Clear Channel asked to oppose censorship boards

Brad O'Leary, who publishes "The O'Leary Report" political newsletter and has written "Shut Up America!: The End of Free Speech, is asking top executives for the nation's largest radio company to oppose planned "boards" to censor talk radio.

O'Leary has written to Mark Mays, chief executive officer of Clear Channel, which owns and runs 1,200 radio stations across the nation, asking him to encourage his talk show hosts to participate in a new campaign to raise awareness to the potential threat to free speech.

WND is reporting the program is called Don't Touch My Dial.

Talk radio icon Roger Hedgecock says it is to alert U.S. citizens about an effort to stifle free speech and says he expects local "boards" will be assembled within 90 days to begin censoring talk radio, a move that will come as an "Arctic blast" in the expression of opinion.

WND reported just days ago on a meeting at which more than two dozen of the nation's top talk shows held a private strategy meeting to discuss government plans to squelch critical political speech on radio.

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Organized by O'Leary and Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, the group chose Hedgecock to be spokesman.

Now O'Leary is asking for help from Clear Channel, which announced last week it was creating its own local advisory boards by June at all of its properties – a move seen as pre-emptive as the industry anticipates an FCC stacked with Barack Obama appointees.

"As publisher of 'The O'Leary Report' political newsletter, I've become aware of the fact that your corporation is establishing diversity committees in response to some members of Congress and the FCC who want to 'diversify' the airwaves and change the make-up of radio stations," O'Leary wrote.

"My newsletter does weekly polling with Zogby International, and this past weekend we received results from a poll that shows the American public – by a very large margin – does not approve of this 'diversity' effort. In fact, the majority percentage of American voters who disapprove is so large, that it's quite obvious Republicans can make this a major campaign issue if they choose to do so," he wrote.

O'Leary cited results from an April 24-27 poll which contained a margin of error of 1.6 percent. It obtained responses from 3,937 voters from the 2008 presidential election, weighted 54 percent Obama supporters and 46 percent McCain supporters to reflect the actual outcome.

Fifty-three percent opposed the following: "Senator Durbin recently offered an amendment in the U.S. Senate that requires the Federal Communications Commission to take actions to encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership. Opponents say the move would threaten the breakup of radio networks that largely carry conservative talk radio shows like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Do you support or oppose this legislation?"

Under 40 percent supported it and 8 percent were unsure.

In a second question, the survey asked: "The Federal Communications Commission is entertaining the idea of re-instituting advisory boards to determine the needs and interests of their communities, and to promote localism and diversity. These boards, appointed by the FCC would monitor what is said over the radio and report back if they were offended by the talk show hosts and their guests. Critics argue that such a proposal is nothing more than a back door implementation of the Fairness Doctrine. Do you support or oppose the FCC's efforts to reinstitute advisory boards?"

Two of three opposed the plan and 21 percent supported it, O'Leary noted.

He suggested Clear Channel  reach out to its talk show hosts and ask them to become involved.

O'Leary's letter also went to Clear Channel founder Lowry Mays, President Randall Mays, Vice President Andrew Levin, communications officer Lisa Dolinger and several others.

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