Politics and Business

We received a listener e-mail yesterday from someone with their nose bent out of shape by a segment by one of our hosts this week: (I am printing it as it was received, warts and all)

“It is always a disappointment when I tune in to the BizRadio network expecting business news, but instead get a heaping serving of political commentary. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but bizradio is a refuge in a media world that is incresingly polorized, ie liberal or conservative, democratic or republican, etc.

"Bizradio is the one spot on the dial that I can tune into to getunbiased, un slanted money news. We want a radio station that isn'tpolitical. Trust me, there are many, many other radio stations I cantune into for political commentary. And if your hosts continue to breakstation format and offer up thier personal political opinions, I WILLtune into another station.

"Today, Mike Norman and guests were giving nothing but there political views and arguments following the news of Al-Zarqawi's death. Thier political positions were clearly expressed as conservative. It ruins their credability as authorities of the business world by suggesting thier understanding is skewed by political sentiment. My underlying point is, that BizRadio has succeeded by sticking with its format of BUSINESS news and commentary. The station risks alienating and dispersing its audience by introducing political commentary into its format. This would be a mistake. I hope your station takes steps to mitigate this problem."

I hope this writer takes steps to learn the differences in the correct spellings of Their, They’re and There, or at least figures out how to use the spell check for words like “increasingly,” “polarized,” and “credibility,” because his lapse somewhat affects the credibility of his criticism. There's probably a spacebar somewhere on the keyboard, too--it's the long, skinny one at the bottom.

First, sincere appreciation for the recognition that The BizRadioNetwork is an oasis of information in a wasteland of commercialized opinion-mongers on the AM-dial.

Second, you cannot—and should not—separate the reality that politics and business in America are joined at the hip and the checkbook, and a discussion of such issues is not only proper for our network, we would be derelict in our duty by not covering such angles for you.

Third, one of the reasons The BizRadioNetwork is successful is because of the free exchange of ideas we encourage. Our studio phone lines are toll-free, 877-777-7713, and you are welcome to call in at any time, on any show, to express your thoughts, pro- or con-, to any issue being addressed.

It makes for intelligent talk…it also makes good radio.

And don’t forget, “i before e, except after c.” People notice those kinds of things, and they’re likely to form their opinions prematurely when there are two too many errors to weed through.