PERSPECTIVE ON AMERICA : ‘All Newt Radio’ Clears the Decks

Help! I’ve been “gingriched,” downsized ideologically, victimized by the “contract on America.” The Democrats got their call on Nov. 8. I got mine Dec. 30. Before then, I was the only Asian American in the nation with a full-time slot on a commercial talk station.

I had moved to San Francisco from Washington thinking that a city that recently codified the rights of men to wear dresses would be heaven for a progressive talk-show host.

Then came the pink slip and a whole new format--All Newt Radio. Its jingle might as well be “Give us 22 minutes, we’ll give you what’s right.” The station’s managers were frank; it wasn’t about ratings or my performance, which they praised. They said they were following a trend evidenced by the November elections and firing everyone. Their news release proclaimed: “1995, OUT: Liberal Media. Political Correctness, the Democratic Party. IN: HOT TALK 560.” It should have read “OUT: Women. Minorities. IN: Conservative white males.”

As a business move, All Newt Radio could be a stroke of genius. But it’s really more of the same on the talk-show air waves, where diversity has been a real joke. Just 30% of talk-show hosts identify themselves as liberal. They are more likely to show up on a shopping bag than on the air.

Originally, I thought that the San Francisco audience would react to this All Newt format by playing counterpoint to the conservative hosts, stirring up some dialogue, creating the political tension that can lead to consensus and workable solutions. No such luck. While the hosts pandered, the listeners parroted and praised. Divergence of opinion? Nowhere to be found. Yesterday I was advocating on the radio for the poor and the jobless. Today I am in their ranks.

But perhaps the real danger of All Newt Radio’s one-note harangue is the permission it gives to angry white males of all colors to come out of the closet and wallow in their hateful rhetoric. One of my replacements has advocated the “lynching of liberals.” I know how to take a joke as well as the next guy, but what happens when the angry audience members take their hosts on the right a little too literally? A little balance certainly would make All Newt Radio more responsible. But I don’t hear anyone leading the charge for the Fairness Doctrine.