Now that the two major political parties in America have have wrapped up their dog-and-pony shows for their respective Presidential candidates, it’s time to start thinking about who to cast that ballot for.
While it’s almost a sure thing one of the Republicrats will win, there are more than two choices on your ballot – and every vote counts – so make sure to spend it on the candidate you truly believe in.
That being said, there are many single-issue voters in America; it’s why things like taxes, crime, education, abortion and the like tend to garner a lot of discussion during the campaign circus process. Continue reading “The Pirate's Presidential Primer”
Month: August 2000
The Sound of Silence
It’s been nearly four years since the radio industry began feeding on itself, but it really didn’t hit home until just this month.
As a child, it seemed that WMAQ Radio (AM 670) was always on in my mother’s kitchen. The station had been around almost since radio broadcasting was born. WMAQ took to the air in Chicago in April of 1922. With 50,000 watts of power, WMAQ easily boomed through to southern Wisconsin, where I grew up.
WMAQ is probably best known for its firsts – it was the first station to broadcast a live transatlantic conversation; the first to do play-by-play of professional baseball games; it hosted the first educational radio program (FM radio broadcasting was still more than two decades away from reality). Continue reading “The Sound of Silence”
On the Cusp
As often happens in Washington, there’s a flurry of activity on an issue – then it drops from the spotlight for a while. Such has been the case with low power radio.
Ever since Arizona Senator John McCain threw up a Congressional roadblock on the greased rails that the National Association of Broadcasters had built for a bill to ban the FCC’s re-legalization of low power FM stations, activity on Capitol Hill has dropped off.
Originally, many “inside the Beltway” felt that McCain’s introduction of a separate LPFM bill – allowing the FCC’s plan to continue yet opening up the new stations to huge lawsuits from commercial broadcasters, – was just a holding action designed to drain off the NAB’s lobbying momentum. Continue reading “On the Cusp”