184 The media and politics
created: the National Broadcasting Company, the Columbia Broadcasting
System, the American Broadcasting System and the Mutual Broadcasting
System; the last of these has now ceased to exist. The affiliated stations and
the networks are all commercial operations dependent on income from ad-
vertising; public service broadcasting did not begin to operate until well after
the Second World War, and it was not until the passage of the Public Broad-
casting Act of 1967 that government funding of public service broadcasting
began. However, public service broadcasting has not been free from the need
to attract funds from commercial sponsors by offering limited advertising
opportunities.
The development of the radio networks made possible the ‘fireside chats’
which President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated in 1933 and delivered until
1944, shortly before his death. Radio became the main source of news for
millions, but the rise of television after the Second World War reduced the
appeal and influence of radio. However, radio experienced a revival with the
development of ‘Talk Radio’. Most radio stations had come to broadcast con-
tinuous popular music, occasionally interspersed with weather forecasts and
networked news bulletins. In the 1990s, however, the talk radio movement
burgeoned after a legal requirement that controversial issues should be pre-
sented in an honest, equal and balanced manner was repealed. Radio talk
show hosts could now make extreme statements of opinion without having to
allow any response. Initially this opportunity was exploited by conservative
presenters, such as Rush Limbaugh. Commenting on those taking part in
the demonstrations on immigration that took place in April, 2006, Limbaugh
stated on his radio show:
There are countless leftists, socialist, Marxist, communist, what have
you, who are filled with their own self-loathing. They’re generally losers.
They don’t matter much to anybody, and they recoil at success, domi-
nance, achievement, and power, and their objective is to tear it down.
They live under the illusion that capitalism has created by design a cer-
tain set of winners and a certain set of losers and it’s the winners who
determine who the other winners are and who the losers are going to
be. They are in the losing side. So they have this false notion that that’s
inherently unfair and we must all be equal, but the real objective is not
equality.
The real objective is not quality lives for the people they claim to
represent. The real objective is not happiness and the pursuit of
happiness for the downtrodden of the world. It is simply a desire to
destroy a country like the United States of America, however possible.
They fully well understand that destroying the distinct American culture
is a classic way and perhaps an easy way of destroying this country. So
they glom onto any subject that they think will advance that objective of
theirs. This is a perfect opportunity for them. It’s a perfect opportunity
to stand with their Democrat socialist brethren and to promote them,
and it’s a great opportunity to once again condemn this country.