Sunday, March 26, 2023

“The Divided Dial”, from NPR’s On The Media

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/on-the-media-23568271/episode/how-did-talk-radio-get-so-110879942/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-most-influential-christian-talk-radio-network/id73330715?i=1000603661118

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-lying-on-the-radio-legal/id73330715?i=1000605768003

~~ recommended by dmorista ~~

Introduction by dmorista:  This is a post to 3 radio shows, each one about 50 minutes long.  These 3 shows were broadcast by some NPR stations.  They were produced by Katie Thornton and her collaborators to be presented  by On The Media (OTM).  OTM is an old-line investigative journalistic radio program; a relic from an earlier epoch when NPR and other public radio stations still carried hard-hitting political analysis and commentary.  OTM continues in that tradition.  This series “The Divided Dial” examines the development of policy by the FCC that ended up giving the reactionaries a huge platform to spew their twisted ideas and propaganda. She looks at the  events and planning by the far-right that allowed them to take over a huge slice of the over-the-air broadcast spectrum, both radio and television.  And that is a position from which they aggressively expanded into on-line media as the years passed by.  She also discusses the early period when Civil Rights and Anti-War activists had significant access to the public airwaves.   It is a major tale of political maneurvering and the growth of right-wing power in the U.S., aided and abetted by our corrupt legal system and our captured regulatory agencies that toe the line for the rich and powerful.


To listen to this excellent 3 part series go to On the Media, “Episodes”, at < https://link.chtbl.com/onthemedia?sid=divideddial.blshow >.  That website has triangular icons to click on and listen to archived shows (including many other excellent investigative and analysis shows).   I am posting the 3 shows here in the order they appear on the website.  But I numbered them to reflect the chronological order they were produced an broadcast in.  3). Is Lying On the Radio...Legal?”,, which is the most recent appears at the top of the website, while 1). “How did Talk Radio Get So Politically Lop-Sided?”, the original segment of the series appears farther down the page.



1).  How did Talk Radio Get So Politically Lop-Sided?



How did the right get their vice grip of the airwaves, all the while arguing that they were being silenced and censored by a liberal media? This week, we look at the early history of American radio to reveal that censorship of far-right and progressive voices alike was once common on radio. And reporter Katie Thornton explains how, in the post-war and Civil Rights period, the US government encouraged more diverse viewpoints on the airwaves — until it didn’t. Plus, the technological and legal changes that led to conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh taking over the airwaves. 


This episode is an adaptation of our latest series, The Divided Dial. You can listen to the full series here. 


Another way of dividing up the series (into 5 episodes 4 of which are half hour segments), and of listening to it on YouTube videos; is available at YouTube, at <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUQrcRVuC9YK7antz5JMgknNLYaKbSn2n>.  


That interface looks like this on your computer screen.   



2).  The Most Influential Christian Talk Radio Network You've Probably Never Heard of:



In 2016, Christian talk radio host Eric Metaxas begrudgingly encouraged his listeners to vote for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. By 2020, he pledged his life to fighting the “stolen election” while talking with Trump on the air. Ahead of the midterm elections, Metaxas and many of his fellow talk radio hosts made sure the falsehood of massive 2020 election fraud was top of mind — on the airwaves and beyond. And while election-denying candidates didn't do as well as many on the right had hoped, at least 170 such candidates have been elected to state and national offices, some of whom will be in charge of future elections. This week, reporter Katie Thornton introduces us to the company whose hosts never backed down from the lies of the stolen 2020 election: Salem Media Group, the largest Christian, conservative multimedia company in the country – and perhaps the most influential media company you’ve never heard of. Thornton traces the company’s rise to power from its scrappy start in the 1970s to the present day — a growth that paralleled and eventually became inextricable from the growth of the Religious Right. 


This episode is an adaptation of our latest series, The Divided Dial. You can listen to the full series here. 


3).  Is Lying On the Radio...Legal?



Highly politicized, partisan companies like Salem Media Group have a hold on the airwaves

— and they don’t plan to give it up. This week, Senior Vice President of Salem Phil Boyce

speaks candidly to reporter Katie Thornton about the personalities he handpicked to spread

Salem’s message and about the company’s plans to expand into the media world off the

airwaves. Peddling election denialism seems to be a solid business model — but is it legal? 


This episode is an adaptation of our latest series, The Divided Dial. You can listen to the full series here. 


The Divided Dial is reported and hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. You can follow her

work on Instagram or on her website. The Divided Dial was edited by On the Media's executive

producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom

Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer

Munson is our technical director. Art by Michael Brennan. With support from the Fund for

Investigative Journalism.


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