There are a number of reasons to explain why the extremists (predominately those on the right) have taken control of the airways. The most important one, by far, relates to the "silent majority" and the fact that they are both disorganized and feel relatively powerless. While the largest part of our population abhors both extremes, whether right or left, their very wide middle ground has no real "voice" - and even if it did it would probably be drowned out by those who equate volume (as in very loud) with righteousness.
However, there is not only a recourse, there are ways to shift the paradigm - by channeling efforts at the things that have become, more than ever, near and dear to American businesses - their balance sheets, revenues and profits. In other words by using the one word that will get their attention - MONEY!
A major part of the problem that exists relates to a survey that was done a few years ago. The top executives, of national companies, were asked if they listened to locally based programs that they were sponsoring, outside of the market they lived in. Less than 1% responded yes. And, when the same question was posed to the heads of local companies, the positive responses weren't much better - just over 4%. And virtually every one of them checked the box labeled "infrequently."
In other words, almost all the people responsible for the profit statements knew nothing about the garbage they were supporting.
At LCTA we believe that this siuation needs to be dramtically changed - first by creating an awareness campaign, followed by a definitive course of action.
The leaders of all the sponsors, listed below, are being contacted. They are receiving invitations to visit and read this web site. It is also being recommended that they listen to Mr. Jacobs' show, for two or three mornings (although we suspect that hardly any of them will be able to stomach the contents for more than an hour, on day one). They may have voted Republican at every election but that in no way means they have lost their sense of propriety.
The last part of the letter they will be getting will include a suggestion that they re-evaluate their advertising purchases, based on basic civil behavior, and withdraw their support for this hate mongerer and spreader of fear.
If they do so, we will feature them in a new section of the LCTA site and recommend that our visitors patronize their businesses - after all, good behavior should be rewarded (this "featuring" will only be done with their explicit approval beforehand).
Conversly, if they opt to remain as sponsors, our readers will be so advised and they will be asked to do three things:
1) Boycott the goods and/or services offered by the remaining sponsors.
2) Patronize the direct competitors of these sponsors - whose names and contact information will be provided.
3) Alert their entire e-mail address book about this campaign and ask that all their contacts do the same, etc. etc.
Through the "magic" of the equivilent of multi-level marketing, it will only require that this cycle be repeated four or
five times, before our message is on the computer screens of millions.
The reality of the situation is that sponsors really care about only two things - ratings and sales. While we may not be able to do much, at least initially, to impact the former we can certainly have an effect on the latter. And, because money (sales) is the item that rules the roost, as they see their customer base shrink (while their competitors' grows), and as they become aware of the reason why, they will begin to shift their advertising buys elsewhere.
When enough of them do this Mr. Jacobs will not be able to justify a two-hour block of time each morning. Our hope is that, within a couple of months he will be reduced to an hour and a half, then to an hour, then a half hour and finally to a scenario in which he finds himself sitting behind a dead microphone.
Of course, Clear Channel Communications could decide to act responsibly by either canceling his show or, at the least, suspending him until he agrees to change the tone and the tenor of his message. A perfect example for them to follow would be that of Greater Media, the parent company of WTKK-FM in Boston. When they announced that they were lifting the month long suspension of Jay Severin (he and Bruce Jacobs could have been cloned from the same ignorant cloth) they released the following statement (I have added the underlining).
“We have had conversations with Jay Severin over the past several weeks about his hurtful, inappropriate remarks. He understands that we will not accept this type of commentary on our airwaves in the future. Based on this understanding, we have agreed to conclude Jay's suspension and he will return to the 96.9 FM WTKK airwaves on Tuesday, June 2, 2009. We want to emphasize that WTKK still strongly supports an open and spirited debate about the many issues our community and our country currently face. There will no doubt be times when people disagree with what Jay says. Our goal is to maintain a level of discourse that is compelling and thought-provoking, yet civil and respectful. While we will not always succeed in walking this line, we will continually strive to do so.”
All Clear Channel needs to do is announce that this is their corporate policy and that they will enforce it accordingly. However, while this may be the "happily ever after" resolution, it is doubtful that it will take place - at least not until sponsors start jumping ship. We say this because LCTA has contacted Clear Channels coporate officers, on several occassions and they have yet to provide a response. We suspect that they are sticking their collective heads in the sand, hoping this will blow away. It won't.
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