10 Replies to “The Impotent Left”

  2. A letter posted from the general manager of KGMI Bellingham where Rush L. show is broadcast.
    Interesting how is protesting.
    Another Open Letter to KGMI Listeners…
    From: Michael O’Shea, General Manager of KGMI and Cascade Radio Group
    Date: March 9, 2012
    A week ago I wrote my first “open letter”… just a few days after Rush Limbaugh’s on-air rant against taxpayer supported contraception and his crude remarks directed toward a 30-year-old law student. My concern over our local listeners’ reaction and the desire to get more feedback resulted in the receipt of over 350 emails. I’ve read each and every one. As I noted in my first letter I WILL be relaying them to the syndication company of the Rush Limbaugh show.
    In the first few days of my solicitation, the comments mostly came from local residents… some KGMI listeners, some not, who had heard of my request and wanted to weigh in. After a few days of organic feedback, the trend changed. My open letter went semi-viral with various blog posts, and comments started coming in from people who had no interest or connection to KGMI or Bellingham, from all over the country, with one organized agenda: Flush Rush!
    As the story of the Rush Limbaugh controversy mushroomed, the negative feedback became more aggressive and vitriolic. The percentage of “dump the bum” versus “it’s free speech, keep Rush” was 90/10 against Rush Limbaugh. This was an alarming ratio, albeit skewed by the blogosphere and agenda-based (organized effort) email writers, most of whom admitted to never having listened to KGMI, some never having heard of Bellingham, Washington. This created contamination in the validity of the feedback and made many of the comments irrelevant in our desire to tap into the pulse of local listeners.
    At that point we constructed a very simple “poll” to send only to those that have opted IN to KGMI’s newsletter and text databases. This group of listeners has invited us to send them breaking news bulletins via text and daily news updates via email. We felt these listeners would be the best qualified to offer us non-political agenda feedback, and further would be most affected by any changes in programming we might consider due to this controversy.
    Within a few hours we had hundreds of articulate comments and a tally on a simple “Dump Rush” or “Keep Rush” listener’s poll. This was not a stunt or contest, but an immediate feedback listener research poll. These results were dramatically different from the blogosphere generated comments. The ratio was 70/30 in support of Rush, asking us to keep him on our program schedule.
    No one argues whether he made a mistake in his tirade against the law school student. He did. It was stupid! He apologized a few days later. Some felt his apology was insincere and blasted him for its lameness. In the first hour of his show the following Monday he reiterated the apology several times. From the comments of our listeners’ poll it was perceived as sincere and considerably more convincing.
    I’d like to address one issue that’s come up as a result of this… that of boycotting sponsors of his show. Even the former mayor of Bellingham started an online petition suggesting a boycott of KGMI local sponsors of the Rush Limbaugh show.
    There is a big misconception on how local, small market radio is monetized and supported. The ONLY sponsors of the Rush Limbaugh Show are national sponsors that purchase ad time through the Premiere Radio Network. Perhaps in New York, Chicago, LA and other very large cities there are “local” sponsors…but in small radio markets like Bellingham there are truly no local sponsors. Ads on KGMI are mostly sold on a “rotator” basis… and while some ads may be slotted in the 9AM to Noon segment, literally no sales contracts exist for Rush Limbaugh sponsorship on the local level. Zero!
    Mr. Mayor, any boycott of KGMI sponsors would only damage the station’s ability to properly serve this community. To cover local news and do local talk and sports programming, and would negatively impact 57 LOCAL tax-paying residents who’ve decided to make their living here in Bellingham, doing news reporting, disc jockeying music shows, administrative work and helping the community with service projects. It would have absolutely NO impact on Rush Limbaugh.
    We value our advertisers and do all we can to help them build and grow their business in this shaky economy. Not a single one of them “buys” or “sponsors” the Rush Limbaugh show on KGMI. This letter is being published for the entire community to see, and if any local business can show me a KGMI contract for direct Rush Limbaugh sponsorship, I will shred the paper and eat it with my Raisin Bran!
    For those that have blasted me with vitriol about how I could “allow such filth to contaminate the radio”, I have asked them to please provide me copies of the letters or emails they sent to HBO chastising host Bill Maher for calling Sarah Palin the “c” word on a politically oriented TV talk show. So far not one has been able to show me documentation of that criticism. Short of that, I can only assume that their vengeance against Rush Limbaugh is more politically motivated than truly an effort to battle misogyny in the media.
    The bottom line is this: Rush Limbaugh made a stupid mistake. He apologized. Some accepted his apology. Some didn’t. He is a hugely polarizing radio host… some love him, some literally hate him. That will not change! My hope is that the pain he caused the young woman and the “spanking” he’s taken in the mass media will result in a teachable moment for him.
    KGMI has effectively “polled” its constituency and they overwhelmingly want us to continue the show. KGMI will continue to carry the Rush Limbaugh show in Bellingham, and we’ll be vigilant towards future insensitivities. Many of the Flush Rushers will be very critical of this, but they were not and will never be listeners of his show. I will point out to them that the FCC requires at least two buttons on every radio. One is the on-off switch. The other is the button that changes the dial. There are many thousands of listening options available on radio, satellite, internet or cable from 9AM to Noon every day. Cascade Radio Group’s three “talk” stations feature over 100 varietal and diverse radio talk shows each week itself…news oriented, politically oriented and sports oriented. Rush Limbaugh is but ONE of the thousands of voices available. He is not everyone’s cup of tea…but for literally 20 Million US listeners and thousands of Whatcom residents who do find his style and content compelling, his show should be offered on free radio… as it has been for over 20 years.
    There’s a lot of passion and emotion when it comes to media censorship, free speech and spirited debate. Some have asked that we have a “return to civility”. There was a time in this country’s history whereby hot political issues were sometimes settled at 50 paces with muskets. Thanks for your time in reading this.
    Sincerely,
    Michael O’Shea, General Manager, KGMI

  4. “What the hell is “organic feedback”?”
    Poo!?
    I mean that’s what they’re trying to throw at Rush. It just ain’t sticking.

  5. “Boycot Rush Limbaugh? Does that mean I have to do something? Isn’t there a government program for that?”

  6. This would be an example of inorganic feedback:
    “Goldman said the station received no complaints for two weeks after the comments were made by Limbaugh, who hosts the most listened-to talk show in the country. WVMT began to receive calls once the UVM groups went public with the issue in Saturday’s Free Press, Goldman said.
    “When Rush said these terrible things we did not get one phone call, one email. They did not hear it. They read about it,” he said about the protest.
    …..
    He said somebody sent an email with a script telling protesters what to say.
    “Many of them said the exact same words,” he said.
    As station owner, Goldman said he heard from almost 30 people objecting to Limbaugh’s remarks, but he also got a similar number from those believing in the right of free speech.
    ”
    http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012120320048

  9. I don’t even listen to Limbaugh, but I’m glad to participate in this little boycott game. The last Ford I bought, and there have been three new ones, is the last one I will ever buy.
    I’m sure some OWS dude living in his parents basement would take up the slack – if he had a job and didn’t owe hundreds of thousands on his sociology degree from A Prestigious U. Why do advertisers do this to themselves? Rule number one is don’t drive away your customers. Customers are the people with the money, not the people with the causes.

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