When I was a boy – and way before the web – I was heavily involved in amateur radio. On the commercial shortwave bands, it was the politics of the world, delivered to my bedroom.
I could tell the stations broadcasting from communist countries because of the dreary, robotic, stultifying propaganda. There was no imagination, no variety, no humor and no life. Occasionally, though, the commies could be unintentionally hilarious.
Take, for instance, “Radio Station Peace and Progress”, which billed itself as “The Voice of Soviet Public Opinion”. My friends and I always giggled at that one, because even a bunch of 13-year olds knew there was no such thing as “public opinion” in Soviet Russia. Besides, the station had a very spooky “interval signal” (a musical identifier broadcast just prior to the start of programming). Here is Radio Station Peace and Progress – you’ll get the sense of its Count Dracula style in this short clip.
I’m beginning to have that “Peace and Progress” feeling about Hope ‘n Change’s choice for “Chief Diversity Officer” at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – “diversity” being one of the Orwellian terms used to enforce correct political thinking. The FCC, of course, regulates radio, television and the like. The new DO is Mark Lloyd, a guy with some very interesting views on restructuring the broadcasting industry. From the Cybercast News Service:
Mark Lloyd, newly appointed Chief Diversity Officer of the Federal Communications Commission, has called for making private broadcasting companies pay licensing fees equal to their total operating costs to allow public broadcasting outlets to spend the same on their operations as the private companies do.
Lloyd presented the idea in his 2006 book, Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America, published by the University of Illinois Press.
Lloyd’s hope is to dramatically upgrade and revamp the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through new funding drawn from private broadcasters.
The CPB is a non-profit entity that was created by Congress and that currently receives hundreds of millions of dollars in federal subsidies each year. In fiscal 2009, it is receiving an appropriation of $400 million.
His idea is to tax away the profits of commercial broadcasting and hand it over the CPB – and no Congressional subsidies and no damned commercial sponsorships on “public” broadcasting, either. Oh, and by the way, commercial broadcasters should be encouraged to be more “diverse”:
Along with this money, Lloyd would regulate much of the programming on these stations to make sure they focused on “diverse views” and government activities.
“Local public broadcasters and regional and national communications operations should be required to encourage and broadcast diverse views and programs,” wrote Lloyd. “These programs should include coverage of all local, state and federal government meetings, as well as daily news and public issues programming.
“In addition, educational programs for children and adults, and diverse, independent personal and cultural expression should be encouraged,” he wrote.
Sounds like “Peace and Progress” to me. Or Pravda.
H/T to Hot Air.
UPDATE (08/26/2009): Allah discusses Glenn Beck’s examination of Mark Lloyd and interviews Rush Limbaugh.
