The Divided Dial: Episode 3 - The Liberal Bias Boogeyman

On the Media

WNYC Studios

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4.6 • 8.7K Ratings

🗓️ 29 November 2022

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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? In this episode 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 we learn how, in the post-war and Civil Rights period, the US government encouraged more diverse viewpoints on the airwaves — until it didn’t. The Divided Dial is hosted by journalist and Fulbright Fellow Katie Thornton. Her written articles and audio stories have appeared in The Atlantic, 99% Invisible, The Washington Post, BBC, NPR, WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio, The Guardian, Bloomberg’s CityLab, National Geographic, and others. She is a lifelong radio nerd who got her start in media as a teenager, volunteering and working behind the scenes at radio stations for many years. 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. Special thanks this episode to Tianyi Wang. With support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, OTM listeners, this is Katia.
0:02.3	You are listening to episode three of the divided dial,
0:05.2	our brand new five-part series about the power of talk radio
0:08.8	and of one company in particular, Salem Media.
0:11.6	This episode and the next one look at the history of talk radio
0:14.8	to uncover how early ideas about liberal buyers
0:17.4	helped fuel right-wing radio's growth.
0:20.4	But if you haven't heard the first two,
0:22.4	we recommend that you go back and listen
0:24.6	before you start this one.
0:26.4	Enjoy.
0:32.4	Fourth of July, 1973 in Philadelphia was hot as hell.
0:37.4	But that didn't deter the 50 or so protesters
0:40.4	who gathered outside Independence Hall
0:42.4	for a makeshift funeral.
0:44.4	Dressed to the nines as the founding fathers,
0:47.0	powdered wigs and all, they were there to mark the end of an era.
0:50.8	They were there to mourn.
0:53.4	The leader of the group, a fundamentalist preacher
0:56.0	named Carl McIntyre, approached a homemade coffin
0:59.4	adorned with the words freedom of speech.
1:02.8	And into it, he placed a replica antenna of his radio station,
	...

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