A Humble rant
From "8 Days a Week," July 13:
Jobless no longer: MPBN’s former tolerated/ignored/ironically-loved HUMBLE FARMER — canned last year due to too-obvious support of the Democratic Party — will return to the airwaves soon on WJZF, a 53-watt Standish radio station. WJZF — more than twice as powerful as the bulb in my bedside lamp — will broadcast Robert Skoglund’s show five times a week until retirement, death, or another election causes some problems. Tonight, Skoglund will do some standup at 8 pm at the Deertrees Theatre, 162 Deertrees Rd., in Harrison. Tickets for the curious (you know you are) are $16; reservations at 207.583.6747. |
Christopher Gray’s snidely worded dismissal of former Maine “Public” Broadcasting Network program host The Humble Farmer (a/k/a Robert Skoglund) (see “8 Days a Week,” July 13) was offensive, elitist, and arrogantly uninformed.As many of your readers already know, The Humble Farmer was recently fired from MPBN after 30 years and not, as Gray simplistically asserts, because of his “too obvious support of the Democratic party.”
The real story here is the heavy-handed suppression of Mr. Skoglund’s free-speech rights by MPBN’s Charles Beck, among others.
“Humble” had the audacity to compare the current occupant of the White House to Mussolini and Hitler, among others. He also questioned our current foreign policy and the autocratic governing style of our current “president.” The Phoenix has presented some strong articles over the past six years covering similar ground. But your columnists (most of whom are from away) are allowed to keep writing without fear of reprisal.
Robert Skoglund is 71 years old. He has earned the right to his opinions and likely knows a great deal more about the nature of fascism than Christopher Gray. Or Charles Beck for that matter.
Gray also ridicules The Humble Farmer’s transition to community radio station WJZF in Standish. One wonders what Gray would do if he lost his cozy, indie-rock-coddling niche at your paper. He’d likely find somewhere else to ply his trade. The Humble Farmer is an entertainer and a storyteller without a platform. Entertainers are like wandering minstrels or troubadours — they need to connect with an audience.
If Christopher Gray really cared about helping performers (of all ages), he might have pointed out that listeners outside of WJZF’s admittedly low-power range can still catch The Humble Farmer by streaming his program over the web at WJZF.org. He can be heard on the Web at his old MPBN time slot, 7-8 pm every Friday evening, among other times.
Community radio stations like WJZF in Standish (one of only three in the entire state) offer Maine citizens an authentic way to freely express themselves over the public airwaves. The Portland Phoenix offers little more than lip service to free-speech concerns in our area. Your recent “Muzzle Awards” issue on censorship (July 6) went to print with nary a mention of the Humble Farmer’s plight.
So much for local coverage. Who are you really serving anyway?
Patrick Bonsant
Portland
EDITOR’S NOTE: It took Christopher Gray 94 words to offend the letter writer, and Patrick Bonsant 389 words to say how offended he was. One of them should get a sense of perspective.
