Progressive Talkers Talk about Radio in Iowa
by Paul Deaton“When the market is determined by
the ideologues driving Washington politics, the notion that the playing
field is level for everyone is a delusion. In radio’s case, when the 'fairness doctrine' went out the window, so did our hope for diversity
on the public radio spectrum and the ability to compete on a level
playing field“
Last
week, Blog for Iowa’s Trish Nelson and Dave Bradley appeared on 98.3
WOW-FM’s The Fallon Forum to discuss the dominance of the conservative
viewpoint on talk radio in Iowa. If the callers disagreed with our view,
(and they did) they also created a discussion that is worth hearing. If
you missed the program, it is available on podcast
here. We recommend you give it a listen, or check out last
Thursday’s post on the topic
here. One of Blog for Iowa’s recurring themes has been the changes fostered by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, one of which was the elimination of the “fairness doctrine” that required a balancing of messages on the public air waves. The telecommunications act created the environment for conservative talk radio to dominate the radio spectrum. Some say the market should determine what is heard on radio.
When the market is determined by the ideologues driving Washington politics, the notion that the playing field is level for everyone is a delusion. In radio’s case, when the “fairness doctrine” went out the window, so did our hope for diversity on the public radio spectrum and the ability to compete on a level playing field with moneyed interests like Clear Channel.
Buried in the caller’s statements on Thursday was the notion of marketplace and a concept one caller called “market justice.” The idea is that the market will determine what is heard. Dave and Trish mentioned that it is often the editorial policy of a radio station or its owners that determines what is heard. Market justice reflects a view that is truncated from the reality of who controls the message in modern radio.
The fact that so many radio stations are owned by a few companies tends to smooth out the message to make it more uniform across the country. Dave Bradley pointed out that “if you only have one product to sell, that’s what is probably going to be bought.” In Iowa, 98.3 WOW-FM is one of a very small number of stations airing progressive talk, so conservative talk is what people are likely to hear when listening to the talk radio. By airing nationally syndicated shows, the radio station managers can focus on selling advertising instead of content, and this has to be better for their bottom line. The idea of fairness, does not enter into the equation any longer.
Blog for Iowa will continue to beat the drum for diversity and fairness on the publicly owned radio spectrum. Our hope is that Low Power FM stations will be an inroad into the radio market. Time will tell on that. We will continue to try to get our viewpoint out into the sea of conservative talk. What we often forget is that there is an alternative viewpoint. Blog for Iowa views our mission as being to get that viewpoint out there.
~Paul
Deaton is a native Iowan living in rural Johnson County and weekend
editor of Blog for Iowa. E-mail Paul
Deaton
Blog For Iowa 