Letters to the Editor

Syndicated radio doesn’t reflect New Hampshire

To the editor:

What do Laura Ingraham, Dennis Miller, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Dr. Joy Browne, Mike Savage and Howie Carr have in common? None of them lives in New Hampshire, none of them talk about New Hampshire and none of them care about New Hampshire being the first primary state. 

How can we boast about being so politically informed and involved when we no longer have the great afternoon forum that was available just over a year ago? I’m talking about the missing Arnie Arnesen and her daily three-hour open forum. Remember the great debates between her and Dave Carney or Charlie Arlinghaus? We were so fortunate in those days when issues affecting us all around New Hampshire were open for conversation, debate and disagreement.

Recently I heard the morning guys on WTPL lamenting the fact that no one was talking about the smoking ban in restaurants or the hotly debated seat belt issue. Where, may I ask, is such a forum available to us now?

When out-of-state visitors and politicians came to New Hampshire during other election years they were always treated to the best and brightest of New Hampshire folks debating and discussing issues.

We were truly informed and engaged.

Where have all our voices gone? Why did the business community decide to censor Arnie when her show was such a draw? It is hard to fathom why any local business with a limited advertising budget would waste their dollars on syndicated hateful programs that insult half of our residents. What business can leave the radio on when such syndicated programs potentially insult half of the people walking in the door?

We searched out and advertised on Arnie’s program back in December 2005, but it lasted for only one month before her show was cancelled. We wanted to reach the intelligent and engaged citizens of New Hampshire, but we ended our advertising because our dollars are not going to support out-of-state hate.

New Hampshire people deserve better. When another radio station added syndicated programs to their station we contacted the station manager and told them to only air our ads during live and local programs. We don’t have money to waste on any program that could insult our clients, as we choose to do business with everyone, not just people who belong to our political party. 

If you own a business and don’t like the syndicated hate, then call the manager and tell them to run your ads only during live and local programs or bring Arnie back so we can once again engage each other in conversation.

Nancy Greenwood
Concord