FAIRNESS DOCTRINE REDUX

Sen Stabenow is married to a big executive behind Democracy Radio and Air America--Tom Athans--yet the conflict of interest doesn't phase her a bit when she makes this declaration to Bill Press about bringing back the Fairness Doctrine for talk radio.

Her idiocy is palpable in this interview, along with the ninny Bill Press, as usual. These people are admitting that the reason liberal whine radio doesn't succeed is because owners can't make money off of that programming, yet talk earnestly about legislating a different result! How can congress MAKE us like the format enough to make the radio owners realize a profit from it for the first time?

Indeed, even the nationally-syndicated liberal answer to Rush Limbaugh-Air America-has even failed, filing bankruptcy papers a couple of years ago. Seems that no one likes the message they're selling. On the other hand, Rush has been making great radio profits for 21 years now, and enjoys the fruits of his success: he just completed 10 years straight of making 10 million dollars a year in salary alone!

But that's where the rub is. They can't make a program to even compete against Rush, Tammy Bruce, Ingraham, Levin, Beck, Boortz, (the late) David Brudnoy, Hannity, Savage, Bill Bennet, or most of the other political talk hosts, so what do they do? They SABOTAGE the entire format, making the Rush's have to go underground to deliver their goods anymore.

How will the Fairness Doctrine and Stabenow accomplish this sabotage? By making a law that all radio station owners must play equal hourly amounts of any political program from its competing party. The owner will try to fill equal hours in a day for which he ran Rush & Hannity, only to find that not only will no local businesses want to hang their name on that nasty program of the Left's, but that the station is beginning to loose popularity among the community.

The result will be that the station owner says, "Screw it, I'll play music on my radio station." The talk radio format dies, along with it the only broadcast medium for conservative vewpoints, due to the Fairness Doctrine.

Even before I sold radio for a living, I knew the truth of what I've just said. Selling radio only confirmed it. Too bad that Senators like Stabenow can't figure that out. Maybe then the Left wouldn't have to resort to Stalinistic approaches to free speech anymore.