The LuLac Edition #29, June 13, 2006

SPECIAL EDITION/MEDIA WATCH........THE INFLUENCE OF TALK RADIO ON THE POLITICAL PROCESS.

PHOTO INDEX, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, AL GORE WITH MARTIN SHEEN AND THE LATE JOHN SPENCER, GEENA DAVIS, KEVIN LYNN AND NANCY KMAN FROM WILK RADIO, DAVID YONKI, GREG FOSTER, PD OF WARM RADIO, DON IMUS AND GREG STROM, (1999), SUE HENRY FROM WILK RADIO, GREG STROM, SALES MANGER OF WARM, DAVID YONKI, AND REGINA TODD, GENERAL MANAGER OF CITADEL BROADCASTING, 1998, AND ROB NYEHARD, KEVIN LYNN AND GREG FOSTER WARM RADIO 1998.

MEDIA WATCH………………..Does Talk Radio still have the power to influence elections? As a boy growing up in northeastern Pennsylvania, the late Jim Ward on WBAX held a great sway with the public with his Morning and Night Time Speak Up Programs. Ward dubbed himself “The Morning Mayor” and brought many local issues to a head. The night time host, Jones Evans took phone calls from people who were sometimes in deep financial need. And the next thing you knew, WBAX was raising money for that caller who was in dire straits. But the true political influence of talk radio was never really felt until the late eighties, the nineties and beyond.
Talk Radio in the Wilkes Barre Scranton market was hit or miss in terms of formats. Ward had talk shows on the old WBAX until he left to start his own station after buying WPTS in 1975. Curiously, Ward ran music programming until the early 80s when he dove into the talk format full time. Prior to that, WILK radio ran the syndicated Larry King program overnight.. WARD’s station was a mix of local and national shows. In the morning, he had his “Swap Shop” where listeners called in to sell and buy things, then in the mid 80s, Ward himself hosted a show called “The Coping Connection”. This show was a type of self help, poor man’s version of Dr. Phil before Dr. Phil even knew who he was! Various hosts handled the duties including Shadoe Steele of KRZ fame. Rob Nyehard came back from California in the mid 80s and had an afternoon show on WARD which was buttressed by Ward’s morning show and the swap shops. Toward the end of the eighties, Ward started hosting “The Town Meeting of The Air” in the mornings and discussed everything from the Presidential races to recipes. Neyhard was in the afternoons but talk shows were added with Michael Jackson, Allen Combes, Rush Limbaugh and Barry Farber. The Swap Shop morphed into The Ward Home Shopping Network where in order to enhance billing, the station sold merchandise on the air.
Meantime, at WARM the station experimented with hybrid formats of music and talk. Phillies baseball at night was enhanced by Bruce Williams, Jim Bohannon and Dr Joy Brown. The WARM morning show was transformed into an informational gabfest with maybe two records an hour, if that. At the end of the eighties, WARM gave a talk show opportunity to Elizabeth Fields and then later on to the former Mayor of Scranton, James Barrett McNulty. McNulty’s show was heavy on the politics but despite his Democratic affiliation, very balanced. The WARM news department shone brightly during the early 90s offering comment and talk on the Casey administration and especially during Robert P. Casey’s senior’s health crisis.
Talk radio did not have a truly full time format until WILK was sold by the Morgan family to the radio group which owned KRZ FM. Harry West did a morning show on WILK for a while but management felt it defeated the purpose of full time talk and information. After obtaining the rights to Rush Limbaugh, (see sidebar note below) and hiring Fred Williams, WILK was poised to become the talk station in Luzerne, Lackawanna counties and the Pocono Northeast. Gradually, its audience grew and people began to notice. WARM’s people surely noticed and before Northeastern Pa. knew it, the market had two stations fighting for the share of the talk market. By this time WARM had Rob Nyehard as their mainstay and Kevin Lynn going through various tours of duty with varying management teams. Toward the end of the nineties, WARM had a GM that believed in the Talk format (Regina Todd), a young program director who had no pull, tug or knowledge of the old WARM as a top 40 entity, thus freeing him of any preconceived notions the rest of the market professionals had, (Greg Foster), a Sales Manager imported from Salt Lake City with a proven, successful track record in selling talk and sports, (Greg Strom) and a franchise national morning show (Imus In The Morning) to anchor its Talk lineup. (Imus was in the market earlier on Bob Cordaro’s Sports station on the FM side in the mid nineties). Talk radio on both stations became the bully pulpit for political and social causes. Listeners gave opinions on taxes, the homeless and even occasionally made an impact on political consequences that might have turned out differently had talk radio not been around.
Perhaps the best examples of Talk Radio galvanizing support for someone was WARM’s Kevin Lynn who in 1999 expressed an opinion that the Red Barons management (ie Lackawanna County Commissioners) should not fire Rick Muntean, then the GM of the team. The support for the embattled Muntean came from Lynn’s defense of him, the agreement of the host’s audience, the actual involvement of those listeners expressing dissatisfaction with the move and the ultimate capitulation of the commissioners to the will of the listener, or people.
Prior to Lynn’s issue with the Muntean situation, a less positive aspect was the Arena Project of the late 1990s when WILK’s Fred Williams led the “Arena No” crowd to defeat the referendum by a few votes. There are still people who tell me we could’ve had a bigger arena had there been no Fred Williams and his negativity. Fred Williams brought ratings and notoriety to the station with his homespun razorblade over the lips style bringing listeners “the good stuff”. Williams also involved WILK lawyers in more legal disputes than Liz Taylor’s and Mickey Rooney’s divorce proceedings combined. But on the Arena issue, while Williams stirred things up, the real blame goes to then Luzerne County Commissioner Frank Crossin Jr. who caved into the taxpayer crazies and joined with then GOP Commissioner Jim Phillips in putting the question on the ballot to begin with. Fred Williams merely stoked the negative fires that were lit by the “political profile in non courage” courtesy of Frank Crossin, Junior.
The two examples though gave listeners an insight into how cohesive and powerful a medium talk radio can be. In the recent elections, again that influence came out in a local race when State Representative Fred Bellardi went on WILK’s Morning show and talked about his candidacy. To his credit, Bellardi spoke his mind. To WILK’s credit, they let him speak his mind without judging what he was saying. The shows hosts then let his comments stand and the judgment on what he said was made by the voters in his district. If Bellardi had not appeared on the show, would he have won? Many conclude that he might have won re-election if his views were not so prominent on talk radio.
Don Sherwood’s career might be taking an easier course if one of WILK’s student interns was not so attentive and hard working. The intern tracked down the Congressman’s mistress and hosts Kevin and Nancy interviewed her (Cynthia Ore) extensively on the show. If you heard the interview, you’d have to conclude that both Lynn and Kman eased the woman along. They were not judgmental or confrontational. Cynthia Ore sounded confused, innocent, bewildered, befuddled and frightened by her treatment at the hands of the Congressman who at that point was denying involvement with her. The most striking thing about the interview was not what she said, but her obvious demeanor in presenting it. It gave most listeners and voters the impression that the Congressman might be taking advantage of someone less stronger than himself.
Sue Henry’s embracement of the payraise issue with statewide leaders of the CleanSweep Pennsylvania movement at least brought the payraise issue to the forefront. When she traveled down to Harrisburg and there seemed to be a lower than expected turnout, some doubted that there would be change. But they were wrong. Talk Radio is made up of “active participants”, (those who call inciting action) and “passive participants” (those who listen and act). Politicians would do well to understand the distinctions.
The influence of Talk Radio is powerful. With WILK being the only frequency in the market, that power is magnified. Most talk radio shows have to resort to silly gimmicks like Rush Limbaugh’s old “homeless update” or Sean Hannitty’s maniacal faux patriotism. WILK, (which has its detractors who remember the old days when radio news was a cottage industry here,) by presenting the issues let the listeners make the ultimate judgments on the personalities and issues. That truly is the understated power of talk radio in this market regarding politics, government and its citizens. The process is better served by its existence.

SIDEBAR ISSUE: How Rush got “fired” by Jim Ward. Since the summer of 1988, Rush Limbaugh had been a mainstay on Ward’s station. During Christmas week of 1989 or 1990, WILK obtained the rights of the Limbaugh show. Ward, the consummate radio promoter was looking for a way to save face. Limbaugh helped him by launching into a dissertation one day about the word “fard”. (The definition of the word fard is to use facepaint or apply makeup.) Rush had a great time using the old English word over and over again. Jim Ward saw his opening. At 1PM that day, Ward announced that he was yanking Limbaugh off WARD radio for making those “lewd and disgusting” comments. Now Rush was leaving anyway, but WARD’s audience didn’t know that!!!!!. Limbaugh gave Jim Ward a seemingly graceful way to have his main show go to a competitor. In its place, Ward acquired Allen Combes, now a mainstay on Fox TV.

LET'S NOT FORGET TV TOO/REVIEW OF WEST WING AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF FINALES................

The West Wing ended its final season on a high note. I just got around to watching the final 4 episodes which were on tape. The last season chronicled the end of the Josiah Bartlett administration and the Presidential race to succeed him. The election episodes featured Republican Senator Arnold Vineck (Alan Alda) a shoo in vs. Congressman Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits). Senator Arnold Vinick (R-CA) secured the Republican nomination, defeating Glen Allen Walken (John Goodman) and the Reverend Don Butler (Don S. Davis), among others. Initially, Vinick wanted Butler to become his running mate. However, Butler did not want to be considered, citing the differences in their abortion rights views. Instead, West Virginia Governor Ray Sullivan (Brett Cullen) was chosen as Vinick's running mate. Vinick was portrayed throughout the sixth season as virtually unbeatable because of his popularity in California, a typically Democratic state, his moderate views, and his wide crossover appeal. Vinick, however, has faced difficulty with the pro-life members of his party as a pro-choice candidate, and criticism for his support of nuclear power.
On the evening of the election, Leo McGarry suffered a massive heart attack and was pronounced dead at the hospital, with the polls still open in the West. The Santos campaign released the information immediately, while Vinick refused to use Leo's death as a "stepstool" to the presidency. Santos emerged as the winner in his homestate of Texas, while Vinick won his homestate of California. The election came down to Nevada, where both candidates needed a victory to secure the presidency. Vinick had told his staff repeatedly that he would not allow his campaign to demand a recount of the votes if Santos was declared the winner. Josh Lyman was seen giving Santos the same advice, although the Santos campaign did send a team of lawyers down to Nevada. Matthew Vincente Santos was pronounced the winner of the election, having won Nevada by 70,000 votes, with an electoral margin of 272–266.

It was recently revealed that Vinick was originally slated to win the election. According to executive producer Lawrence O'Donnell, the death of Spencer forced him and his colleagues to consider the taxing of emotions that would come from having Santos lose both his running mate, and the election.

WEST WING AWARDS
Actor
Awards won
Stockard Channing
Emmy, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (2002)
Allison Janney
Emmy, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (2000, 2001)
Emmy, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (2002, 2004)
SAG Award, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series (2000, 2001)
Richard Schiff
Emmy, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2000)
Martin Sheen
Golden Globe, Best Actor in a TV Series - Drama (2001)
SAG Award, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (2000, 2001)
John Spencer
Emmy, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2002)
Bradley Whitford
Emmy, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2001)
W.G. "Snuffy" Walden received an Emmy Award for Main Title Design in 2000 for "The West Wing Opening Theme".
Many cast members have been Emmy-nominated for their work on The West Wing but have not won, including Alan Alda, Dulé Hill, Rob Lowe, Janel Moloney and Mary-Louise Parker. Several people have also received Emmy nominations for guest starring on the show: Matthew Perry, Oliver Platt, Ron Silver, Tim Matheson, and Mark Harmon.

WEST WING ERROR...............I found an error in the West Wing finale. In one scene, First Lady Abby Bartlett is talking about the bitter cold weather at the Inauguration of incoming President Matt Santos. She asked the President why on earth should the leader of the free world take the oath of office outside in the middle of January in sub zero degree weather? President Bartlett responded that she should blame the founding fathers, Jefferson, Adams and Washington for that. He and the writers were incorrect historically in this matter. George Washington took his oath of office and gave his first inaugural address in New York city on April 30th 1789. His second address was on March 4th, 1893 and every President until 1937 took the oath and gave their address on March 4th. As a provision of the Twentieth Amendment, the new inauguration date for Presidents was established as January 20th. The first President to give his address on this date was Franklin D.Roosevelt who gave his second inaugural address on Jan. 20th, 1937.

COMMANDER IN CHIEF FINALE (MAYBE) This Wednesday, ABC is supposedly going to be ending “Commander In Chief” with my girl, Geena Davis. The episode, according to the ABC website, is going to deal with, of all things, the Equal Rights Amendment. Davis recently received a “Lucy Award” named after TV actress Lucille Ball. The award was presented to Davis by the man who cancelled her “Commander In Chief” program. Steve McPherson, President of ABC TV has hinted that he might let Davis do a series wrap up. ABC has this Wednesday night’s episode listed as “season finale”. We shall see. Or we won’t.

Awards and Nominations
Awards Won
Golden Globe Awards:
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Drama Series- Geena Davis (2006)
[edit]
Awards Nominated
Golden Globe Awards:
Best TV Series-Drama
Best Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Television Drama Series- Donald Sutherland (2006)
Screen Actors Guild:
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Geena Davis (2006)
Satellite Awards:
Outstanding Actress in a Series, Drama Geena Davis (2006