Coalition for Progressive Radio San Diego

Who we are

CAMPAIGN FOR PROGRESSIVE RADIO – We are a San Diego-based grassroots network dedicated to supporting and promoting local radio programs that present a diversity of non-conservative viewpoints representing all people in San Diego County. Short term, our goal is to get progressive voices back on the San Diego air waves on existing stations, following the demise of KLSD, San Diego’s only progressive station. Long term, we seek to establish a new high-power radio station with 100% progressive programming. CPR’s website will also provide links for listeners to other radio and online media outlets offering progressive points of view.

Update on Save KLSD: The Film

Posted: August 13, 2008 at 12:02 am / By: / Categories: News and Announcements

An update from our friends Jen Douglas and Jon Monday…

Save KLSD: Media Consolidation and Radio

First, we want to thank all those who have contributed to the Save KLSD project. It has provided support that allowed us to expand the scope and depth of the film. We especially want to thank those who contributed more than once.

Jen and Jon went to Minneapolis and filmed events and interviews at the Nation Conference on Media Reform. Look for clips from Bill Moyers, Phil Donahue, Arianna Huffington, Dan Rather, Amy Goodman, local CPR San Diego representatives, and many more. Drew continued working on editing clips, working on an updated website, and is gathering archive footage. We now have a working script outline, and have begun matching the hundreds of hours of tape to the script.

Here is an exclusive announcement: progressive talk host and all around cool person, Bree Walker has agreed to narrate “Save KLSD”. We are nearing completion of videotaping and scripting, and expect to release the film as a DVD and will hold a local screening event later this year; well before the election.

Many of you know the fabulous Bree Walker — she worked as a news anchor/reporter in San Diego , LA , and New York, and acted in film and TV. Bree appeared at Save KLSD rallies last year and is a passionate advocate for media reform. BTW: She also is the owner of Camp Casey , Cindy Sheehan’s former property next to President’s Bush ranch in Crawford , Texas . Word has it that she has big plans for the location. To keep up with Bree, read her blog at http://breewalker.org/blog. We are thrilled that Bree will be the voice of Save KLSD: The Film!

Stay tuned for a new and improved Save KLSD website, http://www.saveklsd.com, and go there now for a short preview video of the film and to make a donation enabling us to complete and distribute the film.

Did you hear that the current KLSD radio (SPORTS TALK) is in the ratings gutter? For that news and regular updates on progressive talk in San Diego and the U.S. , go to Jennifer’s new blog, http://jennifercdouglas.blogspot.com.

Stay in touch.

You can watch an updated preview clip at: www.saveklsd.com/KLSD_Preview.wmv

Many small donations, ranging from $5 to $250 have enabled us to produce the documentary. To donate any amount, simply click on this link and securely donate through PayPal using your PayPal account or any credit card:

You can also mail a check to:

Save KLSD, LLC
P.O. Box 43
Bonsall, CA 92003

Each person who donates at least $20 will have their name mentioned in the film credits as a Save KLSD supporter. Each person who donates $100 or more will receive a Save KLSD t-shirt, a copy of the finished DVD autographed by the producers, and credit in the film as an Associate Producer. A documentary can’t create change by itself, but it can enlighten, inspire, and lead to change. We believe in the power of media.

The producers will donate $1.00 from the sale of each DVD to organizations who are fighting against media consolidation.

Thank you for your consideration.

Drew, Jen, Jon

1 comment so far

Preserving Net Neutrality

Posted: August 10, 2008 at 6:50 pm / By: / Categories: News and Announcements

John Falchi <pacerjp14@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Dear Jonathan-

We at the Campaign for Progressive Radio in San Diego join you in applauding

“… today’s FCC decision to protect and promote an open Internet where consumers have the freedom to access the lawful Internet content of their choice and use the lawful applications of their choice.” Jonathan, you speak for many of us out here on the issue of internet neutrality.

Yours for a free and open internet, John

_____________________________________

John P. Falchi, Member

Campaign for Progressive Radio-San Diego

San Diego, CA 92107

______________________________________________________________________________

Jonathan Rintels <jonr@creativevoices.us> wrote:

Following the FCC decision to sanction Comcast for violating the Commission’s Network Neutrality principles and interfering with users’ rights to access lawful Internet content and use the applications of their choice, this statement was issued by Jonathan Rintels, Executive Director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media.

The Center for Creative Voices in Media applauds today’s FCC decision to protect and promote an open Internet where consumers have the freedom to access the lawful Internet content of their choice and use the lawful applications of their choice. The FCC today marked an important victory in the battle over whether consumers will have the freedom to enjoy the full Internet, or whether they will they be restricted to visiting sites approved by – or in business with – the cable, telephone, or media conglomerate “gatekeeper” that provides broadband Internet access.

Because extreme media consolidation and concentration have eliminated so many independent voices and visions from America’s mainstream media, a growing number of creative artists now share their video, music, and creative visions directly with their audience over the Internet. Today’s FCC decision protects these artists from discrimination by broadband providers, promoting more independent and diverse voices in our media. That benefits creative artists and the American public.

The implications of the ongoing battle over whether the Internet will be “open” or “closed” can hardly be overstated. As FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps once observed, “This Internet may be dying. It may be dying because entrenched interests are positioning themselves to control the Internet’s choke-points and they are lobbying the FCC to aid and abet them… We seem to be buying into a warped vision that open networks should be replaced by closed networks and that traditional user accessibility can be superseded by a new power to discriminate. Let this vision prevail and the winners will be entrenched interests with far greater power than they have today to design and control the Internet of the future.”

Today, the FCC, led by Chairman Kevin J. Martin and Commisioners Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, delivered a crucial blow against that “warped vision” and in favor of giving all Americans full access to an open and non-discriminatory Internet. We salute them.

The Center for Creative Voices in Media is a nonpartisan nonprofit group dedicated to preserving free speech, free expression, and independent and diverse creative voices in our nation’s media. Members of the Board of Advisors of Creative Voices include Warren Beatty, Steven Bochco, Peggy Charren, Blake Edwards, Tom Fontana, Sissy Spacek, and other Oscar, Emmy, Peabody, Tony, and other award-winning creative artists.

********

If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Jonathan Rintels
Center for Creative Voices in Media
202.903.4081 (v)
202.318.9183 (f)
www.creativevoices.us
www.creativevoices.typepad.com (blog)

jonr@creativevoices.us

1 comment so far

Talk Radio & The Conspiracy To Kill

Posted: August 10, 2008 at 6:49 pm / By: / Categories: News and Announcements

Dear Friends-

Rory O’Connor does a good job of telling it like it is in this excerpt from the book “Shock Jocks: Hate Speech and Talk Radio” (AlterNet Books, 2008). , putting the onus on the right wing shock jocks to lighten up their fare lest more people bite the dust. John

______________________

John P. Falchi

San Diego, CA 92107

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________

Talk Radio and the

Conspiracy to Kill

By Rory O’Connor

_____________________________________________________________________________

AlterNet. Posted August 1, 2008.

Would Jim Adkisson have killed without prompting from extreme right-wing talkers?
Normally I ignore such ignorant attacks on my person, along with absurd charges like the one that Barack Obama is somehow engaged in a stealth “conspiracy to kill” talk radio. I raise them now only because of a real conspiracy to kill — one that took two lives in a Tennessee church recently. After a troubled man named Jim Adkisson murdered two and wounded seven, it was reported that he had books by shock jocks Michael Savage, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly in his home. (What wasn’t widely reported is that radio station WNOW-FM in Knoxville airs shock jocks Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Neal Boortz and Mark Levin every weekday. Given the killer’s professed hateful attitudes towards liberals and homosexuals, it’s at least as likely that he was influenced by the hateful speech Savage and the others spew forth on the public airwaves as by their books … )

So when these and other shock jocks regularly employ and promote hate speech over the public airwaves aimed at women, minorities, immigrants, homosexuals, foreigners, Islam and its adherents, and anyone else they perceive as an opponent, dehumanizing them with terms like ‘feminazis,’ ‘hos,’ ’slanty-eyed gooks’ and the like … and when they consistently blur the borders between news, opinion and entertainment, then quickly retreat when challenged, claiming it’s just ‘good fun,’ asking why you’re being so ‘politically correct,’ and demanding that you just ‘change the channel’ … and their audience is angry and armed — what do you expect to happen?

Are the shock jocks creating a climate where such acts are somehow deemed acceptable? Do they have blood on their hands if others — albeit a few, marginalized, desperate and deranged listeners — act on their poisonous rhetoric? Would Jim Adkisson have killed without prompting from extreme right wing talkers? We’ll never know — but isn’t it time to step back and think about the effect this sort of debased dialogue is having on our democracy and society? It’s not ‘just entertainment’ any more — if indeed it ever was. Instead, it’s now literally a deadly serious business, and we all need to examine our accountability — as well as to look for new strategies to contain the spread of hate speech in our media — before someone else gets killed.

In the last few months alone, Michael Reagan has called for murder on-air; Rush Limbaugh has hoped for riots in Denver at the Democratic National Convention and spoken about a non-existent tape of Michelle Obama castigating ‘Whitey’; Bill O’Reilly has mentioned Michelle Obama and a lynching party in the same breath; Don Imus has (again) engaged in racially charged remarks; and Michael Savage has called autistic children ‘idiots’ and ‘morons’ and charged that both autism and asthma are ‘rackets.’

As previously noted, the real racket is the shock jock racket. You know, the one where everyone gets paid — Savage, Limbaugh (to the tune of 400 million dollars), Hannity (100 million), etc. — but also local stations like WOR in New York City, which expressed ‘regret’ but took ‘no responsibility’ for Savage’s remarks; national distributors like Talk Radio Networks — the second largest provider of syndicated talk shows — and its headman Mark Masters, who puts Savage on 350 stations reaching 8 million listeners every week; and of course their corporate advertisers and sponsors. So let’s pressure the corporations who are using the public airwaves but not serving the public interest — and let’s challenge the shock jocks whose dehumanizing talk may be leading to terror and hate acts such as that which played out so tragically in a church in Knoxville.

In remarks given at my recent book launch party at the Tolerance Center, I specifically warned about shock jocks’ hate speech and the potential for some listener actually to take their advice literally, and to act on it in a real world “conspiracy to kill.” Some attendees later told me “You called it.” I hope not.

Filmmaker and journalist Rory O’Connor is the author of “Shock Jocks: Hate Speech and Talk Radio” (AlterNet Books, 2008). O’Connor also writes the Media Is A Plural blog.

1 comment so far

Classic Film on the Media

Posted: August 10, 2008 at 6:47 pm / By: / Categories: Upcoming Events

Dear Friends-

This is a classic on the media. If you haven.t seen it, it is a must see. John Falchi

==============================================================================================================

Activist San Diego Film Series
Orwell Rolls In His Grave
Friday August 22, 2008 7:30pm

A POWERFUL EXAMINATION OF MODERN MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON OUR POLITICAL CULTURE

“A marvel of passionate succinctness, Robert Kane Pappas‘ documentary critically examines the Fourth Estate, once the bastion of American democracy. It asks, “Could a media system, controlled by a few global corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices, be able to turn lies into truth?…” — Variety
The Film meticulously traces the process by which black may be turned into white, with frequent references totalitarian states both fictional and real –
Meticulously tracing the process by which media has distorted and often dismissed actual news events, Pappas presents a riveting and eloquent mix of media professionals and leading intellectual voices on the media.
ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE provides a vital forum for ideas that will never be heard in mainstream media. From Globalvision’s Danny Schecter: “We falsely think of our country as a democracy when it has evolved into a mediacracy – where a media that is supposed to check political abuse is part of the political abuse.”

New York University media professor Mark Crispin Miller says, “These commercial entities now vie with the government for control over our lives. They are not a healthy counterweight to government. Goebbels said that what you want in a media system – he meant the Nazi media system – is to present the ostensible diversity that conceals an actual uniformity.”

“One of the most popular films on our schedule.”
– Free Speech TV

Joyce Beers Community Center
at Vermont St just north of Univ. Ave, Hillcrest, San Diego, Ca 92103 (next to Trader Joe’s)
please use Ralph underground parking lot

****This Event is Free****

(Nobody turned away for lack of funds – Donations Gladly Accepted)
For more info: (619) 528-8383 or www.ActivistSanDiego.org

No comments yet

abc news: Savage Loses Advertisers Over Autism Remarks

Posted: July 28, 2008 at 10:32 pm / By: / Categories: Media Industry

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/Story?id=5457991

Savage Loses Advertisers Over Autism Remarks

In Wake of Protests, Advertisers Don’t Want to Support ‘Savage Nation’

By JACKIE HYLAND, RAINA SEITEL GITTLIN and EMILY YACUS

July 27, 2008

Michael Savage — one of the most popular talk show hosts in the nation — is used to controversy. It’s been one week since Savage made controversial remarks about autism, referring to those diagnosed with the condition as “brats, idiots, and morons.”

Several big advertisers have pulled their commercials from the syndicated “Savage Nation” radio show, and now, thousands of parents and protesters are urging Savage to step down, calling his words “hate speech.”

“I’ll tell you what autism is,” Savage told his audience on July 16. “In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is.” The talk show host also said, “Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.”

The conservative shock jock’s comments sent shock waves through the autism community. Parents and autism activists staged rallies in protest in New York and San Francisco.

“We are here to call for the firing of Michael Savage. For his truly hurtful, outrageous and inaccurate statements,” said one protester.

And the backlash didn’t stop there. Sponsors of Savage’s radio show, such as AFLAC Insurance and Home Depot, have pulled their advertisements. Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus gave $25 million for the creation of Autism Speaks, in 2005, and sits on the group’s board of directors.

Savage’s syndicator, Talk Radio Network, issued a statement in his support: “The network is satisfied that he did not mean any disrespect to autistic children or their families, but was, instead, reiterating his longstanding concerns on public health issues.”

Savage continues to defend his position that the medical community over-diagnoses autism in children. But medical experts contend that autism is actually under-diagnosed, with about 1 in 150 children suffering from the disorder.

“Good Morning America” spoke with Evelyn Ain, president of Autism United, a group spearheading the boycott of Savage’s program. She is also the mother of an 8-year-old son who has autism.

When asked what she would say to Savage if she met him, Ain replied, “He should have apologized. I don’t think he understands how — what a big impact he’s had on families and children. Autism is one of the most vulnerable populations out there.

“50 percent of the children that have autism can’t speak. They can’t verbalize their needs. … We don’t need anybody, basically, you know, a bus matron, for example, taking advantage of our children and maybe trying to discipline the children on a bus, because thinking that what Michael Savage said, that’s what these kids need,” Ain said.

Autism United plans a Sunday protest outside Savage’s San Francisco KNEW studio. Ain just may get her chance to tell him what she think

1 comment so far

BlogTalkRadio.com — Online “radio” for all

Posted: July 21, 2008 at 10:09 pm / By: / Categories: News and Announcements

This is my first post for the Campaign for Progressive Radio (CPR) San Diego blog, though I write for CPR as its secretary and am a co-producer/scriptwriter of a documentary about KLSD radio and media reform. CPR evolved from the ad-hoc grassroots group “SaveKLSD” that sprung up in August 2007 in an effort to save KLSD prog talk radio from demise (alas, it didn’t work, but Stacy Taylor back on air). CPR meets every 3 weeks and is a new group that is still finding its footing and as the prog talk situation in SD evolves. Anyway, this post is adapted from my personal blog (on media reform and some silly stuff and non-sequitars). I just found BlogTalkRadio.com – this is a very cool blend of a “radio” talk show that is online instead on the radio per se… Check it out at http://www.blogtalkradio.com. BlogTalkRadio’s MyDD show (My Direct Democracy)from Netroots Nation is also in my list of blogs on the left nav. Netroots nation has a bunch of blog radio shows appealing to progressive — there’s one from DFA (Democracy for America, an organization that morphed from Dean for America, as in Howard Dean when he ran for president). BTW: Netroots Nation is a great nonprofit that seeks to use the Internet to advance progressive goals. http://www.netrootsnation.org/

BlogTalkRadio’s “About Us” text: Blogtalkradio is the social radio network that allows users to connect quickly and directly with their audience. Using an ordinary telephone and computer hosts can create free, live, call-in talk shows with unlimited participants that are automatically archived and made available as podcasts. No software download is required. Listeners can subscribe to shows via RSS into iTunes and other feed readers. Our network has produced tens of thousands of episodes since it launched in August of 2006.

No comments yet

Free screening of HBO’s “RECOUNT: The Story of the 2000 Election”

Posted: July 18, 2008 at 10:35 pm / By: / Categories: Upcoming Events

An excellent film portraying the behind-the-scenes politics and drama surrounding the election of George W Bush in 2000, the most controversial in U.S. history. Special Appearance and Introduction by Jim Lampley of HBO Sports and NBC Sports

The future of the nation was hanging by a chad.

HBO Films presents

“RECOUNT: The Story of the 2000 Presidential Election”

Two-time Oscar®-winner Kevin Spacey leads an outstanding cast in this illuminating, highly entertaining film that pulls back the veil on the headlines to explore the human drama surrounding the most controversial presidential election in U.S. history.
http://www.hbo.com/films/recount/

When: Tues Jul 29 at 6:30pm

Where: Lestat’s West Showroom (adjacent to Lestat’s Coffeehouse)
3343 Adams Ave (@ Felton), San Diego CA 92116
( 5 block east of 30th ) (map)

All ages welcome. Admission is Free. For information, call
619.282.0437

Lestat’s Coffeehouse is open 24 / 7 / 365

No comments yet

Stephanie Miller joins the 540AM XESURF lineup

Posted: July 18, 2008 at 10:31 pm / By: / Categories: News and Announcements

San Diego liberal talk fans still in KLSD remission do have at least a little something to cheer about, as a strong signaled station in the market adds one of the most popular progressive talk shows in the country to its lineup.

The Stephanie Miller Show has been added to Saul Levine’s XESURF (540AM), which covers the San Diego market from its Tijuana tower. Her show will air in morning drive from 6-9A weekdays. This will be her first affiliate in the market, as KLSD never carried her show.

Learn about “The National Popular Vote” Movement

Posted: July 9, 2008 at 12:02 am / By: / Categories: Upcoming Events

California Common Cause and The League of Women Voters are co-sponsoring a presentation on Election Reform on Sunday, July 27, 2:00 – 4:00 PM at the Mission Valley Library, 2123 Fenton Pkwy, San Diego (map). The speakers will be

* Derek Cressman: Assistant Director of Election Reform, Common Cause Sacramento
* Deborah Seiler: County of San Diego, Registrar of Voters

It should be a good talk, and there will be plenty of time to ask questions.

More info…

No comments yet

Society of Professional Journalists Awards Banquet

Posted: July 8, 2008 at 11:24 pm / By: / Categories: Upcoming Events

Come join the Society of Professinal Journalists at the Bali Hai , 2230 Shelter Island Drive (map), on Wed., July 16 for their annual banquet. Noted L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez will be our guest speaker. Cocktail hour starts at 6 p.m., followed by a buffet dinner and an awards program at 7 p.m. The price is $37. This is a good group for CPRSD to be linked with.

You won’t want to miss this opportunity to hear Steve Lopez speak. He has a new book out based on the columns he wrote about an accomplished violinist who also happens to be homeless. A California native, Lopez is the author of three novels and his new book, “The Soloist: A Lost Dream, An Unlikely Friendship, And The Redemptive Power of Music.” The book is based on columns Lopez wrote for The Los Angeles Times about his friendship with a downtown Los Angeles musician.