By: Tim Russo

Voice of the Cavs, Joe Tait, will have a few new faces to work into his legendary play-by-play this coming season on WTAM 1100 AM.

Glenn Beck shouts ‘Barack Obama has a deep seated hatred of white people and is a racist’…dribbles across the timeline…..passes to Rush Limbaugh at the top of the key…..Limbaugh screams “Obama’s America” is a place where black kids beat up white kids for no reason, demands a return to segregation….bounce-passes to Shaq in the paint…..Shaq lobs to Barack Obama endorser Lebron James – WHAM with the right hand!

Beck and Limbaugh may not be on the Cavs roster this coming season, but they are certainly on the same team – WTAM’s. The Browns, Indians, and Cavs are a golden goose for WTAM. All three professional franchises make WTAM their radio home. And as long as anyone can remember, WTAM has also been the home of conservative talk radio in Cleveland. Joining the six hours of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh every day are an array of Cleveland conservative ditto heads. Mike Trivisonno, Bob Frantz, and assorted lesser loud mouths fill out an almost non-stop, 24/7 river of right wing blather, interrupted only by sports.

If the Cavs ever cared about being sandwiched into the nooks between Beck, Limbaugh, and their ilk, it doesn’t show. Both Beck and Limbaugh advertise during Cavs games on WTAM, their voices mixing with Joe Tait’s as Tait brings WTAM out of commercial and back to the game. WTAM milks their golden geese one after the other, the revenue streams almost indistinguishable.

However free of intellect or facts, conservative talk radio has never been so incendiary.

But that may change now that Glenn Beck has lost over 60 advertisers for his Fox News television program. After Beck called President Barack Obama, the first African American president in history, a “racist” with “a deep seated hatred of white people”, an advocacy group called Color of Change launched a thorough and persistent advertiser boycott of Beck’s TV program. The fleeing advertisers are a Who’s Who of blue chip corporate America. But Beck remains on the air.

Oblivious to the Beck boycott, Limbaugh on September 17, seized on the videotape of a garden-variety school bus brawl which happened to feature black kids ganging up on a white kid. He declared this was “Obama’s America; white kids gettin’ beat up on school buses,” going so far as to suggest a return to segregation in busing. Calls for a boycott of Limbaugh, like Beck, are growing.

However free of intellect or facts, conservative talk radio has never been so incendiary. They are now openly inciting a race war. WTAM’s air was never this dangerous, even during the latter half of the Cavs 2008-2009.  The acceleration of hate speech on WTAM, from Limbaugh, Beck, and their local WTAM progeny, has almost all occurred since the last Cavs game was broadcast on WTAM in June.

Discussing politics with basketball players is like asking Nancy Pelosi who the Knicks should draft.

The Cavs 2009-2010 season starts anew this month, and promises to be historic in scale. Does Lebron James, a very public endorser of Barack Obama, even know what is being broadcast before, during, and after Cavs games on WTAM? Does Shaq know? Do the Cavs care that their brand is tied so closely to this hate speech – in a city with a long history of struggle toward desegregation? The Hough riots were not so long ago.

It’s hard to tell, because these role models are insulated by a phalanx of rich white men. It’s hard to tell they even heard our questions. The Cavs press department declined a request for comment on this article. Lebron James’ publicist, Keith Estabrook of The Estabrook Group, also declined comment.

WTAM loud mouth Bob Fratnz was a bit more loquacious.

Frantz, whose page at WTAM’s website is one or two notches away from a racial propaganda site, said via email, “discussing politics with basketball players is absolutely pointless. It would be like asking Nancy Pelosi who the Knicks should draft.” 

The problem is that Lebron James, and now Shaq—two of the most titanic names in world sports—contribute directly to WTAM’s bottom line. WTAM is owned, like just about every other right-wing AM radio blowhole, by Clear Channel Communications out of Dallas, TX. We asked Clear Channel’s media relations people just how much the Cavs contribute to WTAM revenue, but Clear Channel also declined to comment.

It’s hard to see how Lebron, Shaq, and the Cavs can avoid addressing this for the entire 2009-2010 season. Beck and Limbaugh have proven they are willing to plumb the depths of the long sleeping cesspool of racial hate speech for their own enrichment. WTAM’s local on-air “talent”, Trivissonno, Frantz, and their fellow B-list idiots, goosestep right along. Meanwhile, Lebron and Shaq, two very powerful African Americans, each with the influence and support to affect change at WTAM, sit quietly on the sidelines.

Quite likely and probably soon, WTAM will air more incendiary racial hate speech on the same day as a Cavs game. And both Lebron and Shaq will be asked about it. It’s time they start thinking about how they will answer these questions.

The good news for the Cavs is that Cleveland has a number of radio stations that are quite capable of broadcasting their games without any risk of political controversy whatsoever. If Lebron, or  even Shaq, said the word, WTAM would be kicked to the curb. The question is, do Lebron and Shaq even care?