It really is that simple. By not beginning to look for apolitical alternatives to broadcast sports on the 87 universities listed below continue to attract community credibility and advertising revenue to help fund global warming denial on 260 major Republican talk radio stations featuring Limbaugh, reaching tens of millions of Americans every day.
When the radio talkers on those stations are not actually denying the impending climate catastrophe and attacking activists like Greta Thunberg they are working to elect and reelect Republicans and delay action.
I lived in Australia for 5 years and camped and dove on the Great Barrier Reef. It is really fucked up that these universities continue to allow themselves to be used to support global warming denial.
And it is really fucked up for the major environmental organizations to keep taking donations but do nothing about this idiocy. They’re wasting resources by ignoring it.
It is a survival issue, not a matter of free speech and political opinion. As long as those stations maintain 100% pro-Republican political content and science denial those schools have no excuse not to start looking for apolitical alternatives. As long as they ignore this issue they continue to support this Republican insanity.
Most if not all of those 260 stations had been broadcasting university sports long before they were taken over and turned into a racist science-denying megaphones for the right wing of the GOP. It’s as if the KKK bought those stations years ago and universities stayed on them. They need to reassess those relationships and do the right thing ASAP.
Those talk show hosts still have the freedom to be as stupid as they want to be about the climate crisis but that doesn’t mean those universities have to keep attracting advertisers to pay for that suicidal stupidity.
Many of those stations are among the loudest radio stations in their states. With few exceptions the talk hosts scheduled before and after Limbaugh on those stations either ignore and downplay the climate emergency or actively deny it, following Limbaugh’s lead. If the issue comes up and they don’t deny they and station management are at risk to screaming from dittohead/teabag/trumper callers accusing them of falling for the ‘Leftist’ environmentalist propaganda. Those radio stations also give time on their shows to professional deniers sent out by fossil fuels-friendly think tanks. At the least they are 100% partisan Republican radio stations dedicated to electing more politicians who deny, push fossil fuels-friendly legislation, and fight legislation and politicians favoring action.
As explained in a previous diary, years of low level activism in and around the University of Colorado may have forced long-time Colorado Limbaugh mega-station KOA in Denver to choose between CU football and Limbaugh, and KOA made the ‘wise’/necessary choice. KOA also broadcasts Broncos and Rockies. Outside of the climate issue, maybe KOA also wanted to avoid a public debate on the absurdity of black athletes being used to support racist Republican rants about kneeling black athletes being unpatriotic.
On his Monday Dec 23 show Limbaugh proudly played a recording of him telling a conference of young conservatives “global warming is a hoax!”.
And he called 16 yo Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg a tool of the ‘Left’:
Limbaugh Dec 23, 2019
It's a favored tactic of the left to use people with disabilities in television commercials for Democrat candidates, and they can say whatever they want. They can lie through their teeth, they can read whatever has been written for them, and they're unassailable because they are disabled, and no amount of criticism of disabled people is permitted in the Drive-By Media.
That’s how Limbaugh can call Greta a leftist tool and liar selling the ‘socialist communist assault on capitalism and the American way of life’ and generate threats without actually asking for them. No Republican politician or talk radio show host or media hack on Fox can admit we have a climate emergency without dittoheads screaming at them.
That is how the king of ‘political correctness!’ accusers imposes political correctness on a large segment of the US.
Endorsed by at least 87 universities, listed below.
If selling global warming denial and delaying action by policing and electing sycophant Republicans was worth $1000 for a one hour radio infomercial then 1200 Republican radio stations x 15 hours/day are worth nearly $5BIL to the fossil fuels industry every year — for the last 30 years.
The 260 stations those universities endorse are worth $1BIL/year in global warming denial.
And unless Dr Fiona Hill is an idiot those stations are working for Russian oil and gas interests too.
Students at those universities can protest inaction on climate change right on campus. And leadership in the Democratic Party and progressive organizations need to stop ignoring this irresponsible absurdity. How many donations is ignoring Republican talk radio worth?
$1000 for a 1 hour infomercial x 15 hours/day = $15,000/station/day x 5 days = $75,000/station/week supporting Trump and the Trump sycophants in the congress and senate, keeping Trump in office, and delaying action on global warming. The number after the university is the number of Limbaugh stations it supports/endorses. They may also support other Republican radio stations that don’t headline Limbaugh but are also dedicated to delaying climate action.
Is this stupid, or what?
Florida 10 (sinking into the ocean, helping elect GOP reps like Matt Gaetz),
Georgia 7 (endorsing voter suppression and electing Doug Collins),
Illinois 7,
Michigan St 11 + Michigan 7 = 18! (hello Michael Moore! someone tell him GOTV isn’t the only thing that can keep Trump from a second term),
Nth Carolina 8,
Oregon St 7,
Penn St 11 (base for climate scientist Michael Mann),
and a bunch more like Ohio St at 6 and 5. Those universities are having a huge negative impact in their states. And that’s just Limbaugh stations.
ALABAMA 8 $600,000 Auburn 3, Alabama 2, Southern Alabama 2, Troy 1
ARIZONA 1 $75,000 Arizona St. 1
ARKANSAS 3 $225,000 Arkansas 3
CALIFORNIA 5 $375,000 San Jose State 2, USC 2, Fresno St. 1
COLORADO 3 $225,000 Air Force 2, Colorado State 1
CONNECTICUT 1 $75,000 Connecticut 1
FLORIDA 20 $1,500,000 Florida 10, Florida St. 4 Miami 2, South Florida 2, Central Florida 2
GEORGIA 14 $1,050,000 Georgia 7, Georgia Tech 5, Georgia Southern 2
IDAHO 7 $525,000 Boise St. 4, Idaho 3
ILLINOIS 7 $525,000 Illinois 7
INDIANA 11 $825,000 Notre Dame 6, Purdue 4, Indiana 1
IOWA 5 $375,000 Iowa 4, Iowa St. 1
KANSAS 4 $300,000 Kansas St. 2, Kansas 1, Wichita St. 1
KENTUCKY 3 $225,000 Louisville 2, Kentucky 1
LOUSIANA 3 $225,000 LSU 2, La.-Monroe 1
MARYLAND 2 $150,000 Maryland 2
MASSACHUSETTS 1 $75,000 Boston College 1
MICHIGAN 19 $1,425,000 Michigan St. 11, Michigan 7, Western Michigan 1
MINNESOTA 4 $300,000 Minnesota 4
MISSISSIPPI 6 $450,000 Mississippi St. 3, Mississippi 2, Southern Miss 1
MISSOURI 6 $450,000 Missouri 6
NEBRASKA 6 $450,000 Nebraska 6
NEVADA 1 $75,000 Nevada 1
NEW JERSEY 2 $150,000 Rutgers 1, Seton Hall 1
NEW MEXICO 3 $225,000 New Mexico 2, New Mexico St. 1
NEW YORK 7 $525,000 Syracuse 6, Army 1
NORTH CAROLINA 16 $1,200,000 North Carolina 8, North Carolina State 3, Duke 3, East Carolina 2
OHIO 10 $750,000 Ohio St. 6, Toledo 1, Dayton 1, Bowling Green 1, Xavier 1
OKLAHOMA 5 $375,000 Oklahoma St. 3, Oklahoma 1, Oral Roberts 1
OREGON 12 $900,000 Oregon St. 7, Oregon 5
PENNSYLVANIA 14 $1,050,000 Penn St. 11, Pittsburgh 2, Temple 1
SOUTH CAROLINA 4 $300,000 South Carolina 2, Clemson 2
TENNESSEE 7 $525,000 Tennessee 4, Memphis 3
TEXAS 16 $1,200,000 Texas A&M 9, Texas Tech 4, Texas 1, Texas Christian 1, Baylor 1
UTAH 1 $75,000 Utah St. 1
VIRGINIA 6 $450,000 Virginia Tech 5, Virginia 1
WASHINGTON 6 $450,000 Washington 5, Washington St. 1
WEST VIRGINIA 2 $150,000 West Virginia 1, Marshall 1
WISCONSIN 3 $225,000 Wisconsin 3
How protests at 87 universities can start a cascade that will force the GOP to dump Trump