Richard Myers and the Flush Rush folks are doing some good work. I support and commend it.
I would, however, like to see some adjustment to his rhetoric.
Here are a few diary titles from his series:
Rush flushers seeking to hold Limbaugh accountable for hate speech are crippling the radio industry
"Earth shattering" change in the radio industry in the aftermath of the Rush Limbaugh Effect
Radio industry convulsing: more Clear Channel layoffs; Cumulus sharpens axe; more Limbaugh damage
Notice: I'M not "convulsing" over this, and neither is the company I work for. No "earth-shattering change" behind this where I work.
And That Which Causes Me Discomfort is also contained within diary bodies:
Yet the worst is yet to come. We are about to see a "mass reduction in work force the likes of which the radio industry has never seen. And that’s saying a lot for an industry that has seen nothing but reductions in work force since consolidation first began way back in 1996."
The link takes you to an article about Cumulus following in the footsteps of Clear Channel in contemplating more layoffs.
There are 11293 licensed commercial radio stations in the U.S.
Clear Channel owns 850 sticks. That's 7.53% of the licenses.
Cumulus has 504 sticks. 4.46%.
Between the two companies, they own 11.99% of the licensed commercial stations in America. That's hardly the whole industry.
I work for neither corporation, never have, and never will.
I work for a small owner/operator firm that own seven stations in Vermont.
No reductions are planned here, in fact, we just picked up two sticks. We're expanding, not reducing, contracting, or convulsing.
And if we're not part of "the radio industry," what are we?
Interestingly, in Myers' latest diary now on the reclist, he concludes with this:
Finally, here's yet another reason the broadcast radio industry is under pressure. A very significant percentage of radio listening occurs during commutes or travel. When asked last week, "Will AM/FM radio always be available in-car?" a Ford executive responded, "Always is a long time."
Which appears to me to have nothing to do with Rush Limbaugh's effect of Clear Channel and Cumulus' bottom line.
This, when combined with Myers' seeming efforts to connote CCU and Cumulus as the entirety of "the radio industry" cannot help but make me wonder:
Does Richard Myers have another, over-arching goal we don't know about?
Might the best be yet to come?
Just askin'.