Failed Radio Host: Bring Back The Fairness Doctrine So I Can Have a Job

Such a heart-tugging plea from failed radio host Bill Press, previously a failed television host. The Washington Post so graciously provides Press with space to make a plea to everyone to listen to Obama 1260 (yes, that's actually the name of the station) before it ceases to exist after today.

You see, in the feverish mind of Press, the fact nobody listens to Air America is -- you guessed it -- a right-wing conspiracy.

How pathetic.

In fact, the only reason there's not more competition on American airwaves is that the handful of companies that own most radio stations do everything they can to block it. In many markets -- witness Philadelphia, Boston, Providence and Houston -- they join in providing no outlet for progressive talk. In others, as in Washington, they limit it to a weak signal, spend zero dollars on promotion and soon pull the plug.

Companies are given a license to operate public airwaves -- free! -- in order to make a profit, yes, but also, according to the terms of their FCC license, "to operate in the public interest and to afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views of issues of public importance." Stations are not operating in the public interest when they offer only conservative talk.

For years, the Fairness Doctrine prevented such abuse by requiring licensed stations to carry a mix of opinion. However, under pressure from conservatives, President Ronald Reagan's Federal Communications Commission canceled the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, insisting that in a free market, stations would automatically offer a balance in programming.

That experiment has failed. There is no free market in talk radio today, only an exclusive, tightly held, conservative media conspiracy. The few holders of broadcast licenses have made it clear they will not, on their own, serve the general public. Maybe it's time to bring back the Fairness Doctrine -- and bring competition back to talk radio in Washington and elsewhere.

If people actually listened to Press and the rest of these far-left kooks then their ratings and ad revenue would reflect that. He doesn't understand, and never will, that conservatives dominate talk radio because they provide an alternative to the other 98% of the media that regurgitate the bilge coming from Obama radio. What Press and his ilk want is no competition. All media should be just like him, then we'll have fairness.