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KSVY is a community asset

Valley forum

I first want to thank all my allies who have called me and written letters of support for my six-year run of the segment “Deconstructing Politics” on the KSVY Morning Show.

  It has been an honor and a learning experience to serve the community. I hope that I have helped raise the level of political discourse in Sonoma. My intention has been to define progressive talk radio as an alternative to the usual AM radio political talk shows, that tend to be angry, confrontational and lacking substantive content.

  Over the years, I have developed a local following of folks who have appreciated my efforts to demonstrate what progressive talk radio sounds like. I seek to be conversational, information-rich and witty. The service that I provide is a brief political essay from a labor-progressive point of view on national, state and local politics, based on my extensive reading and personal contacts with regional political actors, labor leaders and nonprofit policy advocates.

  You can place my views on the political spectrum by my primary sources for the segment: Paul Krugman, Robert Reich and E.J. Dionne. Hardly a bunch of flaming radicals.

  I’m not a Democratic Party partisan. Anyone who listens to my segment on a regular basis knows that I spend quite a bit of time critiquing the Democrats and the Obama administration. I have often stated on my segment that I wished that I had a political party that fully represents my views.

  Bill Hammett’s statement in his Aug. 17 letter to the editor (“KSVY seeks to serve all Sonoma”) regarding KSVY policy, conceals more than it reveals. Hammett wrote, “… the political programming KSVY does carry aims for balance among differing opinions, just as our community itself has a range of opinions.” That would seem to argue for having even more political segments, representing the full spectrum of political views in American politics, not just the center-right dialog that dominates mainstream media.

  One does wonder what the real motivation behind this policy change is. Let’s put this in perspective. It’s not that big a deal. Radio stations often change their format, hosts and guests, and that is the prerogative of the station manager. However, since the community has been invited to participate in KSVY, we have the right to comment on station policies. I recommend that they conduct a census of programming preferences for regular listeners. The management might find that there is an audience for quality, informed political analysis by Sonoma Valley residents.

Ben Boyce is a resident of the Springs.