When Don Imus was fired from his post in April, his most ardent supporters tried to turn the matter into a "free speech" issue. Of course, this was nonsense as Imus still had the right to say whatever he pleased without any legal consequences. But instead of just saying "we like Imus and want him back" because well, they like Imus and wanted him back, we were disingenously treated to high-handed essays on the "Rise and Fall of Free Speech in America" (see www.supportImus.org). Let’s be clear: Imus’ radio gig was a privilege, and he lost his job for the same reason people lose their jobs all the time: he was a bad employee — again! There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution about being granted the right to a big radio platform or the right to say whatever you want on your job. If there was then I would have cursed out my share of bosses!!!

The Imus Effect: Oh, the irony. There has been a direct fallout of Imus’ return: WABC’s cancellation of "Curtis and Kuby". What makes "Curtis and Kuby" a rare radio show is that it has two members who actually have politically contrasting opinions (no, Opie and Anthony’s divergent strategies on how to wipe one’s ass does not count!). Now the concept of diverging viewpoints might sound basic to you, but in the ultra-conservative and/or lowbrow land of talk radio, this is simply revolutionary. There is no form of modern media that is less diverse in it’s voices than talk radio. Whether it be politically, racially, or even differing uses of toilet paper, the very last thing that you will encounter is anything remotely resembling "free speech".

We’ll let Ron Kuby take it from here as these excerpts a  reprinted from this article in New York Newsday (hat tip: Neil Best’s Watchdog):

 

 At the beginning of last month, the "Curtis and Kuby" morning show signed off WABC radio. We lasted almost eight years – a long run for a wake-up program in New York City, where hosts’ longevity can mimic the life span of fruit flies….The corporate powers that purchased ABC’s radio division earlier this year replaced us with the again-resurrected Don Imus, whose syndicated show began last week and will be carried around the country. In the right-wing-dominated world of talk radio, "Curtis and Kuby" was unique for having one host from the left and another from the right – a left-wing civil rights lawyer (me) pitted against the right-wing, red-beret and satin-jacket-clad founder of the Guardian Angels, Curtis Sliwa. Both right and left had equal microphone time."

 

"…We learned how to disagree without being disagreeable. We were a family, not a political party. We provided analysis rather than caricatures. Most important for the rest of the country – especially in a presidential election season – we managed to successfully challenge the traditional wisdom in broadcasting that a left-wing host could not appeal to a conservative audience, except as a stooge to be vanquished by the right-wing counterpuncher, the nightly sport on the Fox News Channel"…."The format guaranteed that each listener disagreed with at least half of what was said, all of the time. But no matter how many people pounded the dashboard over something one of us said, listeners always heard the other host forcefully respond. The audience felt vindicated by the exchange because their side had its say." …


"And our show was successful. We won awards for best this and best that. Our ratings regularly topped Imus when the two shows went head to head. Even in the demographic advertisers prize – listeners aged 25-54 – Imus and our show were close, and we were on the rise. None of this saved us. We were doomed by the confluence of two forces that are dooming local radio. First, there is globalization. By using syndicated shows and firing local hosts and air staff, the parent corporation saves money. The nation gets a homogenized sound, from Brooklyn to Berkeley. Long the media globalizer – where local shows like Imus and Howard Stern eventually went national – New York has become the globalized. A generation ago, WABC radio was almost entirely local. Today, syndicated programming – including Imus – takes up more than 19 hours a day. Second, programmers increasingly promote ideological consistency by presenting only one side of the political debate. Called "stationality," the concept is to offer the same views through different voices all day, making listeners feel safely cocooned in their biases. Debates run the gamut from A to B, featuring discourse along the lines of "Hillary Clinton, Threat or Menace?"…


"Unfortunately, the concept of stationality runs counter to the essence of discourse and debate. Programming radio stations along ideological lines, whether right or left, insults the intelligence of the listeners, deprives people of what they need to hear and retards the development of critical thinking. The highest compliment my audience paid to me was the callers who said they disagreed but at least I had made them think. Just last week, a former listener wrote to thank me for showing him that it’s not enough to just have an opinion, it needs to be supported by reasons. I have lost my show. But radio listeners around the nation are losing far more. And it doesn’t look as if they will get it back any time soon. In a country where demonizing the opposition is the staple of public discourse, from street corners to the presidential campaign, talk radio increasingly strives to appeal to the very worst in us."

 

Talk radio is an incredibly monolithic medium. The only people who get to complain about it’s "oppressive PC culture" affecting their right to free speech are those who were given that right in the first place! In other words, Imus free speech supporters are so privileged that they don’t even REALIZE they are privileged! They think that radio representation is a RIGHT! The rest of us don’t understand these complaints because we are USED to being silenced. Suppression of dissent in talk radio is the sun rising and setting every day. But the real question is: will the ardent Imus supporters now fight for the "free speech" of "Curtis and Kuby"? Will they get all constitutional about this… you know, to protect America’s values? Or will they now see it as an employer-employee matter? A business decision?

Kuby wrote how programming stations along ideological lines, "insults the intelligence of the listeners". Now the same can be said for all those who fought the ‘free speech" Imus argument back in April.  The silence is defeaning.

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Related Articles:

–  Scarlet Letter Myth: Don Imus and The Brighter Side of Bigotry 
   (What does the Imus return really tell us?)

– Don Imus in 2047: Precedents & Presidents 
   (How might we look back on Imus 40 years from now?)

– The Nine Lives of Don Imus: A Study in American Denial 
   (The Debunking of the Imus Excuses)