June, 1995: On Fridays, usually I share my “road warrior” stories from seminar trips long ago. I’ve been publishing them in chronological order.
In looking through my notes for the next installment, I came across this little tidbit from the newsletter I sent to my clients 14 years ago this month.
Instead of sharing with you my misadventures around the world, this month I will do some sermonizing. Probably I shouldn’t. I’m sure you’d find it more entertaining to hear about my first trip to South America (and what the drug was in my carry-on suitcase that attracted the attention of the airport police in Bogotá)…or about my three-hour train ride in Germany with 150 skinhead soccer fans whose team had just lost.
The views I’m about to express might even offend a few readers. If you believe managers of radio stations never, under any circumstances, should be criticized, then you might be so upset that you’ll ask to me uninstall my blog from your computer.
It’s not hard to find a trade publication that takes radio personalities to task for dumb things they do. (Remember all the brouhaha years ago when Howard Stern said he hopes his antagonist at the F.C.C. gets cancer and dies?)
But what about when radio station managers act in ways that show contempt for their listeners and complete disregard for their obligations to their community of license?
Case In Point: KMJ is a radio station in Fresno, California. Each year they have a big outdoor event celebrating the political leanings of their big syndicated host, Rush Limbaugh. Lots of people attend, and KMJ makes lots of money on it.
(Remember, I am reprinting my notes from 14 years ago. I am not necessarily writing about KMJ as it is today.)
When KMJ’s program director, John Broeske, learned that it might rain on the day of this event, he instructed the station’s meteorologist, Sean Boyd, NOT to tell listeners it might rain. After all, said Broeske, it might not rain.
Boyd, however, thinks a meteorologist’s job is to tell listeners what the weather probably will be. And that’s what he did.
And it rained during the big Limbaugh festivities, just as Boyd said it would.
So KMJ fired him.
Of course, this wasn’t the first time KMJ had trouble with Boyd. Why, it wasn’t so long ago that their weatherman refused to say it would be sunny & dry on the day of a big KMJ golf tournament…when the real forecast was partly cloudy and windy. (Boyd’s forecast, again, was correct.)
Quite obviously, Broeske and KMJ General Manager Al Smith care far more about their advertisers and clients (and KMJ’s income) than they do about KMJ’s obligation to provide honest service to its listeners.
Why not lie about the weather? What’s the big deal? So some people get wet. The bottom line is…the bottom line. Of course.
To be fair, I’m sure KMJ doesn’t always lie to its audience about the weather. If KMJ will not profit financially by lying, I’ll bet they almost never do. But if there’s money on the line, don’t believe KMJ when they talk about the weather.
We now know that, if financial considerations are involved, KMJ will lie on-air about the weather.
Question: What else will KMJ lie to its listeners about, if the station might somehow profit from the lie?
How about the news?
I mean, sure, probably KMJ usually doesn’t lie about or slant the news…But what if the news involves a sponsor? What if there’s a news story that puts a major sponsor in a negative light? Do you think that might possibly effect KMJ’s coverage? That they might go easier on the advertiser, give the client more time to respond than they would another entity, make the coverage briefer, avoid mentioning it all?
KMJ wouldn’t do that, would they? I mean, Al Smith and John Broeske would not lie to their audience and community simply because it would affect their bottom line…Would they?
Final note: After the previous year’s KMJ Limbaugh bash, a local newspaper ran a photograph taken at the event. The picture showed Ray Appleton, the KMJ talk show host who follows Limbaugh. Appleton was holding up a bumper sticker that said, “WHERE IS LEE HARVEY OSWALD NOW THAT WE NEED HIM?”
The obvious and only implication of those words is that someone should assassinate President Clinton.
Well, when KMJ executives saw this newspaper photograph, they became enraged. Obviously, someone must pay for such outrageous, irresponsible behavior.
So KMJ called the newspaper and demanded that they fire the photographer who took the picture!
Makes you proud to be in radio, doesn’t it?
