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Some say radio station tuned voters from Gore
By ANITA KUMAR © St. Petersburg Times, published November 10, 2000 Did Tampa's own WMNF radio station cost Al Gore the presidency? As outrageous as it sounds that the next leader of the free world could depend on a community-based public radio station in the middle of Florida, that's what some listeners think happened. WMNF's strong support of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader took votes from Gore, they say. That allowed George W. Bush to capture the few hundred ballots he likely will need to win the election. "It did impact the election, whether the station intended it to or not," said Sharla Fouquet, 47, a devoted Sarasota listener who volunteered for Gore. "You legitimize things by broadcasting them on the airwaves. To deny that you have an impact is disingenuous." As the margin between Bush and Gore continued to narrow Thursday, e-mails flooded the radio station's offices and listeners continued to phone into call-in shows to blame the station for its part in the tightest race in U.S. history. "In any other year this would have been fine but when you take away votes from a man like Al Gore who could have won the state of Florida by just a few votes, this is awful," listener Matt Pierard of Brandon wrote. "Now, by denying Gore those votes, especially here in Florida, the Green Party has pretty much guaranteed the election of the moronic (George) Bush and his sickly (vice president)." WMNF officials denied their role in the election to listener after listener Thursday while fielding calls from national media including the Washington Post, which had heard the same allegations. "Gee, I wish we were as powerful as that," station manager Vicki Santa said. "We truly believe people make up their own minds and are not to be swayed by us or anyone else." The radio station, 88.5 FM, has about 100,000 listeners each week in the Tampa Bay area -- the counties of Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Polk, Manatee and Sarasota. About a third of the state's 95,000 Nader votes were cast in WMNF's broadcast area. "There's nothing to apologize for," said Cameron Dilley, one of the station founders who continues to do a show on Fridays. "This is a democracy. People have to live with it." McKell Moorhead, 30, a University of South Florida graduate student and a WMNF volunteer, said she contacted the station last week because she was scared the radio would sway the vote. Her fears came true, she said. "I couldn't live without (the station)," Moorhead said, "but part of their efforts could have cost Gore the election." Sen. John Grant, R-Tampa, has been an outspoken critic of the alternative station and convinced the Legislature to cut funding to WMNF in 1997. He said the complaints this week prove that the station should be funded by cultural grants rather than a state budget appropriation. "They are politically motivated," Grant said. "But as a Republican, I'm delighted with anything they did for Ralph Nader." Rob Lorei, WMNF news and public affairs director, said the station did provide Nader and the Green Party with air time during the campaign. But he said WMNF, which boasts progressive views, has aired information about Nader for years, has given out his taped speeches and sponsored a speech with him in Tampa in January. "If you provide people with a variety of issues," he said, "people are drawn to Nader." One of the station's goals is to provide listeners information about third party candidates who are virtually ignored by mainstream media, Lorei said. That's why they also provided time to the Libertarian, Natural Law, Socialist and Socialist Workers parties, he said. The station even aired a commercial for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan. Radio hosts might tell listeners who they plan to vote for or encourage people to attend campaign events, but they cannot -- and did not -- encourage people to vote for a specific candidate. At least some people e-mailing the station this week agreed that the station wasn't to blame. "People who try to place blame on Nader supporters (or WMNF), are looking for a scapegoat," listener Scott Marshall of Clearwater wrote. "The bottom line is that given Bush's obvious ineptitudes, the election has always been Gore's to lose, and it appears that he may have dropped the ball enough to have actually lost. You can't blame that on the Nader vote."
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From the Times election desk From the AP national wire  |
