"Under a 2001 FCC policy that was amended in 2004, network and local radio and television channels can be fined up to $325,000 for a single fleeting expletive blurted out on a live show or for brief glimpses of nudity."
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Rush Limbaugh to host Trump in "virtual rally"
- Thread starter gr8oldies
- Start date
"Under a 2001 FCC policy that was amended in 2004, network and local radio and television channels can be fined up to $325,000 for a single fleeting expletive blurted out on a live show or for brief glimpses of nudity."
One would think that if Rush made an invite to Biden and he refused, we'd hear about it.
Here's more coverage of the Rush rally show today.
http://www.insideradio.com/free/pre...cle_bb084396-0a75-11eb-a673-b369efd9d004.html
Inside Radio is owned by iHeart, so it was obviously very positive. No mention of the f-bomb.
I did notice this:
So they aired a 2 hour free commercial.
http://www.insideradio.com/free/pre...cle_bb084396-0a75-11eb-a673-b369efd9d004.html
Inside Radio is owned by iHeart, so it was obviously very positive. No mention of the f-bomb.
I did notice this:
So they aired a 2 hour free commercial.
I don't listen to Rush, but as a past news/talk station programmer I believe all the experienced talents know not to beat something to death. For all I know, he may have said, "and we invited him..." and stated that they got either no response or a rejection. But he would only have said that a couple of times.
It's an interesting question, though!
Rush's website has a transcript of Rush's mention of the rally yesterday (as well as audio) and he didn't say anything about offering equal time to Biden.
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/...ces-virtual-radio-rally-with-president-trump/
He could have mentioned it when he issued the invitations, or maybe he decided not to even mention it on the air; there is no requirement to do so.
Remember, the equal time rule applies to FCC licensees, not to syndicators/networks.
If the Team Biden wanted to request an hour to air an infomercial on WSB or WBAP, they could do so. But they could not force Premiere Networks to syndicate that hour to its Limbaugh affiliates.
If the Team Biden wanted to request an hour to air an infomercial on WSB or WBAP, they could do so. But they could not force Premiere Networks to syndicate that hour to its Limbaugh affiliates.
There's no requirement for Rush to do anything. The responsibility is with the licensees. By him not documenting that an offer was made puts the licensees at risk.
We don't know, and might never know. Biden may have been invited, but there was no mention. Or it could have been mentioned several days prior. There is no requirement to invite equal time on the air... just to make it available.
But most people who do this for a living, and seek to follow the law, have no reason NOT to say the offer was made.
All the more reason why there is a need to better regulate this kind of thing, and not allow entertainment programming to masquerade as news. Or vice versa.
Do the pay-for-them news channels (notice I didn't say cable news channels - most people I know don't use cable for delivery any more) have to grant equal time also? For some reason I thought this only applied to over-the-air broadcast facilities.
Dave B.
Equal time only applies to licensed broadcast stations.
But in the case we are discussing, Limbaugh is primarily distributed by licensed radio stations.
The whole internet as well as cable channels are totally unregulated in that respect.
The purpose of equal time was to guarantee opportunity for diverse voices. That ship already sailed, and it was substantially overbooked.
Much of the FCC "backbone" comes from its creation in the early 30's when legislators feared the two NBS networks and CBS would dominate all media were they not severely regulated. This the 7 station ownership limit and the later elimination of duopolies even by independent owners. The politicians also feared newspapers would dominate radio... today the only thing that worries about a newspaper is a canary that stares at its cage lining.
I'm fine with the FCC eliminating all rules. Let companies own what they want, and let politicians do whatever they want. Eliminate all rules.
But that hasn't happened, and if Joe Biden was the one who was on the radio every day, the Republicans would be screaming about it.
Everybody wants to use whatever advantage they can for themselves, and use every advantage against their opposition.
So Rush puts him on the radio for two hours, saves his campaign millions of dollars, and cheats radio stations out of much needed revenue.
My favorite quote, when asking an engineer how the station sounded, he replied "Looks good to me!"
Some free airtime on Limbaugh's show is pure "preaching to the choir" and not one vote will be changed over it.
On the other hand, running some ads on key state insertions on ESPN and MeTV and a bunch of other cable channels can cause conversions.
The only thing being on that show might give Trump is some assurance that everyone votes.
But you also said the Rush affiliates were responsible for equal time, which I doubt Biden would take advantage of. Our media is so polarized right now that I sort of doubt that the equal time principle means anything.
Energizing the base. In this presidential campaign there is a definite enthusiasm divide. Energized bases vote, or have a higher propensity to vote. Unenthused bases are less apt to, hence the difference in turnouts for Obama and Hillary (100K more for Obama in 2012 and 4 million more in 2008).
Energized can be in opposition to one candidate in the same way it's for another candidate.
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