What's Fair on the Air?: Cold War Right-Wing Broadcasting and the Public Interest

by Heather Hendershot

The rise of right-wing broadcasting during the Cold War has been mostly forgotten today. But in the 1950s and ’60s you could turn on your radio any time of the day and listen to diatribes against communism, civil rights, the United Nations, fluoridation, federal income tax, Social Security, or JFK, as well as hosannas praising Barry Goldwater and Jesus Christ. Half a century before the rise of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, these broadcasters bucked the FCC’s public interest mandate and created an alternate universe of right-wing political coverage, anticommunist sermons, and pro-business bluster.

 

A lively look back at this formative era, What’s Fair on the Air? charts the rise and fall of four of the most prominent right-wing H. L. Hunt, Dan Smoot, Carl McIntire, and Billy James Hargis. By the 1970s, all four had been hamstrung by the Internal Revenue Service, the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine, and the rise of a more effective conservative movement. But before losing their battle for the airwaves, Heather Hendershot reveals, they purveyed ideological notions that would eventually triumph, creating a potent brew of religion, politics, and dedication to free-market economics that paved the way for the rise of Ronald Reagan, the Moral Majority, Fox News, and the Tea Party.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hendershot's history of right wing radio and TV broadcasting in the 1950s and 1960s and the men who were the face of it offers a fascinating look at figures who were popular and well known in their time but who have since been forgotten as the Republican Party sought to become more mainstream by ridding its of its extremists. She shows how each of these men influenced the rhetoric and issues of the right in America at the time as they opposed Communism, Civil Rights, and big government using Constitutional principles and conspiracy theories, which they broadcasted to their audiences and shared via their newsletters. She begins with a discussion of the John Birch Society and its founder Robert Welch who developed relationships with the four men: H.L. Hunt, Dan Smoot, Carl McIntire, and Billy James Hargis, and who together fought against moderates within the Republican Party and President Eisenhower and Nixon. Where her book excels is in a history of the FCC and its Fairness Doctrine which as she shows using transcripts and archival materials was much more complicated than previously discussed and indeed at times was used to solely target right wing broadcasters.