This is a root cause of dumbing down of America .....

[Mossfern]

AM radio!

I decide, for a change of pace, to tune in to AM radio on my way to my doc.
Heavens!

There were several religiously based shows and also several talk radio shows - all MAGA.
Even the music was religiously based. As long as the right wing has the monopoly of AM radio
there will be a good portion of the American populace that is brainwashed.

I do have to say there was one talk show that was discussion wedding etiquette and trends in wedding attire that was kind of interesting.

My usually traveling radio entertainment fare is WBGO and WQXR -FM

[LymphocyteLover]

1. Rightwing propaganda (however delivered) and social media are a very nasty combinaiton

[moondust]

2. 80% of truckers voted for TSF.

According to a post here earlier this week.

Perhaps an AM radio connection there?

[multigraincracker]

4. New groupe. Laid off Truckers For Trump.

[mucholderthandirt]

57. My brother wasn't one of them. He planned his route to be home to vote in person.

He doesn't trust mail in votes, says the Republicans cheat that way, won't count votes.

He thinks Jasmine Crockett should be president. I don't think he's wrong.

[Jerry2144]

3. Same out west

But we added in Spanish language stations, too. The music is great even though I don’t know the language.

[markodochartaigh]

6. The same in South Florida.

I have to say though that the bald-faced lies and vitriolic hate seem even more egregious on the Spanish radio stations than on Fox. I have never seen OANN though.

[Jerry2144]

8. I don't speak the language

So I wouldn’t know. But I suspect Cuban Americans have different viewpoints from Mexican, Central, and South American people living out here.

I do enjoy the music. And listening to VGK games in Spanish. Don’t speak anything. But the names and the GOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLL! Make it the best

[markodochartaigh]

48. In general the older Cubans many of whom prospered

under Batista's authoritarian mafia-linked government and fled Castro have continued their support for right-wing authoritarianism in the US. Now that their grandchildren are old enough to vote a lot of the younger generation seem more middle of the road. The immigrants from South America, especially Venezuela and Argentina, and Nicaragua and Honduras, are often upper class and very right-wing. People from México and Guatemalan Mayans seem to be more recent working class arrivals and probably not able to vote.

[orangecrush]

5. Try Canadian A.M. radio

Such as 740 a.m. from. Toronto.

Night and day difference.

Right wing money bought 99% of American stations when radio was deregulated by Reagan.

[rsdsharp]

22. Reagan didn't deregulate radio. That was the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Clinton signed it into law, and Al Gore said it would allow a big expansion of minority ownership of radio stations.

The Rule of Sevens (no one could own more than 7 AM, 7 FM and 7 TV stations nationwide) was changed to the Rule of Twelves in 1985 under Reagan. But the TelCom Act vastly expanded ownership rights, and virtually wiped out Mon & Pop stations. Reagan also had a hand (along with Scalia and Bork) in killing the Fairness Doctrine.

[orangecrush]

27. Thanks

I appreciate the clarification.

[Silent Type]

7. If Democrats listened to radio, Air America would still be broadcasting.

[rurallib]

17. It is far from being that simple and that just reinforces RW talking points

Air America had very good ratings in many major markets, but they had lousy business plan and didn't own any stations.

I can't find the Hartmann explanation of what happened, but it was not because they didn't have an audience.

[Silent Type]

31. Would love to hear an explanation. If they had the audience, they'd still be in business, even if

someone else took over the network.

[cadoman]

50. spectrum is limited and pricey

It's a barriered market with spectrum and intervals of entry blocked.

We do better in the podcasting world because it's completely open, and IP is replacing radio spectrum anyway as it's more flexible.

[Silent Type]

52. Oh, I agree podcasts have easier access, and for those who listen it's similar to Air America,

assuming one selects the right podcasts. It’s just too much of pain for some of us geezers to go to podcasts. It was so easy to turn on Air America when I went to bed, traveled for work, etc., and here the great line-up. Got me through bush years.

[rurallib]

58. I am doing much of this from memory.

Just prior to the time that Air America made a stab at the concept of liberal radio, SCOTUS had made a decision that one company could own more than 2 broadcast radio stations in a market. This gave rise to the Clear Channel Corporation that bought up something like 1500 radio stations across the country. This included almost all of the 50,000 clear channel AM stations and in small market almost all of the stations in that market. Maybe you heard the story of dangerous weather in North Dakota one night. When the sheriff went to the local radio station (Bismark I think) to have them broadcast an alert he found out that the station was being run from Texas.

So Clear Channel owned about half of the US radio stations. Another company owned a third of the stations and another company had like 10%. I believe Air America started out to buy properties but there were very few available. That was one problem.

Remember that by then right wing radio had been established. Much of their programming was owned by the same corporation that owned all the stations under the Clear Channel corporation. I think it was called Premiere Radio. They owned Limbaugh and Hannity and many lesser lights like Michael Reagan. So they had the talent and the stations to put it on.

If some radio station wanted to run Premiere's shows like Limbaugh, they would get a real sweetheart deal from Premiere. The cost of the show to the station was $1 - but premiere got to sell most of the ad time. Shows were individual so they could take Reagan and skip Limbaugh. The local station got like 5 minutes an hour to sell locally - just enough to pay some bills. The shows filled a lot of empty air time. The local station didn't have to pay salesmen and could cut employees to the very bone.
So RW radio spread like wildfire.

When AAR came in they tried to sell radio stations a full day of programs as a package and the station had to sell the ad time. Hard for stations. In many case Clear Channel would give AAR one of their crappiest local radio stations just to fill air time. When CC had 7 stations in a market they had a lot of air time to fill, so much of AAR was on Clear Channel stations. In many cases CC decided to sell these stations and one day it was AAR then the next day Christian radio.

So the biggest problem AAR had was a lack of outlets plus a pretty bad business plan. What stations they were on were often low power dogs. I seem to recall that the one in LA only covered about 25% of LA.

Hard to find and poorly run was the biggest problem. Therefore it was hard to get listeners. In that respect much of what could have been their audience was already pretty faithful to NPR and weren't changing.

The business side grew into a disorganized mess and was going through lots of shakeups. And on the Clear Channel side they began shedding may of their real dog stations, so literally a station might be sold overnight and would go from AAR to Latino overnight. The one that I listened to did just that in the Quad Cities.

I worked with a group trying to secure some outlets in the midwest and we could get little support for our project. We would speak with influential folks and they would give us a glazed look.

So I think the biggest factor was bad business practices, really tough competition especially NPR which led to dwindling listening audiences especially as CC started shedding stations.

I forgot to mention that some local groups would rent time on local stations to run AAR but the rent was a killer. I think Phoenix was successful at doing that for a year or two but it got overwhelming after a while.

Right wingers love to cite AARs failure as the left being disorganized, uncommitted etc.

[progressoid]

9. Yep. One of many media outlets that has a stanglehold on America by the right wing,

Air America tried to put a dent in it. Alas, that didn't work out.

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

10. And mainly only hanging around other Dumb people

A few years ago I noticed one of my young nephews was kinda
starting to state a little rightwing crap.occasionally.

I determined he was getting some of this from a few rightwing teachers.
at University Texas And his parents who leaned Republican,
they’re stupid Reagan Democrats, and they voted for BushJr too.

Mainly it was his friends. A couple of loser Republicans,
and working class fools who voted GOP.

I’d say he had a ‘male’ problem.
By that I mean he thought males were superior to women,
And thought women had to be ‘taken care of’,
And I think that’s why his girlfriends left him too,
But can’t say for sure

Dumb uneducated ignorant people.
And male chauvinist.

[surfered]

11. Yes, Talk Radio, which is filled with conspiracy theories.

[617Blue]

12. Even in Blue areas AM radio is toxic MAGA. There's a reason why...

when some automakers were going to get rid of AM radios in vehicles that the GOP intervened.

[Mossfern]

14. I live in a VERY Blue area

Essex County NJ, and the talk radio is nauseating.

I miss Ralph Snodsmith.

[maxsolomon]

45. The same holds for Seattle. Multiple RW stations.

Liberals have a couple low-power FM Lefty stations that carry Democracy Now & Thom Hartman, and 2 great NPR stations.

Nothing on the AM dial. Just Hate, Sports, Jesus and Spanish.

[CitizenZero]

13. Air America

Air America was a noble failure. Not everything good succeeds, and not everything that succeeds is good. Also, Air America hosted a lot of talent that continues to contribute to our liberal and progressive media landscape- Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes, Rachel Maddow, etc. So even though it did not last, good things came out of Air America.

[mwmisses4289]

15. Most of the radio where I live on both am and fm

mostly is c&w (ugh!), spanish, nutjob talk or religious nutjob. There is an npr station that I listen to, but about half the time I simply turn it off. We used to have a classical and couple of jazz stations that were worth listening to, but they either went belly up or got bought out by religious nutjob radio.

[littlemissmartypants]

16. I Love Radio! I have public radio (which I volunteer for) on nonstop in my kitchen.

I have been a radio person since I got my first transistor radio. I have an antique Philco that still works, has shortwave and I have my FCC license because I used to be a DJ.

I worked for a little while after automation started. Since then, things have drastically changed in radioland. I miss the heyday.

Money ruins everything. Eventually.

Thanks for sharing this, Mossfern.



❤️

[Mr. Sparkle]

18. I hate to be the breaker of bad news for you, but the right own most of the media

and they are intent on pushing their views on us.

[JI7]

19. Most people don't listen to AM radio these days

Social media has far more influence.

[SomedayKindaLove]

44. 82M Americans listen to AM radio every month

47% of American get their news often or sometimes on radio (AM and FM)
20% of Americans get their news every day on radio (AM and FM)

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/08/17/for-national-radio-day-key-facts-about-radio-listeners-and-the-radio-industry-in-the-us/#:~:text=National%20Radio%20Day%2C%20celebrated%20on,of%20radio%20in%20the%20U.S.

Radio has a large audience. 26-54 year olds now listen to more radio than watch TV.

Different era of course, but radio was instrumental in the rise of fascism in 1930’s America due to Father Coughlin.

[Kaleva]

55. The poll doesn't differentiate between local, national or talk radio

[Tumbulu]

53. That idea is very regional, and ignoring the impact on the

culture at large of the am hate media is what has allowed this cancer to metastasize. I believe that wherever you live, most people do not listen t9 AM radio. But everywhere that I have lived, most people do.

It is bizarre to me how this influence has been so ignored. I suspect that it has very much to do with where one lives.

T only picked up and ran on the messaging for his own power, imo.

[Iamscrewed]

20. Wide spectrum

The outright lies and propaganda is almost everywhere. I remember seeing it 40+ years ago.

[GreatShakes66]

21. Even back in the Obama years....

I remember tuning in to some AM talk radio on a long drive through Texas up to Ohio. I knew about Rush Limbaugh, but was shocked by the RW conspiracy mongering and hate I heard from supposedly religious talk show people. Obama was a secret Muslim. Gleeful anticipation of RBG's death. On and on for hours.

[Mossfern]

26. I know!

Right?
There was a religious program that was flagrantly political and mean spirited.
It made me sick to here such stuff in a blue metropolitan area like where I live. I assumed that practically everyone (at least I know) is liberal - except for that guy with the "Daddy's Home" banner.

[Evolve Dammit]

23. 40 years has taken it's toll, and Limbaugh was awarded the Medal of Freedom from Drumpf. Huge brainwashing. n/t

[JHB]

24. Yup. There was an absolute abdication on that front. Because there was that one...

...experiment of a poorly-run network that proved across all space and for all time that liberal radio is unpossible and just won't work. No backing of any actual "liberal media" at all while RW media was awash in funding.



Yet now, we're told "we need our own Joe Rogan."

[BlueTsunami2018]

25. Sure, that was the first barrier broken down.

Few people listen to AM radio anymore but that’s where it all began after the fairness doctrine was repealed. Then came Fox and then the internet.

Objectively, they’ve done a great job of propagandizing every medium while our side did nothing on these fronts.

Just expecting people to realize they were being lied to was a terrible strategy.

[tonkatoy8888]

29. WBGO

The best damned jazz station in the world!

[Mossfern]

32. You bet!

I've been a member for years.

[judesedit]

30. The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyte

I may have spelled her last name wrong, but this book will give you the true history of the dumbing down of America. It started a long, long time ago and there was an actual program put in place by the government in the 40's to do this. I was shocked when I read this account and of the people involved in implementing it.

For the seriously interested. This is a 700+ page book.
I just wanted you to have this information. This is about the 5th time I've mentioned it over the years.

[Mossfern]

33. Damn!

I thought it started with Reagan.
I'll check to see if it's available as an ebook.

eta: Over $40 and not available electronically.

[judesedit]

46. You can download it. I did.

[liberalla]

35. That sounds really interesting! I've never heard of the author or the book!

This is a subject I'm very interested in. Thanks.

[eppur_se_muova]

59. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/225849.The_Deliberate_Dumbing_Down_of_America

Last edited Sat May 3, 2025, 01:39 AM - Edit history (1)

The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America: A Chronological Paper Trail
Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, Charlotte Iserbyt-Thomson, Joel Pett (Illustrator)
4.30
191 ratings24 reviews
The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America - A Chronological Paper Trail by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt 1999 Paperback



ETA: The original, full length edition runs ~700 pages, can be found here:
https://www.isbns.co.nz/isbn/9780966707106/

Most copies available now are the abridged ed., much shorter:
https://www.isbns.co.nz/isbn/9780966707113/

[LilElf70]

34. My change of pace is......

Paul Hardcastle and Donald Fagan channels on Sirius. Pic up signal on your car or phone. Appleplay and Android apps on your car will give you crystal clear, heavy bass/treble broadcasts for $72 a year. Buck up baby, it's well worth it.

It's my go to place when I want to get away from the lies , corruption, and bullshit.

[milestogo]

36. Life is easier when you're stupid.

[sab390]

37. I left my home in Milwaukee

When WTMJ AM, flagship radio station of Wisconsin, replaced "The Good Neighbor program" in the afternoon with hate radio. One day it was jams and tulips, the next, Hitler wasn't such a bad guy. It was more abrupt than Jonny Fever at WKRP.

[JoseBalow]

38. We are dumb all over

and a little ugly on the side

(6:15)

[dflprincess]

39. AM950 in Minneapolis being a rare exception

It's our local Progressive Station.

[hunter]

40. My adult children and their cousins don't pay any attention at all to radio or broadcast television.

The "radios" in their cars are only useful to them as Bluetooth speakers for their cell phones.

They don't have any "favorite" radio or television stations. They listen to their podcasts, audio books, and music.

The podcasts people listen to can be every bit as horrible as right wing radio, but people assure me there's some good ones.

My wife and I support our local public radio station. Our car radios are tuned to that. On longer drives, outside the range of a few additional public stations we're familiar with, the radio is useless. My wife has stuff she listens to on her phone. I have a little flip phone that I mainly use as a phone, but sometimes for texts. Usually I don't listen to anything when I drive long distances.

Maybe for-profit and religious radio just needs to go away.

[JohnnyRingo]

41. My Boomer friends complain that music suck these days.

The truth is there's good music recorded every day, but those people of my age just stopped listening to it. Instead they became entranced by the squealing static of AM hate radio. It started with Limbaugh but spread like a disease through the AM band.

[Clouds Passing]

42. We have 1260 AM Santa Fe progressive talk. It's good but doesn't have a strong signal.

But they are the lone exception.

[kimbutgar]

43. In my city we used to have a progressive AM radio station Green960

After President Obama was elected the owners changed it to a right wing station. I then started subscribing to Progressive channel. But still feel angry they stopped broadcasting Green960. They even had events with Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes, and Stephanie Miller and brought our community together.

[flvegan]

47. Sorry, but nope.

Neither AM radio nor religion is responsible for the dumbing down of America. People, namely Americans in this case, are just getting dumber (I'm not going to waste the time on the how/why). These idiots of which I speak may very well be susceptible to the influence of religion (or whatever shit is on AM radio) or "influencers" or the stupid shit of the day, but that's not what's made them stupid. Their stupidity just helps them embrace these external influences and ideas, the louder the better.

Welcome to America.

[AntiFascist]

49. Parents value sports competition over education...that is really the root cause...

this debate over trans women competing in sports is dominating local news at high schools and middle schools in my area. It shows where peoples' priorities really are. Never mind children's education!

[bucolic_frolic]

51. Self-serving propagandists, all of them! Con men seeking money and power

and not caring who they damage, abuse, or ruin. Money is the root of all evil.

[pansypoo53219]

54. reagan killed the fairness doctrine.

the rise of bullshit mountain. stoopid teevee. internets. endless entertainment.

[Kaleva]

56. People will listen to or watch that which reinforces their worldview

And reject that which challenges their world view. Liberal or progressive radio doesn’t do well because there isn’t an audience for it. At least not one large enough that can financially sustain it. Air America is an example.

The idea that America has been dumbed down by radio isn’t supported by the facts. There’s never been a time in our nation’s history where one could say the average American was well informed