Grandstand PLay at COJ!

[fred flintstone]

All Access:

Philly Suburbs' WCOJ Sets 9/11 Special
Talk WCOJ-A/COATESVILLE-WEST CHESTER, PA (western PHILADELPHIA suburbs) will air "FIVE YEARS LATER" on MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, which will air live from the site of the UNITED 93 crash in SHANKSVILLE, PA from 6a through the end of ceremonies at about 11a. Joining morning host JOE THOMAS at the site will be PENNSYLVANIA Governor ED RENDELL, former Gov. TOM RIDGE, Sen. RICK SANTORUM, Rep. JIM GERLACH, and PHILADELPHIA TV news legend LARRY KANE, among other dignitaries.

Radio people love to do this kind of thing. And then they give each other awards for doing it.
This is a station that positions itself as LOCAL, so they go do a remote from Western, PA. (Maybe somebody at WCOJ got a map and looked up Schwenksville by mistake.)
"Joining host Joe Thomas?" This sounds like this is COJ's show. Is Thomas the host of the event? Did he book all these people? Will they actually appear on his show or will his show just carry their speeches from podium? (Probably the latter.)
This just smacks of expoitation.
And do listeners tuning in this morning for weather and traffic really want to hear politicians make a speech?
This is radio people puffing up their own egos (or advancing their own agendas), and not considering the needs of listeners.
Further, WCOJ has demonstrated a strong Republican, conservative, pro-war and anti-abortion bias, and here is an event designed to use flag-waving to restore support for the war - and, oh yes, for those pro-war speakers seeking re-election.
If this thing started at 6 and runs until after 11, that's a lot of political windbagging.
The WCOJ Morning Show has come along way since Joe took over. Too bad they are falling back into a Lloyd ("It's my station and I'll do what I want") Roach kind of stunt.

 

[cadillac-jack]

Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

[Rockin Rob]

Isnt this the FIFTH anniversary of the most heinous attack on American soil? What where they supposed to do? Play infomercials and pretend this event didn't happen? I can almost guarantee that a lot of residents of this area were somehow affected/impacted by it. Sorry Fred, you're way off base here.

 

[fred flintstone]

Isnt this the FIFTH anniversary of the most heinous attack on American soil? What where they supposed to do? Play infomercials and pretend this event didn't happen? I can almost guarantee that a lot of residents of this area were somehow affected/impacted by it. Sorry Fred, you're way off base here.

Sorry, Rob, all you're doing here is defending conventional wisdom, when it should be questioned.

The Trade Center attack happened five years ago.
No news today? Do an anniversary story.
Katrina - one year.
World Trade Center - five years.
Star Trek - 40 years.
It's a knee-jerk reaction in radio.
Broadcasters are out of touch with the audience in many ways.
This is one of them.
Broadcasters are focused on each other; not the audience.
Broadcasters immitate.
Broadcasters do what they think they SHOULD do (whether there's any reason for it or not).

And then there's radio's role in creating a national bathos.
Radio doesn't cover news as much as recover it.
Something happens.
Go do man on the street interviews.
Put on those who shout or weep; the lemmings who leave flowers piled on the roadside for people they never met.
And radio thrives on and enables it; it works to convince people that's what they are supposed to do.

If they wanted to do an anniversary story, maybe they forgot September 11, 1777: The Battle of the Brandywine, which actually happened in Chester County and actually is local to WCOJ.
Or maybe September 11, 1987, the day Dan Rather had a hissy fit and walked off the CBS Evening News (although it took another 18 years to get rid of the SOB).


This was five years ago.
Deal with something happening now.
This only plays into the hands of those promoting the war.

 

[amfmsw]

Fred, take a breath. It's a very special day for MANY of us. You sound callous and your thinking is cold. Don't like it, don't listen.

The fact that a suburban independant radio station takes an initiative this big is wonderful, and I laud them for it. I always read the complaints that CC and other "Big Radio" is out of touch, and don't respond to what's going on in their listener's world. Well, here's someone doing something, and your complaining!

 

[fred flintstone]

Fred, take a breath. It's a very special day for MANY of us. You sound callous and your thinking is cold. Don't like it, don't listen.

The fact that a suburban independant radio station takes an initiative this big is wonderful, and I laud them for it. I always read the complaints that CC and other "Big Radio" is out of touch, and don't respond to what's going on in their listener's world. Well, here's someone doing something, and your complaining!

If you lost someone that day, I am sorry for your loss.
And I hope you are able to commemorate the day and any you lost in a way that's meaningful for you.
I just don't see this as meaningful; just exploitation of the event and not good radio.
And I consider most of radio's public service special events also to be out of touch, but radio people like doing them and radio people think doing them is good promotion.
Unfortunately, nobody questions whether things like this really are worthwhile, wanted or needed.
Things like this have come to obligatory.
And CC and other big radio companies do more of this kind of thing than anybody.

 

[buzzrockradio]

Fred I don't how remembering inocent people who were killed by terrorist supports the war in iraq. What is wrong with waving the flag.

 

[Betrayed]

It is absolutely ABSURD to conclude that grandstanding is the commemoration of a heinous terrorist attack on civilians in one of the world's most populated cities, selecting targets in that city with absolutely no military value, whereby civilian jetliners were used as instruments of war. To support such a position is completely without foundation and unconscionable. Selecting a target based on the potential of inflicting staggeringly high civilian casualties is the height of grandstanding taken to the wickedest extreme.

This was five years ago.
Deal with something happening now.
This only plays into the hands of those promoting the war.

Hard to believe I actually read it.

 

[fred flintstone]

It is absolutely ABSURD to conclude that grandstanding is the commemoration of a heinous terrorist attack on civilians in one of the world's most populated cities, selecting targets in that city with absolutely no military value, whereby civilian jetliners were used as instruments of war. To support such a position is completely without foundation and unconscionable. Selecting a target based on the potential of inflicting staggeringly high civilian casualties is the height of grandstanding taken to the wickedest extreme.

Hard to believe I actually read it.

Heinous is in the eye of the beholder.
I have a friend who is from Germany. She doesn't see much difference between what happened in New York five years ago and what the U.S. Air Force did to her family's hometown 60 years ago - except in her hometown it was systematic, done on a much larger scale and a lot more civilians were killed.

Fred I don't how remembering inocent people who were killed by terrorist supports the war in iraq. What is wrong with waving the flag.

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. - Samuel Johnson
The attack of the Trade Center is the basis for the administration's justification of invasions of two countries, for violations of the Geneva Convention and other international laws and treaties, for visceration of American civil liberties through the Patriot Act and warrantless surveillance, for moves to claim dictatorial power for the executive branch. Wave the flag and start talking 9-11 and "support the troops" and some people will agree to most anything - and already have. This is a promotional stunt by a radio station and a political stunt (two months before an election) by the administration. (Also notice how the price of gas starts coming down right before the election.)

Radio, in general, has a consistent pro-authority bias. WCOJ (remember their "abortion is evil" campaign?), historically, has a Conservative Republican bias.

 

[Betrayed]

Ah yes. Samuel Johnson. Poet and essayist. Lived from the early 1700's to the late 1700's. Most of that century. It enabled him to live during the American Revolution. In England. A Tory. His opinion of patriotism shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

While World War II is one of humanities many disgraces, the comparison is not valid. Germany and America were at war by declaration. Most people either don't know or have forgotten that Hitler was elected by his countrymen. Chosen by the people.

The Geneva Convention. War has never been fought by rules. Never will be. All sides violate those rules. You're quick to conclude that there has been a violation, but not too concerned about the violation on 9/11/01. And yes I know that terrorists didn't show up for the signing of the agreement and therefore, by technicality, are not bound by it. I wouldn't take comfort in that.

Suppression of your rights? Through all of history, long before there was a United States, all government has to some degree infringed the freedoms of the people. It's a sad by-product of having government I think. But I personally don't feel the Patriot Act has impeded my liberties. Do we have all of our Constitutional rights as they appear in that document? No, probably not. But they started to chip away at those 50 years after the country was founded. George Bush didn't start it. But I'm just as free now as I was 20 minutes before the Patriot Act became law.

So, be cautious. Your political ax, your agenda and your grandstanding are starting to show.

 

[TheRadioPolice]

You know what’s wrong with radio? Like any business lots of things. One of the things that is really wrong is that the industry seems to be plagued by an overabundance of “know-it-alls.” Good grief, whether it’s a geek who never worked in radio a day in his life, or a “seasoned pro” who is either the fount of all wisdom or some bitter son of a bitch who never made it into the “big leagues,” everybody knows what’s right. Just ask them.

It’s the fifth anniversary of one of the greatest tragedies to occur on American soil. And, who gives a fat rat’s ass whether a little station in Chester County decides to give it some airtime? Little radio stations all across America probably did the same thing. For a few hours, they were a big deal. Tomorrow, it’s back to the Swap Shop.

I worked for Lloyd Roach and I don’t hate radio or wish bad things for WCOJ. Hell, they’re just trying to make it from day-to-day in an industry that eats its own.

I love and support our troops and still hate the fact that we’re fighting in Iraq while Osama Bin Laden is somewhere thumbing his nose at us all. (Has anyone checked the recent photos of Clear Channel executives?)

To end on a serious note, God bless America and the families and friends of those who have paid the ultimate price so we all can be free and prosperous enough to express our opinions, however convoluted they are.

 

[fred flintstone]

Ah yes. Samuel Johnson. Poet and essayist. Lived from the early 1700's to the late 1700's. Most of that century. It enabled him to live during the American Revolution. In England. A Tory. His opinion of patriotism shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

While World War II is one of humanities many disgraces, the comparison is not valid. Germany and America were at war by declaration. Most people either don't know or have forgotten that Hitler was elected by his countrymen. Chosen by the people.

The Geneva Convention. War has never been fought by rules. Never will be. All sides violate those rules. You're quick to conclude that there has been a violation, but not too concerned about the violation on 9/11/01. And yes I know that terrorists didn't show up for the signing of the agreement and therefore, by technicality, are not bound by it. I wouldn't take comfort in that.

Suppression of your rights? Through all of history, long before there was a United States, all government has to some degree infringed the freedoms of the people. It's a sad by-product of having government I think. But I personally don't feel the Patriot Act has impeded my liberties. Do we have all of our Constitutional rights as they appear in that document? No, probably not. But they started to chip away at those 50 years after the country was founded. George Bush didn't start it. But I'm just as free now as I was 20 minutes before the Patriot Act became law.

So, be cautious. Your political ax, your agenda and your grandstanding are starting to show.

Your limited education is starting to show.

Samuel Johnson was a Tory.
So were:
William Pitt
Sir Robert Peel
Benjamin Disraeli
Winston Churchill
Margaret Thatcher
John Major
Among others.

The Brits are just as capable of waving a flag as anybody else. Or are you saying only American patriotism is valid and since Johnson was a Brit, he could not possibly get it?

One could argue that the British subjects in North America who remained loyal were patriotic, in contrast to the rebels who didn't like paying taxes.

FDR had enough integrity to follow the constitution and ask congress for a declaration of war. Bush did not, mostly so he would not be obliged to follow the rules of warfare, which he did not. Hitler took power through an election; he kept power by making himself a dictator. The German Republic was a parliamentry system so people did not vote for him.

And you are free under the Patriot Act until you disappear - without warrant, without a trial, without knowing the charges against you. One of the first things Hitler did have taking power was to put through a very similar measure.

For you to have an agenda, you would actually have to think about some of these issues. But as WCOJ's stunt this morning shows, people in radio (and fans of radio who go online) are mostly lemmings - people who copy, immitate, follow conventional wisdom, and don't think for themselves. That's the real reason radio is so dull; it can't be any better than the people who run it. A later this evening, radio lemmings will turn the airwaves over to Bush. Why? Because that's what they do. That's what they've always done. And they get shocked - shocked - if anyone questions it. This winter, KYW and other stations will do school closings. Something that made sense 50 years ago but does not make sense any more. But again, radio people too often are robots running on automatic. This is the kind of thinking - or non-thinking - killing the business.

 

[Betrayed]

“Limited education”. Ouch. I wasn’t a history major but I’m not historically challenged either. Patriotism is subjective. Who would argue with that? Those 9/11 terrorists are patriots in somebody’s mind.

Geez, we could go on and on with this. And it would be interesting. But it's way off topic and everyone else’s eyes have probably glazed over.

As I perceive it, the problem is this- the Constitution guarantees us that government will be relatively powerless. That’s a wonderful thing. But what we have is very powerful, and seemingly, sometimes illegal government, because Johnny and Janey America are lazy, elitest and looking for special treatment. Yup, presidents send troops into combat illegally. Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Bush, Clinton and Bush. Guilty. You make the call on Ford, Carter and Reagan. Johnny and Janey allow that to happen.

Your underlying implication is that Bush is a bad guy. It’s all his fault. Every problem in America is his fault. If only we had elected a Democrat. You know what? They are dreadful too. Absolutely dreadful. If anybody needs big powerful unconstitutional government, it’s them. You can’t impose their policies of social engineering, income redistribution and all the rest of it constitutionally. It’s not in there. At least I can’t find it. But you most likely know that.

If the majority of America doesn’t like whatever, it’s our own fault. Too many people with the “hooray for me, to hell with you” philosophy. “I want, I want, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme”. FDR may have let Pandora out of the box. Government can do almost nothing better for you, than you can do it for yourself. I’m all in favor of the government described in the Constitution. Neither of the Big Two parties are going to give Americans that.

That’s it. I’m done.

 

[fred flintstone]

I agree. And radio is an enabler (an - not the) of the mischief of the political class. Radio help sell these shenanigans to the public, calls it public service and doesn't even get paid. WCOJ's stunt is one example. With all due respect to those who have suffered a loss, the politicians use those losses for their own purposes and radio unthinkingly and unwittingly plays right along.

And if anybody doesn't want to consider that because I said it, maybe you'll consider what Keith Obermann said.
Click Here

-30-

“Limited education”. Ouch. I wasn’t a history major but I’m not historically challenged either. Patriotism is subjective. Who would argue with that? Those 9/11 terrorists are patriots in somebody’s mind.

Geez, we could go on and on with this. And it would be interesting. But it's way off topic and everyone else’s eyes have probably glazed over.

As I perceive it, the problem is this- the Constitution guarantees us that government will be relatively powerless. That’s a wonderful thing. But what we have is very powerful, and seemingly, sometimes illegal government, because Johnny and Janey America are lazy, elitest and looking for special treatment. Yup, presidents send troops into combat illegally. Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Bush, Clinton and Bush. Guilty. You make the call on Ford, Carter and Reagan. Johnny and Janey allow that to happen.

Your underlying implication is that Bush is a bad guy. It’s all his fault. Every problem in America is his fault. If only we had elected a Democrat. You know what? They are dreadful too. Absolutely dreadful. If anybody needs big powerful unconstitutional government, it’s them. You can’t impose their policies of social engineering, income redistribution and all the rest of it constitutionally. It’s not in there. At least I can’t find it. But you most likely know that.

If the majority of America doesn’t like whatever, it’s our own fault. Too many people with the “hooray for me, to hell with you” philosophy. “I want, I want, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme”. FDR may have let Pandora out of the box. Government can do almost nothing better for you, than you can do it for yourself. I’m all in favor of the government described in the Constitution. Neither of the Big Two parties are going to give Americans that.

That’s it. I’m done.

 

[PaulBWalkerJr]

I think WCOJ made a great decision in doing this.

Certainly there were listeners who were closely affected by 9/11, losing a family member or friend. Kudos to them for providing a community service that the bigger stations wouldnt.

If you don't like it, don't listen...

 

[Radiodeity]

A total of 2390 Americans died at Pearl Harbor nearly 60 years ago.

"December 7, 1941 - A date that will live in infamy." FDR

How come no one seems to make such a big deal out of that date anymore?

And so it will come to pass that September 11, 2001 will also disappear into the mist...

Let them have it now while thay can still make a buck on a tragic event and people will follow along at home like good little patriots.

May those who perished never be forgotten for what they gave the ones left behind.... God bless us all.

 

[talkinthewalk]

Indulge me three quick interjections:

-I was the only radio station in the United States there. I'd hardly call that being a lemming.
-Friday morning we spoke with the Director of the Pearl Harbor Memorial fund with the specific intent of NOT letting December 7th fade from memory. (BTW; This year is the 65th anniversary and they are still hearing from survivors and/or their families every day. http://www.pearlharborstories.org/)
-At the top of the hill was a group who felt that 9/11 happened because God hates the United States. There were people who wanted them removed but I was glad they were not because since we're quoting people, here's Voltaire... "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." Though, honestly, I felt like they had more in common with the fanatical muslims than with the victims.

Joe Thomas

 

[fred flintstone]

They observe December 7th in Delaware.

I recall no observation - not even a mention - on WCOJ and most other commercial stations for August 6th.
And if the date is not familiar to you, that says something, as well.

There is an ancient story that when God released the waters of the Red Sea and drowned the Egyptian army, the angels started to cheer. God silenced them and said, "Why do you cheer? Those are my children who drowned."

 

[talkinthewalk]

"Joining host Joe Thomas?" This sounds like this is COJ's show. Is Thomas the host of the event? Did he book all these people? Will they actually appear on his show or will his show just carry their speeches from podium? (Probably the latter.) "

No, Fred. The former.

 

[talkinthewalk]

"I recall no observation - not even a mention - on WCOJ and most other commercial stations for August 6th.
And if the date is not familiar to you, that says something, as well."
[/quote]

There most certainly was discussion about Hiroshima. Sorry.