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No one I know listens to WHO-radio, the 50,000 watt station in Des Moines that broadcasts multiple hours daily of right wing talk. At 50,000 watts, WHO reaches the entire state and beyond, using the publicly owned airwaves to basically saturate the state in right wing talk. Obviously, a whole bunch of Iowans are listening. Unfortunately, they are getting garbage delivered into their homes, kitchens, cars and garages via the good old-fashioned radio.
There are local commercial am radio stations all around the state that also broadcast multiple hours a day of twisted ideas, distortions, conspiracy theories and hate directed at democrats, immigrants, minorities and others. Their programming includes national syndicated “conservative” or “controversial” talk radio hosts, “conservative” and “controversial” being code words among talk radio seekers for right wing talkers.
It’s hard to listen. So we ignore it. Back in the day when there was an active national media reform movement, about 20 years ago, I tried to tune in periodically so that I could write about what they were saying, but I couldn’t take it for longer than 2-3 minutes. It truly makes you feel crazy. The word gaslighting is the popular vernacular for what they do.
It’s like we know the propaganda is there because we hear about it, but we don’t experience it first hand, because we don’t listen to it, so we tend to underestimate its power to warp minds. It’s one thing to hear about it, but it’s another thing entirely to actually listen while it is being broadcast conversationally on your local radio dial. I have long felt the right wing talk radio stations in Iowa are a primary reason why Iowa (and other rural states) lost its way. Radio creates communities of true believers, ties that bind.
Chuck Grassley clearly understands the importance to Republicans of being permitted to broadcast right wing propaganda over the publicly owned airwaves. grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-asks-fcc-chairman-clarify-fairness-doctrine-statements
Someone told an anecdote recently about growing up on a farm in rural Iowa. He said every day you would come in from the fields at noon to eat “dinner” and listen to the farm report on the radio. Later, when he had grown up and left home, the stations were sold and turned into talk radio stations, but his parents and other farmers just kept tuning in out of habit.
This week Robert Leonard wrote about it on his Substack Deep Midwest Politics and Culture and described what was being said on the air about the events in Minneapolis. I appreciate him doing this because I cannot, and we need to be reminded what is out there influencing minds, through our media. We need to address this serious problem that has been hidden in plain sight for decades.
Here is an excerpt from Robert Leonard’s Substack post. He attended the protest of Trump’s visit Tuesday and reported on it. Give him a follow. He is an independent thinker who doesn’t tend to use cliches, talking points or media narratives in his writing. He writes about things others aren’t writing about.
“On the way to Clive, I turned on WHO-radio to hear what was on the minds of the MAGA crowd, something I do at least once a day. The hosts of the show were pretty much talking about the battle of Minneapolis, where organized gangs of paid communists and socialist protestors were impeding the efforts of good law enforcement officers as they tried to arrest violent illegal “aliens” (yes, we are back to that unfortunate word) who were ravaging the city. Democrats are seeking to destroy our country, and the “patriots” listening need to prepare for civil war.
They told us that Trump had to stand strong, and maybe come in even harsher, because if Trump and ICE retreated from Minneapolis, the city would fall, with other cities soon to follow.”
Yes, many Iowans listen to this made up crazy talk every day and live by it. Just in case you were wondering why our electeds feel so confident nothing can ever hurt their electoral chances. The right wing media in Iowa has their back. newyorker.com/news/campaign-chronicles/the-power-of-political-disinformation-in-iowa
But recently, it seems like the truth is breaking through, somehow. It may be the blatant lying over the airwaves is losing its power. All things must pass, after all.
There were many more protesters that greeted Trump in Clive Tuesday than supporters. That’s what the media should be calling a seismic political shift in Iowa.
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