Ezra Klein: Democrats don't need to convert Trump supporters

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29. the majority of clinton unpopularity was a direct result of

giving a few hundred think tank scripted blowhards a free speech free ride on 1200 radio stations a free speech free ride for 25 years - because it was based on bullshit only that unchallenged PSYOPs could sell

the amazing thing is as many as 1/3 of those stations, including most of the loudest ones, parasitize more than 90 and as many as 150 major university sports programs

the stations need to be able to rent those logos to attract advertisers to pay to deny global warming and defund public education (to privatize it and raise tuition! ) and excuse racism (on the backs of a lot of black athletes!).

without that PSYOPs getting a free speech free ride from liberals, without those universities crapping all over their mission statements, the right and trump would be paralyzed.

and they wouldn't be able to swiftboat the next lineup of dem candidates

send this email to student groups and uni newspapers:

xxxxx

Your school is on a list of 88 universities at republiconradio.org that broadcast sports on 257 of Rush Limbaugh’s 600 radio stations. They could also be called Trump radio stations.

Your university is not only mocking it’s own mission statement, it is undermining the interests of most of its students, faculty, employees, and surrounding communities.

That makes your own school a legitimate place to protest any issue related to the Trump agenda.

Many of those relationships began prior to the 90’s, before they all began broadcasting propaganda for one party. There is no reason for those schools not to start looking for apolitical alternatives immediately.

The school administration will claim that it does not make business decisions based on politics.This is a question all those schools need to ask: If a radio station went to KKK programming would the university still let its mascot be used to sell a KKK agenda?

Those stations weigh in on elections for university regents and selection of administration including presidents and chancellors - is there a conflict of interest?

All of those stations will continue to deny global warming, deny reproductive rights to women, excuse racism and homophobia, and promote and excuse the Trump agenda. Republicans want to privatize public education, social security, and the post office. Their policies will raise college tuition. They want to reverse gains in health care reform. They want to end net neutrality. Those stations will be cheerleaders for the next war, as they were for the last one.

The station pays a licensing company a fee and the school gets a part of that. The station then gets to use the school logos, mascot, and community standing to attract advertising revenue. It gets to declare things like “850 KOA, home of the Buffs,and Rush Limbaugh!” Compared with TV licensing revenue talk radio stations pay very little.

Advertising revenue is used to fund station operating costs and pay for the national and local talk show hosts that broadcast from them most of the day.

Except for occasional innocuous programming all of those stations operate exclusively for the benefit of the Republican Party. They are coordinated with national and state GOP and their allied think tanks

If Trump would pay $1000/hr for a radio ad, 1200 nationwide stations x 15hrs/day x 5 days/week are worth about $5BIL/yr FREE for Trump. 255 x $75,000 = $19,125,000/WEEK FREE for Trump, or about $1BIL/yr endorsed by institutions of higher learning.

Those stations, licensed to operate in the public interest, are heavily dependent on the schools they parasitize and they all:
- deny global warming and science
- use public airwaves to sell voter suppression legislation
- use and excuse racism, misogyny, homophobia, and hate to divide communities
- work to deny reproductive rights for women and access to contraception
- fight environmental regulation, push fracking, and always support fossil fuel solutions over renewables
- fight to defund and privatize public education, attack teachers and work to lower their salaries, attack their unions, push voucher solutions and standardized testing, and obstruct efforts to lower student debt
- fight efforts to increase minimum wage
- undermine the economic and environmental interests of their communities
- use public airways to repeat propaganda that is demonstrably false and continue to lie after being corrected
- use public airwaves but use call screeners to exclude dissenting callers

How much revenue does the licensing company pay for radio broadcasting portion compared to the TV portion? Could donors make up the difference if there is a monetary loss? If there is a loss, how does it compare with the harm it is doing to its own principles, funding, students, and surrounding communities?

Are they violating their 501c3 tax exempt status? Here’s the IRS rule for political activity:
“Political activity. -  If any of the activities (whether or not substantial) of your organization consist of participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office, your organization will not qualify for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3). Such participation or intervention includes the publishing or distributing of statements.”

No university has a good excuse not to reexamine it’s relationship with partisan radio stations and look for apolitical alternatives. If an existing contract cannot be voided without penalty, can donors be found to cover it?

Any university, state or private, supporting Republican talk radio is shooting itself in the foot, demeaning its mission statement and professed goals and values, and harming its students’ futures.

Here is that list of universities ($1000 x 15hrs/day x 5days = $75,000/week):

ALABAMA 8 $600,000 Auburn 3, Alabama 2, Southern Alabama 2, Troy 1
ARIZONA 1 $75,000 Arizona St. 1
ARKANSAS 3 $225,000 Arkansas 3
CALIFORNIA 5 $375,000 San Jose State 2, USC 2, Fresno St. 1
COLORADO 4 $300,000 Air Force 2, Colorado 1, Colorado State 1
CONNECTICUT 1  $75,000 Connecticut 1
FLORIDA 20 $1,500,000 Florida 10, Florida St. 4 Miami 2, South Florida 2, Central Florida 2
GEORGIA 14 $1,050,000 Georgia 7, Georgia Tech 5, Georgia Southern 2
IDAHO 7 $525,000 Boise St. 4, Idaho 3
ILLINOIS 7 $525,000 Illinois 7
INDIANA 11 $825,000 Notre Dame 6, Purdue 4, Indiana 1
IOWA 5 $375,000 Iowa 4, Iowa St. 1
KANSAS 4 $300,000 Kansas St. 2, Kansas 1, Wichita St. 1
KENTUCKY 3 $225,000 Louisville 2, Kentucky 1
LOUSIANA 3 $225,000 LSU 2, La.-Monroe 1
MARYLAND 2 $150,000 Maryland 2
MASSACHUSETTS 1 $75,000 Boston College 1
MICHIGAN 19 $1,425,000 Michigan St. 11, Michigan 7, Western Michigan 1
MINNESOTA 4 $300,000 Minnesota 4
MISSISSIPPI 6 Mississippi St. 3, Mississippi 2, Southern Miss 1
MISSOURI 6 $450,000 Missouri 6
NEBRASKA 6 $450,000 Nebraska 6
NEVADA 1 $75,000 Nevada 1
NEW JERSEY 2 $150,000 Rutgers 1, Seton Hall 1
NEW MEXICO 3 $225,000 New Mexico 2, New Mexico St. 1
NEW YORK 7 $525,000 Syracuse 6, Army 1
NORTH CAROLINA 16 $1,200,000 North Carolina 8, North Carolina State 3, Duke 3, East Carolina 2
OHIO 10 $750,000 Ohio St. 6, Toledo 1, Dayton 1, Bowling Green 1, Xavier 1
OKLAHOMA 5 $375,000 Oklahoma St. 3, Oklahoma 1, Oral Roberts 1
OREGON 12 $900,000 Oregon St. 7, Oregon 5
PENNSYLVANIA 14 $1,050,000 Penn St. 11, Pittsburgh 2, Temple 1
SOUTH CAROLINA 4 $300,000 South Carolina 2, Clemson 2
TENNESSEE 7 $525,000 Tennessee 4, Memphis 3
TEXAS 16 $1,200,000 Texas A&M 9, Texas Tech 4, Texas 1, Texas Christian 1, Baylor 1
UTAH 1 $75,000 Utah St. 1
VIRGINIA 6 $450,000 Virginia Tech 5, Virginia 1
WASHINGTON 6 $450,000 Washington 5, Washington St. 1
WEST VIRGINIA 2 $150,000 West Virginia 1, Marshall 1
WISCONSIN 5 $225,000 Wisconsin 5

There is no excuse for any school to support Trump radio.