''Save KLSD'' is a 2012 documentary film about the history and effects of

media consolidation Concentration of media ownership (also known as media consolidation or media convergence) is a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media. Contemporary research demonstrates in ...

on democracy in the United States. Over the course of four and a half years, the producers attended

media reform Media reform refers to proposed attempts to reform mass media towards an agenda which is more in tune with public needs and away from a perceived bias toward corporate, government or political biases. Media reform advocates also place a strong emph ...

conferences, conducted research, and filmed interviews and presentations by leading media reform experts and commentators. Those involved in the film include:

Bill Moyers Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers, June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Counci ...

Robert Reich Robert Bernard Reich (; born June 24, 1946) is an American professor, author, lawyer, and political commentator. He worked in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and served as Secretary of Labor from 1993 to 1997 i ...

Van Jones Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones (born September 20, 1968) is an American news and political commentator, author, and lawyer. He is the co-founder of several non-profit organizations, a three-time ''New York Times'' bestselling author, a CNN host and ...

Phil Donahue Phillip John Donahue (born December 21, 1935) is an American media personality, writer, film producer and the creator and host of '' The Phil Donahue Show''. The television program, later known simply as ''Donahue'', was the first talk show form ...

Ed Schultz Edward Andrew Schultz (January 27, 1954 – July 5, 2018) was an American television and radio host, political commentator, news anchor and sports broadcaster. He was the host of '' The Ed Show'', a weekday news talk program on MSNBC from ...

David Shuster David Martin Shuster (born July 22, 1967) is an American television journalist and talk radio host. He most recently served as principal anchor and managing editor for i24 News (American TV channel), i24 News, previously serving as an anchor for ...

Cenk Uygur Cenk Kadir Uygur ( ; ; born March 21, 1970) is a Turkish-American progressive political commentator, media host, attorney, journalist, and politician. Uygur is the creator of '' The Young Turks'', an American left-wing, sociopolitical, progressi ...

Amy Goodman Amy Goodman (born April 13, 1957) is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter, and author. Her investigative journalism career includes coverage of the East Timor independence movement, Morocco's occupati ...

Thom Hartmann Thomas Carl Hartmann (born May 7, 1951) is an American radio personality, author, former psychotherapist, businessman, and progressive political commentator. Hartmann has been hosting a nationally syndicated radio show, ''The Thom Hartmann Pr ...

, Stacy Taylor, John Nichols,

Richard Wolffe Richard L. Wolffe (born 17 September 1968) is a British-American journalist, MSNBC commentator, and author of the Barack Obama books ''Renegade: The Making of a President'' (Crown, June 2009) and ''Revival: The Struggle for Survival Inside ...

Randi Rhodes Randi is both a given name, and a nickname in the English language, popular in North America and Norway. It is primarily a feminine name, although there is recorded usage of the name by men. It may have originated as a pet form of '' Miranda'' ...

, Congressman

Bob Filner Robert Earl "Bob" Filner (born September 4, 1942) is an American former politician who was the 35th mayor of San Diego from December 2012 through August 2013, when he resigned amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment. He later pleaded gui ...

, Jon Adelstein, Robert McChesney, Bob Edgar, Mike Aguirre, Marjorie Cohn, Michael Krasny, J.W. August, Andrew Donohue, Marti Emerald, and author

Eric Klinenberg Eric M. Klinenberg (born November 14, 1970) is an American sociologist and a scholar of urban studies, culture, and media. He is currently Helen Gould Shepard Professor in Social Science and Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New ...

. Save KLSD is narrated by

Bree Walker Bree Walker (born Patricia Lynn Nelson; February 26, 1953) is an American radio talk show host, actress, and disability-rights activist. She gained fame as the first on-air American television network news anchor with ectrodactyly. Walker work ...

and Jon Elliott. It is produced by

Jennifer Douglas Jennifer Colleen Douglas (born 1964 in Saginaw, Michigan) is an American writer/producer and activist. She has worked in film, video, television, radio, print and Internet projects. She is the writer and co-producer of the 2012 documentary fil ...

and

Jon Monday Jon Monday (born 1947 in San Jose, California) is an American producer and distributor of CDs and DVDs across an eclectic range of material such as Swami Prabhavananda, Aldous Huxley, Christopher Isherwood, Huston Smith, Chalmers Johnson, and Char ...

, and directed by

for distribution by mondayMEDIA. It was released on DVD in April 2012. The film's national broadcast premiered on Link TV on Saturday, September 8, 2012 at 2:30pm PST.

Plot

The film traces the events of 2007 when local radio station KLSD in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, California, owned by radio giant

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

, decided to alter the programming from

progressive talk radio Progressive talk radio is a talk radio format devoted to expressing left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoints of news and issues as opposed to conservative talk radio. In the United States, the format has included syndicated and independ ...

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comedy ...

. Local activists hold protest rallies and try to persuade the owners to keep the liberal format, the only outlet for liberal talk in the San Diego market. At the time, the station was being considered for the change. It ranked #1 in

time spent listening Time spent listening (TSL) is one of the measurements surveyed by Nielsen Audio in determining ratings for radio stations in the United States. It is the equivalent of Average Time Exposed (ATE), Daily or Weekly. TSL is defined as the amount of ti ...

and had a growing market share. It also explores the history of media and broadcast regulation, the move to deregulate, and the impact from deregulation that allowed for what the filmmakers consider to be unprecedented consolidation, to the point where a majority of all media (radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, and internet) are controlled by just five major corporations.Media Reform Center
/ref>

References

External links

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San Diego Media Blog
Documentary films about American politics Documentary films about the media 2012 films 2012 documentary films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films {{poli-documentary-film-stub