• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

KSFO (Sussman/Morgan et al. Hate Speech)

Sale to a joint venture led by Citadel (but one in which Disney will have a majority stake) won't be complete until at least the end of May '07.
 
Ed Garcia said:
Generating major interest:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/6/13107/86052
Click to expand...

The Bottom Line: Mickey Luckoff decided to throw the fear of God -- the one wearing mouse ears -- into Spocko, who didn't back down. So they went after Spocko's discount webhosting company, 1&1, and they caved and took his site down.

My advice to Spocko was to go offshore (waaaaay offshore) and find a good webhost in some country where they don't back down from such threats.

This story has gotten huge play across the Internet, but won't be reported on the local airwaves because (1) there is only one mainstream news station left on radio locally and (2) although KGO is their biggest competitor, it would serve no purpose to report it,regardless of how newsworthy the story is.

How big is this story? Go to http://news.google.com and do a search on "ksfo".

DJ
 
The effluent on KABC radio in Los Angeles is no different.
 
What Morgan and Sussman said was not really that bad. This "spocko" is taking things way out of context. For example, here is the Pelosi clip:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200611210011

Heard in the proper context (as it is above) there is obviously no calling from Morgan for Pelosi to be killed.

If you take things out of context like this guy has done, you will be able to dig up tons of dirt on just about any personality you want.
 
AVNevis said:
What Morgan and Sussman said was not really that bad. This "spocko" is taking things way out of context. For example, here is the Pelosi clip:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200611210011

Heard in the proper context (as it is above) there is obviously no calling from Morgan for Pelosi to be killed.

If you take things out of context like this guy has done, you will be able to dig up tons of dirt on just about any personality you want.
Click to expand...
Kinda hard to take "Allah is a Whore" out of context there..........
 
Maybe this will actually turn some things around. I am sick and tired of hate speech...from both sides. Randi Rhodes is no better than Melanie Morgan.

It seems that talk show hosts always absolve themslves by saying "it's just a show"...To them it may very well be, but that's not how most talkers represent themselves.

And while I'm at it, I'll take a shot at Melanie Morgan. Gotta give her credit for reinventing herself as a conservative pundit. Before that, she was somewhat of a joke in the KGO newsroom.

Brian Sussman??? A lightweight weatherman is now supposedly a heavyweight political host?

Don't get me wrong...I think Rhodes, Franken and other political talkers are way off base.

The saddes part of all of it is that people actually buy into this crap - missing out on the real points of the real issues.

-DM
 
"The saddest part of all of it is that people actually buy into this crap - missing out on the real points of the real issues."

Agreed. I'm a liberal myself on most issues, and a reformed talk radio listener. I used to tune-in Rodgers frequently because I thought Lee was articulate and witty when he wasn't spewing venom, even though I disagreed with many of his viewpoints. But Morgan is not particularly talented or articulate. And it seems like the talk-hosts in general resort to the lowest common denominator more and more the last few years, and try as hard as they can to be outrageous because it's "just showbiz" afterall, and it's easier to spew venom than moderate a real discussion of the issues. Savage didn't start this trend but he's the most obvious example. It's too bad, but it probably gets higher ratings.

There's nothing wrong with what Spocko is doing - lobbying sponsors to pull their ads is NOT censorship. On the other hand, all this publicity will just attract more listeners to KSFO, and new advertisers will rush in to fill any empty ad minutes. Maybe the left wing will learn what the right-wing and the Catholic Church never seem to learn - boycotts just give the "offenders" more publicity. I'm old enough to remember when "racy" novels would advertise "Banned in Boston!" as a badge of honor, and to attract more sales.
 
Everyone has freedom of speech but these people are going after my source of income says Rogers to the Chron.

What a bald-faced hypocrite!

Like she hasn't gone after the jobs of people who earn their living doing things she doesn't like?

The whole ABC Radio chain is infected with people like this - Larry Elder at KABC, Michael Savage who is carried on the network, etc.

That entire corporation is a right wing terror.
 
Just so you know, Rodgers that you mentioned is a HE.

As far as the ENTIRE corporation? Come on, last time I checked, KGO, while being No. 1 for close to 30 years does not come close to leaning to the right except for Dr. Bill Wattenburg.
 
"As far as the ENTIRE corporation? Come on, last time I checked, KGO, while being No. 1 for close to 30 years does not come close to leaning to the right except for Dr. Bill Wattenburg."

That's correct - KGO's talk hosts have always been balanced between right-left-and center. Walt Disney was an old right-winger, but he's been dead for 40 years. I don't think the modern Disney Corp has any political agenda. The agenda is to make money.

Before Disney/ABC bought KSFO, it was a low-rated talk station trying (and failing) to compete against KGO with a mix of local and syndicated talk hosts who - like KGO - had views across the political spectrum. In fact, KSFO ran Gene Burn's syndicated show out of Boston. When Disney bought the station, it was a BUSINESS decision to go with the all right-wing talk format, anchored by Lee Rodgers and Jim Eason - both from KGO. As I understand it, it was Jack Swanson (Melanie Morgan's husband) who programmed the station. Personally, Swanson is a liberal democrat, but he knows a successful talk format when he sees it.
 
I wouldn't paint the entire corporation with that same brush either. However, it does bring up what I think is an interesting point. Just because it's successful means you should do it?

I'm all for making money, but at what price? Hire the loudest, meanest people you can so they can inspire others to be loud and mean?

KSFO certainly isn't alone in this and it's not just a political talk issue. Just curious what your opinions are on this. Seems the pursuit of so-called success has led us down the garden path....in so many ways.
 
Jeezus, David, there is more to the world than radio.

Imagine radio, but with pictures.

You know, they call it television? It's like radio, only relevant.
 
DyingMedium said:
I wouldn't paint the entire corporation with that same brush either. However, it does bring up what I think is an interesting point. Just because it's successful means you should do it?
Click to expand...

That's a legitimate question. I was only saying that I believe KSFO and its right-wing format was not a plot to advance a right-wing agenda by Disney/ABC, and that it is only a plot to make money. While I think Sluggo did nothing fundamentally wrong, I think that in the long run, he's only giving KSFO more publicity. Right-wing talk got popular in the the 90s, and its stock in trade was Clinton-bashing. Now that we're deep into the Bush era, and they can't bash "their" President, I suspect that they have had to make the tone of the talk more incendiary and outrageous to keep their ratings numbers high.

As a liberal, I was dismayed when I returned to college in the 90s, and watched as left-wing student groups tried to deny right-wing student groups freedom to speak on campus. Their excuse for squelching free speech was that it was "hate speech." I think that label was thrown around too freely.

When right wing and fundamentalist religious groups file complaints about lewd or profane content on radio and TV, the liberal response is to tell them to "just change the channel." Nobody is forced to tune their radios to 560 AM. I know I don't. As long as they're not advocating or provoking violence, I don't think there's anything wrong with right-wingers having their station.
 
I would agree with you LKeller...I don't see any problem with right or left wingers having their own station(s).

It seems that no one wants to have an honest dialogue about the "issues". My guess is that it wouldn't be very entertaining. No real angry conflict there. I don't have any real answers...I just know I have grown very tired of listening to people shout each other down.

I guess things will just work themselves out. However, there is a reason why KGO continues to be #1. They actually have personalities who talk about the issues with their listeners AND each other.
 
zumahans said:
Everyone has freedom of speech but these people are going after my source of income says Rogers to the Chron.

What a bald-faced hypocrite!

Like she hasn't gone after the jobs of people who earn their living doing things she doesn't like?

The whole ABC Radio chain is infected with people like this - Larry Elder at KABC, Michael Savage who is carried on the network, etc.

That entire corporation is a right wing terror.
Click to expand...

Just a couple of things: Michael Savage does not work for any ABC O/O stations. And his network is TRN. Not ABC. When Michael left KSFO, ABC as a company dumped his show from WABC too. The only 2 ABC o/o stations he was working for at the time.

And if you really worked their you should know that KSFO converted to Hot Talk in Jan 1995. ABC bought the station in Sept of 1994 and had a crappy format called attitude radio on for about 4 months till Jack Swanson who came back from Seattle blew the place up at the end of 1994. Shaun Nix was the midday host along with the Sports Babe and Dr. Laura and some other less than steller syndication.

Oh and Lee Rodgers is a HE not a She, I guess that you never met the 60+ year old him during your employment there. He came to KSFO in July of 1995 after 2 years at KIRO in Seattle. He did used to work for KGO prior to that...for many years.

But you were right, Larry Elder does work for ABC and is on the Network.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom