Talk Radio’s Unpatriotic AirwavesBy Kevin Ross
On KRLA AM 870, a Salem Network talk station broadcasting from Glendale, the day kicks off with Bill Bennett, followed by Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, and Dennis Miller. Kevin James rounds out the evening.
Aside from the fact that each of these individuals is unabashedly conservative, they also have something else in common. All of them are men. White men!
Switch over to Southern California’s number one talk station, powerhouse KFI AM 640, and the Monday through Friday line-up is slightly more “balanced”. George Noury begins at midnight. Next up is Bill Handel’s morning drive, then the political musings of Rush Limbaugh. John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou pick up the torch during afternoon drive before former MTV personality Kennedy and Brian Suits close it out.
Although all the personalities are Caucasian, only one woman - Kennedy - is prominently featured on the roster. The no-nonsense advice from Dr. Laura Schlesinger is gone after nearly two decades.
Travel across town to rival KABC AM 790 and you’ll find the L.A. station that invented the all-talk radio format almost fifty years ago also has a white male weekday lead host in every one of its time slots. This is a far cry from when Joe Ortiz in 1971 became the first Mexican American in US history to conduct a talk show on an English-language, commercial radio station on KABC.
Up until last year, The Citadel owned outlet was home to nationally syndicated host Larry Elder.
Known as the “Sage of South Central”, Elder’s conservative Libertarian opinions were espoused three and sometimes four hours a day on the station for 15 years. In fact KABC, which also owned KMPC AM 710 The Zone before it became Radio Disney and later ESPN, had at one point six black talk show hosts on two stations as part of its line-up in the late 90’s.
Elder was among them. He was not only the most successful, but also the most controversial for what many believed were “anti-black” views.
For now, however, only civil rights attorney Leo Terrell is on the air at KABC. His show relegated to Sunday evenings. KFI has African American financial advisor Charles Payne, from 2-4 on Saturdays. Other people of color need not apply.
ALL WHITE, ALL THE TIME
This "preference for white" in Los Angeles, the second largest media market in the country behind New York, is nothing new. With Elder’s continued absence, however, the racial disparities now go beyond jarring. Of the five remaining talk outlets, not one has a Native American, Latino, or African American holding court on the dial during the week.
In fact, all the data suggests that not one Asian has EVER regularly hosted a talk show on an English-language station in Southern California.
Up until very recently this year, there were 46 individuals being given incredible opportunities to make hordes of cash and hold sway over public opinions on the issues facing the nation.
Of the cast of characters, 37 were white men, mostly over 40, and frequently accused of demagoguery. White women make up the rest, equally split in terms of their political ideology and two not sharing top billing with their male co-host.
The CBS owned KLSX 97.1 was on the FM dial. Also lacking in the diversity area, that station is officially dead, having been replaced with Top 40, which ironically, is very diverse.
When President Barack Obama talked about change coming to America on the campaign trial, was this one of the examples he was referring to?
Most answers come hastily with a resounding yes.
But this issue is not just a West Coast phenomenon. Across the country, public financed and privately held stations are banishing minorities to the unemployment line in favor of nationally syndicated hosts like Sean Hannity and Mark Levin.
According to the blog Urban Radio Nation, the only black talk radio stations in the United States are WVON Chicago; WURD Philadelphia; CBS Radio's WAOK in Atlanta and Radio One's WOL in DC, WOLB in Baltimore and WERE in Cleveland.
Journalist Michael Meyers, Executive Director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition, actually began tabulating and analyzing radio stations' managers' responses to an employment survey of non-white talk show hosts in the Big Apple eight years ago. "The facts are that AM Talk radio stations all around the country have and continue to broadcast only whites," asserted Meyers.
"The results of the survey surprised us," he continued, "because of the stated and/or assumed emphasis on diversity in other media such as TV and newspapers. There are, for example, non-white journalists, columnists and editorial staff/ board members at every daily newspaper in New York; and there are non-white talk show hosts, anchors, and commentators on TV.”
Well, that was until the Tribune’s, McClatchy’s and News Corps’ started letting these individuals go as they attempt to weather bankruptcy, or write-downs of $21.7 million and $6.4 billion respectively.
Is it any wonder then that Meyers’ findings continue to fall on deaf ears? Flagrant discrimination based on race on the airwaves still exists even as America pats itself on the back for electing the nation’s first African American president.
Moreover, on-air diversity is actually receding, with many in the industry concluding that it doesn't matter if the ring leader rocking the microphone is of the same gender and race time and time again.But others are now pointing to signs that terrestrial radio’s undisputed reign may be waning, especially in a fast-changing world full of rivals like iPods, satellite radio and ever burgeoning Internet radio outlets such as Blogtalkradio.
BLAME IT ON THE ECONOMY
Per 2008 revenues, terrestrial radio is a $15 billion dollar a year hustle. And yet for many, radio is a bad business to be in right now. The industry has suffered its worst decline since 1954, its eighth consecutive “struggling” year.
ABC News puts it all in context. “The radio industry, just like newspapers and books and other forms of media, is facing an unprecedented financial crunch. Radio advertising revenue dropped by 9 percent in the third quarter of 2008 compared with the same period in the previous year, and many radio companies are saddled with huge amounts of debt.
As a result, more stations are turning to syndicated programming. Radio stations typically can broadcast syndicated shows at no cost; they just have to allow a distributor to sell some of the commercials on the show. In some cases, it's cheaper for a station to air syndicated programming than to hire a local talk show host.”
That may be a wise strategy, but a heavy focus on national shows creates another problem: The next generation of on-air personalities won't have the opportunity to learn their craft at radio stations if there are no on-air shifts for them to take.
Media giant Clear Channel Communications, which owns more than 1,200 US radio stations including KFI, is actually down-sizing.
The company recently laid-off 9 percent of its employees. Of those 1,850 workers, comprised of radio personalities and executives, few will be able to find jobs in an industry that will likely see even deeper cuts unless the economy rebounds by the third quarter of 2009.
At a 52-week high of $25.69, Clear Channel’s shares are currently hovering around $5.00 and there are whispers that the mega-conglomerate is headed for bankruptcy.
Other radio stocks are also performing horribly. Regent Communications sank 94% to 9 cents last year, and Citadel dropped 92% to 16 cents a share (currently it’s at 6 cents). According to Reuters, the rest of the carnage looks like this: Emmis Communications down 91%, Entercom off 90%, Salem Communications down 89%, Radio One off 81%, Cumulus Media down 79%, Saga Communications down 72%, Beasley Broadcast off 64% and Cox Radio down 51%.
Then there's the matter of precedent. Radio stations have never really embraced diversity. And without much sustained outcry from civil rights groups or the Federal Communications Commission, these outlets have absolutely no incentive to do so now.
In California, for instance, Tavis Smiley is the only minority in the state with an English language nationally syndicated talk radio show. Smiley, a popular African American author and PBS television personality who is also a KABC alum, lives in Los Angeles along with his contemporaries such as CNN’s Larry King, formerly of KGIL, and Adam Corolla, formally of KLSX, who is now podcasting via the Web. Despite the odds, Smiley broke through and is succeeding with aplomb.
This racial gerrymandering is not simply limited to on-air talent. The only discernible nonwhite employees in KFI’s news department, judging by the station’s web page, are Asian anchor Ginger Chan and Latina Editor Karla Marquez.
The rest of the 15 member crew is completely white, with 6 of them being female. While producer Ray Lopez of the John and Ken show is Latino, there are likely few, if any, other minority producers employed. Veteran radio talent Mark Austin Thomas, who is African American, was recently added to helm the on-air news department at KABC.
For most, particularly women of color, the glass ceiling is showing no signs of breaking. The recent cancellation of LA based NPR’s News & Notes with Farai Chideya (a black female national host) due to financial constraints was one small crack that was quickly sealed.
That leaves Dominique DiPrima of the Stevie Wonder owned Adult Contemporary station 102.3 FM KJLH. DiPrima offers up daily talk from 4:30-6:00 am before the all music format kicks in. Although with a much more limited reach, Bobbi Howe at 1460 AM KTYM also has a daily program on the gospel station.
With that being as good as it gets, is it any wonder why the political commentary or pop culture discussions that play out on cable news or the Sunday political shows tend to only reflect the views of a segment of the majority?
Could this further explain the recent controversy over BMW automotive company’s 'Non Urban Dictate' policy? Sure, there may be legitimate reasons for businesses not using print or electronic “urban” media outlets. It may be that Blacks don't index high in certain categories or that a company's strategy is to market to this niche down the road after they have established a strong position in their primary target.
But, NUD usually means that a company is not interested in the Black consumer. And much of this could be attributable to the media entities themselves.
DON IMUS WAS GONE… AND THEN POOF, HE WAS THERE AGAIN
When acerbic radio personality Don Imus created the “nappy-headed ho’” firestorm after his 2007 comments about Rutgers women’s basketball team sparked universal outrage, mainstream media was suddenly looking for insight from self-appointed and elected black leaders. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, who himself has a syndicated program, mentioned that political talk shows don't have minorities as their main hosts, (para) "It's all white… all night."
Those partial comments came on the heels of MSNBC snatching Imus from his morning cable show and then teeing up possible replacements. As J.C “Fanz23” Lewis, Jr of the Black conservative blog “Keeping it Right” pointed out, KABC’s Elder was given the opportunity to "tryout" for a week. Afterwards, no other African American was afforded the courtesy of auditioning to be a talking head. Not one.
Ultimately congressman turned media personality Joe Scarborough got the gig (along with Bill O’Reilly’s old slot on KABC) and black screenwriter John Riley became part of the morning team briefly before quickly fading off the scene.
As for Imus, he was back on the air after a year with an undisclosed financial settlement from CBS. KABC is the current radio home for the cantankerous sexagenarian, who has seen his clout and his national ratings only slightly diminish since the incident and is currently being courted by the struggling Fox Business Channel to return with his cable broadcast.
The upside is Imus now has two African American as part of his morning crew. Bravo, considering in all likelihood they would be collecting unemployment benefits alongside other black hosts who know first-hand how tough it is to land a gig in the current climate.Even at stations where non-whites are employed as talk show hosts, tokenism seems to triumph. Meyers reports states, “There may be ‘a’ black talk show host, but seldom blacks, and Latinos, and Asians among the talk show host line-ups on the stations that broadcast all-day and into the night and even into the wee hours of the morning. Whether commercially-sponsored or listener, corporate funded, these AM radio stations possibly perceive minority talk show hosts either as hard to find or not available-- or as not "as qualified" or "as entertaining" as the Caucasians they consistently employ.”
Maybe we’re overlooking a major issue. Could it be because high ratings the stations are receiving implementing this policy that justifies the status quo?
According to figures based on the Arbitron survey of listeners from June 25 through July 22, talk station KFI-AM (640) slipped from 4.6% to 4.4% and tied for second.
So there you have it.
Well, not so fast. While KFI consistently finishes far ahead of most formats, its talk rival’s numbers tell a different story. KABC-AM (790) tied for 25th, with a 1.5% audience share, while KRLA-AM (870) was 36th, KTLK-AM (1150) was 41st and KGIL-AM (1260) was 50th. This effective use of non-people of color explains why KGIL station management finally let the station flatline, immediately replacing it with a music format effective August 28.
And CBS Radio has just announced that news station KFWB will turn to a talk format come Sept. 8, recycling Schlessinger and Fox News Channel fill-in yakker Laura Ingraham, as well as adding yet another white male outside the state, Philadelphia’s Michael Smerconish.
This of course all makes sense. It’s the same argument being advanced in sports talk, where athletes of color in fields including basketball, football, baseball and soccer take center stage. For better or worse, these shows talk about these athletes, but rarely are minorities leading the discussion.
Two notable exceptions are The Michael Irvin Show, hosted by the former Dallas Cowboy star, and The 2 Live Stews, featuring Doug and Ryan Stewart. Both are intent on muscling their way onto the scene with impressive results. But these developments may not do enough to placate talk radio junkies fired up with “Yes We Can” audacity.
And their discontent will only become increasingly impolite as the simmering battle playing out between President Barack Obama and Limbaugh, gathers steam.
FAIRNESS DOCTRINE 2.0
Radio personality Bill Press has opined that the ongoing Commander in Chief versus the King of Talk slugfest is Exhibit A why Congress should re-enact the Fairness Doctrine, the federal ruling to insure that different voices are able to speak with equal force and influence on matters of public discourse. Having recently lost his syndicated spot on OBAMA AM 1260 AM in Washington D.C., here’s a recent exchange between Press and US Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI):
PRESS: Yeah, I mean, look: They have a right to say that. They’ve got a right to express that. But, they should not be the only voices heard. So, is it time to bring back the Fairness Doctrine?
STABENOW: I think it’s absolutely time to pass a standard. Now, whether it’s called the Fairness Standard, whether it’s called something else — I absolutely think it’s time to be bringing accountability to the airwaves. I mean, our new president has talked rightly about accountability and transparency. You know, that we all have to step up and be responsible. And, I think in this case, there needs to be some accountability and standards put in place.
PRESS: Can we count on you to push for some hearings in the United States Senate this year, to bring these owners in and hold them accountable?
STABENOW: I have already had some discussions with colleagues and, you know, I feel like that’s gonna happen. Yep.
Locally, Press broadcasts on KTLK AM 1150 with comedian Stephanie Miller, Randy Rhodes, and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. The Clear Channel station - to their credit - has the most women on the L.A. airwaves. And we’re not talking sidekicks.
And yet KTLK’s “left leaning” ideology doesn’t square up with their hosts daily diatribes about how the Republican Party is this “bastion of out-of-touch white men”. Guess what? Everyone at KTLK Monday through Friday is also white. Public radio stations 89.9 FM KCRW and 90.7 FM KPFK, with their progressive mantras, are also woefully lacking.
So for all the hand-wringing Press engages in over the Fairness Doctrine, his angst completely obfuscates the issue that even “liberal” talk outlets can’t reconcile.
Rush Limbaugh’s assertion that traditional radio should not be regulated is actually a sound argument.
The Fairness Doctrine would negatively impact an already challenged industry in tuned to what its audience wants. The real issue is one of opportunities missed, and industry leaders having enough foresight and introspection to not only say “What are we doing?” but “Why are we continuing to do it?”
Look at Sirius XM, a satellite company whose stock was trading at 8 cents. Now up to a whopping 65 cents a share as they continue to hemorrhage money and subscribers, what will this mean for the likes of Oprah Winfrey and friends and other shows featuring minorities? Don't look to the NAACP, in the midst of their centennial celebration, for answers.
Even Radio One, the largest radio broadcast company targeting African Americans and urban listeners, had to dropped Reverend Al Sharpton and Warren Ballentine from their roster earlier this year as they had no other option but to pair down.
Within the last 21 months, Radio One has gone from owning 70 stations in 22 markets, to 52 in 16 markets. Right now, their previously announced 2009 annual shareholders’ meeting, scheduled for September 17, 2009, has been delayed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission so that the company actively fighting against the controversial “Performance Tax” could adequately respond to questions from the SEC.
INTERNET RADIO TO THE RESCUE
No wonder bloggers, and specifically the black blogosphere, have become the go-to folks for bringing issues such as these to the forefront. And for many, sites like Blogtalkradio are assisting in that effort.
One of several online stations that have come on the scene in the last few years, Blogtalkradio allows anyone with a phone and a computer to host and podcast their own Internet radio program for free.
Last year the social networking site saw exponential growth with hundreds of hosts from all racial and ethnic groups. In November 2008, some 3.8 million listeners tuned in to Blogtalkradio, nearly 750,000 or 16% of which were African-American alone. These folks clearly have something to say and are finding an audience, albeit small, eager to hear it.
Obviously, however, these hosts are playing in the minors while superstars like Limbaugh reign supreme in the big league.
"I have a very simple philosophy ... put the very best product you can on the air, regardless of origin," says Gabe Hobbs, a senior vice president for programming at Clear Channel for twenty-five years.
Hobbs was among those recently laid off at the San Antonio, TX based company as a result of low ad sales.
In 2010, blacks are estimated to spend $1 trillion dollars. Hispanics are on tap to exceed $1.2 trillion by 2011. Both groups listen to talk, yet unanswered text messages to radio execs are saying loud and clear, “I’m just not into you.”
“These hiring authorities, in contrast to their reputations for being visionaries and innovative programmers, don't appear to be as either visionary or innovative; but, rather, they seem awkward or clueless, oblivious or insensitive about their responsibility for inclusive hiring. This lack of inclusiveness appears to be a failure of leadership rather than as outright racism or the intentional exclusion of minorities,” says Meyers.
Meyers goes on to point out that the widely-held perception that mainstream, majority-owned AM Talk Radio stations are broadcasting mostly or only Caucasian talk show hosts daily is accurate.
“This is a problem of defacto racial segregation that is both easily recognizable and easily fixed. It is a challenge to the stations' executives-- people of good-will, to a person, we are sure-- for prompt, corrective action,” Meyers concludes.
These were the identical words he used in 2000. Eight years later, News/Talk became the number one format in terrestrial radio. Meanwhile, former KGIL host Glenn Beck manages to take to the mic daily despite advertisers scurrying away from his astringent cable television show in droves.
So while the vitriol toward Congress to have music artists paid royalties by radio stations plays out, media companies through their actions are sending a clear message: they are committed to apartheid on the public airways.
As one Hispanic group lamented, “There is absolutely no ethnic or racial balance in KABC programming and they have no Mexican-American or other Latino talk hosts.”
The words were uttered back in 2006. And yet during this same time period, the US Census Bureau was reporting that White Americans made up only 48.7% of the total population. While Blacks comprise 9.9%, American Indians 0.5% and Asian and Pacific Islanders Americans made up 10.8%, Latinos accounted for a whopping 31.1%
Sound check one-two, one-two! Is this thing on?
There’s a saying that goes “I can’t hear you, because your actions are speaking too loudly.” Well, for companies under the control of the FCC such as Cumulus, Westwood One, Citadel, CBS, Premiere, Cox, Salem and Clear Channel, the silence of minority voices is most certainly not golden. In fact, it’s just the opposite.
To the point now where… it’s deafening.
Kevin Ross is president and CEO of strategic marketing firm 3BAAS Media Group. A former talent on KABC, he currently hosts his own show on Blogtalkradio. This updated version of the story was originally posted earlier this year.
Meyers goes on to point out that the widely-held perception that mainstream, majority-owned AM Talk Radio stations are broadcasting mostly or only Caucasian talk show hosts daily is accurate.
“This is a problem of defacto racial segregation that is both easily recognizable and easily fixed. It is a challenge to the stations' executives-- people of good-will, to a person, we are sure-- for prompt, corrective action,” Meyers concludes.
These were the identical words he used in 2000. Eight years later, News/Talk became the number one format in terrestrial radio. Meanwhile, former KGIL host Glenn Beck manages to take to the mic daily despite advertisers scurrying away from his astringent cable television show in droves.
So while the vitriol toward Congress to have music artists paid royalties by radio stations plays out, media companies through their actions are sending a clear message: they are committed to apartheid on the public airways.
As one Hispanic group lamented, “There is absolutely no ethnic or racial balance in KABC programming and they have no Mexican-American or other Latino talk hosts.”
The words were uttered back in 2006. And yet during this same time period, the US Census Bureau was reporting that White Americans made up only 48.7% of the total population. While Blacks comprise 9.9%, American Indians 0.5% and Asian and Pacific Islanders Americans made up 10.8%, Latinos accounted for a whopping 31.1%
Sound check one-two, one-two! Is this thing on?
There’s a saying that goes “I can’t hear you, because your actions are speaking too loudly.” Well, for companies under the control of the FCC such as Cumulus, Westwood One, Citadel, CBS, Premiere, Cox, Salem and Clear Channel, the silence of minority voices is most certainly not golden. In fact, it’s just the opposite.
To the point now where… it’s deafening.
Kevin Ross is president and CEO of strategic marketing firm 3BAAS Media Group. A former talent on KABC, he currently hosts his own show on Blogtalkradio. This updated version of the story was originally posted earlier this year.