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Westwood One adds new 24/7 Good Time Oldies format to replace Scott Shannon's TOC
- Thread starter Lori Pollitt
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I thought you were!
Let's see... about 22 years living in Puerto Rico and 22 years living in the Los Angeles area... as well as programmings stints in Washington, Birmingham and Phoenix... that's about 46 years in the United states.
You'd better hurry over to Wikipedia and bone up on your geography.
Maybe it is having been on the debate team in high school. Or having done talk radio for a long part of my career. I love the debate... it's sort of like fencing; you know nobody will really get killed so the art is in the form.
(Although some of the participants seem more like Michael Vick than Elisa Di Francisca)
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Actually, I only read your biography, I didn't memorize it. Besides, there is a good case to be made that Puerto Rico, though a US possession, is not truly "inside" the United States, but is simply an outlying possession with a significantly different culture. Technically speaking, it is US territory, but one can hardly say it has the same English-speaking culture as the 50 states. Culturally, it has more in common with other former Spanish colonies in the Caribbean than it has with Kansas or Nebraska.
But then, you do know everything about everything, don't you?
And you have been there how many times and for how long?
Yes, Puerto Rico is Spanish speaking. But after 117 years as part of the US and 97 years during which all Puerto Ricans have been US citizens, the Island is far more part of the US than of any Latin American nation. There is free travel and migration between Puerto Rico and the mainland, and a huge percentage of Puerto Ricans have done some of their education on the mainland.
Maine has a different culture than Santa Fé, NM. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan has many separate customs and traits from those of Louisiana's Cajun country. Puerto Rico, with all the US institutions from Food Stamps to the FBI, FDA and FCC, is just another part of the US with its own local culture. But is damn well part of the US. If not, ask Marc Anthony or Jennifer López or Ricky Martin how different they are from anyone else in this diverse nation.
No, it doesn't. I've worked or lived in more than a dozen Latin American nations, and Puerto Rico is uniquely different from all of them right down to the extensive gamut of English language terms adopted into the language... making colloquial Puerto Rican Spanish nearly unintelligible elsewhere in Latin America.
No, I don't. But I know a heck of a lot more than you do about life in Puerto Rico and its culture.
This place is boring today, so David, I think you are clueless and your resume is not acceptable to continue debating. You wouldn't know a good playlist if it hit you in the uh, Broadcasting Yearbook! Firepoint, Melanie was played on Hippie four times in a row today (one for each skate wheel) and BigA just announced he is bringing a Disco/Country format to NYC, with a lean to oldies that never charted above number 200 with Jim Zippo hosting on helium 25/8. Avid. Start something...
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Troll your net somewhere else.
Besides the obvious "pot, kettle, black" issue you seem to have totally missed tibbs' amusing way to revive the thread by making contrarian statements about the major points of debate of recent.
Apparently, your sense of humor was taken away by a black helicopter participating in the "Leave America Without A Smile" plot. All those native smiles have been taken to Guangdong where they were given to depressed and suicidal assembly line workers at iPhone factories...
Well said.
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When one recognizes an attempt at humor that fails to be funny, one usually doesn't laugh. I do not laugh at attempted humor that fails. Do you?
I especially find gross exaggeration and mischaracterization of statements to not be particularly humorous.
Mr. Gleason, any attempts to interpret my comments about your expertise as indicating that I don't think you know anything are grossly misguided. I do not deny that you are very knowledgeable about broadcast radio, even though much of your experience was in either foreign markets or to foreigners here in the United States. There is nothing wrong with specializing in broadcasting to foreigners. And, I don't doubt that there is some measure of commonality between broadcasting to Americans and broadcasting to foreigners, including foreigners here in America. I was simply trying to make the point that though you know a lot, you don't know everything. You are not the Pope of radio, whose every statement is automatically infallible because of the chair you sit in. When you make a statement that you expect everyone to accept as holy writ even though it cannot bear close scrutiny using a simple "common sense" filter, I'll trust my common sense.
I'm reminded of another post where someone characterized the suggestions from some of us that a few good sounding songs from the era that this thread focuses on would be a pleasant addition if scattered in here and there, so our position was that we were suggesting nothing but obscure tracks 24/7.
I also realize that there are some people who want nothing in their lives but "lite" conversation, music, and everything else. I'm reminded of the people who get angry if you post anything on Facebook other than pictures of puppies and kittens, preferably with captions written in baby-talk. I'm not one of those people.
Puerto Ricans are not "foreigners" for a start. And at what point do people of a certain national heritage cease to be "foreigners"? Is it when they become residents, or when they become citizens? Or is it when they are second generation and born here?
In a sense, nearly all of us are foreigners in some way. Hispanics go back 500 years, though, and Native Americans more than a millenium... so where is the (very unnecessary )line you want to draw?
Let's see, anyway. KKSS, KBBT, KRUX, KTKT, KWIZ-FM, WERC, WEZR, WEZB, WEEL, KENO, WERC-FM, WCUY, WJMO, WTNT, WNLS, WDSR, WNFB are just a few of the general market stations I have managed, programmed or been otherwise involved with over the years.
But that is rather specific and the real point is that this is a nation of considerable diversity, where different ethnic and cultural groups influence the entire nation in food, music and many other ways. Having a knowledge of multiple tongues and cultures is something I feel has always given me an advantage, whether in Argentina or Melbourne or Miami or Tallahassee.
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In the case of living in the United States (or America's outlying possessions), when they adopt English as their primary language.
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I don't dispute that, but it still doesn't make you the Pope of all radio.
And they almost always go straight for the "novelty" songs, even though none of us have ever suggested that.
On the '80s board, one of those know-it-alls once accused us of wanting to hear a #39 song from 1963! Again, that was on the '80s board!
First generation immigrants whose native tongue is not English almost never adopt English as their primary language because the adult mind does not work that way. Most still think in the native language and translate mentally. Few become bilingual so that they think in whichever language is appropriate.
Puerto Ricans are not "foreign" as they are US citizens, although they may prefer Spanish over English for most purposes. Many residents in the Southwest... some of whom have heritage that goes back prior to US territorial expansion... are bilingual and think in whichever language is appropriate.
Or... how about Hawai'i? They have a native language, a form of Pidgin and English. Each has appropriate usages. And they are Americans, not foreign.
The USA has no official language. Part is based in the Constitution, and part is based in reality.
One of the reasons such a diverse and large number of immigrants as the country has always attracted has assimilate so quickly is that there is the freedom to read view and listen to media in one's preferred language and through which immigrants learn how to live in their new country.
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And you're attempting to defend people not learning or using English because their ancestors centuries ago were enslaved by the Spanish Conquistadors!
"Foreign" refers to cultural assimilation, not legal status. We won Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American War. The people who had been the slaves of Spain had the option of becoming American or remaining foreign. Most chose the latter.
What a disturbingly racist mistake! Hawaii was an independent kingdom long before the British and Americans attempted to conquer it. The Hawaiian language is hardly a pidgin. It was, and is, a totally separate language. That's not to say that there are Hawaiians who speak a Pidgin, just as there are people who speak Creole, or Patois, or even Spanglish.
There is a big difference between formal statutes and de facto reality.
That is true. In America, there are radio and television stations who broadcast in foreign languages FOR THE BENEFIT OF FOREIGNERS.
Look, if some people want to cling to the language of the Conquistadors who stole their land, raped their women, and turned their ancestors into slaves, fine. Anyone who wants to continue to speak a foreign language in America is free to do so. Any American who wants to learn a foreign language well enough to work at radio stations that exploit those people who choose a foreign language over English is free to do so. If I could have made a career for myself speaking French in Quebec, I might have done so. I am not saying that such things are wrong. The concepts of right or wrong don't apply in that situation. Anyone person or business that can profit from exploiting people who are cut off from economic opportunity because they can't speak English by encouraging them to continue to use their preferred foreign language is a perfect example of capitalism at work.
That's what freedom in America is all about, right?
Not every Spanish speaker is a former "slave". And I differ from your usage of "enslavement" which is not appropriate any more than describing the American colonials as "slaves" of the British.
The US did not grant any self-determination... the ability to make a choice... for 55 years. Up until then, Puerto Rico was administered by mainland governors appointed by Washington.
What is "racist" about saying that Hawai'i has three languages: English, Hawaiian and an argot-laden mix of Hawaiian and English that falls under the definition of Pidgin? It's a fact. That linguistic reality does not make Hawaiians "foreign".
However, the main point is that the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and that means unfettered use of any language by members of the public.
Puerto Ricans are not foreigners, and they and many others enjoy broadcasts in languages other than English. Anecdotally, I vastly prefer many kinds of music in Spanish over any kind in English and so I use Spanish language stations for such purposes... and I speak and write fairly intelligible English most of the time.
You are failing to see the changes in America. The use of other languages is being recognized and respected, rather than chastised and demeaned.
As an example from today's news, there is an action pending at the FCC, and one of the law blogs says,
"With so much going on at the FCC and in connection with other topics that we consider, I’m sometimes late getting to all of the issues that arise, and sometimes never mention some of them. But there is one interesting and important proceeding that the Commission has recently resuscitated and is worthy of mention – the proposal to mandate multilingual emergency alerts by broadcast stations – even when the station broadcasting in a language other than English is knocked off the air by some local emergency. The proposal would require that all primary EAS stations broadcast national alerts in both English and Spanish, and that state EAS plans should designate stations to provide emergency information in other languages where there are significant populations that have a primary language other than English or Spanish. Not only that, but English language stations in these areas are proposed to have to play a back-up role, ready to step in and provide emergency information in one of these languages should the primary station serving a particular non-English speaking population be forced off the air. "
(http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/201...IGN&utm_term=0_550fd6c4c6-bbc7ca7d58-70189869
In other words, the Federal Government believes that, given the existence in the US of significant Spanish speaking communities across the nation, as well as communities that speak other languages, it is necessary for the common good to make sure messages of an emergency nature are heard and understood by all.
Thank you. That is the point, and it is being recognized and even encouraged today... as the US is the most monolingual of the major economic powers today.
Learning Spanish (and other languages) did not impede my learning of English. Preferring to listen to HJED and XEB instead of WIXY or WHK as an early teen did not, similarly, impede my fluency in English. You look at language as "either / or" rather than an additive experience.
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Maybe not, but he is the Dean of this board and you can take whatever he posts as facts, whether you agree with them or not. And since you seem to rarely agree with the resident expert with decades of experience, what does that tell you? I know what it tells me.
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