The rise and fall of Montana shock jock John Stokes

[Newsjock]

Source: Missoula Independent

... Tune in to the 600 AM radio frequency in Montana's Flathead Valley and you hear static now. "Shock jock" John Stokes and his KGEZ station used that frequency for nine years to broadcast vicious attacks against environmentalists–including the "vile vomit" slur quoted above. Stokes also attacked the government and the very notion of respecting the other side in any disagreement. His rants on his daily talk show, "The Edge," earned nationwide news coverage.

Stokes burned wooden green swastikas to symbolically destroy environmentalists at "anti-Earth Day" rallies in 2001 and 2002. He even implied that his listeners should attack environmentalists and liberals, according to the Missoulian, with lines such as: "Finish them off and make sure they don't have babies."

Inevitably, Stokes caused many kinds of people to come together to oppose him. They organized and pressured businesses not to advertise on his radio station, and eventually Stokes went too far. During a dispute with neighbors who own land where he has radio towers, he accused them on the air of committing bank fraud and perjury. In response, they sued for defamation of character, and last year a jury ordered him to pay them $3.8 million. He also had other debts, his station was reportedly losing money and he admitted that he hadn't filed tax returns for more than a decade. With all that weighing on him, he filed for bankruptcy eight months ago.

... Stokes was part of the explosion of right-wing hate radio and TV "news" shows since 1987. That's the year Republican President Ronald Reagan killed the FCC's Fairness Doctrine—a requirement that broadcasters over time had to present a balance of points of view.

... Stokes still has fans. He's blogging and appearing on other right-wing stations around the country, complaining that his station was "murdered." He's seeking donations to raise $75,000 to hire Bob Barr, a Georgia libertarian lawyer, to handle his appeal of the bankruptcy judge's order and other court actions. He vows that he'll be back on the air someday.

Read more: http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/dead-air/Content?oid=1195502

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. One less rightie on the air

[vegetat]

2. Desperado