Talk Radio.... Conservative Commonality

I live in one of the thousands of small media markets. Our choices are very limited. I suspect this is very common throughout the United States. Unless you deliberately search out alternative media you will never find alternate perspectives. This is why we find a larger populous of liberal thinkers in the areas of larger populations.

The people subject to the smaller market conservative indoctrinations thus follow these beliefs into their news selections. Most of the people I encounter in this area strictly adhere their affiliation to FOX news and no other.

Rush Limbaugh. Glenn Beck. Michael Savage. Sean Hannity. Jim Bohannan.

These are our only choices when we look to listen to talk radio. I'm sure that this line-up is very common amongst the smaller markets. One reason that they control such an incredible market share. Also the reason that a more liberal based program would never succeed in these markets. The time required to sway the minds of those who have only know this "conservative" mindset is far longer than program directors can afford to allow.

Controlling these smaller markets is exactly how you control the hearts and minds of the majority. Constantly creating a division. All of these specialists chastise anyone who does not adhere to their exact belief system. Their egos run wild propagating these beliefs and even though they are all very different they have common threads running throughout.

One common enemy is the liberals or those in larger markets who are exposed to an alternate perspective. An alternate perspective that these egotists masterfully spin and contort to appear as asinine as cold war communism. Larger markets who also most likely consist of a majority of the educated people in this country.

The other commonality amongst these conservative hosts is that we have a common enemy that will not rest until we, the infadels, have all perished and their religion is the only that remains. No matter how far their other ego driven beliefs stray from each other they all push this one commonality. They work very hard to fill the rest of their time dividing us on the environment, the economy, the government, the race, immigration, food and energy but they always bring it together when it comes to the threat to this country.

This is the true "Conservative Commonality" and the liberal counter thought is the true threat which could tumble this thought monopoly.

Small towns are run by the merchants of those towns.

Just as with the major markets, radio is about selling advertising. The big buyers of advertising in small markets are the local merchants. These people tend to be middle class, but are still some of the more affluent and active citizens of those markets. They have traditionally identified with the wealthy, because they tend to be the elite in their small ponds. They control the politics in that town like the elite corporations and super wealthy control the politics in the major markets. They get preferential treatment by law enforcement, they play golf at the country clubs and hang out with the local bankers and other merchants. If an alternative station were to try to blossom in a small market, what would happen would be similar to what happens in the major markets. They would be frozen out by the local advertisers. The establishment stations would sell the merchants on the proposition that this station is bad for business and bad for America. There would be a collective "red rover' where they would lock out the funds that the station would need to survive. It happens the same way in the major markets, even though there are a few undesirable frequencies on AM that might get some alternative programming on. These stations will never be real money makers. This problem has been exacerbated by the end of the Fairness Doctrine which used to require equal time for opposing views. Back then, no station could be totally partisan and there was at least a semblance of fairness, even in the smaller markets. Incidentally, Rush Limbaugh was recently awarded a 400 million dollar contract. This is not because he has better ratings. It is because he is carrying water for the Bush Cheney administration and their friends, the major corporations who have been getting extremely favorable treatment from Bush Cheney. These corporations in turn support Limbaugh by awarding the lion's share of their radio advertising budgets to programs like his and Hannity's. It is a fixed game. It is a tough road for alternative commercial radio. Maybe someday it will change, but as of now, having a profitable alternative station or network is a real uphill battle.