The right way appears to be Mark Lloyd, the FCC’s Chief Diversity Officer, a man who literally hates conservative talk.  Apparently, diversity does not include conservative talk radio.  As documented by the Media Research Center and others, Mark Lloyd thinks that if conservative broadcasters don’t present liberal points of view, they should be fined and the money given to public broadcasters.   

Lloyd co-wrote his recommendations in a well-publicized report “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio” in June of 2007, that skewered conservative talk radio as we documented in Censorship.  A few weeks later, he wrote this about conservative talk:  “The status quo does not serve our democracy well.  We want to create more ownership opportunities and more speech focused on local interests.  We want either clear rules that promote these First Amendment values or a reasonable payment to the public for the use of its property [the airwaves].” 

Mark Lloyd does not care that the liberal point of view permeates all media and that talk radio presents the only conservative alternative. Like all far-left loons, he wants it all.  He wants a tightly regulated media to push aside conservative talk radio and this is why he thinks any call for the Fairness Doctrine is unnecessary – because there are other ways to accomplish the same results.  Mark Lloyd is a danger to speech in the free marketplace of ideas.  He is only partially right when he says “conservative talk radio dominates the airwaves of the country.”  Conservative talk dominates only the talk radio airwaves and he is less than honest when he doesn’t tell you that talk radio listeners represent a minority when compared to all other media users.  Therefore, the only logical conclusion is he wants to destroy conservative talk as his writings suggest.   And, if there is any question to his motives, take a look at this video in which he praises Hugo Chavez of Venezuela – a dictator who has taken over his country’s media. 

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Big brother is here.  He’s Mark Lloyd.  Because he has shown his hate for conservative talk radio in many writings, how in the world can he claim the title of “Chief Diversity Officer” at the FCC?  At best it is hypocrisy.  At worst, it exposes what many of us have been warning – that Obama and his left-wing loons want no opposition.  The left has panned our warnings about mitigating conservative values by shutting down the conservative voice.  They have voiced their opposition to a return of the Fairness Doctrine hoping to lull us to sleep.  But, they cannot deny their stealth approach to censor conservative talk in America any longer.  As they stated earlier….there is no need for the Fairness Doctrine because it is the “wrong way to go about it.”  And now you know the right way.  Meet Mark Lloyd.

Listen to Ayn Rand

A little history behind the Federal Communications Commission and the notion that the airwaves belong to the public is in order. It all began in 1924 with Herbert Hoover when he served as Secretary of Commerce.  It was Hoover who fought for government control of radio and made repeated attempts to extend government power beyond the limits set by legislation of the time including attempts to attached detailed conditions to radio licenses. 

Author Ayn Rand wrote about this in 1964 in an essay titled “The Property Status of the Airwaves.”  According to Rand, “It was Hoover’s influence that was largely responsible for that tombstone of the radio and the then unborn television industry known as the act of 1927, which established the Federal Radio Commission with all of its autocratic, discretionary, undefined, and undefinable powers.”  With minor revisions, this act morphed into the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC was born.

As Rand noted in her essay, “The act of 1927 did not confine the government to the role of a traffic policeman of the air who protects the rights of broadcasters from technical interference (which is all that was needed and all that a government should properly do). It established service to the public interest, convenience, or necessity as the criterion by which the Federal Radio Commission was to judge applicants for broadcasting licenses and accept or reject them.”

Rand noted that the act amounted to a “blank check on totalitarian power over the broadcasting industry, granted to whatever bureacrats happened to be appointed to the Commission. She continued, “The Act of 1927 granted to a government Commission total power over the professional fate of broadcasters, with the public interest as the criterion of judgment and simultaneously forbade the Commission to censor radio programs. From the start, and progressively louder through the years, many voices have been pointing out that this is a contradiction impossible to practice.  If a commissioner has to judge which applicant for a broadcasting license will serve the public interest, how can he judge it without judging the content, nature, and value of the programs the applicants have to offer or will offer?”

There is no question Democrats want to define the “public interest” obligations of broadcasters. It’s been in their platform for years and FCC Commissioners like Michael Copps have confirmed their intentions, including shortening the term of a broadcast license from eight to three years. The bottom line here is clear – intimidation tactics such as redefining public interest obligations and shortening license terms do not lead to a free media, but a controlled media. Long live these prophetic words of Ayn Rand!

Dobbs got under the skin of liberals when he challenged them on illegal immigration.  The voicebox of the left, Media Matters for America, challenged Dobbs claiming he spent an inordinate amount of time on the illegal immigration issue and the debate over the failed amnesty bill of 2007.  Dobbs simply asked hard questions and was labeled a racist passing along “myths” for his efforts.  In one memorable television segment, Dobbs skillfully defended himself telling MM’s Paul Waldman on the air, “Your report is a scurrilous attack, and you pretend it has some scholarly basis.  It is an absolute pitiful joke.”

Now, the left is demanding Dobbs be removed from CNN for airing segments suggesting that a copy of President Obama’s original birth certificate be produced so the controversy surrounding the legitimacy of his Presidency can be put to rest.  It seems Dobbs could even be on thin ice with his boss, Jon Klein, the President of CNNwho, according to sources told Dobb’s staff that the issue was “dead.”

The head of the Southern Poverty Law Center, J. Richard Cohen went a step further and wrote a letter to CNN stating, “Respectable news organizations should not employ reporters willing to peddle racist conspiracy theories and false propaganda. It’s time for CNN to remove Mr. Dobbs from the airwaves.” The head of the lowly-rated MSNBC also has stated that any question of the authenticity of the birth certificate is simply racist.

So, again Dobbs becomes a racist for raising an issue, asking questions that might embarrass the President and certainly far-left organizations who think CNN should never question the authority or authenticity of the Obama administration.  Dobbs himself has stated he thinks Obama is a U.S. citizen, but that a paper copy of the birth certificate would put out the fire.

This administration wants no opposition and it has openly stated that conservative talk hosts have been an impediment to their agenda – especially the national health care initiative which is certainly the biggest issue facing the country.  The left will manipulate the outcome anyway they can and trying to eliminate voices who oppose them, or simply raise questions, is a means of accomplishing their goals.  The left wants to destroy conservative values and the way to do that is to destroy conservative voices of opposition.

Lou Dobbs who is considered a moderate in most circles is too conservative for such groups who want to forever redefine America.  They forget that a healthy democracy is one in which serious questions are raised – and where opposition is essential to it.  But, again they want no opposition.  And with their dominant control of Washington they will continue to try to push their leftist agenda through the legislative process as fast as they can because they know they have a limited time-frame before America’s reasoned masses fully awake and put an end to this out-of-control nonsense.

Minority broadcasters are asking tax-cheat Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for financial assistance.  Sounds like the financial and auto industries, and it is.  These broadcasters, including the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, the Inner City Broadcasting Coalition, the Spanish Broadcasting System, and others say they can bounce back because “unlike the auto business, broadcasting has been healthy for many years.”  Has it now?

Ad revenues for broadcasters started declining severely in late 2007 and throughout 2008 were down up to 40% in some cases. The ad decline not only impacted broadcasters, it impacted newspaper groups and many such as the Seattle Post Intelligencer and others have gone out of business.  Stock prices of some radio groups have fallen to absolutely nothing. So, minority broadcasters have a rosy picture ahead? 

Most industry financial forecasters say local ad revenue for 2009 will be down 22% and most ad revenue is derived locally. This will continue into 2010 and these forecasters say (maybe) it will begin to turn in the last half of 2010. But, we also heard that forecast for 2009 and it was false. 

As the nation digs itself further into debt and unemployment continues to increase, media is being hit as hard as any sector.  But, there is an important point to be made.  Perhaps suspect business models should be allowed to fail.  If there is bailout money for minority broadcasters, what about bailout money for the nation’s non-minority broadcasters who face what many believe is their only path – bankruptcy.  The answer to that is a forgone conclusion.  Minorities will get a bailout because after all they are minorities and deserve special treatment.  But, other broadcasters – especially the consolidated media will not get a dime.  No media should be bailed out. 

The bottom line is the table is set for more government intrusion into media.  When government bails out media, it will want a hand in how that media is operated.  It’s exactly what the government wants.  Red flags should be waving en masse.  Any media that considers itself an objective voice should refuse government bailout money and fall on the sword even if it means going out of business.  Where government plays a role in the nation’s financial structure of media, danger to our core freedoms exists.  We already have National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and even with taxpayer money these organizations are hurting.   

We need to keep the fox out of the chicken coop and let the free marketplace selectively reward or destroy businesses as the free market economy was meant to work.  But, I forget, there is no “free” marketplace in the Obama Administration’s game-plan.  Expect the lineup at the public trough to grow longer.

Plain and simple, this is censorship. If Congress truly believed in free speech, it would have allowed a vote on this. To do otherwise is a slap in the face of all Americans, the First Amendment, and those who drafted the First Amendment in 1791. To not allow a vote on this freedom of speech issue telegraphs one thing – Democrats in charge of the House want to censor the airwaves, and in particular conservative talk radio.

They clearly want to regulate radio. Their speech is so disingenuous, its laughable. They say they do not favor the Fairness Doctrine, yet they support back-door measures that would accomplish the same goals. They cannot deny that programming advisory boards, localism rules, and defining the public interest with some “teeth” are all means of regulating speech in America – particularly conservative speech. This is an outrage and all Americans should see through this for what it is. These are tyrants in action.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps has stated, “If markets cannot produce what society really cares about, like a media that reflects the true diversity and spirit of the country, then government has a legitimate role to play.” Of course, he reserves the right to define the “diversity and spirit” of the country. Apparently, the country (free marketplace) cannot do that for themselves.

This is plain and simple tyranny and we must call it for what it is. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski along with Michael Copps are close followers of the leftist media reform organization called Free Press. Genachowski has even named a member of Free Press to his staff as a communications liaison. In my book, Censorship: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio, I quote the Communications Director for the Free Press. Here’s what Craig Aaron said.

So, I don’t support re-instating the Fairness Doctrine not because I don’t support the goals, but because I think it’s the wrong way to go about it.

So, if that’s the wrong way, there apparently is a right way. Please read this note from Congressman Greg Walden of Oregon. All Americans should be outraged.  It’s time for a mass cleansing of Washington in 2010.

Then it was minority groups petitioning the FCC to investigate the new radio ratings system called the Portable People Meter because they feel it under represents the ratings on urban radio stations and is unfair.  The meter can’t lie and registers in real time what radio stations those who wear the device are hearing.  Make sure all groups are fairly represented and all should be fine. 

Now, midgets want the FCC to ban the word “midget.” This latest controversy erupted following an April episode of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” in which contestents, including Joan Rivers suggested “bathing midgets in detergent and hanging them out to dry.”  Now, the “Little People of America” are asking the FCC to ban the word “midget” from broadcast airwaves because it is demeaning. 

So what’s next?  Ban the word “fat?”  We can’t use that word because it will hurt someone’s feelings? Weight challenged Americans?  Ban certain songs, including violent rap music demeaning to women?  And while we’re at it, ban the countless words considered to be racist from the airwaves.  Ban this and ban that.  Instead of using their God-given rights to free speech to fight back in a free country, these groups run to Big Brother asking for speech regulation. They claim they value the First Amendment, but they always use the word “but” in qualifying their cause. It’s time we put an end to this nonsensical syndrome of political correctness and second guessing everything we say as Americans. 

As America tries to define hate speech legislation in the Congress, it’s time to tell it like it is.  We are a nation of cry babies and wimps.  This demand by midgets…er Little People should be ignored by the FCC and we predict it will. 

Language cannot be regulated and remain free.  Where does it stop?  Look at Canada’s cold chill of arctic air under their socialist Human Rights Tribunals and what these Tribunals have done to free expression in that nation.  Pastors have been banned for writing about their moral convictions condemning homosexuality.  Look at what Hugo Chavez is doing right now in Venezuela - taking the broadcast licenses away from  radio stations because he wants no opposition as a tyrant.  

Where offensive speech is prohibited, tyranny will follow.  Creating protected classes of people free from criticism or even stupid off-color humor is the first step and from there the foundation of a free people crumbles.  I’d rather be bathed in detergent and hung out to dry than have the government determine what is and what isn’t free speech.

Genachowski made the statement in response to a question from Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas. 

Generally, the Senate hearing was a lovefest and accolades were also handed out to Robert McDowell, a Republican who has been re-nominated for another term on the commission.  McDowell has stated unequivocally that he does not favor regulations such as mandated programming advisory boards considered under localism regulations that the FCC issued for proposed rule-making in January 2008.  Let’s hope that report finds itself shredded and trashed forever.

The radio industry led this fight and now has Mr. Genachowski on record as stating, “I strongly believe in the First Amendment and don’t think the FCC should be involved in censorship based on political speech and opinion.” As a longtime talk radio programmer, I would liked to have heard Mr. Genachowski also say he does not favor FCC mandates to set up “community advisory boards” for radio stations.  The FCC stated that such boards would further localism interests in its January 2008 report.  We presume that since Genachowski stated he does not favor localism mandates that would censor political speech, he would also not favor local advisory boards. It’s utter nonsense that in the United States an agency would suggest broadcast stations must have “community advisory boards.” We have our advisors – you the listener.  If you don’t like what you hear, our ratings reflect that.  And, that is the only valid form of censorship in America. 

Be vigilant for free speech and let’s make sure Julius Genachowski is true to his word.  And, watch out for the new wave of political correctness that has swept the world and is now taking stronger hold in America – legislation against hate speech.  Who decides what is hateful?  The National Hispanic Media Coalition has asked the FCC to investigate alleged hate speech by John and Ken of KFI, Los Angeles, Lou Dobbs of CNN, and Michael Savage of the Talk Radio Network.  Beware of further assaults on broadcast speech rights. 

Brian Jennings is author of Censorship: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio.

The FCC has announced it will probe Arbitron’s new audience measurement system for radio stations – it’s called the Portable People Meter.  Arbitron is an independent company and the FCC has no jurisdiction over it.  But, acting FCC Commissioner Michael Copps and his fellow Democrat Jonathan Adelstein disagree.  Adelstein has been quoted as stating the commission has “clear authority” over broadcast signals, and “legitimate questions” to ask about Arbitron’s system, which relies on these signals, and operates as a currency for the industry. 

At the heart of the controversy is conservative talk radio.  Arbitron’s new PPM measurement system is showing that conservative talk is even more popular in the nation’s largest markets than previous measurements have shown while minority targeted stations are less popular.  But, the PPM doesn’t lie.  This is a pager-like device that the listener wears.  It registers whatever radio station is being heard in real time and encodes that information into a data base.  It is the most accurate means of measuring true listening habits ever devised. 

But minority stations are crying foul and we have a government that grabs its ankles in our politically-correct American culture.  Like many polling companies, Arbitron chooses its respondents based on landline access and minorities are claiming many in their ranks only use cellphones and are thereby disadvantaged and not fully represented in sampling statistics.  The PPM Coalition made up of Black and Hispanic broadcasters issued an “emergency request” that the FCC investigate.  Arbitron counters stating the Coalition’s petition is “replete with misstatements of acts, unsupported speculation and overheated rhetoric.”  And, Arbitron says a number of stations that target minority audiences have in fact increased their market rankings since introduction of the PPM. 

We’ll see how this plays out, but there is no argument that government now sees itself as the arbiter of what we choose to hear.  Government has truly become Big Brother in America.  The FCC is out of bounds on this probe and we can only hope the court system will prevail in what will surely wind up as a key fight for free speech rights in America.  Tommy Smothers once said, “The only valid censorship is the right of the people not to listen.”  It would seem the Federal Censorship Commission disagrees.

Brian Jennings is a longtime national radio programmer and author of Censorship:  The Threat to Silence Talk Radio.

In 2008, Arbitron, which measures radio audiences nationwide, began rolling out its latest measurement technology called the “Portable People Meter,” or PPM.  It’s a pager-device that automatically registers what someone is listening to at any moment.  It’s the measurement of real time listening as opposed to the “old” system that required a listener to recall and write down once a week the stations they could remember they heard.  Most radio executives feel this system is the future for radio audience measurement.  When the New York ratings came out last fall, it showed conservative talk radio was even stronger than previously noted under the old audience measurement system and that minority radio stations were not as popular.  Well, you know the rest of the story.

The Obama administration, along with the City of New York, and other minority interests cried foul.  Then, the FCC stepped in and announced it would investigate the new Arbitron system.  After all, it cannot allow conservative talk radio to improve its already strong position on American airwaves! 

Several things are playing out that conservatives need to be aware of.  First, the Fairness Doctrine appears dead on arrival.  Democrats finally figured out re-imposition would be unconstitutional.  So, they are going through the backdoor to “clarify the public interest obligations” of broadcasters as stated by Obama and the Democrats in their 2008 party platform.  The FCC on May 7th began hearings to “diversify” media ownership in America.  The only way to do that is to take a broadcast license away from a current owner and give it to a minority.  Democrats can’t understand that such a “redistribution of wealth” is a form of censorship of another point of view.  And, of the 31 members of the advisory committee appointed by the FCC, it was hard to find one that represents conservative interests.  There is no one to represent Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, or Lars Larson in these on-going hearings.  Secondly, the FCC will reduce the broadcast license renewal term from eight to three years.  Big brother at work looking over the shoulder of media.  But, back to the Arbitron measurement issue.

Seattle has always been a strong talk market for radio.  But, in the first month of the new PPM methodology, talk radio tanked.  Any correlation to the FCC/Obama concerns that PPM does not represent minority interests?  Time will tell, but the Seattle ratings don’t reflect the trends for talk radio nationwide under the new audience measurement system.  Newstalk leader, KIRO switched to an FM frequency which always creates some confusion in early ratings.  Hopefully, subsequent Seattle PPM ratings will reflect the strength of talk radio in America.  Expect the Democrat controlled FCC to meddle where it should not because as acting FCC Commissioner Michael Copps told CNSNews.com earlier this year, “If markets cannot produce what society really cares about, like a media that reflects the true diversity and spirit of our country, then government has a legitimate role to play.” 

Such a totalitarian statement leaves no question that liberals want to re-define talk radio in America.  It eliminates the ability of the free market to choose what it wants to hear by forcing the intent of regulated balance of the Fairness Doctrine.  We must be aware of what is happening under our noses because the tactic of the new administration is to get it done before we can raise the red flags. 

Brian Jennings is a 40-year talk radio programming executive and author of Censorship: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio.

The other major development is news about new FCC appointments coming soon. According to Radio & Records, the new appointments are imminent.  It appears Obama will nominate Mignon Clyburn from South Carolina as one of his Democrat appointments along with Julius Genachowski as Chairman.  Ms. Clyburn has a newspaper background, so hopefully she will have some sympathies for conservative talk radio, but I doubt it.  She also has a strong public service background and has been vetted by Obama. Newspapers have always held a low opinion of conservative talk radio.  Watch for the hammer to come down. 

Part of the Democratic plan is to establish “programming advisory boards” for stations.  These nazi-like boards would serve one purpose – promote fear among broadcast license holders and threaten them if they don’t adhere to their programming wishes.  Tyranny.  Here’s what my friend and colleague Roger Hedgecock had to say when he talked to WND:  “Talk about a chilling effect on free speech, this will be an Arctic blast of restraint on opinion based on the threat to take the license away.”

Hedgecock also told WND:  “I think the FCC is on the cusp of enacting regulations that would fundamentally alter the traditional American assumption that we have the right to share and debate political opinions,” he said. “I believe the strategy is to make the current state of compliant journalism that prevails in the mainstream media the norm as well on the Internet and in talk radio,” he said. 

There is no journalism in America.  Wednesday night’s compliant news gathering at the White House was a joke.  Obama controls the media and it’s a massive dupe of the American public.  As Rush Limbaugh said this morning, “I never thought I would say I long for the days of Sam Donaldson.”

Hedgecock who holds forth at KOGO in San Diego and in national syndication, also says, “I think in the next 90 days we will see the imposition of the local advisory boards. They will immediately become complaint departments staffed by the left on all local and nationally syndicated talk programs,” Hedgecock warned.

If you value conservative talk in America, it’s time to speak up.  A number of my conservative talk colleagues have come together to form UnFairAir.org.  This site is a rallying cry for the protection of free speech on the radio.  Please check it out.  If you value conservative talk, now is the time to pay attention.

Brian Jenning’s book Censorship: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio will be in bookstores next Tuesday, May 5th.  This book is the collective voice of talk radio hosts and managers speaking out against speech regulation on the nation’s airwaves as well as the many attempts to muzzle conservative talk in America.