If New Jersey Gets Hurt He Doesn't Care
Monday, March 17 FM radio station 101.5 is a powerhouse in New Jersey and its morning drive host, Jim Gearhart (sp? no spell check on my BlackBerry) is well-known with a large audience. Jim constantly wraps himself in the cloak of populist reformer. Fine. Every media personality needs a hook to attract and bring back audience members. But today, Jim went too far.
The radio host's rabid desire to cut the size of NJ state government is on display every morning. But when budget cuts turned to employee layoffs Jim went over the edge stating, "people will be hurt and I don't care."
Of course, on the surface Jim is referring to state employees who he believes are under-worked and over-paid, but his lack of concern also extends to private sector workers, small busunreas owners and the entire state. If Jim's wishes came true, thousands of state employees would be out of jobs, and their families out on the street.
What Jim and others of his ilk repeatedly fail to realize is that when you fire thousands of state employees, you damage NJ's economy since out of work state employees don't spend as much at the shore, the movies or anywhere else people spend money. Small business owners hurt by falling revenues may pull back spending on things like radio ads on NJ101.5, ads that are an economic lifeline to Jim and his radio station. That's one thing Jim should care about.
When Jim Gearhart states that people will get hurt and he doesn't care, he's absolutely right.
And he's gone too far.
Cortland Coleman
Gearhart mentioned this post on Thursday's show. I have my phone number prominently listed on the site, a big "Call Me" button at the bottom of every page and a web form for sending me email. How odd that they chose not to contact me.
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Reader Comments (2)
It's Gearhart. (I'm at my computer at the moment.)
Gearhart's job is to get advertising revenue for the radio station. If inflammatory comments drive up the listeners without subjecting the advertisers to criticism, then Gearhart is a hero.
And even if the police union and the firefighters' union and the teachers' union complain, it's possible that the notoriety will just drive his ratings up further.
That is, until people standing in long lines at the DMV start blaming Gearhart for their troubles. Or, worse yet, if people lose their possessions, their homes, or their lives because of the layoffs (either a laid-off worker who goes bankrupt, or a citizen who suffers from a lack of police or fire resources).
That's when Jim Gearhart will discover that all radio jobs are temporary.
O Emp,
Good points, indeed.
Unfortunately, until such time that Gearhart has that eureka moment, he will continue to inflame the public debate.
Thanks for your comment and your research!