The Catholic Church Silences Progressive Radio in Columbus

Progressive Talk 1580 WVKO Columbus is no more. The one and only progressive voice on radio in the state of Ohio has been silenced by Saint Gabriel Radio an arm of the Catholic Church. The station was under lease by Gary Richards that has put and kept the progressive format on the air in Columbus with successful shows like Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz along with local progressive programming with Michael Alwood and Dr. Bob Fitrakis.

The station has been purchased by Saint Gabriel Radio and is changing the format to catholic programming. So once again all political talk on the airwaves are totally ruled by the right wing and their hate speech and lies once again.

All is however not lost. There is an effort to bring the progressive format back on another spot on the dial. The website www.wvko1580.com will stay up to stay abreast of developments.

I do wish to thank Gary and all those that stuck their necks out to fight for this format.

Progressive Radio, It's up to us.

For decades the radio talk show world was completly controlled by Conservative right wing blowhards like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. As they continued to spin their mistatements, lies and twisted logic on the American People, there were no voices to offest them.

Several years ago Air America was born, around the same time the Jones Broadcasting Network promoted Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz nationwide. Air American in particular had a rocky start. In addition a number of the stations that carried Air America and JBN were owned by Clear Channel.

There was an immediate attack from the right wing. There were boycotts of advertisers, there were constant stories on right wing radio perdicting the demise of Progressive Radio. Then in 2007 Clear Channel pulled the plug seeming to be a death blow.

It failed. Air America still survives, The Jones Broadcasting Network grows every day. Today Ed Schultz was added to the lineup of WWRL in New York City.

The bottom line remains that radio is in business to make a profit. Progressive Radio will not grow, in fact cannot survive without advertising dollars. It is up to us to support not only the stations carrying the Progressive talk, but to support its advertisers. While doing so to let the advertisers know we are giving them business because of their support for Progressive Radio.

In Columbus we have WVKO 1580 on the air. It has a growing listenership and list of advertisers. I urge you all to go to the web site below and make a point to patronize some of these businesses. Let's keep our views on the air.

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