What’s Fair on the Air?

COLD WAR RIGHT-WING BROADCASTING AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST

http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo11462413.html

whatsfair

The rise of right-wing broadcasting during the Cold War has been mostly forgotten today. But in the 1950s and ’60s you could turn on your radio any time of the day and listen to diatribes against communism, civil rights, the United Nations, fluoridation, federal income tax, Social Security, or JFK, as well as hosannas praising Barry Goldwater and Jesus Christ. Half a century before the rise of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, these broadcasters bucked the FCC’s public interest mandate and created an alternate universe of right-wing political coverage, anticommunist sermons, and pro-business bluster. Continue reading “What’s Fair on the Air?”