PETITION TO REINSTATE PROGRESSIVE TALK
Clear Channel Inc., owner of roughly 1,500 broadcast towers in America, has followed its recent trend of dropping Progressive Talk radio stations in the U.S. -- this time in Boston, shutting down Boston's Progressive Talk which consisted of two simulcast stations: WKOX - 1200 AM and WXKS - 1430 AM.
Paradoxically, it was Clear Channel who brought Boston's Progressive Talk to the airwaves in late 2004. Since it was the lone voice of Progressive ideology on the AM dial, it quickly became a vital source for news, current events and issues important to Bostonians. Among those featured on the station were shows hosted by Al Franken, Randi Rhodes, Rachel Maddow, Bobby Kennedy Jr., Sam Seder, Laura Flanders and Thom Hartmann, all part of Air America programming; as well as Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz from the Jones Radio Network.
Unfortunately, both of Clear Channel's towers provided only weak signal strength (down to 1kW at sundown). Clear Channel demonstrated poor management, supplied unprofessional sounding automation, incorporated no local advertising and virtually no local hosts, had a insufficient sales staff and limited publicity. All of this kept Boston's Progressive Talk from succeeding the way it could have had a proper business plan or effort been made.
Finally, in a shocking move, without warning or regard for the Progressive talk audience or giving the community any chance to further promote or preserve the format, Clear Channel dropped the entire talk format as of noon Thursday, December 21, 2006 and changed over to a Spanish language and music format. Ironically, only a few days before, the station had sent out a survey to listeners, asking about future preferences for the Progressive show line-up.
According to Federal law, the airwaves are a common asset owned by the American people "to serve the public interest" -- which includes serving all local communities that make up our city as well as offering an opportunity to hear diverse points of view.
In Boston, Progressives make up the majority of the listening audience. It is absurd to think that we cannot sell Progressive radio here. Since Clear Channel "silenced" Progressive talk, there are no other Progressive talk radio stations in the Greater Boston area and other local mainstream media have avoided the Progressive talk format altogether. We must let Clear Channel and any other potential broadcaster know that we need and value Progressive radio in Boston.
It is for these aforementioned reasons that WE SUPPORT reinstatement of Progressive Talk Radio in Boston!
Please help us by signing the petition below
We ask all visitors to this site to sign this petition. Show that progressive radio is important in Boston. Tell radio station owners and local advertisers that progressive radio CAN succeed here!
Please Note: E-mail addresses will NOT be publicly displayed on this site or anywhere else. The e-mail addresses will not be sold or given to any entity or political candidate, and will only be used for e-mails sent from the "Save Boston Progressive Talk Coalition."
If you would like to contact us, whether to leave comments about why progressive talk matters or to offer your assistance, do that here. All fields are required except for comments (which are optional but appreciated!).
| Position | Date Signed | Name | Zip Code | Comments |
| 2521 | 03/15/08 18:06 | Marianne Bruder | 02149 | Ther Nazis suppressed the radio too. |
| 2522 | 03/24/08 23:03 | Stephen May | 01824 | |
| 2523 | 03/25/08 18:11 | Corey Mondello | 02116 | |
| 2524 | 03/27/08 00:26 | John Dowd | 01776 | ''for the love of truth...'' I love you guys, and would like to do more, as I think that this kind of thing is necessary to counter the vicious lies, propaganda, and misinformation that are now so constant on the airwaves. I never thought that I would live to see such dark times, such fascism on the march in this nation. Bless you all. I'll buy some bumpah stickahs and plaster them up all over the place! Watch for them. And I'll tell everyone from my church, which is the same denomination (www.ucc.org) that Obama is a member of. |
| 2525 | 03/31/08 11:36 | lubna agha | 02446 | I'm absolutely shocked we don't have ANY progressive talk radio station in Boston. Please bring it back |
| 2526 | 04/05/08 20:47 | Robert Henry | 02115 | Bring back the Truth. Lets offer a counter view to the Rush Limbaugh's of the world and let the people decide! |
| 2527 | 04/07/08 17:34 | margaret andrews | 02138 | i love progressive show on boston radio please bring it back! |
| 2528 | 04/16/08 14:49 | Paula Martin | 02090 | Please please bring back our progressive radio channel. It is so unfair to not have our opinions count in Boston. I patronized every advertiser I could on the air when they were on before and pledge I would do the same from day one. |
| 2529 | 04/22/08 05:16 | Miss Miss | 67345 | |
| 2530 | 04/24/08 17:05 | Sean Finneran | 02148 | Please bring progressive radio back to Massachusetts. |
| 2531 | 04/25/08 11:12 | ALISON NADELL | 01524 | Leave Progressive Radio on the air. If people don't want to listen, they can go to another channel but don't censor what I want to listen to. |
| 2532 | 05/03/08 02:22 | Boy Boy | 67345 | |
| 2533 | 05/08/08 16:02 | Arnold Arnold | 67345 | To whom to sell the |
| 2534 | 05/08/08 16:02 | GanjaBoy GanjaBoy | 67345 | The |
| 2535 | 05/08/08 16:02 | John John | 67345 | Where to find the |
| 2536 | 05/08/08 16:02 | Bob Bob | 67345 | I sell the |
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