Every weekday morning from 9am for thirty minutes ABC local radio Sydney opens it’s phone lines and airwaves to anyone with an opinion about anything.
I have no interest in the ramblings of the ordinary person. I do not care about their opinions, thoughts or issues – unless they effect me. I hate their whinny voices talking about the flag, their neighbours, the government, etc etc. I hate that on the free airwaves of the greatest public radio network in the world I am forced to listen to drivel.
Many years ago I wrote a letter to the editor of The Sydney Morning Herald about an article on advertising. I got a phone call from the editor of the letters page to confirm that the letter (email actually) was from me, that the opinion was mine and that I was a real person. The letter appeared.
And the shit hit the fan. One of the directors of the agency I then worked for read the letters page avidly and was unimpressed with my take on things. I’d never really understood what was so important about free speach until that moment.
You may or may not agree with what you hear or read but the ability for someone else to write or say that thing is something no one should ever argue with.
We can argue quality. Why do the three commercial TV networks offer such rubbish as their current affair programs. They have no excuse bar economics as the ABC and SBS are able to provide high quality programming with less.
I hate the 30 minutes of listener call in on ABC. I love that they can do it.