"Souled out" [September 3] was one of the best things I've ever read in the Dallas Observer. Anyone who grew up around here in the late '70s and early '80s like I did can't help but stop and reflect for a while after reading something like this. Someone once said that "radio is the triumph of illiteracy." I disagree. I'd like to suggest that big media monopolies are now the triumph of illiteracy and the defeaters of expression, creativity, etc.
If there are any conservatives out there who still believe in deregulating everything in sight, please step up and prepare to be executed. This kind of story reveals the ugly result of monopoly ownership. I hope this helps to expose Mr. [Tom] Hicks as the robber baron that he is, masquerading as a popular sports club owner.
Anonymous
Lewisville
I have to say that I'm a pretty unemotional guy, but reading Robert Wilonsky's article about Q102 just about caused me to be placed on the recipients' list for a tear-gland transplant. If any radio execs are reading this response, I have one thing to say: Get your [email protected]#$ TOGETHER! THE UPWARDLY MOBILE TWENTYSOMETHING RADIO LISTENER IS DYING OUT HERE!
TED LANDON
ARLINGTON
THANKS FOR PROVIDING SOME QUALITY INSIGHT INTO THE DEATH OF Q102. REDBEARD AND BUDDY WYLIE WERE MY TWO FAVORITE DJS IN TOWN. TO THROW THEM AWAY LIKE THIS IS SAD.
WHILE I MAY BE TOO YOUNG TO REMEMBER ITS GLORY DAYS, I WAS A LOYAL Q102 LISTENER UNTIL I MOVED AWAY TO COLLEGE. WITHOUT Q102, I PROBABLY WOULDN'T HAVE KNOWN ABOUT SOME OF THE BEST BANDS IN THE DALLAS AREA, NAMELY THE TOADIES AND THE DEARLY DEPARTED COURSE OF EMPIRE. THANKS FOR A FEW YEARS OF GREAT MUSIC. "TEXAS' BEST ROCK" IS TRULY DEAD. SCREW THE CONQUERING CORPORATIONS.
RYAN WADLE
VIA E-MAIL
Carpetbaggin' lawyers
I THOUGHT YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THAT YOUR EXCELLENT SERIES OF ARTICLES DEALING WITH THE "LAW FIRM" OF BARON & BUDD ["TOXIC JUSTICE" AND "THE CONTROL FREAK," AUGUST 13] IS ON THE LAPTOPS AND IN THE HANDS OF EVERY DEFENSE LAWYER I KNOW WHO IS WORKING THESE CASES. I DO TAKE ISSUE WITH YOUR CLAIMS THAT BARON AT ONE TIME FOUGHT SOME SORT OF "GOOD FIGHT" GONE BAD. BARON & BUDD HAS PLACED INNOCENT PEOPLE OUT OF WORK, BANKRUPTED CORPORATIONS, AND DISPLACED AN ENTIRE INDUSTRY BASED ON JUNK SCIENCE. SEE, FOR EXAMPLE, A RECENT ARTICLE IN THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE THAT FOLLOWED THE CANCER RATES AMONG WOMEN IN AN ASBESTOS MINING TOWN IN QUEBEC WHERE THE AIR RATING WAS FREQUENTLY OF A HIGHER FIBER COUNT THAN HAS BEEN FOUND IN SOME STEEL MILLS. THERE WAS NO ARGUABLE INCREASE IN THE CANCER RATE AMONG THOSE WOMEN.
WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, I WISH YOU TEXANS WOULD KEEP YOUR CARPETBAGGIN' PLAINTIFFS' LAWYERS IN CHECK. MY NAME IS WITHHELD TO PROTECT MY CLIENTS, WHO WOULD SUDDENLY START BEING NAMED IN DEPOSITION IF I USED MY NAME.
NAME WITHHELD
VIA E-MAIL
Pre-millennium tension
THANK YOU FOR YOUR FAIR LOOK AT THE Y2K BUG ["BUGGED BY THE MILLENNIUM," AUGUST 27]. IT CANNOT BE FIXED UNLESS THE MEDIA MAKE PEOPLE, COMPANIES, AND THE GOVERNMENT AWARE AND ASKS, ARE YOU PREPARED? KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, AND THANKS AGAIN FOR NOT MAKING FUN OF A PROBLEM THAT IS NOT FUNNY.
RON BANKS
VIA E-MAIL
ROSE FARLEY'S PEJORATIVE COMMENTS ON THE DALLAS AREA Y2K COMMUNITY PREPAREDNESS GROUP THAT MEETS IN NORTH DALLAS ARE SENSATIONALIST SLOP. THE REASON I DIDN'T PROVIDE MY NAME FOR THE ARTICLE IS OBVIOUS AFTER READING THE "KOOK" COMMENT. MORE THAN 5,000 SUBSCRIBERS IN 53 COUNTRIES READ MY Y2K-NEWS E-MAIL LIST. AND 25,000 ARTICLES ON Y2K WERE SERVED TO WEB SURFERS FROM MY http://Y2KWatch.com Web site in August. The Y2K-News e-mail list and Y2K-Watch Web site provide balanced conservative opinions on what will be the most talked-about issue in 1999.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the Observer's goofball spin, though. As a card-carrying member of Hillary's much-feared "vast right-wing conspiracy," I'm used to mainstream media muckraking. At least Rose didn't call me a "cyber-survivalist" who is "predicting a Y2K apocalypse" as the Chicago Tribune did.
The Y2K Weatherman
Via e-mail
This was a well-done, balanced article. One note, though: I read The Washington Post and Washington Times every day. By no stretch could the reporting in the Times be called ultraconservative. It states that it is a conservative paper, but it is no further to the right than the Post is to the left. Keep up the good work.
Ed Petrovic
Abingdon, Maryland
Your article on the millennium bug...it was a spoof, right? If not, then I am surprised at you all!
The great superpower U.S.A. felled by such a small problem as the millennium bug? And we, in our tiny island [the United Kingdom], have solved the problem for as little as $80 per computer? Surely not!
