Yesterday, Tom Bauerle‘s Facebook status asked, and I paraphrase, “are all liberals psychotic asshats, or is it just me”. I commented, “wow”. Little did I know it would be today’s show topic. I called in. I said, “Tom, do you really think that people who disagree with you politically are ‘psychotic asshats'”? He replied, “Yes, especially you.”
*click*.
That was it. He hung up on me.
Now, I wasn’t aware that Bauerle was such a mental coward that he would not engage in a debate over his theorem: that all liberals are “psychotic asshats”. I thought the purpose of raising a point of view, or selecting a topic for a radio call-in show was, you know, to solicit calls from people to discuss the topic. Yet, I did not hear any other dissenting calls make it through this morning. It was all, “attaboy Tom”, calls, which make for uncompelling, intellectually dumb and dishonest radio.
After being hung up on, Bauerle attacked me personally on-air as being “insane” and the “worst” “psychotic asshat”, and that this was evident from all the “drivel” I write on this site all day.
So I called back to defend myself. After all, if you’re going to say that “Alan” is an insane, psychotic asshat, you should have the balls to let me defend myself. When the screener picked up, I said, “Really? He’s going to hang up on me and then attack me..”
*Click*. The call screener hung up on me too.
Now, we were cruising on Awesome Street.
So I continued to listen, unable to participate in an off-the-deep-end, one-sided diatribe by Buffalo’s top-rated radio host.
At around 9:52, Bauerle suggested that a new civil war was in order, advocated for secession, and suggested that liberals want to put people like him and Jim Ostrowski in concentration camps.
Around 11:14, Bauerle advocated for an armed, military coup of the United States government, and wondered whether the military would “side with the people” to, I suppose, wipe out the anti-American liberals.
I’m not kidding about any of this.
During the course of the show, I expressed myself on media that cannot hang up on me – places like Twitter and Facebook. I referred to Bauerle as a coward for hanging up on me rather than attempting to defend the pitiful point of view he was spouting.
At 11:02, after I started listing the advertisers who were paying Entercom to permit Bauerle to accuse liberal democrats of being “insane” “psychotic asshats”, he sent me a message via Facebook:
Re: Leave me alone. Message: you are nuts.
Well, perhaps I’m nuts, but I don’t go around using public airwaves to malign political opponents as “insane”, “psychotic asshats”. I replied:
I think hanging up on me was a pussy move. Your screener hanging up on me when you engaged in ad hominem attacks on me was a cowardly move. If you can’t debate your own point, that’s pathetic for a call-in show host.
He then defriended me on Facebook, and said on the air that he would be doing the same with any liberals who were his friends on Facebook.
When I saw this, I wrote:
Hahaha! Coward can’t defend his own position!
He said on the air that he found it funny that people got all huffy when he defriended them on Facebook. But I wasn’t huffy. I was laughing at him.
His final response, which he echoed on the air:
“Coward? I can kick your ass lib”
He repeated that one on the air, too, and people started buzzing me to tell me. I consider that particular message to be a badge of honor.
When I attempted to respond, I could not. The coward had gone one step further and blocked me on FB. How typical of silly, insecure people – get the last word and block my reply. Reasonable people don’t behave that way; toddlers do.
Yet, consider the cowardice here – Mr. Bauerle is not a prizefighter, he ostensibly operates in the arena of opinion, ideas, and speech. Yet, he is mentally unable or unwilling to debate and defend his points of view when confronted with opposing arguments but is quick to resort to gradeschool fisticuffs. Nothing I said threatened violence on Mr. Bauerle, nor could it have been construed in that way. Yet that’s where his mind went.
(As an aside – I recognize that I have, in the past, banned a few commenters from my site. But it was not because they disagreed with me, but because they engaged habitually in off-topic attacks on me and others. Disagreement I will always allow. Viciousness I won’t.)
I guess I should be ultra-vigilant, given that the biggest talk show host in Buffalo just called me an insane psychotic asshat, talked on the air about armed insurrection, and then took the conversation into the realm of violence. Classy? Obviously not. But more ominously, for all I know, some unhinged, well-armed lunatic heard Bauerle today and decided he’d go all Washington Holocaust Museum on that “Alan” who was being mean to Tom. Or on any liberal in general.
I don’t know whether today was all just some insecure little act by someone who didn’t get enough hugs from mommy, or if he’s even really serious about all this junk. I don’t think it matters, though.
What we heard today on WBEN was a shift in programming. It’s not enough now to just be a lite version of a Rush Limbaugh clone. You have to now go full wingnut and parrot the paranoid talking points of a Glenn Beck to be considered credible among the Freepocracy. If ACORN, George Soros, and Birther crap don’t get a mention on any given day, you’ve abdicated your duties as a wingnut talk show host in 2009.
Hey, radio’s a business. I know how it is. If Bauerle doesn’t go full wingnut, someone else probably will. Maybe this is just schtick to maintain the ratings. Maybe he’s really completely lost control of himself. One is unconscionable. The other is scary.
Then consider how the tables have been turned in just under 10 years. Back when the Republicans were in the majority and Bush was President, it was considered downright treasonous to suggest that invading Iraq wasn’t a swell idea. After all, they had WMDs and were buds with al Qaeda. Right? So, any Democrat who dissented on that point was labeled anti-American. But when the utter mismanagement of the Bush Administration leads to the democratic election of Barack Obama, and a majority Dem house, and a majority Dem Senate, all of a sudden it’s perfectly reasonable and acceptable for right-wing yappers to advocate for violence, armed insurrection, civil war, and to demonize the opposition with poorly chosen psychobabble.
No, I don’t think Tom Bauerle or Jim Ostrowski should go to a concentration camp, because I’m not a Nazi. (Bauerle, however, today defended his frequent and ironic violation of Godwin’s Law by saying, well the Nazis didn’t kill Jews right away. Thereby ignoring the fact that Mein Kampf was released in 1925. You know, Hitler’s book basically detailing his “kill all Jews” strategy? That one.) Nor do I lend much credence to any of the other strawman arguments Bauerle haphazardly erected today.
But I do think that some inquiries to Bauerle’s advertisers are called for. Do Vastola Heating & Air and Toyota think that all liberals are “insane”, “psychotic asshats”? Do Apnea Care, Tylenol, and Niagara Fallsview Casino Hotel agree that maybe 50% of their potential customers are “insane”, “psychotic asshats”?
Here’s the list of local Bauerle sponsors, as taken from his own site:
- Adam’s Nurseries 876-2121 /683-4885
- Apnea Care / 923-2727
- Buffalo Dental Group / 634-1234
- Indoor Air Professionals / 712-2300
- John Lock Heating & Air Conditioning / 694-8400
- Krolick’s Chicken BBQ / 496-5600
- Markarian Rugs / 873-8667
- Rosiek’s Vacuum / 837-0442
- Sheridan Surgical / 836-8780
- Sleep Medicine Centers / 92-DREAM
- Tandoori’s / 632-1112
- Upstate NY Transplant Services / 853-6667
- William C. Rott & Sons / 694-8220
See, the interesting this is that I have myriad home improvement jobs that I need done this summer. I need a garage door panel replaced. I need a duct cleaning. I need some general construction repairs, painting, and a checkup of our furnace and A/C. I’ll be sure to use vendors who do not financially enable cowardly talk-show “hosts” to refer to about 1/2 the population insane psychopaths. Perhaps you’ll do the same. Perhaps you’ll inquire of the aforementioned advertisers whether they condone the speech that they’re financially underwriting; whether they agree that about half of their potential customer base are “insane”, “psychotic asshats”. If they do, then they should be denied asshat business.
And be sure to ask WBEN Program Director Tim Wenger all about Entercom’s thoughts on insanity, psychosis, and asshattery. (And also Entercom’s HQ at 610-660-5610). If anything else, I wonder how great a business decision it is to have one-sided talk shows that hang up on people who disagree.
I already subscribe to Sirius in one car, and XM in the other. I’ve got loads of alternatives, and Stern’s been pretty compelling and funny lately.
If you do contact any of the above individuals or advertisers, please be concise, factual, and polite.
And Tom, because I know you and everyone else at WBEN with a computer will be reading this: keep your hands to yourself, and have the balls to defend your point of view.
The Buffalo Record 
Good for you Alan.
May I recommend One Eyed Jacks in Lockport or Kentucky Gregs in Cheektowaga as a BBQ replacement.
It is Tom’s show he can say what he wants & can hang up on anyone he wants. I think he is the only real truthful person on thr air.
People cannot handle the truth. Your all just cry babies i hate to be married to any of you pussys
Did Tom hury your feelings
So sad to bad. There is nothing wrong with Tom. He crazy like all of us & your prefect? i think not. You probably cheating on your spouse. Tom just has enough balls to tell you what he thinks. Ubloke most of you who are fake
Love Tom
Leave hom alone if you do not like him do not listen to him
Wow that is profound.
Or do you have nothing better to do with your life. Arevyou that bored
Get a life get a job.
Seriously people please
This is so stupid
But you cannot fix stupid.
He #63 talk show in host in thr US so someone must like him.
The only question I have is how you became Friends with Bauerle on FB in the first place.
Good question. Even though I disagree with Bauerle about 99% of the time, he and I had had a relatively cordial relationship until today. He had plugged some of the work Chris and I did with respect to the casino opponents last year, and I thought that although he was wrong about everything, he was an ok guy. Today he turned down a very dangerous road that I don’t think he can come back from. Unless, as I suggest, it’s all schtick.
Hey Now….
I love the fact that your calling this wind-bag out. IT’S ABOUT TIME that someone with the forum to do so has waged such a battle.
I can’t believe your not intimidated by a grown man with frosted tips and a black leather jacket…… click here for a reference http://www.wben.com/Tom-Bauerle-Show/2575150, did it give you douche chills like it did to me?.
Aww geez Pundit, I never even heard of TB until you wrote about him.
Have you heard this fool’s schtick…. he isn’t this clever.
Wow..just wow.
Also, I believe India Gate/Taste of India to be by far the best Indian food in WNY, so that one won’t be hard. 😉
Attacking the advertisers, in this case, smacks of censorship. Bauerle is a talk show host and is entitled to his opinion and running his show his way. While I agree with most of the views he expressed on government today, the rhetoric and approach he took could have used some work. I also empathize with the frustration of watching our government create the perfect storm for the complete destruction of the U.S.as it once was. The advertisers are only trying to make a living, in a tough economy, and do not have editorial input on his content. You are making them into innocent victims.
In the past, when Bauerle would go on his war & Islamofascist rants, I would practice my editorial control by turning him off. Urge people not listen, if you so fell inclined, but do not punish innocent people trying to run a business.
Well, Mike, I never said Bauerle didn’t have a right to spew whatever hateful garbage he chooses to spew. Indeed, Entercom has a right to air it, if it chooses. By the same token, I have a right to contact the businesses who advertise, and thereby underwrite, Bauerle’s hateful garbage and inquire of them if they realize what they’re endorsing. If they don’t, I can inform them. If they do, I can choose to never patronize them, and encourage others to do the same.
Mike,
They aren’t innocent, they are complicit. They choose who to advertise with. They in fact have full editorial control over his content; that’s why standards and practices boards exist for the broadcast TV networks – you think NBC would spend millions rewriting all of their TV shows if Proctor & Gamble didn’t make them? hah.
Mike:
Problem is, due to ownership restrictions being relaxed, the company that owns WBEN has been able to manipulate the AM dial so that WBEN has no real competition. This means that many people who do not agree with Bauerle, will still tune in for news, etc. This means Bauerle has uncontested ratings. If he had legit competition, he’d have a lot more to worry about and maybe wouldn’t feel so comfortable indulging himself in his own hysteria. This “only game in town” scenario most certainly justifies a right that we all have anyway (especially considering TB is using the public airwaves) and that is the right to let sponsors know that this guy is so beyond irresponsible that it baffles the mind why a businessman would choose to alieanate more than half the population by supporting this kind of propaganda and rhetoric.
Wait so going after the advertisers is the wrong way to go about this? Are you fucking serious?
He’s using public airwaves to spew his crazy right wing bullshit. Because assholes like you have continually supported leasing and selling off every thing we the public owned over the last few decades, we now have no other option but boycotting sponsors if we want to control what’s broadcast on our own public airwaves.
Tom Bauerle is batshit crazy and I’d be proud to be called out by him Alan. When people like that start dragging you though the mud with childish insults, it’s because their afraid you’re making too much sense.
And if he’s looking for a liberal to throw down with, tell him he can fight a real live socialist next time I’m in town.
It’s a life long dream of mine to punch an delusional republican radio host in his old, out of touch face.
Fucking brilliant.
Alan has every right to encourage others to boycott the sponsors, and Bauerle has every right to say whatever he wants. If the boycott does more damage than the ratings Bauerle pulls in, and he pulls great ratings, then the advertisers will go away.
My guess is it will have very little effect because as Brian said above, if you change the channel you are probably just changing to another Entercom station. You want to advertise on the radio in Buffalo to certain demographics, you don’t have a lot of choices.
That being said, radio listener and blogger vs. radio talk show host is about as exciting to me as sports blogger vs. asshat sports columnist probably is to Alan.
I’d like to take the opportunity to point out two things at this juncture of the conversation.
1.) Tune into our partner station WECK1230AM for non-fuckbag radio. Or flip over to the FM dial and enjoy the offerings from Citadel Communications (97 Rock, 103.3, 104.1)
2.) Answering Mike in WNY is pointless. Debating with a libertarian is like getting into an argument with a Teddy Ruxpin doll. No matter what you say, he will just repeat the same five pre-programmed sentences over and over and over.
“Tom Bauerle or Jim Ostrowski should go to a concentration camp”
Naaawww. Im sure a residential program leading to some out patient treatment could in a few years potentially maybe enable them to one day feel empathy. That is, first assuming that you can get their copy of the Fountainhead from their underground safes.
Pardon, Mr. Smith? As a libertarian myself, I disagree with your judgment of our ilk.
Although I can say that nobody does a greater disservice to the libertarian cause than what I would term hard-core libertarians.
Bauerle’s show is nothing more than an info-mercial for the right. He doesn’t want debate. Contorversy gets the ratings and gets the sponsors to pay the bills and TB’s salary. Bauerle is nothing original. Notice that all the national right wingers are going balistic lately. Hanitty and Limbaugh are further off the deep end than ever. Bauerle is just fitting the mold, following the lead of the other shows on WBEN. He is more PT Barnum than William Buckley. He along with his friends are just desparate because they recently suffered a massive repudiation of everything they have been spewing for the last 8 years. They are frantically trying to right the failboat before it completely sinks.
You should consider his ranting against you as a badge of honor. 🙂
It would be interesting to know how many people call the sponsors and tell them they will not be using their business if they continue to advertise. Knowing businessmen, once they get a few calls they will panic and might pull the plug on the advertisements on his show, especially if they know there are approximately 140,000 more of those so called liberals in Erie County alone when you look at the registration of Democrats to Republicans.
My advice is turn off 930. You’re profile says you were an R and now you’re a D. I had the same revelation. The Neo-cons of the previous 8 years clarified everything for me. Their divisiveness is designed to destroy the America most of us love. Unfortunately the conservative media has taken over the airwaves and WBEN seems to be promoting the attitude. I grew up with Sandy Beach in the old days and enjoy his afternoon show until recently. Now, he’s off the wall too. Just tune it out, maybe it’ll go away.
Kevin, you’re not a libertarian. You’re a dabbler. You dabble in the economic theory and personal freedom angles.
Jim and Mike are libertarians. Von Mises quoting, Constitution denyin’, Lew Rockwell leg humpin’, Ron Paul groupie libertarians.
NO! Do not turn OFF the radio to acoid WBEN: Just listen to a different station. If you turn off the radio, you no longer will count in the dividing of the ratings pie. Listening to another station INSTEAD actually rediects ratings elsewhwere. (Of course this is all assuming you are a ratings diary-keeper)
I listen to NPR. It has in indepth intelligent coverage on diverse and well reported subjects. And, no rants
I really don’t know what the right wingers are in a tizzy about. Barack W. Obama’s policies are the same as the last several administrations.
You still listen to WBEN? I used to up until a few years ago when the station was a little less crazy right-wing and I was a little bit more naive about the morally corrupt Republican party.
Now, It’s Buffalo’s local version of Fox News.. on the radio of course. I don’t know how they can call themselves a “news radio” station when over half of it’s programming is ultra-conservative propaganda.
I listen to WNED 970 now. More thought-provoking news without the conservative slant.
Just like Fox News, WBEN has personalities with zero knowledge of what they’re talking about, who rally up all their followers to oppose the president of the united states (the exact thing they said was Un-American when people were opposing Bush), and actually keep questioning if our president is secretly a Muslim (or i.e. to them: a terrorist)
Tom Bauerle is a fat, closet-case, hack of a radio personality who probably doesn’t believe half the stuff he’s spouting out. He just repeats what he hears from his idol: Rush Limbaugh, another fat, closet-case, hack of a radio personality.
I’m patiently waiting for some awful scandal with either Tom or Rush to show the nation how hypocritical they really are. Until then, I don’t even listen to them. What they say is pure garbage and the people who listen to them and like them are poor little sheep who are still angry that a black man is in control of this country and that the Republican party is in shambles and may be run in the near future by Sarah Palin.
Sorry Chris, but you are the one with the standard response because you have nothing else to bring to the table.
To wit:
Variations of that have become your standard rejoinder.
My original point, which I stand by, is that a business has limited advertising dollars and needs to spend it where it can get the most bang for the buck. If you succeed in changing the listener patterns, you will change the advertising patterns. There are myriad choices other than listening to Bauerle. Trying to financially hurt a business, like Apnea Care, which provides a highly necessary, and sometimes hard to find service, for people is not helping society.
@Jon Splett, invectives are your forte, skip the political analysis because you are too far to the left to be saved.
As for my libertarian positions, they are all predicated on basic principles of fairness and opportunity for everyone. Also, that people have become so reliant on the government that they have forgotten what it is like to have some pride in taking care of one’s self and in the process having the ability to help others voluntarily.
Tom Bauerle has really small penis. Literally (according to sources) and figuratively (for being a complete wussy as a talk show host).
And yeah, like I heard, it’s really small. . . Somehow that would make sense.
I think it would be interesting for Tom Bauerle’s sponsors to hear that he called just about half of their current (and potential) customers “psychopaths”.
Someday, Bauerle and his ilk will learn that there’s more to life than their precious right-wing bubble of demonizing liberals and such.
The desperation is evident,,,,,,Bauerle, Rush, et. al. have staked their professional lives on the conservative movement and it blew up in their face. Some, like Rush, chose to drown their sorrows with a massive dose of OxyContin and underage Dominican boys. Others, like Bauerle, opt to double down and engage in open sedition (yes, sedition) to appease the 20% lizard brain audience that’s left.
One question to the libertarian clowns on this thread……you do realize that Bauerle’s rantings are not protected speech, right?
@Mike in WNY
“Variations of that have become your standard rejoinder.”
It is that way after attempting to have discussions with the Freener crowd over the past two years. I’ve given up as has just about everyone else in the local blog scene.
I’ll be calling unyts today.
As the person who decides on radio ads for a moderately large org in buffalo, entercom will not be making the cut in the future for us, and I’ll make sure to tell theie sales rep why.
@Mike in WNY – I choose the businesses I patronize based on a whole host of things. Suffice it to say, if they were in a consumer market I would never do business with Haliburton. I don’t choose to buy gas from Exxon-Mobil, and there’s a right wing nut job that owns a restuarant down the street that will never see a dollar of my money. If advertisers spend money supporting a program I dislike, I definitely tell like minded people about it. It isn’t censorship, it is the freedom of expression that I enjoy based on the first amendment. Those advertisers call their sales rep and ASK TO HAVE THEIR SPOT ON THE BAURLE SHOW….not like billboard ads that go up wherever there is a free spot.
And, it is not like cannot redirect those ad dollars to another advertising venue…maybe like a banner ad on WNYMedia or Buffalo Stuff.
@Chris, I have run across many open-minded people, including several in “the local blog scene”, who have since rejected the socialist message and see the benefits of freedom. All one has to do is look around at government and the economy today and answer one simple question – why?
To: “Mike in WNY”, I went to your website and saw the cartoon on the front page saying that government was the reason why the economy went sour, the auto industry went belly up, and the housing market crashed. If I’m not mistaken, all of those things occurred happened with a surprising lack of government intervention. Greedy mortgage lenders giving loans out to people who couldn’t afford them thanks to the deregulation that occurred during the Bush and Clinton administrations(regulations that were put into place to prevent the exact the exact thing from happening). Poor planning by the American automakers led to their demise racking up hundreds of billion dollars in debt and was only made worse when the economy hit the fan.
So, the government is cleaning up the mess of an overly deregulated economy and it’s their fault because it’s GASP!, socialist. Canada is socialist and their banks are the most stable of them out there.
Citadel Communications? What’s up with the plug of that corporation?
97 Rock and 104.1 FM don’t have talk shows.
103.3 FM does have a talk show weekday afternoons.
Alan, it’s about time this happened. TB is an asshat. He obviously just watches Fox News, listens to Rush and recycles their BS. Most of them probably don’t even believe half the shit they are saying. That’s the thing nobody seems to get.
Olbermann and Maher and other liberal talking heads keep saying that these people (Rush, Buchanan, Ingraham, Palin, Coulter) are crazy or misinformed. They are simply spewing more and more absurd nonsense to tap into a market segment of racists bigots and republicans.
The rich white assholes who underwrite them don’t give a shit. They let the Palins and Rush’s do their dirty work.
The Housing market crashed because liberals in the government forced banks to make loans to people who didn’t have the ability to pay. The Auto Market crashed because since 1973 the liberal greenies in the government have put endless restrictions on emissions, and they also had to make sure their hand-puppets inthe UAW were cared for. McCain called for banking restrictions, but Dodd and Frank saw to it that there were none.
Better check yourself. BTW, I am NOT a “Freener”, thougth I know most of them well, and enjoy arguing with them.
Leave it to an asshat republican to consider emissions limitations a BAD thing!
By the way HANK, the auto industry ran into trouble because they had products that were inferior to the foreign products—foregin products that had the same exact requirements placed on them! AGAIN, a republican who wants to blame evrybody else for failures that THEY helped sustain. If people like Hank wouldn’t buy American just to buy American, maybe the auto industry would’ve adapted long agao to vehicles that people wanted and/or were not non-renewable fuel guzzlers.
you really come across like a sniveling brat in this article, and quite like the “ass hat” that he I hate Baurele too, but It’s free speech, dude! And its HIS show. Dont like it? Then dont listen, or get your own talk show. I highly doubt your little temper tantrum is going to cost him ANY advertisers, listeners, or his job. You have no more right to control what he says then he does over what you write. So get over it.
The internet and print are different mediums than radio. Bauerle broadcasts over airwaves collectively owned by the public. This is not the case with the press. The owner of a newspaper or computer server does NOT have the same level of accountability as those on the public’s airwaves. The owners of WBEN have a responsability to do responsible boradcasts. To think the kind of deceptive propaganda and rhetoric as espoused by these nutjobs is “responsible” is indicative of a psychosis, coincidentally.
“This is not the case with the press. The owner of a newspaper or computer server does NOT have the same level of accountability as those on the public’s airwaves. The owners of WBEN have a responsability to do responsible boradcasts”
What fantasy land are you living in? 95% of the garbage broadcast is commercial, political or cultural propaganda.
I listen to Bauerle most days, and take the show at face value. Where I take issue with article is (1) you’re probably more bitter than the average reader of this post since you had personally interacted with Bauerle (you are not an impartial party). (2) complaining over a “one-sided” debate. It’s his show, he can present whatever narrow scope he wants. (3) recanting elements of the show in this forum, for activist reasons to boycot his sponsors, because you don’t like him, or his format or his message, etc.. is BS activism. The same hold true for religious groups having people boycott Howard Stern, or whomevers. sponsors. If ratings are good, many people either agree with the message, or enjoy the entertainment. Don’t go to Krolicks if you don’t want to. Why are you so concerned that Krolicks be contacted about this radio show?. They are big boys, I’m sure they can determine if the subject matter is worthy of their sponsorship.
Mike says: “What fantasy land are you living in? 95% of the garbage broadcast is commercial, political or cultural propaganda.”
My question to Mike:
Why do you have such trouble distinguishing between reality and fiction? You think it’s acceptable to incite people in the way these wingnuts do? If so, you’re part of the problem in this country.
@Hank – the government did not force the lendors to make bad loans. The CRA simply says that if banks are going to take deposits in a certain neighborhood, they also have to make loans in those neighborhoods as well. The banks made loans because they they can make them and sell them quickly, and then they don’t have the responsibility of servicing them. The brokers and the execs get their bonuses and then they sell the mortgages to a second tier loan servicer, who might even sell it to a third tier. If you aren’t really going to get screwed when the loan goes bad, and you are going to get your bonus, why not make the loans? This is the ugky side of capitalism.
The auto industry failed because they made cars people didn;t want at prices higher than the foriegn cars people did want.
@Ron – I don’t think Alan’s problem is because Bauerle’s message is not ideologically the same as Alan’s. I think it is because A.) Bauerle invites people to call in and engage in discourse and then someone who disagrees calls in and he gets hung up on. B.) Having differing ideas is one thing. Advocating for a military action is another all together.
It’s Bauerle that looked like the psychopath there. Clearly paranoid and dillusional. Alan just called him out, and I certainly don’t think it is inappropriate to let advertisers know you will not support them if the continue to underwrite someone who advocates for violence as a solution to our problems.
The problem is that debate doesn’t work anymore. I side with Tom, him I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” We can talk and “debate” until we are blue in the face but nothing changes. Thanks Tom for having the courage to stand up for us.
Jackie, Tom “stands up for you” by calling half of America “psychotic asshats”? Then it must follow that you were cool with ultra-left comparisons of Bush with Hitler. Thanks for clearing that up.
would this be the same “alan” who routinely bars me from posting, even when then comments section has turned it’s attention to me? good for bauerle! it’s way past time that a phsychotic asshat such as yourself got his comeuppance.
Look at you getting an unmoderated comment, Mike. You must be so proud.
I think Jackie’s comment is pretty instructive. Debate is fine with the right as long as it “works” and they win. When they lose, they refuse to “take it” and turn to violence.
Pundit vs TB – two asshats just coming from opposite extremes. They are more alike than either would care to admit.
This Liberal/ Conservative, “He said / she said” is wearing so thin… The same company, Entercom Communications @ 500 Corporate Parkway, sells you Randi Rhodes AND Rush Limbaugh. The two stations share the same receptionist. It’s all one big corporate money grab with the same puppet masters behind BOTH doors.
Safelink – Cellphones for people on welfare. The money goes to Tracfone the CORPORATION. That’s what it was all about from the start.
No matter which “side” is on top, nothing changes. Our taxes never went down under Pataki. Oh sure, he reduced taxes by dumping mandates on the counties. But at the end of it all, my taxes didn’t go down a dime.
The problem with Bauerle is that he simply goes off the deep end, as does Beach, but to a lesser extent. Comparing Obama to Hitler is just plain ridiculous—unless you’re either insanely paranoid and/or woefully ignorant of history. The constant mischaracterizing of information for the sake of manipulating people into agreeing with your stance is dishonest at best: reckless and irresponsible at worst. I listen to these guys routinely take information, distort and pervert it, and then draw specious conclusions to support their wacked out hypothesis. This is not thoughtful consideration of a subject, but rather fearmongering that is targeting the lowest common denominator. I used to think talkradio audiences were more informed than the average person. Now I think talkradio audiences are, on average, some of the most misguided, thanks to the childish approach that has been adopted by all the Rush clones.
Bauerle isn’t even the worst one on his station. Tune in at 5:30 on Saturdays
I just flat-out consider THAT show a comedy, so it’s not really as outrageous.
Which day this week was Stern most compelling? How about when he had the porn star on with her stroke victim father asking the father how he felt when he found out his daughter was a porn star, Now that is great radio!
I thought the Halperin interview was fascinating, I thought the whole Vinny Favale musical discussion was fascinating, Bruno, Artie’s arrest, cockeoke – what part wasn’t compelling.
The porn star stuff has been uninteresting since the late 80s. Everything else I agree on.
Just listen to Kathy on Saurdays. Talk about someone who is disturbed. What has become of WBEN? All I hear is Hate Talk, nothing but garbage. I love when they disagree with you, they just talk over you or cut you off and push their magic button. I will call the sponsors and ask if they want their companies represented by their hate talk. Just listen to them and you hear distrubed people. At least on 1520 you can talk and NOT BE TALKED TO. I heard Bauerle say this was his show and he could say whatever he wanted and not listen to folks and not let them speak. What kind of radio is this? We have crazies already like Limbaugh. God help us.
What is the big deal – they are ENTERTAINERS – nothing else!
If I’m a liberal and want to get worked up I’ll listen to Tom, Rush or Kathy, If I’m not a Liberal and want to get worked up I’ll listen to/watch Olberman, CNN or CNBC.
Taking it out on local business just hurts local business – gee I think I’ll revoke out my organ donor card – that will show Upstate NY Transplant that I mean business!!!
If you don’t like what you hear turn the effing dial!!!
The problem is that a lot of listeners think of these hosts as legit journalists or newspeople. WBEN spent 80 years building credibility, but now that credibility is being exploited and trashed by irresponsible bradcasters who haven’t any regard for facts. The Sarah Palin mentality makes up the core of WBEN’s audience. Sad.
WTF does Palin have to do with local entertainemtn radio? Brian you are geasping at straws. TB and SB do what they do because it draws in listeners and sells products – it’s wht business in the country used to be encouraged to do. Want to see slanted journalism go to the library and scan some newspapers from the first half of th 20th century – the stuff in those news papers makes WBEN seem tame indeed. And no one would ever think the WBEN shows were news shows they clearl state that they are not at many opportunities. The problem with both hosts is not their politics but more their overall lack of intelligence. Got sick and tired of Sandy Beach doing entire shows about a small article in the paper then when anyone would ask him a question about the topic he would say “I don’t know, the article doesn’t say” Hey Sandy it’s called show prep – how about etting on the internet and doin some!
But Sally, as you say, they’re entertainers…which means it is NOT their job to EDUCATE. Lord knows they don’t do that (unless you count propaganda). My advice to you is, if you want to LEARN more about a subject, YOU go online and do your own research.
Tom B. should have entertained a little more debate with you on his show. Sorry that didn’t work out better for you. It obviously hurt, and I hope reducing the profitability of WBEN and conservative-sympathizers in the local business community (while damaging to the WNY economy), can at least sooth your wounds a bit.
For years, we conservatives have developed a tolerance for liberal viewpoints. At its heart, conservatism is about valuing talent, freedom, achievement, hard work, productiveness and creativity. We reward all of these in the free market place. All my favorite actors, rock bands, film directors, authors, computer company CEOs, have espoused liberal viewpoints that rub me the wrong way. But I look past it because the value their work brings to my life transcends our political differences.
But Not so with liberals. They’ve been kind of spoiled all these years; what with so few to challenge their viewpoints in the media (until talk radio emerged).
For liberals, a well shingled roof, a delicious meal, a quality car; none of these could compare with the glory of clean airwaves, scoured of dissent. I think, when it comes down to it, liberals value liberalism above all else. It’s time for a little more tolerance on the left.
Just listen to Kathy on Saurdays.
I try to do anything I can not to. Between her shrill voice and usually boring or idiotic topics, and the constant whining, I can’t stand her
The angry, hateful approach to talk radio is the easiest to take and it seems this “style” is the “best” Bauerle can do.
Even with a dwindling audience of loyal, brain-numbed listeners, Bauerle’s divisive, vicious and tired talk has only served to alienate;Drive away many potential new WBEN listeners.
Bauerle’s style is bad business and keeping him on the air is also bad business on Entercom’s part.
What advertiser wants a specious, splenetic bitter propagandist promoting their product or service?
What’s the difference between advertisers on the major networks pulling their $$$ from TV program whose content offends both them and their consumers
and
a local radio host who offends large numbers of consumers getting yanked off the air and replaced by a more level-headed, sane host who offers fresh, interesting ideas while inviting debate from both sides of the political aisle,
without hanging up on those who disagree in a childish fit?
Any loss of respect and audience is Bauerle’s fault;He’s welcome to blame his lack of restraint;The same kind of mental instability we’ve been seeing in Lindbaugh and Beck lately.
Time to go, Tom.
Please take one of those “twice-your-current pay out-of-town talk show offers” you’ve bragged about so often in the past.
Actually both Baurle and Beach have had ratings increases over the past year. The more liberal Ron Dobson tanked and was let go because he could not attract listenes or callers.
How about a cite, Sally? Thanks.
dkitchen… Oh you’re soooo conservative. Socialism is OK when it’s the Buffalo Bills and the government is building a stadium for them. Socialism is OK when the government is handing out $25 million to the glorified bait shop. Grow up.
What Bauerle is trying to say is…Buffalo is a shithole because of the Liberals. After 50 years of voting Democratic, he is probably right. The problem is, we all know Buffalo is a shithole because of the unions, democrats, and weather, but that doesn’t fill 15 hours a week.
Do yourself a favor and change the station (and vote Republican).
Philip Bradley,
I don’t have a problem with “entertainment” until some moron busts into a church with a shotgun and randomly starts shooting people because the church is “too liberal”. The police search his house and he has Beck, O’Reilly and Savage books all over the place. And he’s he’s copy/pasting them into his manifesto.
I’m all for freedom of speech. There is, however, a thing called personal responsibility.
Last week I heard a couple of minutes of Baurle. He was ranting and danced right up to the line of calling for a violent revolution and overthrow of the government. And he’s calling OTHER people “asshats”?
You are one needy lieberal who needs to have his misguided and dangerous views validated.. No. That is impossible. Seek validation amongst the nazis and Socialists who hold similar views and go seek refuge there..
Thanks for weighing in with the crazy. And just 3 weeks later, to boot.
Liberalism is a sickness, but we need to treat it or find a cure. Telling a crazy person that he/she is crazy is not helping, nor will he/she believe you! Lets stop calling Liberals names and treat them like a little brother with a generalized disorder like mental retardation. Only when we accept this fact, can we start changing this world for the better.
It appears you were spot on regarding identification of the crazy party.
YOUR INSANE AND HE PROVEDBIS POINT BY GIVING ALL THE ROPE YOU NEED TO HANG YOURSELF WITH RADIO HOST IS AN ADMIRABLE PATRIOTIC MAN MORON MAYBE YOU SHOULD MOVE TO CUBA!
YOUR INSANE AND HE PROVEDBIS POINT BY GIVING ALL THE ROPE YOU NEED TO HANG YOURSELF WITH RADIO HOST IS AN ADMIRABLE PATRIOTIC MAN MORON MAYBE YOU SHOULD MOVE TO CUBA!!’n
Bauerle always responds this way. His whole “I’m smarter than you” act is a joke. He’s a shock jock, nothing more. Have you seen his “vindication ” remarks? He still refuses to say who was spying on him, because no one was. what a pathetic cry for publicity.
Bauerle spends way too much time claiming how tough he is. Which leads me to believe , like most little guys, he has a massive inferiority complex
Tom was f***ing with you bro chill out lmao