Feminism ruins women. —Rush Limbaugh
The radio industry makes its money from
advertising. What does it suggest, then, when a radio industry publication such as
Radio Ink runs an article entitled "
WHY RADIO IS NOT EMBRACED BY ADVERTISERS" ???
What does it suggest when, on the very same day, the new radio industry publication Tom Taylor's NOW quotes a radio industry executive, "it appears [the radio industry has] lost part of what always built station revenue in the past — building strong relationships with local businesses." ???
At the same time that Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman says "we're not making enough sales calls" and "radio isn't bringing enough fresh young talent into the business", he's laying off the sales force and firing talent, young and old.
Incompetence. Mismanagement. Near-sighted vision. The radio industry has all of it in spades.
Oh, and debt.
And the other big radio news story of the day is this:
RadioInfo Headline Story: AUSTRALIAN RADIO
PHONE PRANK TARNISHING IMAGE OF RADIO
Wow, it seems to be an ALL CAPS day.
RadioInfo publisher Michael Harrison is quoted, "This is just the kind of negative publicity that radio doesn’t need right now and we as an industry should not take it lightly."
Yes, sure, reputation is so very important. Did anyone happen to notice that children have lost their mother?
Family of Jacintha Saldanha
(New York Daily News photo, Getty Images)
The London nurse who apparently killed herself after getting tricked in a prank call reportedly left a suicide note, although its contents have not been made public.
Jacintha Saldanha was found dead Friday morning following a hoax by two Australian deejays who succesfully pried information about mom-to-be Kate Middleton's hospital stay. According to Britain’s The Sun tabloid, Saldanha, a 46-year-old mother of two, hanged herself in the nurses’ quarters.
—New York Daily News: Jacintha Saldanha, victim of Australian radio prank call about Kate Middleton, left suicide note for family, December 11, 2012
more Rush, more radio industry greed,
and more radio industry depravity, after the jump
"If you’re a DJ, and you’re in front of the microphone, this is a very powerful medium and you should be absolutely apprised of all your responsibilities and all the rights of the audience. And so to hear a couple of DJs who didn’t seem to understand what those were was, I must say, alarming."
—Wendy Harmer, who had previously hosted a morning show at 2DayFM, the Australian radio station responsible for a prank call that resulted in the suicide death of a London nurse |
Jacintha Saldanha left a
suicide note for her family
|
So now it is time for radio executives to
contemplate damage control.
To his credit, RadioInfo publisher Michael Harrison concludes, "I suspect this terrible tragedy is serving as a historic milestone or turning point in what media professionals consider to be responsible and tasteful conduct in their quest to stand out and be noticed. Perhaps it is time for some collective soul searching and just plain growing up."
Well, there's something I can agree with.
I'll readily acknowledge that talk radio mayhem resulting directly in a suicide trumps Rush Limbaugh's three day anti-Fluke tirade for global abhorrence and disdain.
But it is only the directness of this crime against our sensibilities that makes it so. Right wing propaganda in recent decades has resulted in plenty of violence against targets specifically or generally singled out by talk radio voices and other politicians and pundits. The difference is mere agency; did the hate mongers directly, or indirectly inspire the attacks, the murders, or the suicides that resulted from their particular examples of bigotry, misogyny, or homophobia?
There is, of course, the vital question of intent. The jocks in Australia didn't intend for anyone to get hurt. Yet their prank was reckless.
Do hate mongers intend violence? Perhaps not. Yet their rhetoric is frequently reckless.
The stunt in Australia/England (like so many other radio station stunts) does not equal hate spewed incessantly over a period of years or decades. There are some critical differences between a prank resulting in suicide, and a three day misogynist attack against a student. But when it comes to the executive authority that empowers them, they share some of the same characteristics — particularly placing profits before the public good. This reality is openly acknowledged in the radio industry:
HOW DO YOU LIMIT THE HOAX DAMAGE?
[excerpt] Managers want their talent to be creative but when they cross the line it can be difficult to deal with, not to mention take their focus off the main goal, which is to drive sales. The goal might be to create more interest in their show ot boost ratings, or unfortunately for the industry in general, to attack a radio competitor and steal its listeners.
—Radio Ink Magazine: HOW DO YOU LIMIT THE HOAX DAMAGE?, December 11, 2012
There is likely another similarity, and that is the feeling of helplessness of the victims. Our human interactions (whether prankish, or inspired by bigotry) have consequences, and all too often we fail to take these into account.
Yes, we have the right to freedom of speech; that is, the right to speak out on issues unencumbered by legislative inhibition: "Congress shall make no law..." But that vital expression of freedom is wisely balanced by the sensible stricture that no one may yell "fire" in a crowded theater if no such fire exists.
And no, the right wing does not have a monopoly on inciting, nor on committing violence. But (as the numbers of deaths clearly illustrate) violence inspired by hatred in our society has a very pronounced right wing tilt.
Incendiary rhetoric does contribute to a climate conducive
to politically motivated violence. —Tom Krattenmaker
Rush Limbaugh routinely asserts, insinuates, or implies that the theater is ablaze. He does so with practiced guile and innuendo. Could radio's image possibly be tarnished far beyond the shame of the silence that followed his scurrilous three days of misogynist vomit last February/March? He indulged in three full days of depravity, virtually without condemnation by almost an entire industry — an industry that should have known better.
This is the same radio industry that has for more than a decade supped at the trough of sadistic or indifferent iniquity. That cruel pranks, vilification, bigotry and depravity sell so well is not just a condemnation of the audience; such an audience wouldn't exist if radio industry executives conjured for themselves even a smidgen of decency and honor.
Now with the aid of social media and their own incompetence they're finally paying the price, and who is to pity them after they have lined their pockets and filled their vaults for so long, always at the expense of some other?
If we have a radio executive allegory in contemporary culture, it may be mindless two-faced Gollum, always grasping for the profits. Naught else matters. Precious!
Rush Limbaugh has lost absolute numbers of listeners since the election. This is perhaps not a surprise, as the election created interest. However, Limbaugh has also lost a few
listener share percentage points since the election (second chart). That suggests that a larger percentage of his listening audience has moved away from Limbaugh than have left other talkers since the election, and/or some of his listeners may have moved to his competitors.
StreamingRadioGuide.com does not measure total audience, it measures audience that uses relevant streamed services, so this information may be limited due to "sampling" size, or skewed by technological or other demographic factors. Or, it may be representative of a larger trend.
Rush Limbaugh's raw listener numbers from StreamingRadioGuide.com
Limbaugh's audience remained at a level comparable to previous totals during the week immediately following the election. This was true of raw numbers, and of percentage of audience share. But for Limbaugh the weeks of November 18, November 25, and December 2 represent the lowest three week period from all of 2012. (Totals for the final week aren't yet finalized.)
Rush Limbaugh's share of listeners from StreamingRadioGuide.com
The downward trend is not huge, but it is notable. If it lasts beyond the holiday season, it could be an early indication of a problem for Limbaugh's listener numbers in 2013, which is likely to represent a shakeout period for the radio industry.
Sean Hannity, who Talkers Magazine ranks just below Limbaugh in total audience estimate, has numbers at StreamingRadioGuide that are similarly down for the same three week period. (Perhaps conservative radio is suffering from streaming losses?)
Another progressive talk station lost? I'm not sure of the details; certainly the donation is for a worthy cause. But this appears to be the fifth progressive talk station lost just since the election. That makes it seem almost like a trend:
CLEAR CHANNEL is donating another AM station to the MINORITY MEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL, this time Talk WDTW-A/DETROIT. The 5,000-watt progressive talk station will be given to the MMTC under the MMTC-CLEAR CHANNEL Ownership Diversity Initiative.
All Access Music Group: Clear Channel Donates WDTW-A/Detroit To MMTC, December 11, 2012
Oh, in other Rush news,
next year the GOOD Rush will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Nice to end a diary on a positive note.
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