Jul
11
2008
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Fairness Doctrine and the FM Dial |
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Written by JD Johannes
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Friday, 11 July 2008 |
'The Church of Lazlo' is one of my favorite radio programs.
Syndicated from Seattle , it also airs in Kansas City where I listen to it.
Lazlo and his side-kicks, Afentra and Slimfast, are talented radio personalities who have perfected their craft.
And they are unabashedly liberal and discuss politics almost every day.
But, their on-air presence is so good, that a conservative like me, will put up with the liberal talking points to hear to the rest of show.
Under a re-institution of the fairness doctrine, the stations that air 'The Church of Lazlo' would have to provide air-time for opposing political views.
That means an alternative rock station that carries the 'Church of Lazlo' would have to carry a show with conservative for several hours a day. An openly conservative DJ on an alternative rock station is a recipie for ratings failure.
Or, in the alternative, all the politics in 'The Church of Lazlo' would have to go away.
I am not sure how much the liberal politics plays into audience attraction/retention--but if it didn't, the show would have been off the air a few years ago. Obviously, the politics works. Which is good for the fans, good for Lazlo and company, good for the advertisers and good for the radio stations.
Under the fairness doctrine, 'The Church of Lazlo' would be stifled, or an equal amount of time would have to be given to a DJ whose show would probably flop.
If the liberal politics is part of the draw of the show, then ratings would suffer, which would not be good for Lazlo & Company, advertisers or the radio stations.
A lot people who are focused on the AM dial, forget that there are lots of Lazlos on the FM dial.
Moreover, radio stations will have Lazlo on the FM and Limbaugh on the AM side.
Case in point. KRBZ-FM, which airs 'The Church of Lazlo' is an Entercom station. In Kansas City, Entercom also owns KMBZ-AM which carries Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Mark Levin and Neal Boortz.
Entercom carries Lazlo because he is perfect for their FM alternative rock station and Limbaugh because he is perfect for their AM talk station.
Obviously, Entercom is an equal opportunity profit taker.
Those who want to bring back the fairness doctrine need to remember that it applies to the Lazlos on the FM dial as well.
And just like watered down AM talk doesn't work, a watered down 'Church of Lazlo' wouldn't be nearly as fun to listen to.
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