I write this post out of significant personal distress bordering on mournfulness at the loss of diversity in Boston media. (Yes, ‘diversity’ is a neutral, clinical term — available for free public use, right there in Webster’s in contexts other than the narrow, liberal one to which some would seek to apply it exclusively.)

With very little fanfare (none at all, in fact, it would seem) the station I listen to regularly in my car and which I have grown to enjoy tremendously and dare I say even love (at least some of the commentators anyway) — 1150AM, WTTT, aka “Boston’s Conservative Talk” — has abruptly gone off the air, replaced (quite ironically* and with no explanation whatsoever) by a Spanish language music format… exactly one week before the primary.(*ironic in that many of the commentators took the view that illegal immigration is… illegal; doubly ironic in that Hugh Hewitt was one of Romney’s biggest supporters.)

Some background:

WTTT is (was??) owned by Salem Communications, which describes itself accurately as “Christian and family-themed radio”. What was lost when WTTT ‘turned’ is one of three formats (News/Talk). Salem describes it as follows:

“…our News Talk format is highly complementary to our core format of Christian Teaching and Talk [i.e., on WEZE]. As programmed by Salem, both formats express conservative views and family values. Our News Talk format also provides us with the opportunity to leverage syndicated talk programming produced by Salem Radio Network® (SRN). Our nationally syndicated programs are distributed through approximately 2,000 affiliates.”

This site has a run-down of what we no longer have available here in Boston. In order of what I will miss most:

- Dennis Prager (one of my absolute all-time top podcast faves for faith, thoughtfulness, wisdom, logic and most of all, Golden Rule treatment of even the most oppositional guests)
- Hugh Hewitt (a major Romney supporter… strange indeed that he would disappear from local airwaves just as Romney and McCain are wrestling for the nomination, though after yesterday it seems moot.)
- Bill Bennett (a fellow alumnus of my alma mater; great for a gradual if unapologetic Reagan-era wake-up)
- Mike Gallagher (ironically, a Boston native)
- Sean Hannity (everyone needs a pit-bull, even if he can get tiresome sometimes)
- Michael Medved (ditto the above, but with more reason and good movie reviews)
- Dr. Laura (very late at night, but I caught her once or twice anyway)
- Michael Reagan (very very late at night; but I’ve heard him interviewed at other times and he’s good)

The other conservative talk-radio stations (96.9FM, WTKK, with a harsh, local, libertarian bent, 590AM, WEZE also owned by Salem Communications, with Christian programming when they’re not running infomercials on weekends to fill the coffers, and 680AM, WRKO which has the ever-entertaining and usually spot-on Rush and the perennially amusing but not particularly intellectual local Howie Carr Show) do not even come close to filling the gap of what WTTT provided. Which is to say: sober, national-format, mainstream, intellectually-oriented conservative opinion. (OK, Hannity doesn’t quite fit the intellectual bit quite as well.)

This blog notes that “Salem also owns… Catholic 950 WROL”.

Now here’s where it gets weird… and confusing.

Back in mid December, Bain Capital (Mitt Romney’s old outfit) consummated a $19.5 billion leveraged buy-out of Clear Channel Communications, setting the liberal blogosphere atwitter with conspiracy theories, though most acknowledged that the deal had been pending for over a year. (Sometimes a business deal is just a business deal, though it does add fuel to the fire about Romney lining up many things, including political positions, around his run for office just a little too conveniently and too late to be credible — not that that would make him the first or only candidate to do such a thing! By comparison, Hillary is still the heavyweight champ.)

What such bloggers miss is the basic fact that Clear Channel and Salem compete. (Clear Channel is larger: #3 nationally vs. Salem at #4.) Nonetheless, in any major deal, there are re-alignments by competitors as everyone jockeys for space and I suspect that’s what’s going on here. That’s the free market. It’s a beautiful thing.

I don’t see nearly as much liberal media angst over government control, e.g., NPR, PBS much less the near monopoly they have on television, print news and academia. Someone is always cooking conspiracy theories without spending time actually listening to the programming and trying to understand the world view honestly (something I did for years and years and years listening to liberal media almost exclusively). But that’s a story for another day.

What I find unfortunate is the situation is being in the market for a product that few of my immediate physical neighbors seem to want. Thank goodness for podcasts, which is how I listen to Prager most of the time anyway. If I did more driving, I might have to consider satellite radio.

This Boston blogger (whom I don’t know) reflects my sentiments with eerie precision:

I found this out yesterday with a sinking feeling in my heart. It’s funny, when you go to a website and it has changed, you are redirected to the newer website. If you call a telephone number that has changed, you are generally given the new telephone number, but with the radio there was this abrupt disconnect. The new “tenant” of this radio call number, Radio Luz, makes no mention of the previous, and its messages are in Spanish anyway.Sometimes you’ll hear some background music on any of the talk radio stations and when I initially was listening to Radio Luz, it took me a few seconds to realize that the Spanish background music was the new content and message of 1150, and not just some segue-or advertisement-music. Probably many of 1150’s devotees had this silly lingering wait, followed by a search up and down the dial to see if there was a replacement/switch, à la the recent switch on the FM dial between country music and classical music over 102.5 FM/99.5 FM.

I am a (relatively) latter-day Conservative, and I found 1150’s hosts illuminating and intriguing, and quite helpful in my “growth” intellectually within the conservative movement. For those who are going through acute withdrawal from Bill Bennett, Dennis Praeger, Mike Gallagher, Sean Hannity, Michael Medved, and Hugh Hewitt, I can recommend partial recompense, via Townhall.com’s webcasts (with the advantage of having no commercials; disadvantage of having the broadcasts’ being a few days old, and having to go through the work of downloading them, then playing them on the car radio for instance). Sean Hannity is not on Townhall.com, but can be found on XM coincident with his erstwhile 1150 broadcasts.

For those who do not share my religious or political leanings who might be inclined to be gleeful at this whole situation, remember that diversity is a multilateral concept most powerful when applied to thought rather than just to externals. Its loss, except in matters of demonstrable truth, is something that should always be mourned.