas