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Friday, March 28, 2008
Jerry Williams knew the power of Talk Radio
In "Burning up the Air - Jerry Williams, Talk Radio, and the Life In Between" Steve Elman and Alan Tolz, former producers of the radio legend, have ably told the story of how Jerry Williams virtually invented talk radio. Jerry knew how to use the force of his personality to influence politics and culture in Massachusetts. He harnessed the power of the purist and most democratic form of mass communication by connecting with people.
I became a conservative as a result of listening to Jerry and I know others who credit Jerry with re-enforcing their liberalism. A typical liberal in the 1980's, I was scanning my radio dial for rock music when l randomly came across Jerry yelling at someone about legislation that would've required prescriptions for vitamins. The very idea of opposing the big and benevolent government and doing it so brashly was astonishing to me back than. I was hooked.
Twenty years later, after having been inspired by Jerry, I was hosting my own radio talk show at WROL-Quincy when I read an article in The Boston Globe about Jerry who had by that time been off the air for a decade. I called him up and told him how much I loved him and missed him. He agreed to join me on the air and I proceeded to help him to get a radio gig at WROL. He passed away in 2002, a few months later.
Jerry was never mean. He did, however, mercessly skewer the powerful and the influential with caustic sarcasm. He could not abide those who felt that they knew better than the rest of us in terms of how we should live and he abhorred those who tried to translate that arrogance into government edicts. Jerry would explode with rage when secrecy was involved.
In Massachusetts, the elite liberal establishment was known for its attempts to use the power of law to recast society in their image. One example of this that could be sited was when Governor Michael Dukakis allowed Willie Horton, a convicted first degree murderer, a weekend furlough. When Horton repaid the privilege by raping a women and assaulting her husband, Dukakis refused to admit that he was wrong, something liberals never seem to do, and he even refused to meet with the terrorized couple. Liberal notions of "justice" involve "rehabilitation" for the criminal as opposed to justice involving punishment and public safety as the first priority.
As I became religious, I became incensed by what I viewed as the secular subversion of laws and customs that had served western civilization for thousands of years. Liberals seemed to think that they knew better and they sneered with contempt at those who accepted long established moral codes as divinely inspired. It was no accident that these same liberals often displayed totalitarian tendencies in their agenda to uproot tradition. This observation was one of the main motivators for me to run for Congress against Barney Frank in 2004 when I became aware that he was the chief sponsor of legislation that undermined one of the most fundamental tenets of national sovereignty, the right of our nation to deny visas to known foreign enemies.
Jerry Williams cleared the path for such great radio talk show hosts as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Howie Carr, Jay Severin, and Michael Graham. Liberals are often heard griping about talk radio as being too conservative but the very nature of talk radio, which is direct interaction with the man on the street, dictates that conservatism would predominate as conservatism resonates with average people. Liberal ideas, such as more taxes, more rules and regulations, surrender abroad, and judges who dictate from the bench don't exactly resonate with the average concerns of working people. I suppose liberals will always find their refuge in such venues as newspaper editorial boards and government backed "non profit" media outlets.Labels: Jerry Williams
Chuck Morse
Archived Page for Article Above
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