Four decades ago when I was a very young man—an age perspective that is quite subjective—I was the host of a daily radio talk show on WJBO in Baton Rouge called, Topic. In those days, AM radio was dominant and news departments represented a major commitment by stations to their listeners and communities. Topic’s format featured in-depth interviews with newsmakers, followed by caller participation. Talk shows were then cutting edge broadcasting. In fact, Topic was selected by Associated Press as Louisiana’s best news program.
In 1970, my guests one afternoon were representatives of an LSU political group advocating U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam. The students were tame compared to the sometimes violent protests across the country. The next day, I received a telephone call from an LSU student who said he had a contrasting point of view and asked to appear on the show. Finding guests for the daily show was my responsibility—no easy chore. The young man said he represented the National Socialist Movement. The group’s name sounded vaguely familiar, but I didn’t immediately determine in what context I recognize the title. And besides, the Fairness Doctrine, which was then in effect, required FCC licensed broadcasters to present contrasting points of view on controversial issues. I figured this guy fulfilled the station’s obligation.
The day before my guest was scheduled to appear, I checked with LSU to find out something about the National Socialist Movement. The office that oversaw student organizations said it was not a registered student group. So I called a member of the anti-war group. He informed me that the National Socialist Movement was better known as the American Nazi Party. And my guest was a raving lunatic named David Duke, whose primary venue was LSU’s Free Speech Alley.
But not to worry. I was an experienced interviewer, who planned to rip young Mr. Duke apart. It didn’t happen that way. In four years of doing the show, he was most uncontrollable guest I ever encountered. And the most embarassing. Using Topic as a forum, he insulted nearly every listener—the exception being a group of bigoted morons who agreed with his assaults on Jews, African-Americans and anyone sympathetic to their causes. Giving David Duke one of his first exposures beyond Free Speech Alley—maybe his first exposure—is not a highlight of my broadcasting career.
The David Duke incident illustrates both extremes of the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine, which was repealed in 1987. On the positive side, I felt an obligation to present a contrasting point of view, even one that was at the outermost edge of sanity. On the negative side, the Fairness Document was much abused. During my Topic days, there was a small group of crazy women in Baton Rouge that regularly changed the names of organizations they represented and demanded I have them on the show to respond to whatever guests they disagreed with. When I finally refused, they printed placards and picketed the station. I appreciated the publicity.
Depending upon one’s point of view, the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine has resulted in good and/or bad elements that are loud and visible today. At the time fairness was abandoned and the FCC had dental work that rendered it toothless, radio station KFBK in Sacramento had a loud-mouth talk show host named Rush Limbaugh. Any constraints he felt about expressing his conservative views were removed. A year later, he was hired by WABC in New York City. To paraphrase Paul Harvey, “You know the rest of the story.” AM radio became a propaganda arm of the far-right.
I don’t support the restoration of the Fairness Doctrine—at least in the manner it was enforced in the past. By the same token, I don’t believe the term “fair and balanced” should be antiquated. At present, it is a phrase that is only heard as a laugh line when referring to Fox “News.”
No wonder voters are so often ill-informed.
Despite the David Duke’s and his ilk, I still feel that some form of the Fairness Doctrine should still be in place. Now that SCOTUS has ruled that Big Business can buy any election, opposition voices have no where to go. I did similar show, “Point/Counterpoint” (Wow! How origional!) on WLOX Radio in Biloxi while in air traffic control school at Keesler AFB. We had a wide variety of voices on the air, many who’d never been asked to talk (this was 1965 as the Civil Rights movement was taking hold in the deep South). I remember one caller asking me if I were a Communist. When I said “no”, he replied “well, you’ll do until a real one comes along”. Yet the Biloxi white guys who owned the station let the show continue. It would have never happened without the doctrine.
Great blog – except for the cheap shot at FOX news.