“IF THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS TAKEN
AWAY THEN DUMB AND SILENT WE MAY BE
LED LIKE SHEEP TO THE SLAUGHTER.”
George Washington
So if you were faced with the loss of freedom of speech how would you respond? Would you knuckle under and let yourself be trampled on by someone who set themselves over you and dictated what you can and cannot say?
Would you stand for it? Even if it cost you what you had been doing for the last 31 years?
Many of you know who Marshal Allen Bailey and Cowgirl Janey are. Among the many other talents for the last 31 years they have hosted a program on High Plains Public Radio called WESTERN SWING AND OTHER THINGS. The program is heard on the double station based in Garden City, Kansas and Amarillo, Texas. For thirty one years on Saturday mornings the sound of Western Swing Music and other Americana music has been heard in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. As well as those who listen from all over the world on the internet.
National Public Radio has been public funded by listeners and tax dollars and brings a wide range of styles for the public to listen to. Yet the way that you break into the broadcasting industry is most times through Public Radio and TV. So those making a big splash come right out of school and are overloaded with the mush that is thrown at students today. Those that can recognize bovine fecal matter go on and do well. Those that buy in go into areas that they should be kept at arms length from, usually making a mess while they are there on their way up (or out).
The HPPR stations I am sure appear to be a hick backwater to this youngster from the University. So I am sure that he found the one person who did not like Marshal Bailey and created an excuse to replace him with some ‘enlightened’ programming.
I guess that the station did not need the support of the fans who put their money where their mouth is. Hope the station can raise enough to send the little piker down the road.
In the meantime WESTERN SWING AND OTHER THINGS will be on the air on the internet. There will be a bigger audience and that cowbell will be heard around the world very soon.
Have a good vacation Marshal, we will be hearing you down the road.
By the way, did you know that Allan is a world class artist? A song writer, Poet, and Musician?
