Just a follow up ...

Look, you can validly disagree with Mankow, Rush, Beck etc on any political or historical aspect you want, and hold your own. But buddy, you just dont know what your talking about when you say that the Fairness Doctrine would not be the end of AM talk as we know it. To industry professionals, people on both sides of the microphone, especially those in the radio game prior to its lifting and after, this isnt even a debate. AM talk radio, as we know it, would simply go away.

Radio station owners can not run with a format in which half of their programing causes ratings to plummet. No business model can survive this way. History is very clear here, AM Talk became a billion dollar enterprise only AFTER the Doctrine was lifted. Thats inarguable. Left wing political talk simply does not sell advertising. The consumer of such talk represents only 1/5th of the nation, whereas the consumers of Conservative talk represents nearly half. The commercial viability of Left talk isnt sufficient for station owners to surrender half of their line up to include it. In addition the median expendable income of "conservative" listeners is dramatically higher then "liberals." To put it bluntly, conservative radio has twice as many consumers whom are on average more affluent; and consequently they snap up the goods & services advertised on conservative talk. This is the reason Air America failed, utterly. Yet you sit there and insist that adding the Air America line up to 50% of a radio stations format wont effect AM talk radio as we know it? That is what Wilkow means. Dont you get it? AM talk radio is a business. And the Left wing format does not make MONEY. You impose the Fairness Doctrine & you'll bankrupt these people. Thats like INSISTING NFL owners play third or fourth stringers as much each season as the starters, and expecting it wont change the game & how many tickets they sell.

And thats just the business side of it, without even broaching the philosophical - my God man, you want the FCC to regulate Sirius & XM (& I presume cable & the Internet) the same way??? What tyrannical madness is this? And while we're at it, you keep citing the SCOTUS ... ya, we all know they cant get Constitutional freedoms wrong ... said Mrs. Roe to Mr. Wade .... jeez man, I dont even recognize you on this.