Environmental groups have to do something different.
I remember some years ago a 350.org climate protest at the state capitol. 500 protestors had a good time but the only media it got the next day was ridicule from the state’s loudest radio station.
That station reaches tens of thousands every day. For more than 2 decades all of its talk show hosts have denied global warming. The Republican think tanks send them professional global warming deniers for friendly visits.
It also broadcasts basketball and football games for the state’s largest public university.
Protests at state capitols and other locations are often ignored by media and politicians but Republican radio stations can yell about it for weeks after protestors have gone home.
Republican radio attacks and mischaracterizes protestors, their tactics, and their objectives. They encourage local officials and police to break protests up and excuse violence directed at protestors. They repeat fabricated stories of protestor violence, looting, etc.
The 88 universities listed below broadcast sports on 257 of 600 Rush Limbaugh radio stations.
The stations use the school logos, mascots, and community standing to attract advertisers to pay for partisan messaging on public airwaves. Any university supporting Republican/Trump talk radio is helping to defund itself and is undermining the interests of its students, faculty, employees, and surrounding communities.
All Republican talk radio stations deny global warming, oppose environmental regulation, and support fossil fuel solutions over renewables. They attack climate scientists and provide platforms for global warming deniers. Massive forest fires are blamed on environmentalists who stop timber companies from doing what they want.
Those 88 universities are legitimate places to protest for climate change action until they begin looking for apolitical alternatives that are more consistent with principles and goals stated in their mission statements, which usually stress science, education, fairness, diversity, respect, integrity, justice, responsibility, and truth.
Urging these universities to broadcast their sports on apolitical alternatives will represent a direct challenge to the Republican Party. They will resist and media will notice. Community discussions of the issue will encourage advertisers to rethink their support.
If a few schools decided to do the right thing others may follow.
Most stations average 75 hours/week of partisan Republican talk (15 hrs/day x 5 days). If the GOP paid $1000/hour for that radio infomercial/advertising time each station is worth $75,000/week. 1200 Republican radio stations across the country are worth $18MIL/day or $5BIL/year FREE to broadcast Republican messaging.
That messaging is worth $Trillions in global warming denial, war, deregulation, tax breaks, swiftboating of Democrats, and passing extremist supreme court judges.
257 stations would be worth $19MIL/week, or more than $1BIL/year, and all that is being endorsed by the universities below.
Here is the list of universities with Limbaugh stations for each school and totals for each state. The list is incomplete. It does not include stations that do not headline Limbaugh. For instance, the University of Wisconsin broadcasts on 5 Limbaugh stations but also on 2 stations that headline Sean Hannity. Some universities may have made changes recently.
From www.republicanradio.org:
ALABAMA 8 Auburn 3, Alabama 2, Southern Alabama 2, Troy 1
ARIZONA 2 Arizona St. 1, Arizona 1
ARKANSAS 3 Arkansas 3
CALIFORNIA 5 San Jose State 2, USC 2, Fresno St. 1
COLORADO 4 Air Force 2, Colorado 1, Colorado State 1
CONNECTICUT 1 Connecticut 1
FLORIDA 20 Florida 10, Florida St. 4 Miami 2, South Florida 2, Central Florida 2
GEORGIA 14 Georgia 7, Georgia Tech 5, Georgia Southern 2
IDAHO 7 Boise St. 4, Idaho 3
ILLINOIS 7 Illinois 7
INDIANA 11 Notre Dame 6, Purdue 4, Indiana 1
IOWA 5 Iowa 4, Iowa St. 1
KANSAS 4 Kansas St. 2, Kansas 1, Wichita St. 1
KENTUCKY 3 Louisville 2, Kentucky 1
LOUSIANA 3 LSU 2, La.-Monroe 1
MARYLAND 2 Maryland 2
MASSACHUSETTS 1 Boston College 1
MICHIGAN 19 Michigan St. 11, Michigan 7, Western Michigan 1
MINNESOTA 4 Minnesota 4
MISSISSIPPI 6 Mississippi St. 3, Mississippi 2, Southern Miss 1
MISSOURI 6 Missouri 6
NEBRASKA 6 Nebraska 6
NEVADA 1 Nevada 1
NEW JERSEY 2 Rutgers 1, Seton Hall 1
NEW MEXICO 3 New Mexico 2, New Mexico St. 1
NEW YORK 7 Syracuse 6, Army 1
NORTH CAROLINA 16 North Carolina 8, North Carolina State 3, Duke 3, East Carolina 2
OHIO 10 Ohio St. 6, Toledo 1, Dayton 1, Bowling Green 1, Xavier 1
OKLAHOMA 5 Oklahoma St. 3, Oklahoma 1, Oral Roberts 1
OREGON 12 Oregon St. 7, Oregon 5
PENNSYLVANIA 14 Penn St. 11, Pittsburgh 2, Temple 1
SOUTH CAROLINA 4 South Carolina 2, Clemson 2
TENNESSEE 7 Tennessee 4, Memphis 3
TEXAS 16 Texas A&M 9, Texas Tech 4, Texas 1, Texas Christian 1, Baylor 1
UTAH 1 Utah St. 1
VIRGINIA 6 Virginia Tech 5, Virginia 1
WASHINGTON 6 Washington 5, Washington St. 1
WEST VIRGINIA 2 West Virginia 1, Marshall 1
WISCONSIN 5 Wisconsin
Why these 88 universities are good places to protest global warming, Trump, everything…
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