Friday, September 01, 2006

WHAdddaaa....? Canceled?!?!

Below is an email I sent to Eric Hogue regarding his move to 710 AM in the afternoon. I'm really going to miss him in the morning but overall this is probably better for him as he reaches into the Bay Area market.

Hoguester,

Allright, I understand now. Salem is standardizing their broadcast across all the affiliates and Laura Ingraham will be live in Sacto from here on. Does she have any idea what big shoes she's going to have to fill in these parts?!?!? Let her know okay? Better yet, I will. There's a hoary old cliche that sez: "The only constant in life is change." Grrrr, well okay, I guess so. As much as we profess to hate change, we all crave it.

A few years ago I was scanning the dial on my morning commute and heard this "nutcase" holding a live broadcast from the capital steps trying to get people riled up over a "recall" or something like that. I suspected his and the crowd's collective sanity immediately, because who in their right mind would be holding a public rally at O-dark-aclock in the morning?!?! At the time I had no idea what this guy was talking about, but his obvious passion and zeal for the cause were absolutely infectious. It was the first time I heard anybody around this often silly city say, "Yes, you can fight city hall, yes, this is a democracy dammit, and yes everyone in the world wants what we've made for ourselves so let's let them in." versus sounding like a xenophobe as did a certain fellow that used to be elsewhere on the dial in the evenings. Gee, I'll miss him - NOT!

Your Christian roots became very apparent as you covered the local topics that mattered to me as I got ready for whatever the day would bring at my job in local government. The politically correct bureacracy was wearying at times. But, listening to you in the morning, I came to realize that covering up my faith at work was akin to "shame of the Gospel" which Paul fearlessly denounced for himself. Being my hero, I could no longer do less than Paul. I have you to thank for opening my eyes to that cowardice. While I'm not going to broadcast who I and my family are at Stopworrying, since all manner of fool can browse websites in addition to the sane folks out there, no longer do I check my faith at the office door. My eyes are open and I'm awake. Can't say that for everybody I know.

Anyway, I'm going to miss your morning perspective on the bill-mill down the street and other issues we all need to be concerned about. Laura's terrific, but she just isn't going to be the same. California government has been teetering on going totally out of control for several years now. You were (are) a safety valve that partially kept it in check by exposing its often lunacy for all to see. Hearing about those things at 0600 in the morning meant we all had time in the day to do something about it (phone calls, e-mail to our reps) before the inmates woke up down there in the asylum. Your job now in the evening will be to exhort all of us to be better, meaning more active, citizens in this Greatest Nation on God's Green Earth ( I love Medved's sign-off!). "Get off your comfortable butt and down there to that evening city council meeting, or school board hearing!" I figure I'll see you holding live 710 broadcasts at a few of them. Greatness demands duty before rights. Most Americans have forgotten that or just don't want to hear it. Make them hear it my friend.

Good luck and God Bless.

|