This Isn't Salem Media's First Time in Controversy!

Erick Erickson's dismissal of Messrs. Trump and Carson from the RedState event in Georgia sent an alarm upon past incidents with Salem Media Group, the parent of RedState, which owns numerous conservative sites (Townhall, RedState, Hotair) and religious media sites (The Fish, Solid Gospel, CCMMAGAZINE, and Singing News, all of which promote pop music in the church, which as I've seen isn't always doctrinally sound), with the California company (NASDAQ : SALM) also partnering with CNN in the upcoming second Republican press conference in a few weeks.

As I divulged into this issue, this was not Salem's first time that the heat has been on them in the wake of attempting to control the debate over issues.  In November 2013, Salem radio hostess Janet Mefferd confronted Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll over his new book, A Call to Resurgence, after Westminster Seminary California professor Peter Jones' content, without being cited, was referenced in Mr. Driscoll's book.  The heated controversy later led to Salem officials purging the contentious interview (which someone else has archived), the resignation of a producer that I've often cited here (and I have the utmost respect for her), and eventually Mefferd from Salem Radio.



(Note that Salem has purged all references of Mefferd's show since she was released by Salem.  Her noncompete expires soon and she will return on another radio network.)

A few weeks later, Mefferd's evidence was confirmed by the publisher of the Driscoll book.  Despite the exoneration, the damage was done.  Salem had pulled all references to the Mefferd-Driscoll incident.

When I saw the RedState incident, I had to remind myself that this was not the first time Salem has targeted someone with controversial incidents.  Welcome, Donald, to the same club as Janet.  This was not Salem's first time embroiled.  We've seen it before, and we're referencing it.  Is Trump being given a Mefferd treatment by Salem Media?

Oh, by the way:  I cannot let this pass through our lines, but two of sports' best known current voices lost their partners from the 1990's -- Al Michaels with Frank Gifford (then at ABC) and Mike Joy with Buddy Baker (then at CBS) -- over the weekend.  Both Michaels and Joy did tributes to their colleagues.


WORKS CITED:

"Famed Pastor Embroiled in Controversy Amid Charges of Plagiarism, But What's His Publisher Saying?," The Blaze, December 11, 2013.

Kate Tracy, "Publisher: Mark Driscoll Improperly Copied Paragraphs from Bible Commentary," Christianity Today, December 9, 2013.

Alex Murashko, "Fallout From Radio Show Host's Allegations That Pastor Mark Driscoll Plagiarized Includes Deletion, Apology, and Producer's Resignation," Christian Post, December 7, 2013.

25 years...

I never thought about it until after finishing my morning workout the importance of this day.

It's the 25 year anniversary of the birth of the modern talk radio movement, when WABC and Ed McLaughlin agreed to syndicate Rush Limbaugh's radio show, originally a KFBK (Sacramento) show, nationally. Never did we know that today marks a quarter century since the revolution in radio. ◙

Attacking Talk Radio: Advertisers First

By Bobby

It had to come back to me this evening as I read about the Obama Administration firing the head of General Motors.

Over the past few years, GM advertised aggressively on talk radio, especially on the major conservative programs. I remember hearing ads on major conservative shows.

The Pelosi Administration started imposing new money-losing rules to automakers in an effort to force them into microcars. Chrysler called "uncle" and Fiat offered a third of Chrysler in return for allowing them to work on the Fiat Punto microcar. Ford hired "agents of change" (note the Obama campaign rhetoric) and had 100 (mostly pro-Obama supporters) drive 2010 European Fiesta microcars in an attempt to make the cars feel good for their 2011 launch in the US. GM was too focused on their bread and butter, as Bob Lutz had said their money is made on trucks and family cars, and while they had the Volt, it was still too large for the Pelosi/Obama Alliance, where cars must be microcars, energy must come from wind and solar, and worship of Gaia is the only worship allowed. Worse yet, GM refused to comply with the liberal mandates, so they said if they were to produce what the feds want, the feds had to pay them to do so.

Take the Obama, Pelosi, and Reid victory, and the attitude of "we won, we can do anything we want, and we'll destroy talk radio, first by going after its advertisers".

Take both the Obama/Pelosi energy policy to force microcars, then the attitude against talk radio and its advertisers, and it's clearly no coincidence why Mr. Wagoner was fired. It was clearly aimed at the car guys running GM (Lutz) and its advertising on great radio shows. Liberals are now showing automakers the only way is to stop advertising on talk radio, and making only microcars.

What's the next target?

* * *
One hidden story not mentioned about the Obama Administration's demand of Chrysler accept a partial buyout by Fiat is that the Administration wants everyone into two-seat microcars, and nothing else. This could mean the Fiat Topolino -- the legitimate successor to the Yugo -- being sold in the US. The Topolino is built in the same Serbian plant that gave us the Yugo 55, as last year Fiat bought Zastava, the automaker that gave us the Yugo.

Brace yourself -- Yugo's back with its new Italian boss. And this time they have Chrysler. So here comes the Fiat Topolino, the Yugo that has new ownership of Italy.

Can you imagine this Administration deciding the cars we have, and they want us back in a Yugo, just like the Paul Shanklin parody says on the Rush Limbaugh Program.