On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 13:01:35 -0500, Mike wrote:

I'll parade down Public Square in Cleveland without clothes if Salem
ever put AAR on ANY of their stations in ANY market.

While I have absolutely no problem with public nudity in appropriate
places, I think you're safe.

There are three reasons Air America is unlikely to appear on Salem
stations. One is that some are religious teaching stations. The other
is that they have their own network. Smart stations in companies with
networks don't run other networks' programming. It diminishes the
value of their product, especially if they feed a show at the same
time the competition does.

The third reason is the most important. Even secular programming on a
Salem station has to tow the political and "moral" line of the
company. At the WOR Radio Network I had several Salem stations
carrying Dr. Joy Browne (remember, a licensed clinical psychologist
who uses anatomical terms in clinical contexts). Virtually every
station dropped the show because of the occasionally sexual nature of
some of the calls.

When I look back on it, we never should have pitched the stations in
the first place, though we never expected them to be so squeamish
about issues that were important to young people asking about sex in
an age of AIDS. They'd never get the information they need on a Salem
station. It's just policy. Kids with raging hormones will be told to
abstain.

Rich