When Republican George W. Bush was president, KOA, at 850 AM, ran his regular, Saturday morning radio address, but skipped the Democratic response. Now that Democrat Barack Obama is chief executive, however, the opposing Republican message is airing on Saturdays after The Big O's talk.
Double standard? Given the amount of its broadcasting day KOA devotes to the wit and wisdom of conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh, Mike Rosen and Bob Newman, this conclusion seems logical. But Kris Olinger, who oversees AM programming for Clear Channel Denver, KOA's owner, chalks up the change to broadcasting logistics.
"When Bush was in office, the feed for his address came down at 8:05 our time," she says. "But the Democratic response didn't come down until after 9, when we were out of Colorado Morning News and into talk -- and it would have been very awkward to play their response in the middle of a talk show. It was mainly a timing issue." And now? "We're getting both feeds before 6:30 -- so we have the option of running both."
Olinger emphasizes that ideology has nothing to do with this flip-flop. But fans of Rush, Mike and Bob probably wouldn't mind if it did.
