Given that my beloved alma mater has signed a deal with ESPN to create the Longhorn Network to televise any and all things University of Texas athletics, I actually anticipated not being able to watch the first football game this year as I was sure my cable company, Time Warner, would not pick up the new network without protracted negotiation. Time Warner after all does not carry the NFL network. So this Saturday I sat with my computer at my kitchen table with something us old folks call AM radio trying in vain to find an online video feed while I listened to the Longhorns on WOAI AM 1200 here in San Antonio. Again, I had anticipated this turn of events ever since I found out that the Rice game would be televised only on the Longhorn Network. Usually, throughout the season because of work and family, I end up listening to the radio broadcast two or three times a year. I like the announcer Craig Way and am used to listening to my sports on radio. The only problem, of course, is that AM radio is the home to right wing paranoia, propaganda, and hate. WOAI, which is known as the south Texas blowtorch since its signal can be picked up all throughout south Texas, northern Mexico, and at night neighboring states, has been the longtime home of my Longhorns. If I want to hear the game and cannot get to a television broadcast, my choice is WOAI. And, of course, WOAI is right wing central, featuring Beck, Rush, Hannity, and the local guy Joe Pags who fills in for Beck at times when GB goes on vacation. So, I face a dilemna of course...
I tried to do something about it before the season started. I emailed the UT athletic department and asked what the policy was for choosing a radio outlet for the games and whether alumni input was ever taken into consideration. A few days later I actually got a response from the company that is contracted with to run UT broadcasts. They asked for more clarification regarding my question. I emailed a response mainly complaining about Beck and his comments regarding the children killed in Norway (you know, comparing them to Hitler youth because they were at a political camp) and stating that I did not want my university connected to such rhetoric. I did not get a response back.
So I wrote a letter to Coach Mack Brown. I did not figure on getting a response from the coach as I have no money to give to the athletic department, and realistically he has a lot more to worry about than what radio station his games are broadcast on. But, I thought maybe a staffer in the athletic department might get it and I may get a response from someone. Well, I did. I got a phone call from the company that runs UT broadcasts. I forget the name of the company, but I received a call from a very polite staffer who explained to me the following.
First, UT hires a contractor to make decisions regarding what stations the games are broadcast on. The only stations that pay UT for these rights are local Austin stations. In towns outside the Austin area, like Dallas, Houston, and my own San Antonio, the University pays stations to run its games. So, in order to get the most coverage, they try to get conntracts with the most powerful stations. WOAI has long been the most powerful and is co-owned by uber UT booster, Red McCombs. Of course, UT cannot control what WOAI puts on its air and the staffer told me she was in fact a blue dog Democrat and hated Beck. I thanked her for calling and talking with me, but told her I did not think the University should be in anyway associated with the hate spewed by WOAI every day. She assured me the University was not and we agreed to disagree about that issue and ended the conversation amicably.
But then, this last Saturday as I sat there listening to my Horns play Rice with a couple of glasses of rum and Coke in my system I heard during a commercial break several promos for WOAI programming. And there was that voice, the voice that has haunted me for about 30 years now: Rush Limbaugh's voice during my university's game barking out his propaganda and I got a shot of adrenaline. So, I fired off an email to the WOAI program director asking that such promos not come on Longhorn broadcasts. Stupid, I know. And save me the comments about WOAI having the right to run whatever they want and I should not be so sensitive, etc. I know they do.
But, I have the right to tell UT and WOAI that this sucks. Any of you Longhorn alums (if you exist on this site) feel the same way? Hell, if you're not an alum of UT and your team's radio broadcasts are featured on right wing stations, do you feel the same way? Anyone interested in making a little more noise that we do not want our universities associated with the lies and hate coming out of Beck, Rushbo and his pals? And, I know a bunch of you will give me listening and viewing alternatives on the web and cable, and that is appreciated, but that is not what this post is about. This is about confrontation and making people rethink their associations with these zealots and making them a bit more uncomfortable. Just a thought. Hook 'em.