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[Make sure to read Daniel Greenfield’s contributions in Jamie Glazov’s new book: Barack Obama’s True Legacy: How He Transformed America.]
Mornings in Northeastern Pennsylvania start on WILK-FM with ‘The Bob Cordaro Show’ described as “convincingly conservative, lovingly logical, proudly and passionately patriotic and reliably right”. And then eventually other conservatives, including Ben Shapiro, come on the air.
But that may be about to change.
WILK is one of a number of Pennsylvania stations owned by Audacy (five in Philadelphia alone), the third-largest radio broadcaster in America and it, along with over 200 radio stations across the country, is about to fall into the hands of George Soros in time for the 2024 election..
After Audacy was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Soros Fund Management bought hundreds of millions of its debt for 50 cents on the dollar and under a bankruptcy agreement will become its largest shareholder with a potential impact on much of the country and its politics.
Audacy claims to be able to reach 200 million people across the range of its properties which include sports, music and talk radio stations, as well as a large digital platform, and while Audacy is not an inherently conservative company, it owns a number of talk radio stations and the talk radio format caters to commuters, early risers and working people which is to say conservatives. And the Soros takeover will give one of the biggest funders of leftist extremism control over not only conservative talk radio stations but those that are, like WILK, in swing states. That includes two other stations in Pennsylvania and many others across the country.
While business is business and the Hungarian immigrant made a fortune as a shrewd investor, radio is not a booming market and there is a pattern here that goes back to 2022 when Soros took over Radio Mambi, a conservative Hispanic radio station in Florida, as part of a network that would give him access to a third of Hispanics in the country.
Some radio hosts left Radio Mambi in protest and formed Radio Americano. Radio Americano, the country’s first conservative Hispanic radio network, formed a partnership with Audacy leasing one of its radio stations. Having taken over Radio Mambi, Soros will now be in a position to also cripple Radio Americano with a significant impact on the upcoming election.
When Republicans take over Democrat radio stations, Democrats don’t take it lying down.
When Caracol 1260 AM, a Latino radio station, was being sold in 2021 to a group that included a conservative Hispanic figure, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a Democrat organization, sounded alarm bells and urged the FCC to block the sale.
“To win in 2022 this must stop!” former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell had argued.
The sale fell through and the Democrats won in 2022.
When Soros first came after Radio Mambi, some Republican legislators, including Sen. Tom Cotton, Sen. Marco Rubio, and others turned to the FCC, warning that, “far-left ideologues are attempting to consolidate and expand their control over the media, so they can flood the airwaves with propaganda” and asking the federal agency to step in and take action.
That did not happen and nor should anyone expect the FCC to stop Soros now, but the company filed for Chapter 11 in the Southern District of Texas. And while the NRA and Trump already discovered the dangerous powers that state prosecutors have over organizations doing business or even registered in a blue state, there’s no reason the reverse can’t be true.
Audacy’s rapid bankruptcy deal that will make Soros into the company’s biggest shareholder can be examined by state officials including regulators and prosecutors like Attorney General Ken Paxton. Audacy’s reach includes Texas where it has at least one conservative talk radio station, KJCE which, along with local talent, broadcasts Sean Hannity, Dana Loesch and Frontlines of Freedom, and local officials can determine whether the bankruptcy deal and the subsequent Soros takeover will impact the Texas market and viewpoint diversity.
Instead of a rapid bankruptcy followed by a fast takeover, Texas state officials have a duty to thoroughly scrutinize the parameters of the agreement, its local impact and any issues that may arise from the new role of the Soros organization and what its management role may be.
Part of the agreement involves the appointment of a new board of directors. At Radio Mambi, the Soros people brought in Democratic Party operatives in a leadership role. Does Soros have similar plans for Audacy? Who will be on the proposed board of directors? Did George Soros personally play any role in the move by the Soros Management Fund?
The company has signaled that major cuts will be as part of its reorganization. Will those cuts be politically neutral or will they single out conservative employees and the conservative side of the business? Will this reorganization which is officially meant to deal with the debt load really be used as cover for a purge of the political opposition by a major funder of the ruling party.
These are worrisome questions.
When NPR radio stations began turning into conservative talk radio, the media and Democrat legislators quickly mobilized to fight against the transformation. The question is whether Republicans intend to allow George Soros to crush conservative radio without a fight.
Republicans have various tools that they can use to challenge the Soros takeover. While Audacy reached a deal with a “supermajority” of its debt holders, it’s not truly universal. Some debt holders have already filed objections and while the matter is before a judge in a progressive part of the state, Texas officials do have some options that they can explore.
Radio is the voice of the nation. Monopolies have silenced conservatives across much of the mainstream media even as dot coms have driven them out of social media platforms, but the radio dial is still a place where a twist or a push of a button still offers the sound of freedom.
But for how much longer?
This being an ‘existential’ threat to Conservative Radio, I would think that conservative voices // talking heads would eventually migrate to other platforms, such as Rumble or, X or, Truth Social; taking their show and listeners, as well as their sponsors with them, leaving the Soros newly acquired network of radio stations with an absence of revenue.
Ultimately(!!!), looks like an excellent time to buy stock in RMBL.
This is part of the problem, conservatives give up ground way too easy. Any monopoly is supposed to be stopped by the government. Also, outside influence is a factor in using air waves. Never give up anything to these subversive Dems. That is why they do so well. They fight for ever inch and never give up. They are more passionate then conservatives. If we stood up and fought like our lives depended on it, and it does, we would win back and keep our freedom.
> Any monopoly is supposed to be stopped by the government
That’s where you’re wrong. The government doesn’t stop monopolies. It makes them permanent.
Before their antitrust scare, Microsoft spent next to nothing on lobbying. Today, they spend over $10 billion on lobbying annually.
The last thing corporations want is DEREGULATION. Which is why they donate to the party of regulation (the Democrats) 10 to 1.
Yes, but the government is supposed to do otherwise, as in so many matters.
A few things:
One, I’m a former registered republican who is now an independent for 20+ years. Next, I use to call myself an independent conservative but have dropped the independent part out of disgust for conservatives who talk a lot but are too timid to fight for what they say they believe (they’re cowards.)
Lastly, I stopped listening to conservative talk radio after Rush Limbaugh. Rush was the real deal. The rest are just pseudo conservatives and closet RINOs. Aka, servile GOP establishment parasites
Yes, if Soros takes over Audacity, listeners will instantly stop listening to its talk radio and switch to other talk radio stations. New talk radio stations would probably form too.
The problem is that conservative voices will find themselves being corralled/confined to digital ghettos where only the believers make the effort to go. Present day .conservative radio on AM/FM stations have the potential to draw in listeners that haven’t been previously exposed to the messages of conservatism. There is a potential for conversion. Being located in a digital ghetto is more limiting, with less exposure to a general audience..
The FCC could and should …….but the F☭☭ is compromised.
How this socialist, American-betraying shithead hasn’t had his (and his chickenshit heir-apparent son) necks stretched is beyond me.
The atheistic grifter made his bed. Why we’re being willingly corralled to burn it it, instead of him is beyond me.
He should have been dispatched in 1945 after working for Biden’s mentor Adolf Hitler.
Adolph Hitler. The role model of leftists and islamopithecines.
There has never been a more deserving immigrant to America to be DENATURALIZED. Who ever heard of a newcomer to America, whose whole goal was to infuse us with his ideals, instead of to adopt ours. Worse, he’s super wealthy with power. Send him back to Hungary.
The new Soros plan, to subvert the 2024 elections.
Yes, I’m sure it’s his top priority.
BO has the CIA software.
Knowing Brokeback, if it’s on a flash drive it’s big, lubed and shaped like a…………..
Worse than that, the stupid party (re: republican party) will likely let him get away with it. Soros is not solely beholden to democrats only. He’s an astute puppet master and also donates to republicans too.
What I’m implying is that it’s reasonable to assume that he has already bought off any serious republican opposition to his acquisitions. Democrats and republicans are equally greedy, corrupt and can be bought if the price is right.
Both him and his Rotten Son should be banished from America and into the French Alps without a Home to live in
Radio is dying on its feet like TV channels. Today’s audience want to listen and watch when they are ready NOT when some schedules dictate.
Yes there’s still some audience and ideally the conservatives should start again somewhere else but it’s a shrinking audience.
It’s shrinking in the UK because almost all public broadcasters are women whinging.
True, for sure. Podcasts are where it’s at now.
Yes and you can listen to them while you drive.
Here in America people are ready when we drive to and from work. We can’t watch or read news and commentary while driving.
People who commute can but the overwhelming majority of us drive. In places like NYC and Chicago most ordinary people are forced to commute by necessity but pretty much everywhere else only people who don’t own cars are forced to do that, and they consist of a tiny proportion of the county’s population.
Forgive me if I defer to someone who might have a dog in this hunt….
This outta be awesome when Mark Levin goes off on this topic. “That’s right I said it.”
It seems a bit late to say this now–but the FCC should never have changed the rules regarding electronic media ownership. No entity should ever be able to own more than one AM, one FM, and one TV station in the same market.
WABC is conservative independently owned and can be heard all over the East Coast
If Soros buys Audacity and perverts it programming, listeners will switch to WABC or any similar station.
I just can’t see Soros as a 94 year old conniving these machinations. My guess is he’s been dead for a few years and what we call ‘Soros’ is just a face name for the hundreds of millions the Dems are making in kickbacks from the drug trade across the border.
Why not? It works for Pelosi and used to work for Ginsburg.
Don’t let his numbers sway you. Niety four is not that old. Remember, he was raised and matured in a very different culture than America. I’ll bet he stayed active, avoided the nasty health-robbing habits so meny of we Yanks live by, nd until he came here was able to void much of the poison in foods our gummit push upn us.
I know one man who i 87, still actively skiism gardens, works is ten acre property, rides horses and trains them. Another friend in his late 80’s was an avid cyclist,a sport which he adopted in his fifties thanlks to his Sin in Law, my best friend since high school.This guy, in his late 80’s, would plan and lead the weekly Saturday Century ride for a bike shop in the LA area. He’d be out froint the whole time, seting the pace, with the young bucks dropping off the back like ticks too full to function falling off a deer. Hardly anyone could keep up with hi. My Grandmother, at 100, was still all there, had still been working the farm in her late 80’s. Still could take care of herself, mind fully fuctional
Then we have men like Thomas Sowell and Victor Davis Hanson… same age category.
I am not exactly pleased that we seem to be in for yet a long haul with ol’ Georgie Boyy.
Perhaps I missed something here, but how in the world can Texas Soros stop Soros from taking over conservative radio? If the FCC allows him to purchase Audacity (they will follow the whim of the Biden Administration), then it’s a done deal.
Sure, conservative radio may move away from the 200 stations Soros controls, but how many listeners have access to those other stations? Do they have the range and signal strength of the 200 that Soros would control? Perhaps not an insurmountable problem for some, but the issue of what Texas can do about it is left up in the air as far as I can tell.
The takeover can be slowed down and delayed until Trump has a say in it.
So ake out your copy of the US Constitution and find just where a new president could find the authority to stop Soros from spending HIS mney however HE wants to.
Its not there. If I had the bux I could build my own network to trump Soros’ new gig. Soros has as much a right to buy this outfit as you and I do, or for you or I to build our own from scratch. And I’m OK with that. I would strongly object to Trump deciding that my business is expendible and/or replaceable by YOURS is not. Didn’t we all get up in arms when our Fed overlords started informing us we could no longer do certain things as we always had but now must close our “non-essential” businesses and roll up our sleeves for their Mad Jick Shott.
I doubt there’s a single region in America without talk radio alternatives to Audacity.
Soros is probably behind the push to remove AM radio from new cars. Most conservative talk radio is on the AM band.
Soros is pissing away his money, not that he’ll notice.. Has he never heard of Air America, whose solidly progressive format turned off its few listeners to such an extent that the network went belly up after just six years on the air?Lefties don’t listen to talk radio, which has been known to encourage free-thinking, and conservatives won’t pay attention to the K Street party line because it’s too depressing. The day after election day Soros will announce that he is looking to get rid of his devalued stations at a bargain basement price.
Yes, Soros is pissing away his money because talk radio fans will instantly switch to other stations if he perverts Audacity.
If it’s not working out he will probably short sale his on stock and pocket the money and watch the corporate entity ‘Audacity collapse.
My first thought is Air America, the progressive radio network that made a feeble attempt at competing with conservative radio. It was a bad idea from the start, and they eventually went bankrupt after a few unimpressive years. Nobody was listening and advertisers bailed out.
If Soros wants to make a go at this, he’ll have to bankroll the entire operation himself. It’s not going to make any money on its own. Unless the Federal Administration wants to outlaw free enterprise (and I wouldn’t put it past them), radio listeners will find a way to get the content they want: via satellite, the internet, or some new kind of mass media technology.
Maybe it’s time to bring back the notorious pirate radio stations from the sixties, who broadcast offshore in international waters around Europe to avoid regulation: “You’re listening to KPOX, scourge of the airwaves. Aarrgh!” Hey, I’d listen.
Surprised Air America failed they had Tom Dashell
Ouch. That’s a stab from the past.
Greenfield again has alerted the public to an issue that is out of view yet can have a fearful impact on the MINDS of the public!! I’m shaking my head with dismay over the buying of the American mind through radio and tv media, internet manipulations, and newspapers. It’s a dismal picture as it seems our culture is in a downward spiral.
In my part of the country there are many AM stations that survive as small audience stations. If SOROS throws the popular radio programs off the air the small AM stations would love to pick these programs up and boost their listener numbers 1o or 20 fold. Soros would then be left with stations that have destroyed their audience shares. go woke go broke will be tested and proven again.
The Texas electoral votes will soon go blue.
The demographics tell all.
It is most likely too late to do anything about it now.
The Bush family should have done something about it starting 50 years ago.
But they didn’t.
Like most wealthy and politically well connected “patriots”,
their lives ain’t gonna be affected in the least.
A pox on them and their ilk.
Both Soros and Gates would make great role models for a Disney type Villian
Why wouldn’t Fox or Musk buy instead?