Letters to the Editor

Silly us: Saw the story re KWAB in Westword today via the web. The following is not a response from KWAB, but from me, personally.

I have major objections regarding both the accuracy and tone of the piece.

First, a few small details: your writer quoted me decently enough, but the title of my book (Steal This Book And Get Life Without Parole) was stated incorrectly, as was the address of my website (www.bobharris.com, which even most 4.0 browsers will not find from the incorrect address you apparently printed).

Even in the few lines devoted to yours truly, there were still other errors; however, I don't want to be petty, and for the sake of brevity, one might simply consider whether the misstatement of simple facts as verifiable as the above might reflect on the degree of care and thought with which the rest of the article was written.

I'm deeply disappointed your writer chose to devote so little of the article on KWAB and RadioForChange.com to what's actually *on the air,* which reasonable readers might agree is at least one useful measure of the station's value. One could wonder, after reading the article closely, whether the writer so much as listened to KWAB's actual programming at all.

I won't speak for anyone else at KWAB, but this morning -- in a typical show -- I spent a half-hour with a senior aide to Congressman Tony Hall (D-OH), who just returned from Iraq, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have died needlessly. Cong. Hall has since called for major humanitarian changes to the sanctions. Other topics discussed by email and with callers were genetically modified food, global warming, campaign financing, public education, and how U.S. government data indicates that the new China trade bill will cost almost a million U.S. jobs. This last should have been national news and might well have changed the debate and its outcome drastically had other news outlets seen fit to report it.

Other guests this week included Harvey Wasserman (one of the founders of Greenpeace), Kevin Danaher (one of the founders of Global Exchange), and Amy Allina (director of the Women's Health Network), along with almost a dozen other prominent progressive activists, politicians, and journalists. And that's just during morning drive time, during which most commercial stations are updating the weather, playing the latest Britney Spears single, or chortling over cheap sex jokes. Your readers can (and will, ultimately) decide if KWAB's alternative is worthwhile.

I don't know if our little experiment will work. I think so. I hope so. We'll all find out together. And maybe we'll do some good.

But good God, Westword, in a radio market where almost the whole talk spectrum is owned by two massive corporate conglomerates, *this* is the station your writer spent so much time nosing around for dirt? Are you kidding?

Apparently your writer's idea of worthwhile journalism is finding a fresh subject to attack -- even if it's one he knows has the best of intentions -- and then finding everything bad anyone has to say about it, whether the source is credible or not (and I know for a fact that your writer is fully aware that one of the sources he quotes is profoundly questionable, since he agreed to as much during our interview; I will supply further details if you like).

That's not news. That's not journalism. It's rock-throwing for its own sake.

You want news that your independent-thinking readership might actually be able to use? Your article didn't even mention that KWAB is the only place where Denver-area listeners can hear nationally-respected commentator Jim Hightower, who got canned by ABC radio for criticizing corporate monopolization of the media. We put him back on the air in this town. You might not think that's worthwhile, but Jim's KWAB-sponsored event last week brought a capacity crowd to the Chautaqua House. I guess maybe Westword's readership wouldn't be interested in that.

You didn't mention that we've forged relationships with almost every major progressive media outlet in the country, often airing investigative stories from magazines like Mother Jones and The Progressive before they've even seen print. Maybe that's not good enough journalism to meet Westword's stringent standards.

You didn't mention that our web presence allows us to reach listeners worldwide; during my show, listeners in roughly a dozen countries so far have emailed questions and live feedback which I can often incorporate even while interviews are in progress. You didn't mention how sorely needed a progressive national radio presence is becoming given the conflicts at Pacifica. Nor did you mention that our national scope will allow us to broadcast both the Democratic and Republican national conventions -- and, more to the point, the progressive protests thereof -- back to Boulder, continuously, live and as they happen. Or maybe that's all just not important enough for Westword's readers to know about.

And you also barely mentioned KWAB's contributions of $140,000 to local progressive groups, while skipping over KWAB's sponsorship of local cultural events entirely. If you ask me, all that is a pretty goddam good start for a 1000-watt station in Boulder.