Missouri station offering Russian state radio to listeners
Source: Margaret Stafford/AP
LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) A man who runs a little-known, low-budget radio station in suburban Kansas City says he is standing up for free speech and alternative viewpoints when he airs Russian state-sponsored programming in the midst of the Ukrainian war.
Radio Sputnik, funded by the Russian government, pays broadcast companies in the U.S. to air its programs. Only two do so: One is Peter Schartels company in Liberty, Missouri, and one is in Washington, D.C.
Schartel started airing the Russian programming in January 2020, but criticism intensified after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Schartel said people accuse him and his wife of being traitors to the U.S. and occasionally issue threats. Some critics say he is promoting propaganda and misinformation, but Schartel maintains most people who call to complain havent listened to the program.
Some will talk to me, but others will still call me a piece of whatever, he said. What I am thankful for is we are still living in a country where they can call me up. Even if they arent thinking about free speech theyre exercising that right.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-entertainment-business-kansas-missouri-b6240ed4d6bada628e59c24b29d68669
Money grubber.
BumRushDaShow
(126,618 posts)but agree, $$$$$.
The GOP is inextricably linked to Putin anyway so it only underscores that connection.
ToxMarz
(2,146 posts)When it's all about the $$$$.
Prof. Toru Tanaka
(1,901 posts)Algernon Moncrieff
(5,780 posts)...as well as stations West Germany, the BBC, Canada, Emirates, and many others. You can get Radio Reloj out of Havana on any AM radio in South Florida.
I don't see a problem. That's who we've always been. Listen and read what you want and make up your own mind.
BumRushDaShow
(126,618 posts)and picked up one of those little guidebooks that had the frequencies/programming times of the many stations out there (the publication was continually updated) and if anything, I finally got to hear what "we" (U.S.) was putting out there on VOA. This was all "pre- world wide web".
Nowadays almost all of that is streaming on the internet including through a number of mobile streaming radio apps.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)That story is a couple of weeks old .
dalton99a
(80,907 posts)KCXLs other programming includes shows that are heavily religious, offer opinions across the political spectrum and promote conspiracy theories. One program, TruNews, has been criticized by the Anti-Defamation League for spreading antisemitic, Islamaphobic and anti-LGBTQ messages.
SunSeeker
(51,302 posts)Trust_Reality
(1,719 posts)Liberty is a small, white, upper-mid class right wing community with a lot of people who think they are pretty special.
Warpy
(110,746 posts)Those are public airwaves you're broadcasting Russian propaganda over. That puts a little thing like a broadcasting license in jeopardy.
Just a little word to the unwise.
been broadcasting since 2020. I wish he would lose his license.
reACTIONary
(5,747 posts)... his license is not in jeopardy.
Warpy
(110,746 posts)That's the procedure, and the closer it gets to the renewal date, the more those complaints have attention paid to them.
reACTIONary
(5,747 posts)outside of obscene material.. According to the FCC......
https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/fcc-and-freedom-speech
ThoughtCriminal
(13,996 posts)Today Is Moscow!
dalton99a
(80,907 posts)Hulk
(6,699 posts)I'm dead certain fucker carlson would support it.....you know...."free speech". Fucking idiots.
keithbvadu2
(36,305 posts)By playing Russian state-sponsored programming, they are surely playing Tucker.
LudwigPastorius
(8,899 posts)people are free to "cancel" his business for being an unethical scumbag airing the lies of a state that is butchering innocent civilians.
Oh, and if Anonymous wants to do anything about it, I say, have fun, guys.
SouthBayDem
(31,943 posts)Basically a very weak signal, 4000 watts day and SIX watts at night (can it even be heard at Arrowhead Stadium at night?)
This station was founded as a country station in '67. It changed hands over the years before devolving to its current "dollar a holler" format in the mid 1990s.
Lots of low signal, obscure AM stations that outlive their usefulness fall into resorting to "dollar a holler" (religious, infomercial, and the kookier types of brokered programming) stuff.
rockfordfile
(8,673 posts)"During one recent broadcast of The Critical Hour that aired on Schartels KCXL, the hosts and their guests echoed false and unsupported claims about Ukraines government. They repeated Russian state media lies about the Russian militarys attacks on civilian targets-."
Americans have the right to a degree to spout things, but they others have the right to respond to Nazi hate being pushed by pos like that.
Martin68
(22,614 posts)quakerboy
(13,893 posts)fox is doing no less, but noones giving them much hassle over it.
olddad65
(599 posts)XacerbatedDem
(511 posts)Probably like some people in Moscow, I figure. HEE-HAWley - OMG! Greitens - Ah-Jeezzz! And now, tfg throwing support for BILLy Long for Senate!?!? WTF!!!
Nothing surprises me anymore. MO is becoming like The Lost World, nothing but animals roaming the state and a whole lot of dinosaur s**t.
Rebl2
(13,236 posts)sometimes
BlueIdaho
(13,582 posts)Pure and simple.
Pas-de-Calais
(9,881 posts)Roy Rolling
(6,831 posts)A radio station that desperate for $5,000 a month cash should not have a license to broadcast.
There are minimal capital requirements for most businesseseither stated or implied as business norms. A radio station is licensed because of the enormous influence it has on the public, it should not be so underfunded.
Maybe ginormous radio networks are tilting the playing field? Whatever it is, give up the $5,000 a month or find another career. Youre not entertainment youre propaganda.
Rebl2
(13,236 posts)Joinfortmill
(14,135 posts)Here's an older article related to this issue
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-rt-america-funding/31427870.html
mahatmakanejeeves
(56,713 posts)Tue Mar 8, 2022: WZHF, the tiny radio station broadcasting Russian propaganda in D.C.
Link to tweet
How the Kremlin found a Beltway home for Radio Sputnik,' known for spreading Russian spin.
The tiny radio station broadcasting Russian propaganda in D.C.
How the Kremlin found a middleman who found a Beltway home for Radio Sputnik, known for spreading Russian spin.
By Paul Farhi
Yesterday at 8:19 a.m. EST
For a few seconds every hour, WZHF-AM interrupts its round-the-clock schedule of talk to air a curious disclaimer: This radio programming is distributed by RM Broadcasting on behalf of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, Moscow, Russia. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.
The cryptic notification masks a larger story. WZHF, a former Spanish-language station 11 miles east of the White House in Marylands Capitol Heights, is the flagship of Russian President Vladimir Putins effort to harness Americas radio airwaves to sell the Kremlins point of view. Despite periodic legal and political challenges, and the imposition of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the station has stayed on the air, broadcasting its Kremlin-approved message.
The station at 1390 AM is one of only five outlets in the United States that air English-language broadcasts of Radio Sputnik, produced in Moscow and Washington under the Russian governments supervision.
Sputnik is the radio and digital arm of Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today), the same Kremlin-controlled media agency that directs RT and RT America, the better-known TV and digital media operations founded by Putins regime in 2005. ... But while American distributors and European governments have banned RT since Russias attack on Ukraine, leading to the collapse of RTs American operations on Thursday, WZHF is still offering Sputniks content to Beltway listeners.
{snip}
Gift Article
https://wapo.st/3MXlScb
By Paul Farhi
Paul Farhi is The Washington Post's media reporter. He started at The Post in 1988 and has been a financial reporter, a political reporter and a Style reporter. Twitter https://twitter.com/farhip
You can listen to WZHF online.
WZHF at Wikipedia
WZHF Radio Sputnik 1390 AM live
BradBo
(514 posts)llashram
(6,263 posts)traitors will be traitors...' free speech'?
DivByZero
(38 posts)I like how he argues that hes exercising free speech and providing an alternate viewpoint. Fine, as long as he could do the same in Russia. But since he would be imprisoned or worse for doing the same there, those noble principles of his dont hold any water. Pure greed and propaganda, but Im sure hes celebrated in certain circles of despicables.