Separated by less than a city block, KPFT-FM, a listener-supported champion of "progressive" causes, and KPRC-AM, a heavyweight of right-wing talk programming, have marshalled thousands for rallies and marches that aired views on war with Iraq.
Though they maintain a cordial collegiality, the stations are at odds by their very nature.
At KPFT, one of six Pacifica stations nationwide, political passion trumps profit. The station formally has editorialized against U.S. intervention in Iraq and has moved news and commentary into prime-time slots. Weekly listenership approaches 158,000.
KPRC, one of eight Houston stations of the Clear Channel Communications megachain, officially is neutral. But its two talk-show hosts, Pat Gray and Chris Baker, conservatives in the Rush Limbaugh mold, have boosted the station to a No. 2 ranking in the local AM market. As a commercial station, its passion is profit.
This story is much bigger than right-wing bias on the radio. It's the massive nationwide corporate subsidization of right-wing bias that is the real problem.
You would think that owning eight radio stations in Houston alone would be enough, but you would be wrong about that. Clear Channel is one of the chief corporate behemoths in favor of relaxing the rules of media consolidation. They want more. They want all the public airwaves to themselves, and Colin Powell's son Michael, the lackey of a lackey and head of the FCC, is helping them as much and as quickly as he can.
