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Well, let's see how much credit I have built up here over 20+ years.

I can feel what Lance is going through.

Obviously because of my conservative opinions, whether related to radio and TV or not, have caused me to get 6 attempts to bring down www.worldradiohistory.com, two of which tool my technical, consultant several hours to bring back.

I have been subscribed to hundreds of email "bulletins" and newsletters and the like, ranging from porn sites to natural vitamins. When the discussion of the LA demonstrations/riots began late last Friday, I was sent hundreds of anonymous emails, mostly calling me a "nazi" (ignoring the work I collaborated with MOSAD for in Ecuador in the 1960's) and the like.

I am still unsubscribing from those email bulletins.

But the worst effect is that I have had no time to add to WorldRadioHistory since the weekend. The effect that this has had on me is that I am discussing with my wife the closure of the site and distancing myself from the entire radio industry. We made no decision (she is a life-long radio talent and programmer) as we want to let this occasion mellow a bit.
 
gr8oldies said:
Dear ChatGPT: Can the federal government legally overthrow an elected state Government? That's exactly what's being threatened.
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How is this related to radio or TV? Please, at least some connection with broadcasting.
 
davideduardo said:
But the worst effect is that I have had no time to add to WorldRadioHistory since the weekend. The effect that this has had on me is that I am discussing with my wife the closure of the site and distancing myself from the entire radio industry. We made no decision (she is a life-long radio talent and programmer) as we want to let this occasion mellow a bit.
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This would be unfortunate as your site is a great resource. Why not just stop sharing your opinions which seem to be causing the controversy?
 
michael hagerty said:
And there is a BIG difference between some guy, even an esteemed broadcaster such as yourself, interrupting a keynote at a private function and a United States Senator at a news conference.
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Padilla was a guest on MSNBC. He said something I already knew, which is that this happened in the federal building. You need a security clearance to even be in the building. They knew he was there. He had a meeting scheduled in the building, and he was escorted to the press conference by FBI. He didn't "barge in." He was invited. The thing that set him off was that quote you posted from Noem where she attacked the "socialist" governor and mayor. She saw him. She knows who he is. She accused him of political theater, but arresting him on TV was her version of that. We haven't heard the last of this.

What does this have to do with broadcasting? Everything. This administration does everything for TV. Noem told Fox News she didn't know who he was and that he "lunged" towards her. He denied both things. It's all on TV. Someone asked how would I feel about the government funding Fox News. They already are. They're programming the channel for them, and it's getting its best ratings ever. That wouldn't be possible without the cooperation of the government.
 
TheBigA said:
He was also an FCC commissioner.
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Do you really think I did not know this and had to be "instructed"? I have all his books, and read the first one when it published.

But mostly I remember his "Vast Wasteland" speech in 1961. I had been involved with radio just 4 years then, and was fascinated by his indictment of the industry for what I considered to be "giving the folks what they most want". At age 14, I kinda' thought that radio stations programmed what listeners wanted, and that Minow wanted us to program what he wanted us to hear. At best, I found him tediously elitist.
TheBigA said:
The states DO control this. In more than a dozen cases, state governments OWN the public NPR affiliated stations. (mostly southern red states) They can decide if they want to carry NPR programming. South Carolina is the only one that has announced its cutting back on NPR News. For their part, NPR uses the local affiliates as local bureaus. It's very decentralized by design.
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But the state administration is spotty and inconsistent. In some cases, it's through state universities and in others it is more direct. But it is not uniform nor universal.
TheBigA said:
There are hundreds of non-com radio stations that receive government funding that carry NO NPR News programming.
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And one of the current administration's goals is to remove government operation, supervision or funding of a variety of categories that they feel are "none of the national government's business".

Broadcasting and programming are on that list. For this forum, the subject should be "should the government be involved with media?" A separate item is whether the government's official stations, those of the VOA, Martí and others are relevant today and if they are not, should they be refocused in "new media" or taken down entirely.

There is no in
TheBigA said:
The only reason the feds are now involved is because the president has made it an issue. CPB is not under his jurisdiction.
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As we know from the prior Trump administration, there are vague borders between the President and the legislative divisions. Historically, these end up in court... or... in an apparent majority (based on my quick research) changed by the next president of the other party.
 
davideduardo said:
But the state administration is spotty and inconsistent.
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So which is it? Do you want media run by the states or a central system? Because you're not clear, and it can't be both. If the states run it, it will be run in a decentralized way as administered by the governor. That may be "spotty and inconsistent." But that's what you get with decentralized and democratized administration. It sounds like you prefer the centralized system. That's not our system in this country.

davideduardo said:
And one of the current administration's goals is to remove government operation, supervision or funding of a variety of categories that they feel are "none of the national government's business".
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They're doing it illegally. That's not the president's role. There are legal ways to do this. I've described them here many times. This administration isn't following the law.

davideduardo said:
For this forum, the subject should be "should the government be involved with media?"
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The question was answered in 1967 when it first passed the public broadcasting act, and then in multiple subsequent amendments made to the original law, and then again every year when the appropriation was made to continue the system congress created. The president isn't involved in that process, and that's why he's now breaking the laws that were created to prevent such a coupe from taking place.

davideduardo said:
As we know from the prior Trump administration, there are vague borders between the President and the legislative divisions.
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Not in this case. The law was very specific because they didn't want this to happen. They didn't want politicians to interfere in news. I know this law better than you. This will be fought in the courts because this president is acting illegally and unconstitutionally. Every part of this affects broadcasting in every possible way. It affects local broadcasting, it affects national broadcasting, and he wouldn't do it if it wasn't covered in broadcasting.
 
101tm said:
It seems like a loud handful that want to discuss politics. The rest of us are just here for our local and regional radio markets, among other things.

Every time I scan through a politically charged thread, it’s usually the usual suspects having at it.
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I used to come here to see what was happening in Radio. Sometimes throw out a meme or 2 to lighten the mood. But this is why this board isn't an escape anymore.

I stopped speaking to my father in 2015 because he fell down the political rabbit hole and couldn't have a civil conversation with anyone without it turning personal. So, political rancor hits me differently than most.

Lance, get well. I know you took this board on when Frank died to keep it going, but you may have to ask yourself if it's still worth it. If it costs you your health and well-being, maybe you have your answer.

I really hope this board gets back to being enjoyable for people, and that the name-calling and back-biting stops, and it gets back to Radio, but I highly doubt it.

See ya...maybe, maybe not.
 
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lanceventa said:
Wow this thread really is helping my personal mental health crisis right now... Many of the posters here are making the case as to why personal political opinions lead to flamewars and nothing good.

What many of you in this thread seem to be missing...

DISCUSSING THINGS THAT ARE POLITICAL IN NATURE IS NOT THE PROBLEM. IT IS MAKING THE POSTS ABOUT YOUR OWN IDEAOLOGIES AND NOT HOW THEY AFFECT BROADCASTING.

BUT SOME OF THE THINGS BEING DISCUSSED IN THIS THREAD ARE WAY OVER THE LINE.

There are some posts I will respond to in time and/or in private messages. But I need to focus on my mental health and the breakdown I had that somehow led to others, needs to take precedence.
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Lance, I'[m sorry and I mean that.. i try not to get dragged into it and i clearly did
 
I’d hate to see RD cease to exist just because of a few bad apples who can’t keep their posts free of ad hominem attacks, whether politically-motivated or not. I’ve learned so much about broadcasting from having been a member here since 2005, so it would be a real shame to see this site go belly-up because a few posters can’t understand where to draw the line between politics as it pertains to broadcasting and their personal political views.

I think a good way to clean this place up is to be stricter about banning people who post ad hominem attacks of any kind. I know banning people is the last thing you want to do; but if your repeated warnings toward posters about keeping personal politics out of their posts don’t resonate, then threatening such posters with a ban might (hopefully) scare them straight.

I don’t participate in threads that devolve into politically-motivated personal attacks. I’m about as sick and tired of reading such threads as the mods/admins must be of trying in vain to steer them back to broadcasting-related things.

I hope that this site will soon once again live up to its name.
 
I have been a regular visitor to this board since my teenage years(late 90's) when it was called the "Mid-Atlantic Radio Board". Throughout the years as I got older, I saw this site evolve under different names; "Radio-Info", "RadioDiscussions", and under different owners; Doug Fleming(may he RIP), Frank Berry(also, may he RIP), and now Lance Venta. The reason I came here is because of my passion with everything broadcasting as a hobby. Not only that, this site provides us with news and information about what is happening in the TV and radio industry relating to media personalities, format changes, announcements of new TV shows, streaming media, and more that you can't find anywhere else. But recently, some of the threads that are posted in this site contain personal political arguments and are not related to broadcasting.

What bothers me is that as I scroll through the site, there are about one or two threads that have stayed on topic but down the line either went off the rails or devolved into political flamewars that certainly do not belong here. Not only on one board, but on several of them. And that is why mods like Lance or David tend to close the threads that do not meet the standards of what this website is about. They do this for a reason and I would like to thank them for keeping the site where it is today and free from all that negativity.

So, I must agree with everyone. This board is about the TV/Radio industry. Not politics. And what Lance has stated on his separate thread warning people here that there are thousands of websites online that they can debate about political events. Not here.
 
CurtisNEPA said:
I have been a regular visitor to this board since my teenage years(late 90's) when it was called the "Mid-Atlantic Radio Board". Throughout the years as I got older, I saw this site evolve under different names; "Radio-Info", "RadioDiscussions", and under different owners; Doug Fleming(may he RIP), Frank Berry(also, may he RIP), and now Lance Venta. The reason I came here is because of my passion with everything broadcasting as a hobby. Not only that, this site provides us with news and information about what is happening in the TV and radio industry relating to media personalities, format changes, announcements of new TV shows, streaming media, and more that you can't find anywhere else. But recently, some of the threads that are posted in this site contain personal political arguments and are not related to broadcasting.

What bothers me is that as I scroll through the site, there are about one or two threads that have stayed on topic but down the line either went off the rails or devolved into political flamewars that certainly do not belong here. Not only on one board, but on several of them. And that is why mods like Lance or David tend to close the threads that do not meet the standards of what this website is about. They do this for a reason and I would like to thank them for keeping the site where it is today and free from all that negativity.

So, I must agree with everyone. This board is about the TV/Radio industry. Not politics. And what Lance has stated on his separate thread warning people here that there are thousands of websites online that they can debate about political events. Not here.
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The other weeks I filled in for my cousin DJing in a small bar. They had a sign above the bar - "Music, not politics." Here it could be "Let's talk Radio, not politics!"
 


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