Rush to Judgment?

WJBC adds Limbaugh to the lineup, but Keith & Beth keep the faith afternoons

Last month, WJBC 1230 AM inserted Rush Limbaugh into its 11am-2pm weekday slot. For people interested in balanced coverage on the then-impending war against Iraq, the selection and timing couldn't have been worse.

Limbaugh, still the nation's pre-eminent right-wing talk show host, is undeniably talented and still occasionally entertaining, but hardly objective and, at times, downright lazy. His diatribes against "liberals," "anti-war protesters," and any other targets-of-the-day are accepted and encouraged by an army of "Dittoheads" across the country with little to no questioning or accountability.

The "Dittoheads," of course, aren't just fans - they're customers. And radio is a business. Although WJBC has long been one of the highest rated AM stations in the country by audience share, in the key target demographic of males 25-54, WJBC has routinely finished second in midday Arbitron ratings to the 50,000-watt Chicago AM juggernaut WLS - Chicago's broadcasting home for Limbaugh. For a 75 year-old radio station with unquestionable community roots, losing the ratings war in this critical demographic to a competitor 150 miles away has been hard to swallow.

"Radio is very simple - it is a retail business," says Radio Bloomington General Manager Red Pitcher, whose oversight also includes WBNQ 101.5 FM (Top 40) and WBWN B104 FM (Pop Country). Pitcher is the man primarily responsible for striking a balance between maintaining his station's community roots and satisfying Citadel Broadcasting, the national conglomerate which owns the three stations. He suggests that, if anything, WJBC was "overdue" in adding Limbaugh's show to the lineup, and he bristles at the idea that the action reflects an editorial decision. "You would like to have diversity on the radio station," argues Pitcher, who points to the diversity of the local hosts and syndicated programming WJBC offers.

This diversity, however, now includes not only Limbaugh but also Bill O'Reilly's radio program, with no comparable syndicated left-wing programming (unless one counts George Noory's "Coast to Coast" featuring regular call-ins about aliens and UFOs) to balance the two right-wing pundits. The preponderance of right-wing talk show hosts has been increasingly scrutinized nationally in recent months, but Pitcher's job is to manage his stations, not rationalize the national discrepancy.

He suggests that the general public, and radio listeners in particular, tend to be "more liberal socially and conservative nationally," especially regarding foreign policy. Pitcher also reflects that "there's apparently nothing exciting about liberal talk show hosts," which, from a business perspective, is hard to argue with. In effect, it could be argued that WJBC is simply late to catch on to certain national trends, perhaps a testament to the radio station's resilience and the nature of its market.

Two inter-related national trends in particular seem to explain the right-wing talk show host phenomenon. The first dominant trend is the mass consolidation of radio stations under an increasingly small number of national conglomerates. The largest and most repulsive of these, Clear Channel Entertainment, has not only bought into radio but other entertainment outlets as well, including concert venues. The result has been a stifling of FM radio nationally, as not only play lists but even personalities sound identical from city to city.

Clear Channel has also in recent weeks been involved in promoting pro-war rallies in several cities - an overtly political statement for a corporation primarily responsible for purveying political content-free mainstream popular music.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 has to be considered one of the greatest sellouts to corporate interests in which the federal government has ever engaged. Conglomerates formerly limited to owning two FM stations in a single market now own as many as seven, plus several AM stations as well.

Although Citadel Communications, Radio Bloomington's parent company, is small compared to Clear Channel, it still owns 199 FM and AM stations nationally. Locally owned and operated radio became an anachronism in many places. New corporate managers, less concerned with communities and more concerned with bottom lines, have increasingly turned to nationally syndicated shows.

With a conservative market already established, the "liberal" alternatives available on television and radio, rather than attacking, have retreated - National Public Radio has become increasingly centrist, and the oft-derided "liberal" CNN remains owned by AOL Time Warner, so any position remotely anti-corporate stands little chance of getting meaningful coverage. Other left-wing alternatives such as Pacifica are scattered and less coherent as media institutions.

For all of the faults of the Pantagraph (which The Indy frequently, and helpfully, points out), and even with the addition of Limbaugh to WJBC, local media in Bloomington-Normal has been regarded by many as the most balanced and fair in the state at covering local anti-war protests and maintaining forums for dissent.

Adding Limbaugh to the lineup could have presented a serious scheduling problem for WJBC, with a full complement of personalities on-air from 5:30am until 10 pm. The unrelated departure of drive-time personality B.J. Stone to a Peoria station directed the solution. WJBC's morning (and best-rated) show, featuring Scott Loughlin and Colleen Reynolds, expanded an hour to 10am; Program Director R.C. McBride's local affairs show shrunk to the 10am hour; and the afternoon shows have been combined into one from 2-6pm: Afternoons with Keith and Beth.

Keith Gottschalk has easily been WJBC's most politically outspoken host since joining the station. Beth Whisman, Stone's former afternoon co-host from 3 to 6pm, doubles as a member of the multi-award-winning news staff. Because the show fills the drive-time slot, it spends comparatively less time on political issues than Gottschalk's show previously did, but it is more accurate to say that the focus has broadened, not contracted.

Gottschalk and Whisman are in many respects an unlikely tandem. Gottschalk, a 40-year old husband and father of two, is a Cleveland-area native and a relative newcomer to radio, working previously as a print journalist and as a citizen employee of the Department of Defense and U.S. Army. Whisman, most recently from Kentucky, started in radio while in college. She is single - a factoid that Gottschalk plays off of frequently - and although, unlike her co-host, she doesn't reveal her age on-air, she's still well-shy of her 30th birthday.

Gottschalk speaks frequently of his Catholic upbringing in an urban Northern area; Whisman, by contrast, comes from a conservative Southern Baptist background - though if they didn't identify themselves as such, listeners might have a hard time believing either. Both are remarkably opinionated but also trained as reporters, not simply paying lip service to the idea of hearing all sides but making a point of it.

It is this openness this is perhaps most refreshing about two personalities who live in a community where people can often be intensely private about their feelings regarding public issues. "If we don't understand what's behind our own biases, then we can't work together," says Whisman, and by "we" she means not just herself and Gottschalk but, less directly, the entire community. WJBC sees itself as a proactive member of the community, not some distanced purveyor of information and opinion, and this sentiment pervades the show.

The community imperative is essential in Bloomington-Normal, which reflects "more of a family situation than Chicago or St. Louis," according to Gottschalk. "If I didn't give a damn about the people of this community, I wouldn't be this passionate. You really have to show you give a damn about what you're putting on the air. Without passion you can not be a successful talk radio host."

Though McLean County often seems like a remarkably non-passionate place, the recent election in Normal gives lie to that idea. Newcomers might have a hard time comprehending how people could be so fired up either for or against aspects of a seemingly mundane issue like downtown revitalization, but however infrequently and unusually it manifests itself, the passion is legitimate.

What has incited the most passion lately, unsurprisingly, has been the war. Gottschalk is a vocal supporter of the armed forces whose opinions on how to conduct war might not go over well at a peace meeting. He has specifically called for Saddam Hussein's head on a spike, and he is critical of military operations designed to make good press. A former Army man, Gottschalk is especially apt to criticize Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who has established a poor track record of listening to military commanders.

Whisman is more low-key; though she frequently plays devil's advocate, she agrees with Gottschalk more often than not, especially regarding war conduct. Since the war began, they have focused more on the conduct of the war than on its efficacy, and both agree that minimizing American casualties should be of primary importance.

Before the war began, however, both demonstrated consternation and skepticism about the war, and both have been on the receiving end of angry diatribes from saber-rattling callers. Gottschalk never ceases to be amazed at how he is consistently branded a right-wing wacko or a liberal wuss. Whisman gets similar calls now, but usually implying that rather than being a wacko or a wuss, she's simply young and ignorant. Whichever way the passions boil, one thing is certain: it consistently makes for good radio.

"We do what we do to first entertain, but [also] to get [people] to think about an issue differently," says Gottschalk, who demonstrates a keen awareness that while few things are more entertaining than politics, some people find politics and entertainment mutually exclusive. It is a difficult balance to maintain - at times, Gottschalk has the uncanny ability to make everyone think he's wrong. Far from a liability, though, the ability to stir the pot while still being grounded attracts callers - some lauding, some criticizing, all listening.

Still, until the addition of Limbaugh to WJBC's lineup, the station's ratings books were in decline, and Gottschalk's show was not immune. For Radio Bloomington, the decline was less calamitous than it might have been for others - WJBC, WBNQ, and B104 the three highest-rated stations in the county, and WJBC's loss, directly or no, has been B104's gain lately. Gottschalk and Whisman credit Red Pitcher for understanding his market and not overreacting to ratings - Whisman points out that the community "really does want local hosts" - so they recognize the addition of Limbaugh as a business, not an editorial, imperative.

Whisman is less quick to evaluate Limbaugh - because of her dual role at WJBC, she has less flexibility to take political positions lest she sacrifice objectivity. Gottschalk has fewer qualms. Pitcher emphasizes the similarities between his own outspoken host and Limbaugh, but Gottschalk unsurprisingly emphasizes balance. "I was a huge Dittohead in the early '90s," says Gottschalk, but now he considers Limbaugh a "polemicist," increasingly lazy and complacent about his work.

In actuality, on air at least, Gottschalk expressly agrees with the right-wing host about as often as he disagrees with him, but he clearly relishes disagreeing more than agreeing. "I refuse to have anybody put me in a box," Gottschalk insists, and he's at his best when smashing down whatever walls people try to construct around him - with the notable exceptions of his championing of the First and Second Amendments.

This refusal to be pigeonholed gives rise to what may be the show's greatest strength. Beginning with Clinton's inauguration and Limbaugh's leap to talk-radio super-stardom, national political debate has become increasingly stunted, often constrained to sideshow items like Clinton's behavior or overly polarizing debates about issues like abortion. Gottschalk and Whisman cut through the crap, creating an environment where a person should be able to vehemently disagree on specific issues without dismissing the hosts out of hand.

Many listeners, of course, quickly revert to polarization; either you completely agree with them or you don't, and this lack of middle ground can set off both co-hosts. A piqued Gottschalk has long made for wickedly entertaining segments, and Whisman's vitriol can be enthralling to the point of distraction.

In fact, between Gottschalk's libertarian sentiments (what beer-drinking college student isn't a little libertarian?) and Whisman's trumped-up role as the quintessential single young professional ("the most eligible bachelorette in Bloomington-Normal," Gottschalk has remarked more than once,) WJBC has a perfect opportunity to target a broader, younger, less polarized demographic dissatisfied with both disposable pop radio (which, ironically, defines WBNQ and B104) and corporate media-as-usual epitomized by CNN and FOX.

The grandest irony of all, then, may be that in adding the propagandist rhetoric of Rush Limbaugh, WJBC has also created a show that in many respects is Limbaugh's antithesis. Whereas Limbaugh is stifling, Keith Gottschalk and Beth Whisman promote healthy debate, not polarizing but expanding, with eyes to the needs of the community.

If Limbaugh gives WJBC the hoped-for ratings jolt, Gottschalk and Whisman may be among the largest beneficiaries - a trade-off that could make adding Limbaugh not only good business but, ironically, in a certain sense, beneficial to the community. Like most such business decisions, it's a gamble, but for the time being, this under-entertained, under-aware community has four hours of broadcast relief weekdays.