Putin's tool Limbaugh wrote Debt Default for GOP Dummies in July 2011. Read it on floor of Congress.

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Friday April 21, 2023 · 11:40 AM PDT

2023/04/21 · 11:40

2019.04.20-08.59-politicalflare-5cbb881f51fb8.png — The day after the Mueler Report came out TFG threatened Republicans with his most important weapon.

Democrats can derail Republican House debt default brinkmanship by attacking their radio advantage

The current debt default ‘fight’ is a repeat from 2011. Rush Limbaugh spent much of the month of July 2011 pushing for default, repeating that default wasn’t possible, and if we did default it would be Obama’s fault for not making the cuts Republicans wanted.

In the 2013 diary Limbaugh played a big part in sequestration I quoted excerpts from 10 shows July 2011 and one from August before the Aug 2 deadline (see below).

Urge your congresscritters to use the Limbaugh quotes to point out the stupidity and hypocrisy of the current crop of GOP radicals. Democrats can point out that Republicans are still taking economics lessons and political strategy from a zombie lung cancer victim who told millions for the better part of 3 decades that smoking doesn’t cause cancer. And global warming and COVID are hoaxes. And the 2020 election was stolen.

Dan Bongino, who inherited half of Limbaugh’s 600 radio stations, was saying the same thing a few days ago on his show (see below), urging Debt Default Part 2 and threatening Republicans who didn’t toe the line. Bongino is a bitter motormouth with much less power than Limbaugh but still supposedly reaches 8 million listeners. (How nice to hear that his Fox TV show was just cancelled.)

There’s a good chance a lot of local Republican talk radio hosts are doing the same thing, or at the very least letting their callers push it on their shows after hearing national talk show hosts like Bongino, channeling Limbaugh.

Blame Limbaugh for debt default

The first rule of Republican political power is don’t talk about Limbaugh or talk radio.

Democrats should read from those shows (egs. below) on the floor of congress and point out that it is the same playbook McCarthy and the GOP clowns are following now.

Pre-blame Limbaugh with the hypocrisy and stupidity of whatever’s going to happen. Wave Limbaugh under their noses. That will help defang Limbaugh successors like Bongino who are and will be threatening Republican Reps (see below) until the debt ceiling deadline. It will also reduce McCarthy and the teabag/trumper clowns’ leverage and improve chances for Republican defection.

These radical Republicans did not learn their politics from social media or the internet. They learned it from two or more decades of Limbaugh and sons on the conjoined radio/Fox megaphone. That’s where they learned ‘corporations are people’, ‘money is free speech’, ‘unions have more political power than corporations’, ‘trickle down economics’, ‘illegal immigrants are voting’, “Trump is a genius”, and so on.

Limbaugh was the moral and intellectual guru of the teabag/trumper wing of the GOP and they will be outraged. Some will feel compelled to defend Limbaugh. Make them answer media questions about Limbaugh’s influence. That won’t go well.

Along with blaming Limbaugh, point out that Putin would also love the US to default, that artificial intelligence now allows large scale analysis of political talk radio, and that Republican talk radio depends on hundreds of university and professional sports teams continuing to broadcast games on those stations.

Limbaugh was a Putin tool

In this 2013 diary there are a few possible examples of Putin using Limbaugh, and through him 1200 -1500 radio stations and the GOP, and Fox. That includes helping Putin stooge Manafort push Palin onto McCain in 2008, using a Russian hack to create ‘Climategate’, and pushing the 2011 debt ceiling fight.

Limbaugh was a long time admirer of Putin and Russian oligarchs living the Ayn Randian ‘free market’ wet dream and bears a lot of responsibility for Republicans trusting Putin more than Democrats. A retroactive analysis (with AI) of Limbaugh shows relative to Ukraine and related events might be informative.

While any Dem suggesting Limbaugh was a Putin tool on the floor of congress might cause Boebert, Greene, and Gosar to shoot someone, Democrats might want to at least point out there probably aren’t many Republican millionaires and billionaires who relish the thought of default.

Hint that artificial intelligence will be used to analyze talk radio

In any conversation that mentions Limbaugh and talk radio Democrats should be bringing up the inevitable use of AI to digitize and analyze political talk radio, as was prototyped by MIT in 2019. Republicans will freak out at the possibility that their invisible advantage could become exposed and will imagine devastating boycotts of a messaging monopoly that has been FREE, paid for by advertisers.

Mention Republican talk radio dependence on universities and black athletes

The Republican backlash caused by blaming Limbaugh for debt default on the floor of congress will also provide Democrats the opportunity to expose one of the most grotesque ironies in politics — the dependence of hundreds of racist, anti-woman, anti-LGBTQ, anti-education, anti-science Republican radio stations on hundreds of universities (including these 87) and professional sports teams and tens of thousands of athletes.

Nearly every Democratic politician is opposed personally and on issues by Republican radio blowhards who are endorsed by universities in their states (such as in these 39 states). Those schools have no excuse not to reread their mission statements and begin looking for apolitical alternatives.

Examples of Limbaugh and Bongino pushing debt default

Here’s from the Dan Bongino Show (Episode 1993) titled “They’re Targeting Your Kids”. The YouTube was dated in hours-ago terms so I think it was Tues April 18, 2023. He may be repeating some version of that every day until the deadline.

DAN BONGINO, who might as well be working for Putin:

Do not capitulate. McCarthy's been standing strong. Do not dare vote in the House and the Republican-controlled house to raise that debt ceiling without significant concessions from the Biden administration. Don't do it.

If Biden wants to shut down the government McCarthy will get him a budget. The house has the power of the purse. They will get him a budget. If Biden doesn't sign it and wants to shut the government down that's on Biden. I don't care what the media writes. Stand up show some nuts and do the right thing. (From the little I’ve heard of Bongino, he’s big on ‘nuts’)

Do not cave on the debt ceiling. Listen to me. Do not cave on the debt ceiling. I don't know if you care about this show in the Republican swamp or not but I'm telling you right now anybody who caves on this thing we will be exposed. I will make it my life's mission to expose you guys.

Do not cave on the debt ceiling. We have an opportunity right now to get a lid on our impending national bankruptcy.

Compare with Limbaugh excerpts from July and Aug 2011, below. I can’t remember how much I left out.

LIMBAUGH, who might as well have been working for Putin:
7/7/2011
“we will not default by August 2nd. There are sufficient revenues flooding Washington each day that are sufficient to service our debt.”
“I've been making the point for how long, folks? I mean those of you who have been listening regularly will know, it has to be weeks, that there is no possibility of default. The United States cannot possibly default. There is revenue that comes in every day, tax revenue, it comes in every day."
"There is no default that's going to happen. All of this is trumped up. Please don't doubt me on this. There's no bluster here. It is the fact."
"Republicans need to stop talking about revenue and loopholes and all this. The focus must be on this out-of-control spending.”
“No possibility of default."
"What would happen is that debt service would be paid. Whatever's left, the net would be used to fund ongoing federal activities, which means Obama would prioritize what does or does not get funded, but we would not default.”
“We cannot default, and there's no reason to default. It's a scare tactic.”
“Ain't possible. Isn't going to happen.”
“To avoid default all we have to do is to keep making interest and maturity payments on the bonds as they come due. The rest ought to be Obama's political problem, not ours.”
“There is no default.”
“There's no possible default. We purely have a spending problem.”
7/8/2011
“It's all calculated to put pressure on them (Republicans), all because they won't go along with a tax increase, all because they won't give in to Obama, all because they're willing to have the government default, which will not happen!"
"Social Security checks will continue to go out."
"we're being lied to by the Ruling Class left and right about the debt ceiling and what happens if it's not raised.”
“We are not in danger of default. Anybody, either party who says we are is engaging in demagoguery”
"The Republicans own this opportunity. All they've gotta do is stop talking about tax increases and revenue."
"Pat Buchanan says, "They're bluffing. The GOP should stand its ground -- and fix bayonets." Lock and load, in other words.”
“ And we don't care what Richard Cohen says and we don't care what David Brooks says, and we don't care what the establishment says about this. It's gonna come down to who the congressional Republicans are gonna listen to. It's gonna come down to whoever they think they have the most to fear from.”
July 11, 2011
“Obama's Only Hope of Reelection is Forcing John Boehner to Cave”
“If Boehner caves, it's bye-bye GOP and nothing to do with the policy changes that might happen. If Boehner caves and takes a tax increase, folks, to the House and it loses, Obama still wins because the Republican base is so ticked off at that. Hello Tea Party, you know the drill.”
“That's all Obama is trying to do is to wear Boehner down between now and Ramadan so that Boehner eventually caves, Ramadan being August 1st, and they say we go into default on August 2nd.”
"When you boil it all down, here's the point: big cutting. It will occur automatically."
"The only way the country goes into default is if Obama does not prioritize the debt, and that would only happen if he let it happen, which would mean that he wants the country to go into default, 'cause it's very easily avoided."
"The number one thing, if you want to eliminate a majority of the debt that's accumulated and that's going to accumulate, get rid of Obamacare."
July 12, 2011
“If there is a collapse or a default, it's something that he wants and has planned.”
“And if -- if -- the Republicans go along at some point, they're contributing to the destruction of our economy.”
“There isn't gonna be a shutdown. You're gonna have plenty of gumbo. There isn't going to be a shutdown. A "default" is not a "shutdown," and there's not gonna be a default.”
7/13/2011
“They don't want to do anything that reeks of a government shutdown, and a default can be characterized by the Democrats and Obama as a government shutdown, and they think they (Republicans) lose in a government shutdown, so they don't want any part of it.”
7/14/2011
"Moody's Investors Service said late [yesterday] it had placed the US government's triple-A bond rating on review for possible downgrade due to rising risk of default.”
“Folks, we gave you the numbers on this yesterday. It's not possible to miss a payment unless somebody doesn't make it, which that falls to Obama.”
“We elect Barack Hussein Obama president, and in two-and-a-half years, we're on the verge of an unprecedented US default with worldwide -- first time ever -- humiliation, embarrassment, and whatever else would accompany default.”
“The current US debt is larger than the entire economy of China, in two-and-a-half years of Barack Hussein Obama”
7/21/2011
"If the regime will lie to us about something as important as going into default, what else are they lying about?"
"I cringe when I keep hearing Boehner and the Republicans talk about the moral obligation we have not to default. We're not going to."
7/27/2011
"It's July 27th. We're not gonna default."
"We won the election in November -- and as such, we don't compromise. Winners don't compromise. Losers compromise."
"There isn't gonna be any default and there probably won't be a downgrade. All of this is hocus-pocus."
7/29/2011
Segment headline:

You Can Be Proud, Conservatives: Tea Party Puts Country Over Party

“the country is not going to go into default. There have been secret contingency meetings, and we've got the story. I don't even need the story, though, to know the country's not going into default! We're also tired of being lied to. The country is not going into default.”
8/1/2011
"The Democrats are operating on the basis of fear, and the real fear that they're operating under is the default resulting in a downgrade of the full faith and credit of the US."

*****I apologize for any pain and discomfort those images may cause.

Two recent developments will force the ad industry to democratize RW radio.

The biggest political mistake in history. It's the radio, stupid.

These 87 universities help 100's of anti-Roe radio stations and are good places to protest.

certainot

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Friday June 24, 2022 · 10:52 AM PDT

2022/06/24 · 10:52

Why the fuck do Democrats and progressives continue to let 100’s of schools and dozens of professional sports teams broadcast on and support 100’s of anti-choice talk radio stations without complaint?

Below is a list by states of 87 major universities that broadcast sports on more than 260 x-Limbaugh radio stations (from fakenewsradio.org).

All those stations have attacked Roe v Wade since they were converted to political talk. All the hosts on those stations followed Limbaugh’s lead attacking Anita Hill to get Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court. They all followed his lead calling Christine Blasey Ford a paid Democratic Party operative and liar for 2 weeks to help get Kavenaugh through.

All these universities are appropriate places to protest for helping the Republicans overturn Roe. They need to reread the lofty promises they make in their mission statements. They need to be protested until the universities begin looking for apolitical alternatives.

All advertisers, schools, and pro sports teams supporting RW radio share responsibility for this.

There will be a snowball effect. Once one or a few universities begin public discussion of the absurdity fo supporting highly partisan anti-science, anti-woman, racist radio stations others will follow. Advertisers will desert those stations. The radio ad industry will have to try to break up the 1200-1500 RW radio station monopoly before they lose too many advertisers.

If the this absurd situation continues all those stations will attack pro-choice political candidates and protestors and may stimulate counterprotests and violence. As long as those schools continue to broadcast on those stations they will support anti-choice repression.

Turn on any political talk radio station and there’s a nearly 100% chance those stations will be populated by men celebrating the end of Roe today. That’s what Dan Bongino’s substitute (Kurt Schlichter(sp?)) on about half of Limbaugh’s old stations, endorsed by those universities, is doing right now.

This is an incomplete accounting of the schools supporting RW radio and it only counted Limbaugh stations and mostly only men’s football. There are many more schools and stations involved.

ALABAMA 8 Auburn 3, Alabama 2, Southern Alabama 2, Troy 1

ARIZONA 1 Arizona St. 1

ARKANSAS 3 Arkansas 3

CALIFORNIA 5 San Jose State 2, USC 2, Fresno St. 1

COLORADO 3 Air Force 2, 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 3 Wisconsin 3

Two recent developments will force the ad industry to democratize RW radio.

The biggest political mistake in history. It's the radio, stupid.

Warriors Coach's rant good, but Warriors broadcast on 3 RW/NRA radio stations

certainot

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday May 25, 2022 · 10:24 AM PDT

2022/05/25 · 10:24

Good on Steve Kerr, coach of the Golden State Warriors basketball team blew up about the Texas shooting last night before their playoff game, blaming the 50 Republican senators (and maybe Manchin and Sinema) who have been opposing any kind of gun control.

His blowup was good to see and it points out a big opportunity to strengthen this struggling democracy.

Out of about 10 radio stations that the Warriors broadcast ball games on, 3 are Republican stations that have always followed the NRA script after mass shooting like this — thoughts and prayers, blame the insanity, not the guns.

Those are the same radio stations that would have followed Limbaugh’s lead in calling San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick un-American for kneeling to protest police brutality. They call BLM a terrorist organization.

Since Columbine 1200-1500 radio stations like that have made it impossible for any Republican politician and many red state Democrats to consider any kind of gun control, even on assault weapons. They make any rational fact based national discussion about any major issue like global warming, voting rights, racism, reproductive rights, Trump treason, and gun control impossible.

Media talking heads who complain about Democrats’ inability to ‘message’ about gun control or baby formula or the price of gas are fools. In this case it’s not the content, it’s the volume. How can messaging for gun control not win out after Sandy Hook? Global warming? And many hundred of the loudest of those radio stations depend on hundreds of school and professional sports teams to keep broadcasting sports on them.

The 87 universities listed at fakenewsradio.org and many pro teams help Republicans and the NRA keep assault weapons available, even to the insane.

Syracuse University, 150 miles from Buffalo and about halfway between there and the killer’s town on the main highway, broadcasts sports on about 30 radio stations and 9 are Republican/NRA stations. There is some discussion going on there around this idiocy.

Texas A&M is on the list, supporting at least 9 Republican radio stations. I doubt they will do anything but how can Syracuse University not?

Republicans have been using stations like that for more than 20 years to tell 50 million Americans a week that Democrats are bringing (brown) people cross the southern border illegally and helping them get licenses and IDs so they can vote for Democrats. They convince millions that those ‘brown people’ are bringing drugs, crime, and diseases like ebola and COVID. That is how they’re selling all that voter suppression legislation. That is now called the new ‘replacement theory’ and university and pro athletes are being used to sell it. The Buffalo killer may have gotten his white supremacy online but upstate NY has been bathed in excuses for racism for 30 years, like many parts of the country dominated with Republican talk radio.

It would be a no-brainer for the Golden State Warriors to drop 3 radio stations. Those stations are using Golden State warrior athletes to excuse racism and oppose assault weapon regulation. Golden state can lead a national exodus of school and pro teams away from hundreds of the loudest NRA/Republican radio stations.

Advertisers will follow and the radio advertising industry will have to force the break up the racist NRA radio monopoly before too many get away for good.

Every company, ad agency, university, and pro team broadcasting on RW radio shares responsibility and they need to recognize it and act.

Students at and communities around these 87 universities can protest right on campus.

certainot

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday May 03, 2022 · 2:36 PM PDT

2022/05/03 · 14:36

Democracy-loving Americans need offense and nothing would be more offensive to the GOP that to threaten the only unique advantage they have.

Students at and communities around the 87 universities listed below can protest Republican patriarchy and religious extremism right on campus.

Those 87 universities broadcast sports on more than 260 X-Limbaugh stations. Those are some of the loudest AM radio stations in the US and with few exceptions their talk show hosts are always anti-choice and have been since the late 80s and early 90s.

If the GOP would pay $1000 for a one hour radio infomercial to elect politicians to overturn Roe v Wade, 260 stations x 15 hrs/day would be worth $19.5M/week or about $1Billion/year, FREE, endorsed by those universities. Every week for 30 years.

For 30 years those schools have ignored their mission statements to allow those stations to use their athletes, mascots, logos, and their community standing to attract advertisers to pay for Republican efforts to overturn Roe v Wade, deny global warming, and excuse racism.

Those stations were used to attack Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford to put Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavenaugh on the Supreme Court. They all helped elect Trump and the other Republicans that have created this radical Supreme Court.

Many professional US sports teams do the same.

Until these schools and teams reassess their support for Republican talk radio they are helping Republicans destroy democracy and are not acting in the best interest of the majority of their students, athletes, and fans.

Most if not all of those universities and pro teams were broadcasting sports on those stations before the stations became part of the Republican talk radio propaganda monopoly. All those schools need to be pushed into publicly reevaluating those relationships. There are many apolitical alternatives now.

Most written complaints will probably be channeled to the athletic departments and will likely go nowhere.

‘Free speech’ purists and local Republicans who depend on those stations to get their candidates elected will insist those schools are not supposed to play politics, but with few, if any, exceptions they are 100% pro Republican. The local talkers on those stations also often weigh in on who is or isn’t acceptable when it comes to choices for university presidents, chancellors, regents, professors, and curriculum.

There will be complaints about lost licensing revenue but radio-related revenue is minuscule compared with TV revenue. There are also many sports talk stations that would love to broadcast those games and would be more suited to selling team merchandise. How much are these schools selling out for?

Many of the those schools already also broadcast on other radio stations that are not talk stations.

Republican complaints will be irrelevant when the radio advertising industry realizes that any public discussion of this issue at one or more schools will spread to other schools, as well as pro sports teams, and will cause many advertisers to look for alternatives.

Those universities need protests. They need Democratic politicians and well known activists to point out the astounding hypocrisy when these universities claim their dedication to truth, science, knowledge, and justice.

Progressive and Democratic Party student organizations have a lot to gain by demanding a change. They can protest right on campus.

From fakenewsradio.org:

Consider how many Republican talk radio stations these universities endorse:

10 or more: Florida 10, Michigan State 11, Penn St 11

7 or more: Georgia 7, North Carolina 8, Illinois 7, Michigan 7, Oregon St 7, Texas AM 9

5 or more: Georgia Tech 5, Notre Dame 6, Missouri 6, Nebraska 6, Oregon 5, Syracuse 6, Washington 5, Virginia Tech 5, Washington 5

Consider the part those schools play in elections and issues in those states by continuing to allow those stations to use them. How much better would Democrats do in elections if those stations had to change format away from Republican hate and disinformation to keep broadcasting sports and retain advertisers? Many of those stations are already suffering, stuck with lousy and less influential replacements after Limbaugh’s death.

_{*Note: the list may be slightly outdated relative to a few schools but I doubt much has changed the last 10 years.}

ALABAMA 8 Auburn 3, Alabama 2, Southern Alabama 2, Troy 1

ARIZONA 1 Arizona St. 1

ARKANSAS 3 Arkansas 3

CALIFORNIA 5 San Jose State 2, USC 2, Fresno St. 1

COLORADO 3 Air Force 2, 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 3 Wisconsin 3

Two recent developments will force the ad industry to democratize RW radio.

The biggest political mistake in history. It's the radio, stupid.

Putin tool Limbaugh's death devastating for GOP. Obstructionist dems committing political suicide.

certainot

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday October 20, 2021 · 1:17 PM PDT

2021/10/20 · 13:17

Steve Bannon with the 'Brazilian Limbaugh', the Virginia-based radio host credited with Bolsanaro's rise

Warnings that progressives need to compromise rightward or lose big in 2022 midterms are misplaced.

Limbaugh’s death was a seismic, politically devastating turning point for the GOP and Trump, and the analysts completely missed it — like they did talk radio’s political role the last 30 years.

Manchin, Sinema, and other conservadems are making a big mistake. The Age of Limbaugh is over. He won’t be there to rationalize and make excuses for their sabotage of Biden and the Democratic Party and redirect the blame. He won’t be there to convince their constituents that it wasn’t their fault that the Gulf stream stopped and Europe’s temperatures suddenly dropped 10 degrees. The made-to-order pro-corporate constituencies that Team Limbaugh created to enable and intimidate ‘moderate’ Democrats are going to scatter. And if Manchin and Sinema are threatening to escape to the GOP they’re going to be sorely disappointed in their long term minority status, made worse by infighting and ongoing investigations of Trump treason and other crimes.

Recently Rachel Maddow (great show) demonstrated the problem with ignore-ance of Republican radio. On two nights I heard her report on the Dominion lawsuit and Rudy Giuliani’s deposition, insinuating Facebook and maybe Russian sources for his claims of a stolen 2020 election. She and others have suggested that Nov 19 2020 event was a major trigger for the Jan 6 insurrection. Were her researchers aware that the Giuliani/Powell press conference was timed to start with the Limbaugh show? Limbaugh talked all through the ‘conference’, echoing Giuliani and Powell attacks and lies. He had a script and knew what they were going to say.

Much of the global warming denial constituency that enables Manchin was created over 3 decades of RW radio. In 2009 Russians hacked East Anglia Climate Institute scientist emails and then Wikileaks did its thing. Limbaugh called some of the emails taken out of context proof that global warming was a hoax and within a week had created ‘climategate’ for mainstream media — just in time to derail Obama at the Copenhagen climate conference. Putin made many more oil and gas billions thanks to Limbaugh.

From Mother Jones 2017/12

7 Years Before Russia Hacked the Election, Someone Did the Same Thing to Climate Scientists

“Why does this story sound so darned familiar?”

Someone needs to tell Manchin he’s working for Putin too, not just the Kochs.

And who got Limbaugh to spend weeks pushing Tea Party Republicans vs establishment Republicans into near debt default in 2011? How many of the rich Americans Limbaugh used to serve wanted that then and want to risk it again now?

Limbaugh called ‘Lord’ Conrad Black an advisor and mentor. Black pushed for Russian acceptance into the G8.

Limbaugh’s death greatly reduces the effectiveness of the only unique advantage Republicans have had. Limbaugh was the closest thing Republicans had to a consistent moral and intellectual ‘leader’ over those 3 decades. Pitiful but true. He taught them how to rationalize their bigotry, corruption, and hypocrisy and blame everything on Democrats. Conservative, corporate, fundamentalist, and Russian influence in US politics has been significantly weakened and progressives are acting as if nothing happened.

Much of the extremism showing up now in Republicans may be part of a grieving process. They lost their leader. The dittohead/teabag/trumper GOP base is uncertain what to think or say, although some recognize Trump as a torchbearer. Whether they got it directly or indirectly, maybe Limbaugh had a moderating effect on radical Republicans, teaching them they could ‘own the libs’ instead of shoot them.

Over those 30 years of the Age of Limbaugh Republican politicians became increasingly dependent on nationally and locally coordinated (unlike Fox) RW radio stations to win primaries and elections. Thom Hartmann repeated my simple math that quantifies Republican radio’s importance: if the GOP, the NRA, Trump, and Putin would pay $1000 for a one hour radio infomercial, 1200 stations x 15 hrs/day are worth $90M/week or almost $5B/year. All that is FREE and endorsed by advertisers, ad agencies, at least 87 universities, and the numerous professional sports teams that use it.

Limbaugh’s 3 hour daily show on 600 of the loudest radio stations in the US set the tone for all talk shows on those stations as well as 1000 other Republican radio stations. Very few of Limbaugh’s loyal listeners (dittoheads) could get past the few daily orchestrated callers and kiss their leader’s ring so they called other hosts, call screeners, producers, and managers to repeat Limbaugh’s lies and make sure all talkers on 1500 radio stations were on the same page. Limbaugh even provided a daily transcript to help.

The Limbaugh replacement wannabes all likely learned their politics from Limbaugh. They know Democrats are godless socialists trying to take their ‘god given’ freedoms and destroy American democracy and trickle-down capitalism. They know everything Democrats do is bad and any Republican who compromises with them is a traitor. When not selling the latest GOP talking points they will blame Biden and Democrats for everything.

Dan Bongino, one of Limbaugh’s replacements on 300 Cumulus radio stations, very recently threatened to quit over the company vaccine mandate (you go Danny boy!). From www.washingtonpost.com/… Nov/18/2021.

Conservative pundit Dan Bongino threatens to quit radio giant over vaccination mandate

bongino

‘I don’t see this going forward as a workable arrangement,’ Bongino said of his radio distributor’s vaccination requirement

Maybe it’s a cover and he’s getting screamed at by dittoheads for not doing Limbaugh right. Or the audiences aren’t tuning in. Or advertising dropped off.

Here are another couple of the other Llimbaugh replacements, on 400 stations:

Limbaugh used to lay out a regular smorgasbord of talking point lies, denials, and rationalizations RW media and authoritarian audiences could pick through every day to help them reduce complicated issues into simple certainties and help them judge the world in blacks and whites. Can Bevis and the Buttheads do that?

Can these second-rate liars intimidate Republican politicians and leaders the way Limbaugh did? Are Republican leaders going to trust the new blowhards to spin events and bad news the way they want? Will Russia be able to influence them with the same intermediaries? Can they sell lies with anything near the same Limbaugh levels of royal certitude? Will they all agree with each other? Will other Republican media tools on radio and Fox parrot these bozos like they did Limbaugh? Can these twits sell global warming denial like Limbaugh? Will they?

After Mitch McConnell briefly turned on Trump after he lost the 2020 election Limbaugh dissed him by revealing that McConnell had called him after many elections whenever Republicans either lost or failed to regain the senate to assure him that Democrats would need 60 votes to pass anything. Will McConnell be calling Danny, Clay, and Buck for anything? Can any Republican politician trust them to keep their mouths shut about such things?

It’s possible Manchin and Sinema have little interest in future politics and have been guaranteed big paydays in they lose their next elections. Or they may be betting global warming ain’t that bad, republicans will retake the house and maybe senate, Trump will make a comeback, and their power plays will set them up as prominent players.

It’s more likely that without top Trump supporter Limbaugh to keep that $5B/yr free propaganda advantage on track the GOP will begin a long term decline as truth and facts start catching up to them. And the Manchins and Sinemas and ‘moderate’ democrats helping them obstruct Biden will be known as irrelevant corrupt dupes who delayed action on global warming, causing more species extinction, death, and destruction. And found no future in the Democratic or any other party.

With Limbaugh rotting in some mausoleum somewhere that might be inevitable but Democrats can also accelerate the process.

Democrats and their allied organizations can:

urge investigation of Russian use of political talk radio the US and other countries
make it commercially disastrous for advertisers and ad companies to support Republican talk radio
push 87 universities as well as pro sports teams to look for apolitical alternatives to broadcast sports on. Regardless of legal issues or complaints from Republicans, one or two universities or teams, or famous athletes, could start a cascade of community debates that frighten off large numbers of advertisers and accelerates number 1
develop the MIT prototype for using artificial intelligence to automatically record, transcribe, and analyze large samples of political talk radio in the US and elsewhere so the lying and repetition can be quantified and is no longer ignored. The potential use of AI will also accelerate 1 and 2.

Two recent developments will force the ad industry to democratize RW radio. Push it.

The biggest political mistake in history. It's the radio, stupid.

GOP is right! Sports should stay out of politics - by not supporting political talk radio

certainot

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday April 14, 2021 · 3:45 PM PDT

2021/04/14 · 15:45

When major league baseball withdrew the all star game from Georgia to protest Republican voter suppression in that state Republicans complained it was dangerous for a democracy to mix sports and politics. Senator Moscow Mitch McConnell got pissed. Now Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Josh Hawley of Missouri want to punish MLB by removing its antitrust protection.

It would not be an exaggeration to say Republican electoral and legislative success, as well as all of those senators’ political futures, depend heavily on universities and professional sports teams continuing to broadcast sports on hundreds of political talk radio stations that almost exclusively serve Republicans.

No school or professional team using Republican radio that does not support Republican racism, voter suppression, or global warming and COVID denial has any excuse not to start looking for alternatives.

The sports broadcasts and associations with the team brands, logos, and mascots are used to attract advertisers to finance those stations, at little or no cost to the the GOP. If Republicans paid $1000/hr x 15 hrs/day, each station would be worth $75,000/week or about $4M/year.

For decades Republican talk stations repeated and ramped up the lies and exaggerations used as the predicate for passing voter suppression legislation, including accusations that Democrats bring in and help ‘illegal’ immigrants vote for them. Trump still uses those lies to claim the election was stolen. The Nov 19 2020 Giuliani/Powell press conference claiming the election was stolen was timed to start along with the Limbaugh show on those 600 stations.

By not looking for alternative stations or not telling their licensing companies to look for alternatives the universities and pro teams continue to support Republican talk radio. So do companies that advertise on those radio stations.

If Republicans want to take a university to the courts, let them. Any community discussion will scare off advertisers.

Republican talk radio is on the edge of a cliff and needs a push

RW talk radio already has a major problem because they can’t replace Limbaugh. While in a previous diary I suggested the combination of Limbaugh’s death and the inevitable use of artificial intelligence to record, transcribe, and analyze talk radio will end the 30 year talk radio short-circuiting of American democracy, that could take time the planet and Biden don’t have.

Republican talk radio dominance is key for their obstruction. Democratic senators like Manchin will continue to feel enabled and intimidated by Republican talk radio buzz in their states. That is the same buzz that will keep Republican politicians from compromising. When Republican talk radio starts falling apart the made-to-order pro-corporate constituencies it creates will fall apart too and the country will go 10 points left. Manchin and the Republicans will lose their leverage.

Limbaugh’s death and inevitable artificial intelligence-enhanced analysis and boycotts of RW radio should already have the advertising industry as well as any company advertising on those stations on notice.

One or two schools, teams, or athletes could start an avalanche. The advertising industry wants the tens of millions of ears those radio stations reach and they will have to start breaking up the Republican talk radio monopoly or lose a lot of customers to other media forms.

Target politicians and issues through radio stations and their sports connections

Unlike Fox, local talk radio programming is commonly coordinated by the GOP to pressure politicians and influence issues and elections by state or even by city or county. Many successful radical Republican politicians learned to parrot Limbaugh etc and rely on local talk radio stations or hosts for interviews and favoritism and free attacks on Democratic opponents. They may have left trails of podcasts and recordings.

That means particular universities and pro teams and their athletes are being used to support or attack particular politicians and legislation.

They don’t have to…..

Consider:

Georgia — The universities of Georgia 7, Georgia Tech 5, and Georgia Southern 2 broadcast sports on 14 x-Limbaugh stations (see list of 87 universities below — from fakenewsradio.org). Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Falcons athletes are used to support at least 12 GOP/white supremacist radio stations (listed below). Those stations basically use those athletes to support Gov Kemp, excuse racism and attack kneeling athletes, and sell Ga voter suppression. They likely all defend Ga. Rep and Trump insurrectionist and loon Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Ohio 10 — Ohio St. 6, Toledo 1, Dayton 1, Bowling Green 1, Xavier 1 How much will those stations effect the Ohio open senate seat coming up?

Missouri 6 — If you want to see Sen Josh Hawley out of the senate, get the University of Missouri to stop supporting 6 Hawley-loving radio stations.

Florida 20 — Florida 10, Florida St. 4 Miami 2, South Florida 2, Central Florida 2. That’s 20 stations up and down the Florida peninsula that deny global warming and COVID and will defend or ignore Rep Matt Gaetz. They will help reelect Gov Disantis and senators Scott and Rubio.

Michigan 19 — Michigan St. 11, Michigan 7, Western Michigan 1 have been helping Republicans pass voter suppression legislation as well as deny COVID and threaten and pressure Dem Gov Whitmer to loosen restrictions. It can be guaranteed that those same stations will somehow blame the latest deadly COVID surge on the Governor and other Democrats.

Some or most of those schools listed below also support Republican talk radio stations that don’t headline Limbaugh. Many other stations and universities do the same. There may be hundreds of other schools supporting hundreds of other Republican radio stations the same way.

87 universities supporting 260 x-Limbaugh stations

ALABAMA 8 Auburn 3, Alabama 2, Southern Alabama 2, Troy 1

ARIZONA 1 Arizona St. 1

ARKANSAS 3 Arkansas 3

CALIFORNIA 5 San Jose State 2, USC 2, Fresno St. 1

COLORADO 3 Air Force 2, 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 3 Wisconsin 3

Here are the Georgia pro teams and some of the Republican hosts they headline. I searched for the team and ‘radio affiliates’. One of the links gave a list of about 150 stations for the Braves. 75 of the stations were in Ga. I only checked AM stations so there are probably more than 6. Surely the Braves can do without a few stations, or find apolitical alternatives.

Atlanta Braves

WALG-AM 1590 Limbaugh Hannity
WLBB 1330 Beck, Limbaugh Hannity Levin
WBLJ-AM 1230 Limbaugh Hannity
WLAQ-AM 1410 Limbaugh Beck
WJAT-AM 800 Hannity
WKWN-AM 1420 Erick Erickson

Atlanta Falcons

WDAK-AM Beck Hannity Pags
WBLJ-AM Limbaugh Hannity
WDUN Kilmeade, Shapiro
WVCC-AM Hannity Beck Limbaugh
WMAC-AM Levin Hannity Bongino Shapiro Erickson
WJAT-AM Hannity

Large scale AI analysis of talk radio prototyped by MIT and UN is major leverage for Biden, Schumer.

certainot

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday February 01, 2021 · 11:20 AM PST

2021/02/01 · 11:20

Democratic politicians, activists, and allies need to know and spread the word that the end of the Republican talk radio advantage is near.

The simple math again: at $1000/hr x 15hrs/day x 1200 radio stations that pro-Republican anti-Democratic messaging is worth $90M/week or about $5B/year. Until RW radio content can be analyzed political analysts might as well be studying fish without water.

Kossack Mokurai pointed me to a very significant development. A year and a half ago researchers at MIT used artificial intelligence to automatically record, transcribe, and analyze approximately 2.8 billion words from 284,000 hours of radio talk from hundreds of radio stations. (Their emphasis wasn’t political and a 50 station sample made it clear they ‘balanced’ conservative talk stations with public radio and college stations.)

Apparently they weren’t first and there had already been an effort by UN Global Pulse beginning in 2015 to develop a ‘Radio Content Analysis Tool’ and turn Ugandan talk radio into text, resulting in at least this paper: Using Machine Learning To Analyze Radio Content In Uganda (maybe others?). That apparently continues.

Constant improvements in AI enhanced transcription and analysis from these and possibly other prototypes mean the Democratic Party has no excuse to keep ignoring talk radio, whether they start such an effort or allies do it.

At the very least, word has to get around that the Democratic Party is aware it can be done and is thinking about it. That would give the Biden administration and Democratic politicians much more leverage over Republicans as well as conservative Democratic senators like Manchin and Sinema.

Many Republicans know how important talk radio has been in getting them elected, obstructing Democrats, and radicalizing the GOP into the Limbaugh/Trump Party. Knowing that that major source of alternate reality and division will finally get the analysis and blame it deserves means the radicals will lose power. ‘Moderate’ Republicans can begin to stick their heads out farther and have less to fear of being primaried by extremists supported by national and local hosts on their neighborhood radio stations.

Consider that as soon as GOP Senate leader McConnell turned on Trump toward the end of January Limbaugh turned on McConnell, calling him “cocaine Mitch” and a “chicom” who was now with Biden in league with and getting money from China. He also hinted at their previous relationship and his importance, explaining that whenever the GOP lost the senate in the past “cocaine Mitch” would always call him privately to assure him (and his audience) that Democrats would still need 60 votes to do anything.

How much are conservative Democratic senators Manchin and Sinema motivated by constituencies concerned about the loss of coal jobs in West Virginia or invasions of ‘drug-hauling’ ‘disease-ridden’ immigrants in Arizona? Do they know those constituencies are in large part reacting to alternate realities exaggerated and amplified by their state radio stations?

Consider that although Trump was praised for his ‘branding’ genius and low cost 2016 campaign, Limbaugh says ‘Trump’ positively between 100 and 150 times every day, on 600 radio stations, while attacking his critics and opponents. His listeners, who can’t call him, make sure the vast majority of other Republican talk hosts stay in line — the dittohead effect.

If President Biden and Dem Senate leader Chuck Schumer let Republicans know Republican talk radio will no longer be ignored and is doomed it will help embolden Republican senators to convict Trump.

They just need to know it.

Two recent developments will force the ad industry to democratize RW radio.

The biggest political mistake in history. It's the radio, stupid.

Limbaugh calls Sen Harris a 'hoe'. 1000s of advertisers and 100+ pro teams, universities endorse it.

List of 87 universities who let 260 Limbaugh stations use their black athletes while Limbaugh regularly excuses racism, and calls kneeling athletes un-American and BLM protestors “marxist terrorists”.

DC Washington Wizards can set example for all sports by dropping 5 racist radio stations

certainot

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday January 10, 2021 · 1:14 PM PST

2021/01/10 · 13:14

There are many examples of racist right wing radio stations piggybacking college and pro sports teams to attract advertisers and community credibility.

That includes 87 universities (broadcasting on 260 Limbaugh stations) listed at fakenewsradio.org as well as possibly hundreds more colleges, high schools, and professional teams in a wide variety of sports.

While players kneel to protest for justice, team owners and management associate them with radio stations that call kneeling athletes unAmerican, BLM protestors “marxist terrorists” and “communists”, make excuses for white supremacists, and sell voter suppression legislation.

At this particular time it may be hard to find a more glaring example of this tragic absurdity than the fact that the NBA’s Washington (DC) Wizards broadcast on 5 right wing talk radio stations (listed below). With few if any exceptions, the local and national talkers on those stations enabled Trump’s attempted coup and the attack on the Capitol, excused racism, called COVID a hoax, and politicized mask-wearing.

Some of those hosts may be backtracking a bit now but past recordings and podcasts will show their unanimous complicity in the Trump COVID disaster.

While social media is getting a lot of the blame for Trump and the domestic terrorism in Washington it was 30 years of unchallenged lying from 1500 radio stations like the five that parasitize the Washington Wizards that enabled the takeover of the Republican Party.

If the Washington Wizard organization announces they will no longer broadcast sports on stations that clearly oppose their stated desires for social justice they can set an important example for hundreds of teams broadcasting on what may be as much one third to half of the 1500 or so hate radio stations plaguing the country.

The NBA and NBPA agreed to a list of 29 approved statements that players could wear instead of their names: Black Lives Matter, Say Their Names, Vote, I Can't Breathe, Justice, Peace, Equality, Freedom, Enough, Power to the People, Justice Now, Say Her Name, Sí Se Puede (Yes We Can), Liberation, See Us, Hear Us, Respect Us, Love Us, Listen, Listen to Us, Stand Up, Ally, Anti-Racist, I Am A Man, Speak Up, How Many More, Group Economics, Education Reform and Mentor.

Nine of our players will wear social justice messages on our jerseys when play resumes.#RepTheDistrict | #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/h7aP9iMld9
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) July 15, 2020

Americans depressed and concerned that fascism is beating democracy shouldn’t give up before hundreds of hate radio stations start changing programming because of an exodus of advertisers.

That is what will happen when a team like the Washington Wizards suddenly announces they will look for apolitical alternatives to broadcast sports on and other teams, businesses, and institutions join them in an inevitable and long overdue divorce from hate radio.

Republicans know much better than Democrats that the Party of Lincoln has become the Party of Limbaugh. They know the important role talk radio has played in enabling, intimidating, and radicalizing their party and obstructing progress. If you want more of them to turn on Trump and trumpers in their party, let then see the end of the talk radio monopoly coming soon.

Here are those five stations with some of their more well-known racist liars:

WBRG 1050 AM, 105.1 FM — O’Reilly, Loesch, Dobson, Sekulow, Dobbs

WLVA 580 AM, 94.1 FM — Kilmeade, Savage, Shapiro, Levin.

WRNR 740 AM, 106.5 FM — Beck, Loesch, Shapiro

WNOS 1450 AM, 106.5 FM — (Dennis) Miller, Ingraham, Medved, Prager

WCHV 1260 AM, 107.5 FM — Kilmeade, Limbaugh, Hannity, Larson

Here are some some ways to contact the Washington Wizards.

If you do contact them please be polite. They are one of many, many teams that do the same and are generally unaware of the problem.

Head Office, 601 F Street N.W, Washington D.C 20004

Staff directory — looks like a lot of people with a lot of email addresses but as usual how many actually get past junk filters, or get read?

Many of the top brass don’t give emails but lower down the list many do, and I think most probably use the same format. For example...

Scott Hall Vice President, Communications shall@monumentalsports.com
Daren Jenkins Director, Basketball Communications djenkins@monumentalsports.com
Matt Quinn Manager, Communications mquinn@monumentalsports.com

Wizards Facebook page

Contact form — might get read and passed on.

Customer Service Phone: 202-661-5100, 202-328-3800 — the usual recorded messages — maybe a place to leave one.

13 of the top 18 teams that played in the ‘bubble’ broadcast sports on 32 radio stations that feature Republican/right wing/racist talk show hosts.

And if you don’t think the talk radio monopoly is a serious problem:

Two recent developments will force the ad industry to democratize RW radio.

The biggest political mistake in history. It's the radio, stupid.

PS I forgot to mention when I turned on a local weekend idiot blowhard for a few minutes this morning he took a call from a guy who started by mentioning slavery in China, that nearly half a million kids disappear every year, and that the Biden’s own an island near pedophile Epstien’s island…… those are the kinds of calls that could be coming into stations all over the country on a regular basis and may not even be coming from in the US.

1500 RW radio stations need to lose their licenses or advertisers, whichever comes first

certainot

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday January 07, 2021 · 7:17 AM PST

2021/01/07 · 07:17

Trump’s treasonous attack on the US Capitol yesterday may have been coordinated with internet and social media but it was cheered on by 30 years of Republican talk radio, the only unique significant advantage Republicans have.

Every advertiser, university, pro sports team, and advertising agency using Republican talk radio stations share responsibility for the treason and violence those radio stations have been inciting with their disinformation.

Those stations form a 95% messaging monopoly that dominates much of the country and shares major responsibility for the radicalization of the Republican Party. Unlike Fox, those stations can be locally coordinated. Most Republican politicians depend heavily on those stations for election and reelection.

All those radio stations have denied global warming, called COVID a hoax, excuse racism, and repeated the lies about the election being stolen from Trump.

Few, if any, of those stations have ever given time to hosts with opposing views. Political talk radio is only major media form that excludes challenge from other parts of the political spectrum. Unlike print, TV, or the internet, there are no free easy alternatives for Republican talk radio in most parts of the US. It should not be considered a legitimate part of the free speech spectrum.

No business or institution associated with RW talk radio can use the excuse that it’s ‘just business’, or free speech from political ‘entertainers’ trying to sell products and services.

Don’t be fooled. They might start backtracking now but with few exceptions all the talk show hosts on 1500 or so Republican talk radio stations have been supporting the alternate reality which led us here, whether they believed it or not. Their trails of podcasts prove it.

Those radio stations are licensed to operate in the public interest and should lose those licenses.

Every advertiser, advertising agency, university, and pro team using those radio stations as well as the owners and operators of those stations need to be asked if they actually support this terrorism and treasonous asshole in the White House.

The exodus of advertisers and universities and professional sports teams from those stations should start as soon as possible until the only ones left agree with the fascism and lies coming from those stations. Then political talk radio will actually represent the American demand for the racism, hate, and lies.

Help the Biden administration get a fresh start, without 1500 coordinated radio stations taking free potshots at them all day.

From fakenewsradio.org, here is a list of 87 universities that broadcast sports on 260 Limbaugh stations. Numbers are numbers of Limbaugh stations the universities broadcast sports on.

ALABAMA 8 Auburn 3, Alabama 2, Southern Alabama 2, Troy 1

ARIZONA 1 Arizona St. 1

ARKANSAS 3 Arkansas 3

CALIFORNIA 5 San Jose State 2, USC 2, Fresno St. 1

COLORADO 3 Air Force 2, 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 3 Wisconsin 3

Two recent developments will force the ad industry to democratize RW radio. Push it.

The biggest political mistake in history. It's the radio, stupid.

Limbaugh calls Sen Harris a 'hoe'. 1000s of advertisers and 100+ pro teams, universities endorse it.

How protests at 87 universities can start a cascade that will force the GOP to dump Trump

Dems need offense. Artificial Intel will force ad industry to destroy RW radio with market demand.

Artificial intelligence spells doom for RW radio. Found 3 ads for 2 universities on the Limbo show.

Every Republican talk radio station in Georgia is being recorded, transcribed, and searched.

certainot

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday December 05, 2020 · 10:01 PM PST

2020/12/05 · 22:01

Not!

Just kidding.

Democratic and progressive organizations are still doing the same thing they’ve been doing for 30 years.

Two recent developments will force the ad industry to democratize RW radio. Push it.

certainot

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 12, 2020 · 8:12 PM PST

2020/11/12 · 20:12

Whatever Trump is planning, talk radio is his only unique advantage. He is the talk radio president. He’s using it to sell the lies about stealing elections and voter fraud, he is using it to mobilize his base, to keep Republican senators in line, and excuse his criminality.

As long as Democrats don’t respond to Republican talk radio it will continue to enable him.

If you want Republican politicians to cry uncle and sweep Trump under the rug, threaten to destroy their locally-coordinated talk radio messaging advantage.

Artificial intelligence and Limbaugh’s impending death make the end the 30 year rain of lies inevitable but the process can be speeded up. Good things can happen if activists, progressive groups, and/or the Democratic Party begin or even merely signal an effort to digitize, monitor, and fact check talk radio content.

Here is a simple summary for small scale transcription of talk radio and here’s and example with details of using it in a previous diary.

And here is a proposal outline for large scale digitizing and monitoring of political talk radio just posted:

Outline for large scale digitizing, transcribing, and monitoring of Republican talk radio

If you want a more progressive Democratic Party, stop ignoring a few hundred ignorant racist Trumpers on 1500 radio stations telling tens of millions of Americans every week that COVID and global warming are hoaxes used by Democrats to pass a socialist agenda and you’re communist for supporting Black Lives Matter and single payer. Identifying and quantifying the lies and distortions will allow progressives to discredit constant efforts to paint them as ‘out of the mainstream’ by other Democrats and media.

Two reasons why the advertising industry will have to break up Republican talk radio

1 — Artificial intelligence — Advances in artificial intelligence make it faster, easier, and cheaper to accurately transcribe talk radio, with little or no actual listening required. Every advertiser and university and professional sports team that broadcasts on those stations can be directly associated with the content they are helping to sponsor. They all share responsibility for the Trump and COVID disasters and whatever happens in the transition to the Biden Harris administration. Digitizing and monitoring talk radio will force them to own that responsibility.

The Republican talk radio monopoly does not reflect American demand for the hate and lies, it broadcasts hate and lies. It may appeal to certain human fears and instincts but it is primarily a propaganda operation that relies on large scale unchallenged repetition to audiences that are often captive. Radio advertising companies will have to begin asking advertisers if they actually support Trump and the hate, lies, and ignorance — or risk losing them. When actual demand is finally applied to Republican talk radio it will fall apart.

2 — Limbaugh is on the way out — Rush Limbaugh has recently announced that his lung cancer is terminal. The Republican talk radio monopoly was built around him. His neighbor and golf partner Trump needs him. No existing talk show host can attract the advertising revenue he could to those 600 radio stations, which include many of the loudest stations in the country. Nor can any of them lead Republican messaging like he has for 30 years. Radio station owners of 600 Limbaugh stations will want different replacements and his disappearance will also present them with the opportunity to change programming altogether.

The advertising industry wants the tens of millions of ears those radio stations reach.

Are Limbaugh’s absences for treatment already affecting advertising?
Are Limbaugh’s loyal listeners going to keep listening? If so, to who?
Are advertisers already wanting discounts for Limbaugh’s inferior substitutes?
How are station owners reacting to Limbaugh’s absences and the prospect of his continued deterioration until he has to give up?
How will the advertising industry and station owners replace the lost revenue?

If those and many other related questions are not already being addressed can a few press releases stimulate those and other discussions among industry analysts and writers?

Previous boycotts targeting Limbaugh have sensitized the advertising industry to future activism

Limbaugh would not have called COVID a hoax if it wasn’t coordinated with Trump. When Trump told him to call it a hoax (used by Democrats to sell big government socialist solutions) did he also tell Limbaugh that he had been briefed that it was a lot worse than the common flu, capable of killing millions? Media needs to ask that question.

Those radio stations are licensed to operate in the public interest. Station owners, staff, and hosts can defend their support for Trump and Republicans as free speech. However, in following the Limbaugh/Trump lead most of the talk show hosts on those stations also called COVID a hoax or the common flu, attacked scientists like Fauci, and politicized mask wearing.

They, their advertisers, and more than 87 universities and dozens of professional sports teams that broadcast on those stations share responsibility for the deadly consequences of following the Limbaugh/Trump lead instead of that of the CDC and health professionals.

Artificial intelligence makes StopRush x 100 inevitable.

How important is Republican talk radio to Trump and Republicans?

Simple math: if the GOP/Trump/Koch/Putin would pay $1000 for a one hour infomercial, 1200 radio stations x 15 hrs/day are worth $90M/week or nearly $5B/year. That is essentially FREE, paid for by advertisers and ‘endorsed’ by universities and professional sports teams that broadcast sports on those stations.

Republican senators and congressmen depend heavily on their Democratic opponents ignoring their advantage and they know they will need it to excuse their actions in support of Trump. Republican politicians know how important those stations are ($75,000/station/week) for:

targeting propaganda to the state and local level (which Fox cannot do)
creating and motivating made-to-order constituencies based on unchallenged exaggerations, distortions, and lies
forcing compromise from Democratic politicians who are fooled into believing talk radio constituencies have legitimate concerns as opposed to being motivated by alternative realities

Below are 21 Limbaugh stations in Georgia that will be attacking Democratic senatorial candidates Warnock and Ossoff and helping their opponents. They all called COVID a hoax with Limbaugh, politicized mask-wearing, and opposed shutdowns. Generally it can be assumed in any state there are at least the same number of Republican radio stations that don’t feature Limbaugh.

14 of the stations listed below depend on 3 GA universities — Georgia 7, Georgia Tech 5, Georgia Southern 2, to keep broadcasting sports on them. Some are likely to also depend on professional sports to attract advertising.

_{Albany WALG 1590

Athens WGAU 1340

Atlanta WGST 640

Augusta WGAC 580

Brunswick WGIG 1440

Cairo WGRA 790

Clarksville WCHM 1490

Columbus WDAK 540

Dalton WBLJ 1230

Gainesville WDUN 550

Greensboro WDDK 103.9

Hiawassee WJUL 1230

Hogansville WVCC 720

Lakeland WVGA 105.9

Macon WMAC 940

Patterson WSGT 107.1

Rome WLAQ 1410

Royston WXFO 810

Savannah WTKS 1290

Statesboro WWNS 1240

Vidalia WVOP 970

Warrenton WGAC 93.1}

Republican talk radio cannot be ignored by a democracy that values free speech: The biggest political mistake in history. It's the radio, stupid.

Outline for large scale digitizing, transcribing, and monitoring of Republican talk radio

certainot

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 12, 2020 · 12:53 PM PST

2020/11/12 · 12:53

The outline below may be useful as a starting point for activists or organizations that might be interested in digitizing and monitoring talk radio on a large scale.

Why it’s needed

For three decades, broadcasting on hundreds of radio stations using public airwaves, political talk radio has operated as an undemocratic media monopoly that is immune to factual challenge and is practically invisible to those who don’t listen to it. It has largely escaped analysis and its effects on American media and politics are not factored.

Recently it has even been suggested that talk radio is being influenced by foreign interests, predating and now paralleling social media election interference.

A Center for American Progress study in 2007, The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio, concluded that the massive dominance/monopoly of conservative/Republican talk radio is

due to structural imbalances—not popular demand

It is a propaganda operation.

and

1,700: Number of commercial talk radio stations nationwide.
50 million: Number of listeners who tune into news/talk radio each week.

and

of the 257 news/talk stations owned by the top five commercial station owners reveals that 91 percent of the total weekday talk radio programming is conservative, and 9 percent is progressive.

Those numbers haven’t changed such since the study in 2007. 91% is a conservative estimate based on 257 stations. Estimates including larger numbers of stations puts the proportion higher.

“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.” George Bush, May 24, 2005.

Paul Matzko is the author of “The Radio Right: How a Band of Broadcasters Took on the Federal Government and Built the Modern Conservative Movement.” In a NYT Oct. 9, 2020 op ed Talk Radio Is Turning Millions of Americans Into Conservatives. The medium is at the heart of Trumpism.

Yet talk radio still somehow manages to fly below the national media radar. In large part, that is because media consumption patterns are segregated by class. If you visit a carpentry shop or factory floor, or hitch a ride with a long-haul truck driver, odds are that talk radio is a fixture of the aural landscape. But many white-collar workers, journalists included, struggle to understand the reach of talk radio because they don’t listen to it, and don’t know anyone who does.

Moreover, anyone who wants to make an effort to understand talk radio runs into a barrier immediately: Because of the ocean of content, one must listen to it at great length, a daunting task for anyone not already sympathetic with a host’s conservative views. The time commitment suggests the depth of listener loyalty.

If you have an interest in monitoring talk radio on a local or small scale (in the state of Georgia, or the country of Georgia) this previous diary might help. Or here is a shorter version at fakenewsradio.org.

The outline below suggests opportunities for software developers with respect to automating the recording, transcription, analysis, and presentation of talk radio content in forms that can be analyzed.

The outline was adapted from a crowdfunding campaign I was thinking about but decided against. I couldn’t get past the social media, ‘perks’, and communication required.

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Using artificial intelligence to monitor political talk radio

Goals:

Record selected samples of political talk radio shows.
Transcribe those recordings. Artificial intelligence now allows much faster and more accurate transcription. A few years ago that would have been too expensive and time consuming.
Use modern text analysis tools to analyze those transcriptions to identify and quantify patterns and repetition.
Rank and publish the most repeated names, issues, topics, memes, etc., of national, and where possible, local interest.
Develop methods and software to help individuals and organizations automate the recording, transcription, and analysis of talk radio content they may be interested in.
Explore possibilities for altering transcriptions so they can be made available for public research interest.
Help social media companies identify foreign political interference that may correlate with talk radio repetition. Identification of interference in one medium may help identify and predict interference in the other
If there is interest, spin off for-profit monitoring services for political, media, advertising interests, etc.
Assist where developed methods and software may be useful in other countries.
Encourage software developers to facilitate the monitoring of talk radio content.

Individuals and organizations interested in results and/or related software may include:

political candidates and organizations and their supporters
news and media organizations and researchers
academic
social media companies looking for foreign interference and trolling operations
institutional and think tank researchers in political science, media, business
the advertising industry
polling companies

Selection of stations and shows

Radio stations and talk shows to be sampled will be influenced by size of audience, geographical importance and signal reach, political importance, location and timing of events, funding, and similar factors.

A few major national hosts dominate hundreds of major stations and influence and enforce opinions of local hosts on national and local issues and events. High levels of repetition are expected and will allow extrapolation to reduce sampling.

Of particular interest will be repetition of disinformation that relates to recent and current events with political implications, such as primaries and elections, and important issues. Political campaigns may want to monitor an opponent’s use of talk radio.

Transcriptions could be searched for candidate names and particular issues. Political campaigns and supporters may want to respond to attacks and factual errors by calling shows or alerting local media.

National: Monitoring of influential national talk shows, some continuously and some periodically and/or randomly.

For example, 10 national shows x 3 hours/show x 5 days = 150 hours x $5/hour = $750/week x 4 weeks = $3,000/month or $36,000/year.

Local: Initial sampling of small numbers of local shows and stations. Local shows generally include more apolitical programming than national shows. The number and location of those shows sampled (city, state) will shift depending on newsworthy events. As funding increases more monitoring can be added.

For example, 1 station x 2 selected hours/day x 5 days = 10hours/week x $5/hour = $50/week/station, or $200/month/station. Any combination of 20 local talk shows or stations or states = $4,000/month or $48,000/year.

Local monitoring can be reduced after facilitating software has been developed and made available to political campaigns and their supporters.

Equipment and expenses would include:

software
hardware
internet access
transcription of 1000s of hours at $5/hr and under
text analysis
data storage
software development
legal and technical consulting
related infrastructure and human resource costs

Transcription

Commercially available transcription services have approached under $5/hr. Services could be selected for accuracy, speed, and cost as well as ease of use relative to data storage and transfer, and ease of integration into text analysis.

What are hundreds of radio stations saying about your favorite candidates?

Are your candidate's opponents and their representatives getting free time on radio shows? What are they saying to those audiences? What is that worth as political advertising? Can what they say be used by your candidate in political advertisements or debates? Are hosts and callers repeating mischaracterizations, exaggerations, and disproven rumors about political candidates? Are callers repeating the same lies on different radio shows in different states?

What are radio hosts/stations saying about issues such as:

global warming
COVID 19, mask-wearing, shutdowns
use of US military
election interference and contested results
national and local emergencies
health care reform
media reform
election reform
racism
immigration
protests and protestors
supreme court nominees

Are foreign interests using US political talk radio?

Is it possible for foreign interests to use political talk radio to inject disinformation and influence perception of political events and issues in the US? Are foreign interests calling and emailing shows and using other methods to influence hosts who reach millions of listeners?

How does talk radio repetition correspond with foreign interference on social media, and can it be used to identify such interference?

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These and other questions cannot be answered without monitoring political talk radio.

This recent diary might help:

The biggest political mistake in history. It's the radio, stupid.

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