Shane McBryde's Open Salon Blog

Rush Limbaugh's classless act

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 09:03:17 -0400

I was a radio broadcaster in Mobile for 20 plus years, more than half of those years I spent doing talk radio. First on 1480 WABB-AM, and then at News Radio 710 AM. As a professional broadcaster I considered myself to some degree a keeper of the public trust. It was a privilege, as I saw it, to be able to command the air waves, and actually make a living sharing my views on the various topics of current interest.

With access to such a powerful forum as radio there came a responsibility to use the airwaves responsibly. There were certain things that one just could not do and expect to be able to keep one’s job. Calling a woman a, “slut” or “prostitute” would certainly have been chief among them. I can only imagine that had I or any other personality for that matter, used those words I and/or they would’ve been fired before the microphone was turned off.

This brings me to the current state of things in what now passes for discourse over the public airwaves. And yes, folks I said public, because that’s precisely what they are, public airwaves. Any company wanting to use the airwaves to broadcast over for commercial use has to obtain a license to do so from the Federal Government first. And, if you’re a radio station owner who doubts that, just try making your case to the FCC the next your station’s license comes up for renewal and see how far you get.

I understand why radio talk-show host Michael Savage was canned from his brief stint at MSNBC after wishing death from AIDS upon one of the callers to his show. I understand why TV and radio host Don Imus was fired for calling a group of female college athletes, “nappy headed hoes,” but what I fail to understand is how Rush Limbaugh gets a pass for calling a woman the aforementioned epithets.

Without regard for whom the woman was, or the context in which the remarks were made, when did it become acceptable to call someone those names over the radio? And, the company that owns Rush’s show is backing him up 100%! For the life of me I don’t get it. No one other than Rush Limbaugh could come close to getting away with calling a woman such names in public. In the Old South, had a man called a woman those names he better be able to back it up or he’d find himself defending not only his honor, but quite possibly his life. Nowadays, no big deal, major broadcaster calls a woman a slut and a prostitute for no good reason whatsoever, so what? It’s disgusting!

I so glad I got into and out of radio at a time when the discourse just wasn’t so harsh and hateful. Off and on, for over 15 years I had the pleasure of working for a man named Bernie Dittman at the legendary WABB. Bernie should not only be remembered as a great broadcaster, which he was, but also a responsible one. He well understood the power of the medium, and respected it; more importantly Bernie respected the listener. Although, Bernie was one of the most patient and tolerant people I’ve ever had the pleasure to know, let alone work for, I can only imagine the he himself would have personally tossed the disc jockey out the door on his ear who was stupid enough to use that language on the radio.

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