One that doesn't go unnoticed
Call me crazy, but I am proud to be a Houstonian. I know...I know...we are the fattest city in the country (actually I think we lost a few ounces last year and thus forfeited our title) And yes I know we only have one day of winter. But when the program director of Houston's #1 talk radio station, Ken Charles, took a bold step and removed our CBS Dan Rather updates every hour, I literally wanted to sing our city anthem ( oh yeah, we don't have one....note to self to bring that up at the next city council meeting). Sitting in our infamous rush hour traffic, I felt the surge of courage vicariously from Ken Charles.
I didn't expect this gutsy decision to really have much impact outside of our deciduous forrested part of Texas, but it had a great impact on the listeners of KPRC. Not to mention the added benefit of having Fox News Channel create a special news update to replace the RATher man. I was doubly proud when Rush Limbaugh acknowledge Ken Charles' fearlessness on his show.
Below is an excerpt from the transcript of Rush's show this week:
Speaking of CBS, I want you to hear the program director of our station in Houston. We're on KPRC in Houston. It's great, the #1 talk station in Houston.
Houston is the 11th largest market in the country. Rather grew up near there, and Randy Meier of MSNBC today interviewed Ken Charles, who's the program director at KPRC, and the reason they talked to him is because they've canceled Rather's commentary and they carry CBS News there. CBS doesn't own the station. It's an affiliate of CBS, and they've gotten rid of Rather, and so they wanted to go talk to Ken Charles and, say, "What are you doing this for?" MSNBC! "Why are you doing this?" Here's what Ken Charles had to say. Basically the question is, "What are local listeners saying about your decision? Are they supporting it? Are they displeased with your choice?"
CHARLES: I've gotten over 400 e-mails from the local people probably 250 to 300 of them are from Houston. I would say 99% of those support the decision, have written comments like "attaboy," "kudos," whatever it is. There is that, you know, small minority locally who call me a communist, call me names, want to compare it to, you know, "Why do I carry Rush Limbaugh and I won't carry Dan Rather?" and what I tell them is, "Dan Rather is a journalist. Rush Limbaugh is an editorialist. Whether you like his opinions or not, they're governed by different rules."
Thank you, Ken Charles for your heroic stance. "Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early smog, what so proudly we hailed...."(It's a start!)