[ Wealthy partisans aligned with the GOP are going for that
Hispanic vote in a big, big way. They intend to use the same tools
that have turned state after state reliably red since the 1980s: radio
& TV]
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A MEDIA CEILING IS ABOUT TO FALL IN ON DEMOCRATS  
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Thom Hartmann
January 25, 2023
The Hartmann Report
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_ Wealthy partisans aligned with the GOP are going for that Hispanic
vote in a big, big way. They intend to use the same tools that have
turned state after state reliably red since the 1980s: radio & TV _

, Image by Dolf Maurer from Pixabay

 

If you’re a Democratic candidate for office in New Mexico, Texas,
California, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Colorado, New Jersey, New York
or Illinois, get ready: the ceiling is about to fall in on you.

The white vote in America is split, leaning
[[link removed]] 53%-42%
toward the GOP. The Black vote is reliably
[[link removed]] 83
percent Democratic. But the Hispanic vote is up for grabs: they
represent the second largest and fastest growing demographic group in
the country at 13.3 percent
[[link removed]] of
the 2020 electorate (Blacks were 12.5 percent, whites 66.7 percent)
and, as conservative Spanish-language radio proliferates, they’re
shifting to the right.

If Republicans can pull just a few percent of the Hispanic vote their
way, they can hold the House, retake the Senate, and seize the White
House in 2024. Not to mention flipping multiple purple states red.

NOW, WEALTHY PARTISANS ALIGNED WITH THE GOP ARE GOING FOR THAT
HISPANIC VOTE IN A BIG, BIG WAY. THEY INTEND TO USE THE SAME TOOLS
THAT HAVE TURNED STATE AFTER STATE RELIABLY RED SINCE THE 1980S: RADIO
AND TELEVISION.

Big business was consistently Republican through the 1920s, supported
in large part by Father Coughlin, the nation’s first talk radio
host, listened to daily by as many as a third of all Americans. But
when Wall Street crashed the economy in 1929, Coughlin started
supporting Democrats; FDR came into office with the election of 1932
and began hammering
[[link removed]] what
he called the big business “economic royalists” with a relentless
vigor.

Between that and World War II pulling America together politically,
most businesses dropped out of politics and spent the period from 1941
through the mid-1970s simply making money.

Virginia tobacco lawyer Lewis Powell watched this dynamic unfold
during his lifetime and thought it a big mistake. In 1971 he wrote his
infamous “memo” to his friend Eugene Syndor, the head of the US
Chamber of Commerce.

In it, he recommended that wealthy businessmen and big corporations
create a conservative messaging infrastructure to combat what he saw
as creeping “socialism,” an antiwar and anti-business bias in both
American pop culture and media.

THE MORBIDLY RICH ANSWERED POWELL’S CALL, PRODUCING CONSERVATIVE
THINK TANKS, PUBLICATIONS, AND BUYING UP MEDIA OUTLETS. TODAY AROUND
1500 RADIO STATIONS AND AT LEAST 300 TELEVISION STATIONS IN AMERICA
ARE OWNED BY RIGHT-LEANING CORPORATIONS THAT PROGRAM EXCLUSIVELY
REPUBLICAN CONTENT.

By contrast, on the progressive side there are a few dozen
independently owned radio stations and not one single television
station that programs Democratic content. The only progressive
television network in America is Free Speech TV
[[link removed]], which has never even launched an
advertising or PR campaign to tell the nation it exists.

RED STATES ARE RED IN LARGE PART BECAUSE THEIR MEDIA INFRASTRUCTURE IS
EXCLUSIVELY REPUBLICAN-FRIENDLY. THERE’S NOT A SINGLE PROGRESSIVE
RADIO OR TV STATION OF CONSEQUENCE IN ANY RED STATE IN AMERICA.

If the only message you hear all day long is that Democrats want gay
people to seduce your kids, encourage minorities to move into your
neighborhood to assault your wife and take your job, intend to raise
your taxes, and are pushing teachers to indoctrinate your children
about the wonders of cross-dressing, you begin to believe it.

THIS IS THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE PARADOX THAT THOMAS FRANK
IDENTIFIED WITH HIS BOOK _WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS
[[link removed]]_?_ _IN
RURAL AREAS IT’S NOT UNCOMMON TO DRIVE AN HOUR JUST TO GET
GROCERIES: PEOPLE LISTEN TO THE RADIO WHILE DRIVING. IT’S THE ONE
CONSTANT ACROSS EVERY RED STATE, _ALL_ OF WHICH ARE LARGELY RURAL.

And there are no high-profile radio voices saying anything good about
Democrats in any red state in the country. Even the music stations
owned by the media giants in red states feature DJs who make
disparaging quips about Democrats between songs.

Down in Florida, Hispanic districts surprised Democratic candidates as
they swung heavily toward DeSantis and Rubio in the last election.
This was because, according to Jen Psaki
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of rightwing “disinformation” on Spanish-language media. The state
features multiple
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Spanish talk radio stations and shows, many of which just came online
in the last few years: this is a glimpse into what’s coming to a
swing state near you.

THIS DIDN’T HAVE TO BE: DEMOCRATS SURRENDERED THE RADIO AIRWAVES IN
2010. THE BACKSTORY IS CHILLING.

Back on December 3, 2002, I wrote an op-ed for 
[[link removed]]_Common
Dreams 
[[link removed]]_titled 
[[link removed]]_Talking
Back to Talk Radio
[[link removed]]_ arguing
that there’s a market in America for progressive talk radio.

I knew the business because my first “real job” in 1967 was as a
weekend Country/Western DJ at WITL-AM/FM in Lansing, Michigan (I’d
learned the trade at MSU’s Brody Hall campus radio station over the
previous year). After bouncing around a few other stations (including
a few months up in Newbury, Michigan as program director of WNBY
[[link removed]]) I ended up back at WITL
doing morning-drive-time news until the mid-1970s while co-running an
advertising agency and herbal tea company during the rest of the day.

TWO VENTURE CAPITALISTS FROM CHICAGO, SHELDON AND ANITA DROBNY, READ
THE _COMMON DREAMS_ ARTICLE AND CALLED ME UP, ASKING ME TO MEET THEM
AND JON SINTON IN CHICAGO. THE ARTICLE GOT THEM FIRED UP AND THEY
RAISED THE INITIAL MONEY TO LAUNCH AIR AMERICA RADIO IN MARCH OF 2004.
(I’D ALREADY STARTED MY PROGRAM IN THE SPRING OF 2003 AS A PROOF OF
CONCEPT.)

When Sheldon’s book _The Road to Air America
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out, he published my original article in an appendix as the
“original business plan” for the network.

At its height Air America was heard across most of the country. The
network was on 54 major stations across the nation — most throwing
signals into multiple states — but all were leased from Clear
Channel, then the largest network of radio stations in America. We had
listeners in the millions, got a lot of press, and helped elect Barack
Obama as the nation’s first Black president in 2008.

MITT ROMNEY’S COMPANY, HOWEVER, ACQUIRED
[[link removed]] CLEAR
CHANNEL AND, PRESUMABLY LOOKING TOWARD THE 2012 ROMNEY/OBAMA CONTEST,
BEGAN REPLACING AIR AMERICA PROGRAMMING WITH SPORTS AND RIGHTWING
TALK. WITHOUT “BIG STICKS” CARRYING THEIR PROGRAMMING, BOTH
ADVERTISING AND INVESTOR REVENUE DRIED UP AND AIR AMERICA WAS BANKRUPT
BY JANUARY 2010.

A few years before the end of Air America, a group of the hosts and I
visited Washington, DC to ask Democratic members of Congress to
encourage investment in the network. Bernie Sanders, a regular on my
program every Friday for 11 years, introduced us and gave a good
pitch.

BUT A SENATOR WHO WOULD LATER RUN FOR PRESIDENT ARGUED THAT DEMOCRATS
SHOULDN’T “INTERFERE IN THE FREE MARKET” AND MUST JUST “LET
THE RADIO INDUSTRY ITSELF SORT IT ALL OUT.” WE WALKED OUT
EMPTY-HANDED.

While Rupert Murdoch lost over $100 million a year for several years
to launch Fox News, Air America went down in flames after raising and
spending a mere $17 million. That’s a rounding error when you
consider the money Democrats raise and spend every two years during
election cycles.

In 2018 the entire Clear Channel network of over 800 radio stations
was for sale for just over a billion dollars. I wrote an article for
Salon
[[link removed]] suggesting
Tom Steyer or another liberal billionaire should buy it both as a
money-making investment and an opportunity to put progressive talk on
the air nationwide. The response: Crickets.

In 2020 I wrote an article for 
[[link removed]]_The
Nation
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arguing that Democrats should jump into the radio business with two
feet, bringing their wealthy donors along as investors to buy radio
stations. It would cost a hell of a lot less than what was being spent
buying advertising every two years. The silence was deafening.

WHICH BRINGS US TO THE CEILING THAT’S ABOUT TO FALL IN ON DEMOCRATIC
CANDIDATES.

Natalie Allison is reporting for _Politico_ that a new
Spanish-language radio network is both going nationwide and expanding
into television, expecting to be the Spanish version of Fox News in
time for the 2024 election.

“The network has hired more than 80 Latino journalists and
producers,” Allison wrote
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“are expanding their radio presence to television, and by the end of
the year will have studios in Miami, Las Vegas and D.C. with reporters
covering the White House, Congress and embedding in 2024 presidential
campaigns. This month, Americano is launching a $20 million marketing
campaign to draw in new viewers.

Consider the impact this could have based on these numbers from Neeva
AI [[link removed]]:

“New Mexico has the highest Hispanic population as a percentage of
the total population at 49.26%, followed by Texas with 39.75% and
California with 39.42%. Arizona has a Hispanic population of 31.5%,
Nevada 28.5%, Florida 25.8%, Colorado 21.7%, New Jersey 20.4%, and New
York 19.1%. Illinois has a Hispanic population of 17.2%.”

Without conservative talk radio on 1500 stations across the nation,
Donald Trump would not have become President in 2016. He probably
wouldn’t have even won the Republican nomination: rightwing talk
radio was nearly 100% behind him in the primary. And Congress
definitely wouldn’t be in Republican hands.

Messaging matters, but having the messaging platform is step one.
Media is critical to communication.

The failure of wealthy people aligned with the Democratic Party to
invest in radio infrastructure is coming home to roost again…

_Thom Hartmann is a NY Times bestselling author 34 books in 17
languages & nation's #1 progressive radio host. Psychotherapist,
international relief worker. Politics, history, spirituality,
psychology, science, anthropology, pre-history, culture, and the
natural world._

* right wing media
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* Hispanic communities
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* Latino Voters
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