So we have Ted Koppel discussing Faux News with the homophobic Bill O'Reilly and pointing out Faux News' bias in reporting a Conservative agenda. Of course MSNBC reports the Liberal side of bias with its talking heads and CNN tries to fall in the middle with "news reporting" rather than talking heads .. uh .. tries.
Mind you this conversation is between an award winning and respected journalist and an egotistical former school teacher who thinks that everyone bends on the hot air he blows out of his lips while opining "fair and balanced" bullshit.
Sometimes although not often it can be worth watching Faux News, but then again the good stuff usually pops up on YouTube eventually.
So here's to Koppel as he blows off the blowhard O'Reilly with an air kiss .. can it get any better ?
Tonight I'll be talking with Sean Savoy whose 30 minute program House of Savoy was booted from Reno, NV radio station KKFT-FM on August 12.
Sean will be given the opportunity to tell the whole story about the show being removed by station owner Jerry Evans (no relation) after Savoy did one program on LGBT issues with activist Will Kolb.
Savoy has returned to Reno's air-waves with his House of Savoy show now heard on KJFK-AM.
Our show tonight can be heard LIVE at 9:30 PM (PT) and at 12:30 AM early Wednesday morning in the Eastern Time Zone.
You'll also be able to hear a replay anytime after the show has aired.
Was the show dropped because KKFT-FM is a conservative talker or was this a clear case of homophobia at work in making programming decisions on what can and cannot be heard on a local radio station ?
Station owner Evans when discussing the "hate email" he had received after the show was dropped and GLAAD got involved was quoted the following in a September 10 article at the Reno Gazette Journal, "these people - these precious people - think that it's an affront to their something or another. They seem to think they are deserving of this. The show was on for a year and the few times I heard it I thought "well this is weird".
UPDATE - 9/19/12
Here's the link to the show so you can listen to the replay.
I came across this diddy when selecting articles for Wednesday's edition of The Focus On The Rainbow Daily Run.
It seems in the upcoming season of Survivor one of those who will be on the show is Jeff Kent the 2000 MVP for the National League when he played for the San Francisco Giants.
The name calling has begun as it appears in 2008 Kent wrote a check for the those supporting Prop 8 to the tune of $15,000.
Also on the show will be former cast member of the sitcom Facts of Life Lisa Whelchel who once wrote on her website, “if a person desires, it is possible to leave behind a homosexual lifestyle. I know this is true because I’ve seen it come true in the lives of many of my friends. Thousands have been helped, loved, and supported by websites such as Exodus [International] and the many ministries they recommend.”
So one can imagine the headline of today will prove true in the coming weeks as GLAAD, HRC and the LGBT Elite will call for a boycott of Survivor as it starts its run next month.
Pity .... there is supposed to be an out lesbian on the show.
God I hope she's better than that piffy poof on last season's show.
So screw any boycott and watch Survivor, I need my CBS stock to keep growing !
In early September 1991 Brad Davis gave up his battle with AIDS. The handsome actor who came to prominence in the 1978 film Midnight Express had been keeping a career ending secret for by then almost six years. He was 41 years young when he died.
In 1985 Davis had been diagnosed with being HIV-positive which according to his wife Susan Bluestein, a casting director in Hollywood, was caused from his use of drugs after his career started to take off with his Golden Globe award winning portrayal of Billy Hayes in Midnight Express. After several years of drug use and excessive drinking Davis cleaned up and got sober in 1981.
1985 was the same year that legendary actor Rock Hudson died of AIDS which brought HIV/AIDS to the forefront in news coverage and put a familiar face on the "gay plague" which then caused Hollywood to become a champion of the HIV/AIDS cause with fundraising efforts spearhead by many but in particular Elizabeth Taylor.
But that notoriety of the disease also came at a cost for actors and actresses, as while Hollywood became a champion it also became a devastator of careers if it were found out members of the acting community were diagnosed HIV-positive or had full blown AIDS.
In true Hollywood fashion, the studios and executives who held actors' careers in their hands, Hollywood went beyond the old studio days of hiding ones sexual preference or identity through its PR department to flat out turning their back on their own which caused those who were gay, lesbian or bisexual to stay further in the closet and those who, whether straight or LGB, suffered from HIV or AIDS to not only get in the closet but lock it and hope no one would ever find the key.
"We do give money to AIDS and the homeless and the blind. But we're not obligated to hire the victims of the various diseases or causes we support. It all boils down to business . . . dollars and cents . . . and those with an illness or the potential for becoming ill are an economic risk." a quote from a well known but "anonymous" Hollywood producer in an article the LA Times published in 1991 two weeks after Davis passed.
In a 1997 interview with New York Times writer Alex Witchel, Davis' wife described the great pains he went to seeking medical help only allowing doctors to visit him at home, ''Without the secrecy he may not have gotten better medical care, but earlier medical care,'' she said. ''It might have given him a little longer time and better quality of life. We became so isolated. He let a lot of friendships go. He was afraid certain people would pick up on some things. Our world shrank to the bare bones." In order to hide his illness Witchel wrote that Davis didn't buy prescriptions in his name but was supplied with prescription "leftovers" from others after they died.
Davis was going to write a book about his ordeal of working in Hollywood and having to keep secret his illness. While he died before he could accomplish that his wife did write a book using Davis' book proposal as the basis for her book, After Midnight: The Life and Death of Brad Davis.
In the proposal Davis wrote the following which speaks volumes of how Hollywood was then and some might ask "still is ?"
''I make my money in an industry that professes to care very much about the fight against AIDS -- that gives umpteem benefits and charity affairs with proceeds going to research and care -- but in actual fact, if an actor is even rumored to have H.I.V., he gets no support on an individual basis. He does not work.''
Rush Limbaugh no friend of course to LGBTs is not giving up his broadcasting soapbox and don't expect that to happen anytime soon boys and girls.
He continues to be defiant even after offering an apology of sorts to the offended Sandra Fluke.
Much has been written about the sponsors who are dropping from his show and with much gleefulness to the point many are wetting themselves over the prospect old Rush will be leaving and falling into the great abyss of broadcast nothingness.
His reaction to the exiting advertisers in a transcript from his show on Monday reads in part, The left, folks -- the media -- are giddy that some advertisers have said they're leaving the program. And I'm sorry to see 'em go. They have profited handsomely from you. These advertisers who have split the scene have done very well due to their access to you, my audience, from this program. To offer their products and services to you through this venue is the best opportunity that they have ever had to advertise their wares. Now they've chosen to deny themselves that access, and that's a business decision, and it's theirs alone to make.
For me, this program is always about you. You talk to anybody that knows me who asks me about this program, and I always say, "It's all for the audience," because if you're not there, all the rest of this is academic. This show is about you. It's not about the advertisers. I knew the political inclinations of these people. They didn't care when they were profiting -- and I didn't, either. Everybody's able to put these things aside for the sake of mutual beneficial business activity. No radio broadcast will succeed by putting business ahead of the needs of its loyal audience, and that audience is you. My success has come from you. My focus has always been, and always will be, on you.
So let me do this once more, and then we're not gonna do it again. I should not have used the language I did about Sandra Fluke. It was wrong and, despite all the theories, my apology to her was for simply using inappropriate words.
Believe me for as the ones which are dropping and running, there will be equally more waiting to come on board once all this dies down. Even as this post is being written (Monday evening) some radio stations are dropping his show according to reports.
“The most recent incident has crossed a line of decency and a standard that we expect of programming on KPUA whether it is locally produced or a syndicated program like the Rush Limbaugh show,” KPUA president Chris Leonard said in a statement. “…Regardless of one’s political views on the issue being discussed, we feel the delivery was degrading and the continued comments over several days to be egregious. As a result, we are discontinuing the Rush Limbaugh program on KPUA effective immediately.”
WBEC general manager Peter Barry told a local public radio station that Limbaugh had crossed his boundaries.
“The nature of Rush’s programming has always presented challenges for us and he’s always pushed the envelope,” he said. “But this time he’s taken it too far.”
Don't let them kid you folks, while they and possibly others in the next day or two will sound pious in their decision to no longer host Limbaugh on their airwaves, a good many of the 600 plus stations which carry his program will hang in their because Rush means revenue particularly to small and medium size markets and would be hard pressed to find a substitute program to fill the ratings and ad revenue maker which he is.
Rush is correct when he talks about "it's a business decision". For many radio stations in markets which I mentioned it's do or die as far as the bottom line on the spreadsheets is concerned. For those who might say I don't know what I'm talking about you need only read my "bio" at the top of this blog.
As one of my cuz'ins always says "this too shall pass".
After all, and without cheating and looking it up, how many of you can remember why Rick Sanchez was dropped by CNN. And don't believe all the left-wing media/blog crap either.
All Cody Renegar and his partner Thomas wanted to do was place an engagement announcement to share with family and friends in the Northwest Arkansas Times but when Cody contacted the paper to get information on how to have the announcement placed he was told NO ! .
According to a report by KNWA-TV someone at the paper told Cody he could not place an announcement and in a statement from the publisher, it is their policy to only print announcements for marriages legally recognized by the state, and Arkansas does not acknowledge same-sex marriages.
However if one goes to a website versionof how to place an engagement, wedding or anniversary announcement nowhere does it say same-sex marriages are disqualified.
Unfortunately this is nothing new as over the years even with same-sex marriage and civil unions approved and celebrated in several states this anti-gay bigotry by newspapers carries on.
If you would like to offer your support to Cody and Thomas you'll find contact names, phone numbers and email here for the newspaper including that of Publisher Rusty Turner and newspaper group President Jeff Jeffus.
Hat/Tip for this story to FB buddy Bruce Gillispie.
