The Critics Page has been put into sleep mode

On 02 Feb, Matt and Crank targetted women with both barrels and hit gays with the buck shot.  On 03 Feb, many at WZBH discovered The Critics Page.  With the wealth of material the two days gave us to accurately paint the picture of the tone of the overall programming on WZBH, we spent almost a week playing catch up with our critiques and responses.

During that time of playing catch up, we noticed several things.  Promos aired throughout the day for the Matt and Crank program have been nuetral in tone.  Chris Steele as yet to refer to women as "chicks", and, in fact, cost this critic some beer money for failing to talk about "chicks" by today's deadline.  Matt posted on his personal FaceBook page (conveniently linked through the official WZBH website and promoted on air as if it were an official extension of WZBH and the Matt and Crank Show) a request for suggestions from the listeners as they consider a "strategy change" in their programming.  While none of the critics at the Critics Page caught every show, every morning in its entirety, we have caught probably about 90% of the programming and haven't heard one derogatory segment aimed at women, Blacks, Muslims, or gays/lesbians.

We even reviewed Doug McKenzie's show one afternoon, something none of the critics have done before.  One of our critics would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Mr. McKenzie for playing a Primus song, "Jerry was a race car driver."  One of our critics remembered a song from about fifteen years ago or so that would fit perfectly on a CD he was making, "Down on the Farm", but couldn't remember the title of the song or group.  After Mr. McKenzie played the Primus song, our critic knew that was the group that did the song he remembered.  After sampling Primus on Amazon, he not only found his song, "Wynona's big brown beaver", but became a Primus fan with his own compiled CD of his favorite songs he sampled.

JJ, however, doesn't get off the hook.  In the last two or so weeks we continued listening, the only glaring exception to the change in the tone of programming was last Thursday night when JJ railed against the man-purse.  Despite mentioning Beckham, who, as far as we can tell, is as straight as they come, as an example of a man who carries a man-purse, JJ managed to tie in the carrying of a man-purse to "flaky fruit flies".  He then asked for a ban on the man-purse on all of Delmarva, except Rehoboth because one will see plenty of the man-purses there.  His message was implied, but clear - there is no room for gays on Delmarva unless they are in Rehoboth.  It is this sort of stereotyping The Critics Page has always objected to.

That said, last Saturday, those of us associated with The Critics Page had our weekly session at the Round Table and decided The Critics Page needs to go into sleep mode.  We're not so naive as to believe our page has had anything to do with the noticeable change in the tone of programming at WZBH.  For two or three months, we listened to WZBH to see if what one of our critics complained about all the while warranted the effort we undertook.  Saturday night, we decided that there is a definite change that most likely resulted from other sources.  We figure if us drunk rednecks noticed a disturbing trend in the programming, more articulate listeners had probably been complaining all along.  The change was in the making before we even started this page.

We also are not so naive as to believe the change in WZBH's programming tone we have heard over the last little more than two weeks is permanent.  We're of the consensus that the programming tone has been dampened to appease those who have complained and once the staff at WZBH believes no one is paying attention any more, the abuses will start revving up again.  For this reason, The Critics Page will be here so that you, the listener, has a place to document the sexist, racist, Islamaphobic, or homophobic programming that may rear its ugly head sometime in the future.

In the meantime, the five of us at The Critics Page are out of a job and will spend the next couple of Saturday nights drinking beer and deciding what direction, if any, The Critics Page will be heading next.  Perhaps we'll get around to making the You Tube videos based on The Drunk Rednecks of the Round Table.  Expect blurry, red-eyed video if we ever get that bold.

We do one to send out one personal thank you to Crank.  Because of his input on how to make decent audio to go with a You Tube video, we think we've mastered at least the basics of providing good audio.  If you, or anyone else, have any suggestions on making good video, we're listening.

We've been found

The other day, one on-air personality, we believe Chubb Love, found us and quickly spread the word among the rest of the WZBH staff.  Within an hour or two, Matt had already labeled us a "coward" with "a lot of time on his hands".  On our FaceBook page, CJ Cutsail challenged us to call the station and be heard instead of "hiding out here".

Apparently, the next day (Thursday morning) Matt and Crank gave The Critics Page free publicity.  Unfortunately, no one associated with The Critics Page happened to be tuned in and we missed the airing.  A couple of our friends clued us in and the gist of what we got out of it was more of the same that has been posted on our FaceBook page by Matt and Crank fans. 

Needless to say, we find the reactions, particularly the reactions of Matt, Crank, and their fans rather amusing and, as usual, predictable and hypocritical.  First, we'd like to know how anyone could think we're "hiding out" here.  The Internet is not a very good place for anyone to hide out.  We knew someone from WZBH would eventually find us.  We're just surprised it took anyone this long.

We do thank Matt and Crank for not letting us down with their response.  Among those of us associated with The Critics Page, we had a bet not on what the response would be, but on what stereotype would Matt and Crank use to ridicule the creator or creators of the website.  The only surprise was none of us guessed "coward".

Matt and Crank often chastise their listeners for not being more active to effect change in their communities or the political process.  So along comes a group of drunk rednecks who decided to let their voices be heard about what they think of a local radio station's programming and we're chastised for being "cowards" and even though Matt was "flattered", he was a little "creeped out".  Fans of the Matt and Crank show were no less kind, but just as predicatable.  We are one, forty-something douchebag living in Mom's basement and have no social skills.

This is the form of "entertainment" that The Critics Page objects to.  Ninety percent of the Matt and Crank show is based on stereotyping groups of people and then making fun of them.  Their four main targets are women; non-Christians, particularly Muslims; non-Whites, particularly Blacks; and gays/lesbians.  If this form of entertainment were contained to the Matt and Crank show, it would be a lot easier to ignore, but throughout the day, clips from the show are aired.  Those clips combined with commentary made from at least two other DJs help set the tone of the overall programming at WZBH. 

But the purpose of this post is to shatter the stereotypes being bantered about who made this site and is not about WZBH's programming.  We'll start by letting you know that one person is not solely responsible.  It is a collaborative effort of five people - three drunk rednecks and two women.  We do live in a rural community that is a right good distance to any town.  Our one and only local bar got shut down and it is too far to drive to the next nearest one.  We're all friends and we usually get together on a Saturday night at one of our houses, get drunk, play cards, and talk about a lot of things, but usually about how to get rich off the Internet like these sixteen-year-old kids do that we hear about.

Talking about getting rich off the Internet and doing it are two different things, especially when our only skills are knowing how to Google something.  So for months, we talked about it, talked about our lousy government, the criminals running our financial institutions, our corrupt state government and how they are trying to make watermen obsolete, DNR Gestapo tactics to protect a snapping turtle, and one of the women in our circle would bring up the latest Matt and Crank offense.  Like the good ol', sensitive boys we are, we'd tell her to go get us another beer.

Eventually, our idle talk began to center around starting a You Tube channel.  We heard stories of people who had popular You Tube channels and how advertisers payed them outrageous amounts of money to put their advertisements on their channel.  We developed an idea of "Drunk Rednecks of the Round Table".  It made sense.  We talk a lot of nonsense like all talk show hosts do and we usually are drunk and sitting around a round table.

The idea sounded good until we sobered up the next day.  None of us were really ready to be in the public eye, even if the public eye were only a whopping three strangers watching us.  None of us had a digital video cam.  All five of us could find the You Tube site on the Internet, but only one of us had any idea how to edit and upload video, create a companion website, and tie it all in to the social networks.  So more talk and no action.

Then a couple of months ago, one of the women in our loosely knit group talked about one of the DJs still using the long-dead expression "chicks" when talking about women.  That got the women talking about WZBH, Matt and Crank, and the general disregard held towards women.  We all busted out laughing when one of them jokingly said, "Let's bring them down here and see if us chicks can't skin them faster than we can a muskrat."  Boy, how we wish we caught that on video.  (No, Matt and Crank.  They don't have butch haircuts, wear flannel shirts and army boots, nor are they husky or fat.)

We decided we all would start listening to WZBH and it didn't take long before us guys started seeing what the women had been complaining about for months.  It's not like we never listened to WZBH before.  I, for example, happened to catch a particularly nasty segment last summer on the morning show and couldn't believe that a local station would air such blatantly homophobic and racist programming.  Fortunately, until we started this website, I rarely listened to the morning show.  I am also a huge fan of "Lights Out with JJ", especially his Wednesday night show.  I usually catch it on my way home from work.

We're all rock fans so at one time or another, we all have tired of our CDs and listened to WZBH, but none of us really paid attention to the programming - except for the one woman who listened to Matt and Crank every once in awhile to bring something to the Round Table.

We decided it was time to get off our drunk asses, stop talking, and do something.  What was being passed off as entertainment on the morning show and promoted throughout the day was hardly representative of Delmarva listeners and certainly wasn't being "loyal to Delmarva".  It was stereotypical conservative bull crap from the other side of the Bay and it should've stayed on the other side of the Bay.

Now us five had a problem.  Only one of us had any idea how to work the Internet and had about average writing skills.  The responsibility of creating the website and the writing found here fell on yours truly, who is writing to you now.  Most of what you find here takes about fifteen to twenty minutes tops to produce. 

Reviewing Matt and Crank is easy.  My one friend records the program she wants reviewed, jots down a few key points she wants made, and hands the recording and her notes to me.  I listen to the recording then write the critique.  If I don't happen to see things the way she does, we all talk about it and sometimes, the critique doesn't get published. 

Currently, we have only reviewed Matt and Crank, Chris Steele, and JJ.  Chris Steele and JJ are easy.  If they make comments that support the sterotype bashing that is a staple of the morning show, we make mention of it.  The Critics page, after all, is dedicated to showing the overall tone WZBH's programming is setting throughout the day and not just of the Matt and Crank program.

We do see three primary results of running this website. 

1. An overwhelming response of support for what is being said here effects change in programming at WZBH
2. About an even split of support that may or may not effect change in programming at WZBH
3. Rejection of our views, which means WZBH conducts business as usual and this site eventually fades into oblivion

No matter which three of the results occur, us five win.  If this site has little or no effect in the programming decisions at WZBH, we win because we've learned a lot about making websites, social networking to promote the website, and video making.  The Drunk Rednecks of the Round Table may be coming to You Tube soon, like in another year.  If this website is shown overwhelming support and effects change at WZBH, we win doubly.  Not only would we have cleaned up the airwaves of the stereotype, inciteful rhetoric being pawned off as entertainment that we and our kids listen to, but we still have gained the experience to maybe eventually produce The Drunk Rednecks of the Round Table.

So, Matt and Crank, you owe your listeners an apology for stereotyping the creators of this site as being one, lonely coward living in Mom's basement.  It is a collaborative effort of five local people who have their sights set higher than your little four-and-a-half hour show or even WZBH as a whole.

Welcome to WZBH Critic's Page

The WZBH Critic's Page is a blog to track the sexist, racist, Islamaphobic, and homophobic commentary often heard on WZBH, The Beach at 93.5 FM airing out of Georgetown, DE.  While the station does play some decent rock music, commentary by the nine, thirty-something or younger, White male DJs often targets women and minority groups for ridicule.  Women are consistently referred to as "chicks", Muslims are hellbent on destroying America, Black people are mocked, and real men act a certain way.

This blog is born out of frustration from a Matt and Crank show on August 18, 2010, where both DJs labeled homosexuals as perverts and mentally ill.  About a month later, they included a segment on why women shouldn't be high school football coaches, which amounted to nothing more than twenty minutes of sexist rantings. 

While the abuses are prominent on the Morning Show, the other DJs help carry the negative tone through their shows.  Chris Steele regularly refers to women as "chicks".  JJ worried about anyone who knew one day in November was National Coming Out Day.  On another segment, he wanted callers to reassure him that when some friends came over to watch football and drink a few beers, a couple of his friends weren't gay because they cooked up a five-course meal during the show.

WZBH's programming does not reflect the diversity that makes up Delmarva.  A look at the profile of all nine DJs is testament to that fact.  WZBH needs to reign in the young, White, Christian, heterosexual males running the show. 

The first step would be bringing in a more diverse DJ staff.  Women and minorities like rock music, too. 

The second step would be to delete links to personal FaceBook pages.  Currently, the one linked to the Matt & Crank Show is not a FaceBook page for fans to interact with the DJs as an extension to the official WZBH web page.  It is Matt's personal page where he berates fans who don't agree with him and promotes his own (presumably not the station's) personal moral , religious, and political views.  If fans are not allowed to interact freely on the linked pages, then the pages shouldn't be linked from the main WZBH web page as if it were an extension of the official site nor should the page be promoted on air as an invite for fans.

If those two steps are followed, particularly the first step, the third step would follow naturally.  The programming tone and overall message being set by WZBH and Great Scott Broadcasting would be more diverse and inclusive of all the listeners and fans on Delmarva.