Anyone older than about 25 can remember when AM radio was a joke, but not a funny one.  It was torturous.  There was nothing on worth listening to, except perhaps some “oldies”.  It was hardly even considered legitimate broadcasting.  But about 22 years ago, things began to change.

In 1988, a ground-breaking talk show flooded the AM airwaves.  Remember “Rush Rooms”?  Nearly every restaurant that served lunch had one.  For those too young to remember, those were dining rooms set aside for those who we now call “Ditto Heads”.  They played Rush Limbaugh in banquet rooms, and folks could ask to be seated there (if there was room) and listen to Rush Limbaugh on the radio while they ate lunch.

A year earlier and Rush probably have never made it.  Why? Because the FCC had a rule, commonly known as “The Fairness Doctrine”.  It had been in place since 1949, but it was abandoned in 1987.  It was anything but fair.

Now let me just give you a brief explanation of the Fairness Doctrine.  In essence, it mandated that radio talk shows had to present both sides of an issue.  For example, if a radio station broadcasted a pastor who laid out the Biblical view of homosexuality, then the radio station also had to air a pro-homosexual viewpoint.  If they air a pro-life program, then they have to air a pro-choice program.  If you air a Christian sermon, you must air an atheist sermon.  If there is not opposing program available, the other cannot be aired.  If you air a conservative commentator, you must air a liberal as well.  Empirical evidence shows that no one wants to listen to the liberals.  If folks don’t listen, sponsors don’t advertise, if sponsors don’t advertise, stations go out of business.

A rule like this would effectively shut down Christian radio immediately and Conservative radio would quickly dwindle down to nothing.

Today, AM radio is booming business.  In 1990, 3 years after the rule was abandoned, there were 400 am radio stations that were devoted to the talk format (That number was surely smaller 3 years earlier.)  But thanks primarily to Rush Limbaugh, in 2006 that number had grown to 1400.

The vast majority of those talk shows are conservative.  I mention this only because as we all know, the mainstream media is vastly liberal.  So if one wants both sides, the only options are radio and internet. 

Liberals across the country are pushing to have the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” reinstated.  And even those who claim to be against it, such as President Obama, are all for the results of such a rule, they just don’t want to call it The Fairness Doctrine. 

Former President Bill Clinton said recently in an interview, when asked about bringing back the Fairness Doctrine,

“Well you either aught to have the Fairness Doctrine, or we aught to have more balance on the other side.  Because, essentially, there’s always been a lot of big money to support the right wing talk shows and let’s face it, you know Rush Limbaugh is fairly entertaining even when he’s saying things that I think are ridiculous.”

That Big Money he’s talking about…that’s called the audience.  With our economy the way it is, why would they want to shut down a profitable business?  Very simply, because they have tried and failed to get a piece of that pie.  They have no one to offer, or at least not anyone that people want to listen to.  So if they can’t join ‘em, they’ll beat ‘em, with unconstitutional laws that selectively strip away First Amendment Rights.

It’s interesting that this Fairness Doctrine would not effect the television airways, just radio.  So this rule would effect only the conservative viewpoint.

So let me translate: “We need the Fairness Doctrine, or something like it to eliminate any public dissention of the leftist administration.  We control television and Hollywood, so now all we need to do is gain control of radio and internet.”  Radio is easier than internet, so they’re going after it first.

Now for the real scary part.  To bring back a rule like this would not take an act of Congress, nor would it take an Executive Order.  This can be accomplished by 3 of the 5 FCC board members.  That’s it, that’s all it takes.  If 3 out of 5 agree, it’s done.  UNLESS…. Legislation is passed to prevent it.  Now the good news:

H.R. 226 & S. 34: To prevent the Federal Communications Commission from repromulgating the fairness doctrine.

Regardless of your political affiliation, regardless of you political slant, every American should be opposed to blatant violations of our First Amendment Rights.  So I urge all of you to contact your elected officials and tell them to support H.R. 226 & S. 34. 

There are many ways to easily contact your elected officials, even if you don’t know who they are.  Here are a few ways, and these will help you find your officials.  Please do something…doing nothing is unthinkable.

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

http://www.house.gov/

http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

In addition, I also urge you to support the ACLJ and sign their petition to preserve free speech.