Obama/Media CEO conspire to censor conservative airwaves

[_bcspace]

North Carolina is a must-win for President Obama, and he’s getting a lot of help from supporters – in Boston.

In the run-up to the Democratic National Convention, Boston-based Greater Media Inc. neutralized the conservative line-up of talk radio show hosts it inherited when it bought top-rated Charlotte station WBT-AM (1110) four years ago

First it ousted Rush Limbaugh sub Jason Lewis from the prime afternoon drive-time slot. Then it jettisoned popular local conservative Vince Coakley, replacing him with a liberal duo who routinely lampoon GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and even Rush Limbaugh, who precedes them in the noon-to-3 p.m. slot.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled Limbaugh,” Coakley told WND, perhaps even before the election. He called the moves baffling in light of WBT’s overwhelmingly conservative audience.

Most recently, management unceremoniously told popular morning personality Keith Larson, a limited-government libertarian, that his contract would not be renewed.

Local bloggers and longtime listeners smell a conspiracy.

“Great timing, drawing back from (conservative) politics and all, right when the DNC is slated to hit town,” said Mark Pellin of PunditHouse.com, a conservative blog for Charlotte news and politics.

He says it looks like “a calculated move on the station’s part to curry favor with the left.”

Added Charlotte resident Marty Allen, who’s been listening to WBT since 1988: “They (are) trying to be ‘politically correct’ for the DNC.”

Greater Media bought WBT, which has long held the No. 1 position for news and talk in Charlotte, from Lincoln Financial Media in January 2008.

The new station owners say they are simply trying to get away from straight politics – the station’s bread-and-butter for years – and move to something “a lot more fun.” They explain that the lighter fare will “appeal to a wider audience.”

However, bringing in Brad Krantz, the more liberal half of “The Brad & Britt Show,” is hardly an apolitical move.

Krantz routinely parrots Democrat talking points. His parodies of Limbaugh – including tasteless references to the talk radio king’s past addiction to pain-killers – have offended many listeners, who have called into the station to complain. So far during the convention, Krantz has made appearances with union workers and other Democrat activists.

There appears to be more to the story than Greater Media is telling.

WND has learned that before the recent purge, Greater Media CEO Peter Smyth met with Obama administration officials in the White House to discuss “policy ideas.” The meeting, which lasted five hours, took place in March.

“I was invited to the White House,” Smyth said. “I was honored to be asked to participate in one small part of the policy-making process.”

Smyth, who federal records show gives more to Democrats than Republicans, says he agrees with the president’s agenda to “reinvent our country.”

WND has also learned that a key player in Greater Media operations – vice president Ellen J. Rubin – is a major Democrat activist who supports the leftist group Moveon.org and the Democratic National Committee, which is running the convention in Charlotte.

What’s more, Rubin, a Berkeley alumna, has contributed a total of more than $5,650 to Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012.

http://www.wnd.com/2012/09/axe-falls-on-conservative-radio-hosts/

[_moksha]

Well Bc, the audience sitting in front of their Victrola radios with their cats is getting older. However, no company gives the heave ho to a guaranteed money maker. I think this is a hot air article put out by a station manager worried about losing his job.

[_Brackite]

North Carolina is a must-win for President Obama, and he’s getting a lot of help from supporters – in Boston.

...

President Barack Obama can still win re-election, while losing the State of North Carolina.

http://www.270towin.com/

[_Bob Loblaw]

President Barack Obama can still win re-election, while losing the State of North Carolina.

Ohio is the key for Romney. If he doesn't win in Ohio, it's almost impossible for him to win.

[_krose]

BC -

I think you and your besties over at wnd need to loosen your foil hats just a tad. They may be on a bit too tight.

[_Molok]

So the owners of a radio station controlling the content of their radio station amounts to a conspiracy now? That article comes off as just a teensy bit paranoid.

[_MeDotOrg]

So the owners of a Radio station are going to change their format to curry favor with the DNC, who will be in town for a week?

Would Fox news going to change their lineup to get more viewers during the Democratic Convention? Did any stations in Tampa change to a more conservative format to curry favor with the RNC while they were in town?

That may be the way things work on Planet Conspiracy, but here on Planet Earth business decisions are a little more pragmatic and long-term.

The reporters at World Net Daily need to up their meds...

[_Droopy]

Ah HAH! So this explains why WBT didn't seem to be able to keep talk show hosts around. I thought it was a problem with the management there, but now I see that there was other skullduggery afoot.

First Mr. Right disappears (and as a matter of full disclosure, Lewis himself did mention that a part of his reasons for moving back to Minnesota was that he was fed up with the taxes, cost of living, and horrible schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area), then Tara Servatius, then another guy, and then Coakley. This all happened within just a few years.

It makes sense. This is, after all the Left, and the Left has never been particularly interested in free speech for anyone save themselves and those who agree with them. Every few years, give or take, the nation has to revisit the Jurassic "Fairness" Doctrine and fight the American Left over and over again for the Constitutional guarantee of a dynamic, pluralistic, heterodox environment for political discourse.

Its all in the game.

[_Droopy]

So the owners of a radio station controlling the content of their radio station amounts to a conspiracy now? That article comes off as just a teensy bit paranoid.

There's nothing conspiratorial about it (if by that you mean the kind one finds in Ron Paul's ranks) Its what the company did based upon a decision to purge their stations of conservative content.

This is what leftists have always done, do now, and will always do when they have the power and control to do so (which is what makes them so dangerous once they acquire real political power).

The Left does tend to be furtive about its real motives, goals, and desires.

It has to.