Once again John Nichols nails it.
Sure, Sly often extended his remarks from “comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable” to flat-out condemning crony capitalists and crooked candidates. Everyone who listened to Sly took offense at one time or another.
Every guest (including this writer) disagreed with him sometimes. But Wisconsinites recognized that Sly’s anger was motivated by a rage at injustice and dishonesty. And they loved him for that, giving his show solid ratings and a loyal listenership that advertisers craved.
When those listeners tuned in the morning after Thanksgiving, however, they did not hear Sly raging against Walmart and demanding that Wisconsinites “buy local on Black Friday.” Station management pulled the plug on Sly and the news department. In so doing, they created a serious information void.
Hopefully this void will be filled by the reappearance of Sly’s morning show on another, more wisely managed station. The Wisconsin progressive populist tradition remains vibrant and popular, as the Nov. 6 election results remind us. It should continue to have a bold radio voice shouting “Hello Wisconsin” every morning.
For the record, I’ve not always seen eye-to-eye with Sly (his comments on Lt. Gov. Kleefisch and his support of Kathleen Falk in the gubernatorial recall as just two examples), but I absolutely believe there needs to be more balance on Wisconsin’s airwaves, which are dominated by right-wing extremists like Vicki “wolf on back, snake on chest” McKenna, Mark “racial slurs” Belling, and Charlie “family values” Sykes.
Though not successful, the local Peace Action of Wisconsin did apply for an FM channel a couple of years ago. What is needed is for that group or other progressive organization to apply for community-based FM channels when they become available again by the FCC. While public radio provides excellent service, another voice is needed to respond to “Family Values” Charlie Sykes, Jeff Wagner, Vikki McKenna,and all the rest who pimp for Scott Walker, Ron Johnson, and others of that ilk.
How do we get people to realize that “supply and demand” only works when it’s “politically correct?” We’ve simply got to incourage quality people to run for political office. Then support them. With modern marketing methods. If we want Democracy to survive.