Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

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jonholb55
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Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by jonholb55 »

Bob Lonsberry was fired from KNRS radio shortly after his show on Wednesday. A couple of days before his abrupt dismissal he endorsed Tim Bridgewater in the upcoming primary election. Mike Lee has been an attorney for Energy Solutions in the past. Bob's program had been a popular program on KNRS. He had tried to appeal to the L.D.S. audience. Something that KSL radio treats as taboo. Energy Solutions was not happy with Bob's endorsement of Tim Bridgewater. Energy Soutions is well-connected in Utah. It is highly probable that it used these connections to put pressure on KNRS to fire Bob Lonsberry.
I have been critical of Bob Lonsberry concerning some of the positons that he has taken in the past. But I am also a strong believer in the First Admendment to the Constitution. Bob was exercising his right to endorse Tim Bridgewater. It is obvious that some of the advertisers on KNRS were not happy with the endorsement. The end result was good-bye, Bob. If my assumptions are correct, KNRS should be condemned for their actions. Talk-radio survives on the First Admendment. Dirty politics and big busines should not be allowed to compromise it.
I found out a few days ago that Bob Lonsberry's ratings had been declining steadily for the last 18 months at KNRS. This was the reason that he was let go. KNRS tried to work with him but he refused to change the style or format of his program. I can understand why he would play the martyr, but if you are not profitable at your work, you are fired. It is as simple as that.
The timing of Bob's firing, however, would raise suspitions as to the reason for his termination. I, too, received Lonsberry's robo-call for Tim Bridgewater. It may have helped Tim originally, but will hurt him in the long-run. The robo-call was very annoying.
Last edited by jonholb55 on June 22nd, 2010, 5:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Original_Intent
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by Original_Intent »

Just like a forum, a radio station is privately owned and should be free to make these kinds of decisions. Of course, we, the public, can respond to their actions by refusing to listen. It's a free market.

Free speech was not abridged, and there is no guaranteed right to broadcast. If Bob wants to buy his own radio station, sure he can say whatever he wants, barring foul or vulgar language.

singyourwayhome
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by singyourwayhome »

If you look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lonsberry there seems to be much more to the story.

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BroJones
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by BroJones »

singyourwayhome wrote:If you look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lonsberry there seems to be much more to the story.
Thanks for the pointer, sing... I went there and found this:
Lonsberry refuses to publicly discuss his membership status with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) but occasionally discusses topics related to the church during his shows.[8] He was once a Mormon missionary on the Navajo and Hopi reservations in the American Southwest.[9] Despite being previously excommunicated, Lonsberry continues to attend the church[citation needed] and discusses topics related to the church during his shows[10].
Is excommunication a "red flag"?

natasha
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by natasha »

jonholb55 wrote:Bob Lonsberry was fired from KNRS radio shortly after his show on Wednesday. A couple of days before his abrupt dismissal he endorsed Tim Bridgewater in the upcoming primary election. Mike Lee has been an attorney for Energy Solutions in the past. Bob's program had been a popular program on KNRS. He had tried to appeal to the L.D.S. audience. Something that KSL radio treats as taboo. Energy Solutions was not happy with Bob's endorsement of Tim Bridgewater. Energy Soutions is well-connected in Utah. It is highly probable that it used these connections to put pressure on KNRS to fire Bob Lonsberry.
I have been critical of Bob Lonsberry concerning some of the positons that he has taken in the past. But I am also a strong believer in the First Admendment to the Constitution. Bob was exercising his right to endorse Tim Bridgewater. It is obvious that some of the advertisers on KNRS were not happy with the endorsement. The end result was good-bye, Bob. If my assumptions are correct, KNRS should be condemned for their actions. Talk-radio survives on the First Admendment. Dirty politics and big busines should not be allowed to compromise it.
Thank-You
I respect anyone's right to "assume" anything. However, I always want to dig a little further when someone uses phrases such as "highly probable", "it is obvious", and "my assumptions" as criteria that something is accurate.

And...Dr. Jones: Why, in this case, is excommunication a red flag? If he is still attending Church could he be in the repentence process? I don't know what the whole story is but I certainly believe that as brothers and sisters in the gospel it is our duty to extend a welcome hand to someone going through this process. Personally, and this is just me, unless a person has taken a course of being anti and or fighting against the Church after excommunication...we shouldn't even bring it up publicly. Does the Church announce to the public when an excommunication takes place?

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ChelC
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by ChelC »

I don't give a hill of beans whether or not Lonsberry was ever ex'd. He's always spoken favorably when I've heard him (which is rare these days because he annoys me) of the church and religion in general. I do think there is something to the Energy Solutions link. I think it deserves to get some press, too.

I won't be voting in the GOP primary next week. I just can't bring myself to do it. I'm starting to think my husband might be right. He insists that there isn't one politician in office who is honest, not one. I like to believe there are a handful, but grease rises and more and more I'm thinking he's correct. In order to get to that position and maintain it for more than one term... well the odds are against honesty!

With all that said, here's a link to Bob's page on the topic, and I believe him:
http://www.lonsberry.com/writings.cfm?go=4

Also, I believe they were perfectly within their rights to fire him, just like those of us who think it's wrong are within our rights to change the radio dial.

larsenb
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by larsenb »

The red flag for me regarding Lonsberry was his very nasty treatment of Dr. Jones over Dr. Jones' 9/11 research. I and several others tried to reason with him on his web page and via emails and he repeatedly exhibited this nasty, vituperative behavior; even being seemingly OK w/actually murderous comments on his web page directed against Dr. Jones.

I think the last time I listened to him on the radio was when I heard him give his idea of why we are in Iraq. Paraphrasing it, he said something like this: "Ya know, I'll tell you the real reason we're in Iraq. Have you ever tried to kill single flies with a fly swatter? Not very effective, is it. The way to really do it, is to put some [pick a word for excrement] out and let IT attract the flies. When enough collect on it, WHAM, you kill a whole bunch with one swat. That's why we're in Iraq. We go there [not sure he was aware of the implied uncomplimentary comparison between excrement and our troops], and attract every Moslem terrorist in the world to infiltrate so we can kill them all in one place".

That was the final straw for me, in being able to listen to Bob Lonsberry. A man after Moroni's heart. Not.

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shadow
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by shadow »

The red flag for me regarding Lonsberry was the sound he made every time he opened his mouth.

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ChelC
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by ChelC »

shadow wrote:The red flag for me regarding Lonsberry was the sound he made every time he opened his mouth.
:lol: Agreed. He is hard for me to listen to!

I listened to him years ago when I drove a lot for work and got sick of listening to the same music. I got used to him then, but after not listening for years when I've attempted to again, I just couldn't take it. He seems to have pretty mainstream Republican points of view, which I find myself disagreeing with quite frequently. Still, I think his piece on Energy Solutions/Lee deserves to see the light of day in the media.

larsenb
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by larsenb »

shadow wrote:The red flag for me regarding Lonsberry was the sound he made every time he opened his mouth.
uh, hu, uh, waddya mean?? Sorry couldn't help that.

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BroJones
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by BroJones »

ChelC wrote:... I got used to him then, but after not listening for years when I've attempted to again, I just couldn't take it. He seems to have pretty mainstream Republican points of view, which I find myself disagreeing with quite frequently..
That's what I found also...
Last edited by BroJones on June 19th, 2010, 10:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

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shadow
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by shadow »

:lol: Speak of the little devil, I just got a pre-recorded message from Lonsberry campaigning for Bridgewater. He mentioned he was fired just one day after he announced his support for Bridgewater. I had to hang up before he was done... (the voice thing).
Call 801-889-0858 to hear it.

jonholb55
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by jonholb55 »

I just read the Wikipedia article about Bob Lonsberry. Some of these Wikipedia articles can be very misleading. If some of the statements in that article are true, however, Bob should not be rehired!
Thank-You

singyourwayhome
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by singyourwayhome »

jonholb55 wrote:I just read the Wikipedia article about Bob Lonsberry. Some of these Wikipedia articles can be very misleading. If some of the statements in that article are true, however, Bob should not be rehired!
Thank-You
I keep hearing that Wikipedia should not be relied on as completely reliable, but I haven't found anything off yet. I just read with that warning in mind. Have any of you run into anything untrue yet?

larsenb
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by larsenb »

singyourwayhome wrote:
jonholb55 wrote:I just read the Wikipedia article about Bob Lonsberry. Some of these Wikipedia articles can be very misleading. If some of the statements in that article are true, however, Bob should not be rehired!
Thank-You
I keep hearing that Wikipedia should not be relied on as completely reliable, but I haven't found anything off yet. I just read with that warning in mind. Have any of you run into anything untrue yet?
Be warned. I've submitted to Wikipedia before, but not recently and nothing on Bob Lonsberry. So that should give you some idea . . . . . . .

jonholb55
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by jonholb55 »

I appreciate the discussion of this topic with my fellow Latter-Day Conservatives. I was not aware of all the details surrounding Bob Lonsberry's dismissal from KNRS. Originally, I heard only his side of the story.
Thanks again,
God bless.

JMarsigli
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Re: Utah Politics and the Dismissal of Bob Lonsberry

Post by JMarsigli »

shadow wrote:The red flag for me regarding Lonsberry was the sound he made every time he opened his mouth.
:lol:

larsenb wrote:The red flag for me regarding Lonsberry was his very nasty treatment of Dr. Jones over Dr. Jones' 9/11 research. I and several others tried to reason with him on his web page and via emails and he repeatedly exhibited this nasty, vituperative behavior; even being seemingly OK w/actually murderous comments on his web page directed against Dr. Jones.
That's how I found Lonsberry on everything that Lonsberry didn't agree with. He can be very nasty and rude. I'm glad to see him go. However, I will give him credit in being extremely thorough in making his points. Extremely in like 3 hours to say anything thorough. The grass grows faster than he talks.

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