Radio Free Florida

June 21 2007

I am listening to 1240 AM here in southwest Florida, and am hearing for the first time one of Rush's parody spots. It's in the style of old-radio comedy—quick, punchy, and relevant. Pretty witty, too. It's a skit about the anti-tobacco nazi's finding you and your last, safe, refuge in which to light up your cigarette—your own home. It beautifully illustrates the intrusion that the Left's cabal of shadow agencies, known as political correctness, are positioned to inflict on the good American people.

This skit was preceded by a quick local news roundup minute. In it, we heard that a local jewelry store was the latest in a multitude of robberies in Ft Myers of late. According to the news anchor, the owner of the store believed that he was the victim of a copycat robbery. A quarter of a million dollars was taken from the store.

A copycat crime? Involving these high-dollar jewelry stores with better-than-average security systems? Incredible. This metro includes Naples, and the stores there aren't run like many other businesses--that is, on the cheap.

Times must be getting rough. Crime does escalate in times of economic depression. Is it a repression or a depression? I don't think we're in a depression, as defined by most economists (that is, x amount of consecutive quarters with little to no growth), but then again, it doesn't matter what I think. Some people think that our condition here in America is so dire, that they would risk their lives to rob jewelry stores. And that's all it takes.

Shall we empathize with them? That's what our current elite in academia are constantly emphasizing to the hordes of young minds to bask in—Empathy. They don't give them any way out, either. It's always delivered as a mental straight-jacket: "How would you have liked to have been the slave to someone who beat you?"; "How would you like to be so poor and ignored that all you could do is strap bombs on yourselves to get your point across?"; "How would you like to be told to stay home and raise the children?"

I don't think we should empathize with these jewelry thieves. But then again, it doesn't matter what I think. I am a white male, Southern, and Christian. I know my place in this culture. It is because of me and my people that America is what it is: a racist, oppressive, reactionary empire. I've gotten the full load—I achieved a Liberal Arts degree in the early-mid 90's. Specifically, Political Science. Ask me if I understand that all we are is a product of society, and I'll ask what postmodernist book have you been reading lately.

But I digress.

This spot that I heard of Rush's highlighted one thing to me: that radio sales can't even fill the top-of-the-hour avails during the Rush Limbaugh Show. Incredible. This city metro of Fort Myers/Naples is nothing if not a high-end retail oasis. Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy's, and many, many other boutique-style stores litter Tamiami Trail. Sure, we don't expect them to be bread-and-butter clients of radio advertising, but my point is that with that many high-end stores, there has got to be a considerable amount of mid-size and little businesses surrounding these premiere businesses. Don't the rich need transmission work on their luxury cars? Don't their landscapers need to buy their groceries at Wal-Mart, Publix, and Winn-Dixie? Sure they do.
And the abundance of retail stores here is staggering. Recent estimates are that 1,000 people a month move into Cape Coral. This place is known as such an expensive place to live that most of the housebuilders live in surrounding counties. Tons of realtors, title offices, and specialty clinics dot the entire county. If a business is trying to spread their message to an audience that has disposable income, this county is full of them.

But no, this local affiliate couldn't even fill this 60-second avail, positioned at such a high-profile placement, too. Top of the hour, between Rush's second and third hour. He plays these wonderful gems of radio production from his flagship, while MOST other affiliates drop it for broadcast of their local elements: either commercials or local news. If you are hearing one of these Johnny Donovan-produced spots about some subject you've never heard addressed before, you're hearing the sound of some jewelry store shutting the cash drawer in the face of a radio salesman.