I do love his WBEN press photo. What a hair-cut! That must have taken a Queer Eye Mini Series to get that doo in shape!

I agree with you that one should state his points of disagreement and rationally make the case. However, you’re doing the same thing you say Bauerle and Beach do. Are they being juvenile? Probably. Namecalling from either side is juvenile, don’t you think?

When I hear something absolutely idiotic from a talk radio host, I’m not going to waste my time analyzing it as if I were writing a college thesis. If Bauerle makes a crack about Hillary Clinton’s thighs, am I to post pictures of her thighs and engage in a meaningful discussion about them, inviting debate? Or is it ok for me to call him what he’s being – an ignorant sonofabitch (or misogynist asshole might have been more apropos.)

I think the latter.

I don’t waste my time on this site just willy nilly taking a name out of a hat and calling them an “evil” “bitch” or a “bastard”, or mocking their physical appearance. (Which is exactly what WBEN did here.) If I did, I’d expect people to call me on it, and to call me an asshole for it. So should Mssrs. Bauerle and Beach, et al.

As for the “ignorant sonofabitch” comment, friends of mine had worked their asses off to develop and plan Buffalo Old Home Week, only to find Tom Bauerle essentially mocking their efforts as useless, and using the same, tired generalizations about how badly Buffalo sucks because that’s what his septuagenerian audience likes to hear. My exact quote is:

The point is that we’re accentuating the positives about Buffalo and counteracting the myth that Buffalo is nothing but an economic wasteland. Because it’s not. There are jobs here. You can stop by Pearl Street today with a resume and maybe even get one.

Bauerle misses the point and can sometimes be an ignorant sonofabitch.

So, the double-standard charge doesn’t, I think, apply. I explain exactly what my beef with Bauerle was that day, and then I say that he can “sometimes” be an ignorant sonofabitch. Not “always”. Not “is”. Sometimes can be. I think the comment is far, far more fair than just dismissively calling him, e.g., a reactionary mulleted scaremongering man with a serious Napoleon complex and far too thin of a skin. Which is more comparable to what he did with Hillary Clinton.

As for the last point about WBEN’s forum and resonating and opinions being channeled and viability, I ask you this: did anyone ever complain to WBEN management or to Kevin Hardwick about the conduct or opinions held by the bloggers when they appeared on WBEN? I trust that the answer is no. Therefore, it’s a moot point.

Certainly WBEN can ban me all they want, and there’s bugger-all I can do about it. That’s fine. But if they lie about it, I can call them on it. If they hamstring Hardwick’s ability to run his show the way he wants, I can decry that. Did the ratings go down or up when we appeared? Damned if I know. Have the ratings been going up steadily since my involvement with the show began and I began plugging it regularly here? I have no idea.

At the very least, WBEN could be honest about these things. That, evidently, is far, far too much to ask.

I agree with you that one should state his points of disagreement and rationally make the case. However, you’re doing the same thing you say Bauerle and Beach do. Are they being juvenile? Probably. Namecalling from either side is juvenile, don’t you think?

I have no axe to grind for Entercom; I just recognize what you may now appear to: that since they own the forum they have the right to decide who gets to channel their opinions through that forum. Additionally, the forum’s viability depends on how much the opinions resonate with, or otherwise stimulate, the listeners such that they continue to listen. Apparently it’s going well for them so far.

no friend to the station

WBEN has a dual personality.

One is straight news, where talented people like Barbara Burns, Dave Debo, and Steve Cichon work (to name a few), and inform WNYers on the day’s goings on.

The second personality is loudmouthism, as practiced by Bauerle, Limbaugh, Beach, and Dobson. Nothing wrong with that. Just not my cup of tea, and the aforementioned 4 hosts shouldn’t be all pissy and tantrumy when people say so.

Lastly, I plugged Hardwick’s show (and will continue to do so) for free every week. Hardwick’s show has sponsors. If that’s not being a “friend” to WBEN, I don’t know what is. Doing a search for “WBEN” on this blog will mostly pull up Hardwick plugs, then pull up me commenting on news I heard on WBEN, and occasional hits at Bauerle and Beach.

Xman404 = Bauerle ?

“…I think that calling Hillary Clinton a “bitch” hardly qualifies as insightful punditry…”
and
“The funniest part of the conversation was when I described Beach and Bauerle as “loudmouths”, which they quite clearly and unabashedly are…”

So you’re no better, right? It appears as if you are setting up your own double-standards. Maybe they don’t find your commentary to be insightful punditry either, and perhaps Hillary clearly and unabashedly really is as much a bitch as Tom Bauerle is, as you put it, “an ignorant sonofabitch.” (and, given your own namecalling, why does it bother you so much that someone calls Hillary a bitch?)

I thought that a guy with a “rambunctious sense of humor” like Bauerle would actually take “loudmouth” as a compliment. Hillary Clinton is a sitting Senator, and I thought it was amusing that you had three men parrot a decades’ worth of half-thought-out, misogynist nonsense about Clinton. If you don’t agree with her policies, then say so and explain which ones you think suck. If you think she behaved improperly after you asked her if she fucked the guy that later shot himself in the park, then say so. But to just call her a “bitch” and mock her “800 pound thigh(s)” is sort of juvenile, don’t you think? The difference, of course, is that I am an amateur journalist with no name recognition, and never did I say I wouldn’t be juvenile. These guys actually get paid to come up with punditry like “bitch” and “fat thighs”.

You call it “egregious” that Bauerle and Beach, each a seasoned professional and certainly not a newcomer to the broadcasting scene, “mock” certain liberals, and yet you mock in the same way those with whom you disagree. Another self-contradiction and double-standard on your part.

It’s one thing to mock Hillary Clinton (I’m assuming that’s who you’re talking about, since you didn’t bother to link to the “egregious” adjective you quote), it’s another to just conclusively say she’s a selfish bitch with fat thighs. And get paid for it.

No one’s panties are in a bunch about much except:

1. Hardwick’s independence in running his own show the way he wants has been usurped (there was, incidentally, no complaint from the audience about our appearance, nor is there anything to indicate ratings went down when we appeared. Instead, the entire thing was prompted by a Tom Bauerle temper tantrum to Tim Wenger).

2. Wenger misrepresented to the Buffalo News the reason why we were banned. At the very least, he could have owned up to it and told the News what he told me. Instead, he made me out to be a liar by lying himself.

I’m sure Entercom appreciates your vigorous defense of it, its management and its talent. Perhaps you could email your comment to Tim Wenger and ask him for a weekend show of your own. WBEN is known to take people off the street and stick them on the radio.

Two points if I may:

Point One

You said,
“…I think that calling Hillary Clinton a “bitch” hardly qualifies as insightful punditry…”
and
“The funniest part of the conversation was when I described Beach and Bauerle as “loudmouths”, which they quite clearly and unabashedly are…”

So you’re no better, right? It appears as if you are setting up your own double-standards. Maybe they don’t find your commentary to be insightful punditry either, and perhaps Hillary clearly and unabashedly really is as much a bitch as Tom Bauerle is, as you put it, “an ignorant sonofabitch.” (and, given your own namecalling, why does it bother you so much that someone calls Hillary a bitch?)

Point Two

You call it “egregious” that Bauerle and Beach, each a seasoned professional and certainly not a newcomer to the broadcasting scene, “mock” certain liberals, and yet you mock in the same way those with whom you disagree. Another self-contradiction and double-standard on your part.

I hope you don’t mind the commentary. You did say that you take is as well as you give it, right?

The point may be that the programming director, which, last I checked, was responsibible for the programming and flavor of the station decided, as is his right and job, that folks who are obviously no friend to the station (except perhaps to Dr. Hardwick) are not the sort of commentators that the station is looking for. You have your forum(s), and they have theirs.

If your (and WNYM’s compatriots’) panties are in a bunch that liberal radio doesn’t fly as much with the more conservative (than you) WNY, well… sorry. Them’s the breaks. Good luck on making your own go of it.

Thats what I thought you meant