George,

It's very likely WINA wants to balance its right wing talk show morons with thoughtful voices from a sounder part of the spectrum. That's not so easy.

Years ago when Rush became controversial here WINA tried to find a local talk show host to take to the airwaves and respond to his insanities when he signed off.

I don't know who received overtures for that job beside me but it's clear all turned it down. Would WINA still like to add strong opinions from the center and the left to the programming schedule? My guess is they would jump at it.

We can all think of folks who would bring an interesting set of ideas to the table, bursting the gas bags as a jumping-off place. The problem is, a daily schedule of that is hard work. Five days a week is a nap in the gutter to Boortz or Rush but to anyone interested in the truth, it's a burden.

Maybe WINA would consider having not one but five hosts, each responsible for one hour a week. We surely have more than enough folks in Hookville who combine an interesting slant on life with a charismatic personality or show business sense.

Uninformed opinions are chalkboard chaff. For myself, I'd like to hear from informed, concerned, alert, opinionated people I may not agree with, because these are the ones who tend to discover things no one else does. An unscripted show gives people who think for themselves the chance to explore ideas they discover on the fly.

There will be groans at any set of people we reveal we can't resist reading when they write to the Prog. Here's a list to groan at, my list of just five
among many local people I'd listen to for an hour a week on anything they chose to talk about: Waldo, Paul Gaston, Sue Lewis, Kevin Cox, and Barbara Rich. (Pause for groans.)

WINA from its earliest days has consistently been the station pursuing serious community involvement. Among local commercial stations only WINA resisted becoming a juke box for the help. Back when radio was a fat cow they could afford the personnel to produce community programming. The cow is leaner now, but one suspects management would be receptive to this program if anyone volunteered to produce it and bring them the package.

And radio is the way to go. For delivery of ideas TV isn't near as effective.

Cordially,

Rey Barry (electronic mail, February 27, 2002)