Occupy the Airwaves

[Pab Sungenis]

http://cnx.com/?p=1668



With the Occupy movement forced out of its locations in America’s cities, the activists have been shifting their gears from long-term semi-permanent protests, such as flash mobs, “mic checks” at right wing speeches, and anti-foreclosure actions.

All of these are worthy actions and need to continue, but there is one area where the Occupy energy and tenacity should be brought into play, and that is opposing the radio stations that spew right-wing propaganda 24 hours a day. Even in “liberal friendly” cities like San Francisco the few remaining populist and progressive voices are being forced off the air by corporate conglomerates that don’t want any opposing viewpoints to their shilling for the entrenched economic and political powers that be.

So I offer a modest proposal: occupy the airwaves.

Identify the right-wing propaganda stations in your town and market (it shouldn’t be hard; they’re all over the AM dial). Make lists of their local sponsors. And then bring the good old American tradition of economic pressure to bear.

No, I’m not talking about boycotts. Boycotts don’t work. What I’m talking about is something more powerful. I’m talking about direct occupation of the sponsors of right-wing hate radio.

Once you have a good list of sponsors, start identifying the prime targets: the local businesses that run the most spots on the station. Especially high traffic ones like restaurants and car dealers. Then organize an occupation, protesting outside the businesses one by one during their business hours until they stop funding the right-wing message and pull their ads off of right-wing talk radio.

If we make it unprofitable for small, local stations to carry hate programming like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, then eventually some of them will have to drop those programs to survive. And bit by bit we will deny the 1% their propaganda outlets.

It’s an idea whose time has come.

[alfredo]

1. Maybe not the best course of action, but I like this guy's solution. image attached

[Countdown_3_2_1]

2. I work durring business hours. Sorry.

But I wish you the best of luck.

[Ron Green]

3. Strongly recommended.

This strategy can work. There is often a disconnect between right-wing programming and local sponsors; Cirrus, Clear Channel and their ilk are both culpable and vulnerable.

[zbdent]

4. fire with fire ... in the main entrances, post some anti-abortion posters

(minus the rhetoric)

the anti-Choicers would get the blame ... and it would turn off the populace as they go in ...

[socialist_n_TN]

5. In my interview with the ILWU member JC this.......

was one of his suggestions for the Occupy movement. At least, actions against the RW propaganda stations was the suggestion. He also said to "occupy" the FCC since that's supposed to be the people's representative on the public airways.

I think it's a darn fine idea myself. Darn fine.

[starroute]

6. Targeting local small businesses may not be a good idea

It's easy to explain to people why you're protesting Wall Street or the big banks. But once you start trying to drive business away from the local diner or car lot, the optics get a lot more unfavorable and you can be seen as costing low-paid workers their jobs.

I also suspect that in most people's minds, there's no clear connection between right-wing radio and the billionaires. So you're working at two removes -- the local businesses that advertise on the programs of the people who spew the right-wing propaganda that serves the purposes of the billionaires.

Another problem I see is that what's being proposed is far too much like the traditional picket line. It's a very old tactic, so people tend to tune it out. The Occupy movement has caught people's attention in part because it targets the real villains directly, being very in-your-face and interrupting business as usual. They don't just march up and down with signs on a minor side street.

Occupying the Airwaves would be fine if you could actually **occupy** the **airwaves.** But this proposal doesn't do that.

[starroute]

7. I'm wondering if crushing them with love might be a better strategy

It's the difference between occupying and picketing. Picketing means standing outside and complaining. Occupying means going inside and making your presence felt.

But not going inside to be disruptive -- simply being present. If a local restaurant advertises heavily on Rush Limbaugh's show, have a bunch of occupiers regularly show up for lunch or just a cup of coffee, engage the regular customers in friendly conversation, ask them if they know this place supports hate radio, and so forth.

Do a kind of "the 99% will support you if you support us" thing. And do it in person and by speaking to customers rather than by trying to drive them away.

It's the old "love your enemy -- it will drive him nuts" strategy. And it has a far better chance of working.