The “Off” Button
Every radio I have ever seen comes equipped with an “Off” button. The off button is especially useful on the AM frequencies, although you and your children’s ears may not be entirely safe in the FM spectrum either.
Every radio I have ever seen comes equipped with an “Off” button. The off button is especially useful on the AM frequencies, although you and your children’s ears may not be entirely safe in the FM spectrum either.
If one wants to hear many sides to a story, that listener often says that they listen to AM radio. Some critics call AM radio—talk radio—the pulse of the nation. That frightens and even offends me. The blather one hears spewing from talk show hosts, local and nationally syndicated, I sincerely hope does not have the rhythm of the heart beat of this city, this state, and this nation. Too often, however, when hosts decide that they know more than their prospective audience, they utter the most awful things.
Local radio should, indeed, reflect the community it serves, but its standards should be high. Broadcasting on KLBJ hit a new low with the “Todd and Don” show. Co-host Todd Jefferies should know better as the radio station’s news director. Journalists should do more than Mr. Jeffries did in trying to throttle Don Pryor’s recent racial slurs on the air. I do hope that the two will learn something during their reported two-week suspension without pay announced today (Wednesday, July 15, 2009). Too bad they cannot connect with the past.
KLBJ AM’s standards are historically high. I know. I was KLBJ AM & FM’s first news director after the Johnson family sold KTBC TV to the Los Angeles Times Mirror Corporation in the early 1970’s. Lady Bird Johnson was still very much in the picture. General Manager J.C. Kellam, for whom the administration building at Texas State University is named, demanded the very best. I remember sitting in Mr. Kellam’s office as a 24-year-old news director, learning from the very best. Mr. Kellam and Mrs. Johnson would have been outraged with this kind of talk on their air. Apparently, current owners, Emmis feels much the same, having slapped the talk show hosts with unpaid suspensions.
True, broadcasting has changed in these past 35 or so years. Deregulation under Ronald Reagan resulted in fewer and fewer stations doing serious radio news. Many stations turned to talk formats. Music had moved to the FM dial, and talk was cheap. Talk was cheap, but it didn’t and doesn’t mean that talk is good. During these 35 years, another kind of broadcaster came along both at the local and national level, one who could create conflict and controversy, one who didn’t care about ethics or good taste so long as it created an audience. This broadcaster has no roots, no depth, no perspective. Just chatter. This broadcaster sickens me.
It is time to use the “off” button. Deprive them of the audience, and they will go away. KUT-FM is a good alternative.
© Jim McNabb, 2009