Except for the early hours of the profanity-laced, adolescent drivel of the Bob & Tom Show
it would be difficult to distinguish the daytime programming of WGBF-AM Radio from the propaganda machine of the Bolshevik revolution or a seven-hour infomercial for the Republican Party.
A carefully selected trifecta of conservative radio programs highlights the salient notion that WGBF is not interested in serving the public interest in the traditional sense, but instead to exploit, for a profit, the Evansville airwaves with a steady stream of political and personal innuendo, hearsay, ridicule, and a masterful use of the pejorative. This vitriol aimed at an ambiguous group collectively labeled as Liberals with the ease and comfort Joseph McCarthy labeled people as Communists.
Prior to the Reagan years it would have been outrageous for a radio station to promote, let alone brazenly market, a single political ideology on publically owned airwaves because of a provision, named the Fairness Doctrine, contained in the 1934 Communication Act, which simply stated: In order to receive and retain broadcast licenses, radio stations would have to be balanced in their presentation of political issues.
In 1959, Congress again confirmed that the Fairness Doctrine was an integral part of the Communications Act of 1934.
Then came the Reagan administration and a subsequent ruling by Judge Robert Bork declaring that the Fairness Doctrine was not an integral part of the 1934 Act. In 1987 both houses of Congress countered and passed the Fairness Doctrine, but it was vetoed by President Reagan and for all intents and purposes is no longer enforced, creating an environment where publicly owned airwaves can be used to promote a single political ideology at the expense of the community.
Ironically, the most vociferous proponents of the Fairness Doctrine were conservatives, feeling that the media was too liberal, including Jesse Helms, Reed Irvine, Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich, and religous broadcasters. But since the gain in ratings and increased influence of conservative talk radio, these leaders
reversed their stance, creating an environment that has woefully exacerbated the lack of civility that has wholly encompassed the political process.
At the base of the problem is a FCC that has an inexplicable disdain for revoking a broadcaster's license. Short of fraud or other serious legal infractions, the likelihood of a broadcaster losing its license in the current climate is remote. Until a successful legal challenge enjoins the Federal Communications Commission to enforce the Fairness Doctrine, the conservative talk radio crowd will continue to spew its blatantly partisan blather across the public airwaves.
Of course, everyone is guaranteed his or her political opinion, but the collective conservative talk-radio voice should embrace its own ideas of anti-government, anti-welfare, and steadfast, rugged independence ..and voice their political beliefs.....on their own nickle, and not the public airwaves.
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