Radio Shows
The Rev. Don Wildmon, founding chairman of a mushrooming network of Christian radio stations, does not like National Public Radio. In Lake Charles Louisiana, American Family Radio has silenced what its boss detests. It knocked two NPR affiliate stations off the local airwaves last year in southwest Louisiana. The Christian stations routed NPR in Lake Charles under a federal law that allows noncommercial broadcasters with licenses for full-power stations to push out those with weaker signals.
This is happening all over the country. The losers are so-called translator stations, low-budget operations that retransmit the signals of bigger, distant stations. The Federal Communications Commission considers them squatters on the far left side of the FM dial, and anyone who is granted a full-power license can legally run them out of town. Since the Reagan administration trashed the Fairness Doctrine, religious broadcasters have done this to public radio stations in Oregon and Indiana, too, and many large-market public radio stations, like WBEZ in Chicago, complain that new noncommercial stations, most of them religious, are stepping on the signal at the edge of their transmission areas.
Public radio is belatedly fighting back. Last year, a national nonprofit organization was set up to fend off the new hardball competition. Called Public Radio Capital, it raises money through tax-exempt bonds to help local public stations end their reliance on translators and buy full-power stations. Public Radio Capital, created with seed money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a federally financed agency, has since helped public radio stations in Chicago, Denver, Nashville and Tacoma, Wash., to outbid their competition. As NPR itself acknowledges, religious broadcasters are often far better prepared for the radio wars. "They have employed a long-term strategy, where we have failed to do that," said Dana Davis Rehm, vice president for member and program services at NPR in Washington.
Unlike commercial stations which can only have a translator within the receivable range of the full-power "parent" station non-commercial groups such as religious broadcasters can place their translators at any distance and feed them via satellite or other means. As a result, one full-power station can be used to broadcast programming across a number of states, vastly extending its reach, especially in rural areas. And the more translators take up low power frequencies in a community, the less room for local radio stations on the FM dial. Take, for example, "Portraits of Freedom," a syndicated program hosted by Alan Sears, the president and chief lawyer of the James Dobson-backed Alliance Defense Fund (ADF). And now look at the map of the stations and translators that broadcast this program. Translators, in essence, have become the backbone of a powerful radio empire of the religious right that reaches people in every corner of America.
Congress has regularly tried to bring the doctrine back ever since. Reagan and George H.W. Bush both quashed Congressional initiatives by threatening vetoes, and a 2005 attempt to reinstate the doctrine didn't make it out of committee. Now, with Democrats in control of Congress and the White House and with conservative talk radio hosts — long a thorn in liberal sides — taking to the airwaves to blast President Obama's stimulus package, interest in the Fairness Doctrine is peaking once again.
In June 2008, Barack Obama's press secretary wrote that Obama (then a Democratic U.S. Senator from Illinois and candidate for President): “Does not support reimposing the Fairness Doctrine on broadcasters ... [and] considers this debate to be a distraction from the conversation we should be having about opening up the airwaves and modern communications to as many diverse viewpoints as possible. That is why Sen. Obama supports media-ownership caps, network neutrality, public broadcasting, as well as increasing minority ownership of broadcasting and print outlets. Hopefully, we will see efforts toward legislating these policies in the coming years and we need to let or representatives know that we support these policies.
In the interim, there may be radio talk-shows in your area that regularly feature out-of-town guests by long distance. Freedom From Religion Foundation staff are willing to field questions from the Foundation office in Madison, Wisconsin. This is a good way to educate the public and reach other freethinkers. Talk-show hosts and producers are usually appreciative of guest suggestions - especially from their regular listeners - and if they have recently featured a religionist or religious topic, they may be open to a suggestion for balance. Call in to recommend an interview with FFRF staff. The Foundation's number is (608) 256-8900. It takes courage to publish or include controversial opinions and to provide equal time for Freethought. Either call, send letters or emails praising radio shows for featuring secular viewpoints or guests. Positive feedback is always appreciated, and demonstrates to talk-shows that such views have an audience.
Freethought Radio is a weekly radio show produced by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. It is broadcast live every Saturday on The Mic 92.1 in Madison, Wis. and (as of Saturday 6 October 2007) on Air America, streamed online, and available as a podcast. (The times of airing vary according to the radio station and the specific week.) It is also available through syndication and XM Radio on Air America. It features Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-presidents of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. As the first ever national atheist radio broadcast, the show features discussion on atheism, freethought, separation of church and state, etc. Past guests have included Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Stephen Pinker, Daniel Dennett, Ron Reagan, Mikey Weinstein, Mike Newdow and many others. In addition to guest interviews, the show includes regular segments such as "Theocracy Alert" and "Freethinkers Almanac". You can also catch their podcast or listen to them on Freethought Radio. Try to interest your local alternative radio station or listener-sponsored radio station to play selections from FFRF's two music CDs featuring Dan Barker: "Friendly Neighborhood Atheist," a double CD with 34 traditional, contemporary and original Freethought songs, and "Beware of Dogma," with 15 timely and timeless songs.
Since 1999, The Infidel Guy Show has brought you uninterrupted freethought and science-minded guests such as Michio Kaku, Dan Barker, Ken Miller, Michael Shermer, Asia Carrera, Richard Dawkins, Massimo Pigliucci, James Randi and many others. At the site and on the show they take a truthful and investigative look at religious beliefs, political systems, social issues, economic systems, the paranormal, pseudo-science and scientific claims.
The Hellbound Alleee Network produces various talkshows, plays, and music podcast from an individualistic, rational, anti-state, and nonreligious point of view. The Hellbound Alleee show is hosted by Hellbound Alleee, of course, and Francois Tremblay, "the Net's Most Banned Atheist." Vox Populi asks various relevant questions of a team of atheists, and Mondo Diablo is Hellbound Alleee's music podcast, playing a selection of strange and wonderful music, with a few surprises. HAN also offers other recordings, such as radio comedies, OTR-style.