So it was Monday, and I was spinnin' the dial, and the afternoon shows here in Milwaukee were offering up three weaknesses in the tiresome righty talk radio format.
I. Talkers as Know-It-Alls:
Jonathan Green on 620 WTMJ-AM's 3:00 - - 6:00 p.m. drive time program "The Green House" decided to ventilate about FAA-mandated flight cancellations in April.
If you remember, the FAA had found that American, Southwest and other airlines had delayed some mandatory inspections of wiring bundles, and forced airlines to ground planes and make the required checks.
The curmudgeonly Green opined that he knew a guy who told him definitively that the FAA action took place because some bureaucrats were unfairly looking at wiring with a "micrometer," suggesting that the inspections were too strict, perhaps unnecessary.
In actuality, the inspections had been ordered two years ago; airlines like American that found their planes grounded had missed known FAA deadlines and an 18-month period during which the repairs could have been made legally.
Green probably forgot that two major airplane crashes since 1996 have been been traced, in part, to wiring problems.
Green rarely takes callers, so what he says can only be contradicted by show partner Phil Cianciola, a news guy who is usually more informed, and provides the show's humor and depth.
These disasters Green overlooked include the 1996 explosion of a TWA Boeing 747 off Long Island, NY, that killed 230 people, and a 1998 crash of a Swiss Air MD-11 in Nova Scotia that killed 229 people.
The wiring bundles implicated in those crashes were different than those that were the subject of the recent FAA enforcement action, but ask yourself:
Do you really want federal inspectors to look the other way when it comes to mandatory aviation safety inspections, especially involving parts like wiring bundles that carry electrical current?
II: Talkers As Whiners:
Mark Belling, the WISN-AM 1130 afternoon talker who competes with Green was still crying about the decision by Summerfest and the US Army to modify a killing simulator on the festival grounds after complaints from peace activists and others.
Though the controversy was over last weekend, and the Summerfest festival has closed for the season, too, Belling couldn't let it go.
He railed at Summerfest for catering more to long-haired hippies from the East Side "who don't use deodorant" than respecting Belling and his audience.
To which I only say, "Boo-Hoo."
Belling complained that he had been dissed even though he had carried a lot of water for Summerfest (his words).
He said he felt like the woman thrown over the side of the boat by a guy who was dating more than one woman, and chose the other gal. (Again, his words and simile, too).
There's nothing as pathetic as a righty talker in full victim/low-self esteem mode.
III: Talkers as Angry Middle-Aged Men: This is what so many of the hosts - - Green, Belling, Charlie Sykes and Jeff Wagner - - have in common.
(And hey, don't throw any age-ist labels my way: Of the bunch only Green is older than I am, and not by much.)
This Milwaukee AM righty radio crew comes across as a bunch of bitter complainers, usually with a predictable, over-lapping group of targets:
Big Guvmint, big cities, Democrats, the Journal Sentinel, and an assortment of liberals, environmentalists and other Friends of the Earth.
Station managers are making money with these interchangeable, talking parts, but the righty talk radio monotone on WTMJ and WISN, Milwaukee's two leading AM stations, has driven away a substantial percentage of the general public that doesn't define itself as ideologically right-wing.
Final thought:
I prefer Eric Von on WMCS AM 1290 on the AM band in the afternoons, but I often listen to the righty talkers so I know what right-wingers are thinking.
My favorite is still Crosstalk.
ReplyDelete"Do you really want federal inspectors to look the other way when it comes to mandatory aviation safety inspections, especially involving parts like wiring bundles that electrical current?"
ReplyDeleteYou can bet conservative talk radio does -- cause it's the gummint, which makes it BAD. Not to mention the airlines should be allowed to fly their planes in any condition they want because its "free enterprise."
Stump:
ReplyDeleteThats a stretch...Although you do have to ask yourself if these inspections were so important, why were the airlines given 2 YEARS to perform them?
These disasters Green overlooked include the 1996 explosion of a TWA Boeing 747 off Long Island, NY
ReplyDeleteYou mean the one where dozens of eyewitnesses saw a vertical-ascending rocket(??) hit the plane?
The investigation of which was buried after AlGore took a large contribution from the airline industry?
That one?
To Dad 29:
ReplyDeleteI spent a good part of my 13 years at the Journal and Journal Sentinel covering airliner crashes and the subsequent investigations.
There is no way in the world that an investigation into an airliner crash gets influenced by a campaign donation.
These investigations involve dozens of parties - - manaufacturers, federal agencies, airlines - - and the procedures are precise and scientific.
Also: people "see" things that are often unrelated, or are influenced by the emotion of the moment.
I remember an eyewitness to the crash of Midwest Express 105 in Oak Creek in 1985 who was positive that he saw the plane do three complete barrel rolls before crashing, when the plane had simply rolled 180 degrees onto its back, once, at a very low altitude, before crashing.
Beling and Sykes are both undoubtedly unhappy that the old days of Summerfest are gone. Back when Bo was in charge, both of them shilled for whatever she wanted. They were all a Mutual Admiration Society.
ReplyDeleteAnd Bo, who thought the fest to be a separate kingdom where she ruled as queen, never would have responded to Peace Action or other citizens, no matter how valid their complaints or how reasonable their requests. (I say that as someone who saw it up close as a Summerfest board member for 5 years.)
Those were the days, my friend. Mark and Charlie thought they would never end.
The public owes Summerfest a thank you for acting promptly and responsibly.
It's a pretty old post I stumbled across while search something on FoxPolitics.net, but I think if you've got a decent radio you might be able to pick up WHBY AM 1150 out of Appleton. At least someone on the north side of Milwaukee was able to pick up the station. Weekday mornings Bill Sebastian hosts a talk show with the unique format of taking all callers of all opinions. Bill leans libertarian himself, but he's been pretty much equally open to callers from both wings, and lets them have their say. In other words, something you don't usually hear in talk radio these days: a middle of the road host.
ReplyDelete