By Stan Merriman

In Houston Radio Report, we’ve done a fair amount of picking on KPFT for lacking cutting edge programming. And for very good reason. The KPFT schedule is dismal, save for a few moments of sunshine provided by volunteer philosopher-DJ’s on weekends and the Progressive Forum on Thursday evenings. But the Houston media drought isn't all KPFT's fault, after all it's just a lone community radio station. KPFT has drifted into the Never-Never Land of journalism and community affairs in part because the media culture surrounding it is so dreadful. At least for the 30+ years I’ve been here, our media outlets have cultivated and rewarded non-threatening and uninformative reporting and programming.

The city's recent success in the opening rounds of the 2012 Olympics bid process has everybody talking about our "world class" city. This status is certainly supported by Houston's outstanding ballet, opera, symphony and its museums and galleries. Houston also claims a number of nationally recognized trial lawyers, playwrights and even a retired US President. We have our fair share of homegrown authors and actors as well as some breakthroughs in medicine. And one suspects that our ever-growing gargantuan city must have a fair share of under-recognized talent in every area. But it is very hard to name any acclaimed journalists from Houston. OK sports fans, we have Mickey Herskowitz….and oh, what ever happened to Houston Post Editor Lynn Ashby?

But beyond them, go ahead, name a "star" journalist who writes or produces from Houston? It shouldn’t be this way. The city has, at the University of Houston, an aggressively self-touted school of communication that should be generating local talent. The range of stories in this vast city should provide endless opportunities for ambitious journalists to do great work.

What is the basis of this mediocrity? My theory is that Houston, like it or not, has never escaped its origins as an oil town with a largely commercial culture and mentality. Oil is a commodity that is bought and sold based on price alone. Other value characteristics are secondary. It is my feeling that this good ole’ boy commodity culture has imbued the entire community with lowest common denominator standards in communication. The media in Houston have always played to tunes that our corporate titans have scored. There is a shared mentality between Houston's journalists and their country club colleagues who run the big companies with their big ad budgets. Those same corporate moguls are of course the power (say money!) behind the political thrones. As a result, Houston's media has largely been their lapdogs.

I remember upon first moving to Houston being struck by the disturbingly laid-back style of the television anchors on our network affiliates; all competing to be the most folksy and neighborly. Every one aspired to be just like the good ole’ boys next door in my virtually treeless and sidewalkless new suburban neighborhood. Who needed sidewalks? We drove everywhere. Who needed trees? We spend 24/7 indoors in a perpetual state of air-conditioned comfort. Never had to break a sweat. Nor did the Houston media. They were out to be my friend, not to challenge my assumptions or uncritical thinking. Certainly they were not out to break new ground in investigative reporting which might alienate their big advertisers- those oil patch Goliaths and their step children-the utilities and the one major department store chain in town. One really had to tirelessly line the bird cage to find any editorial content amongst the ads in our print media. Back then, this was just one big feel good media community. Their audiences growing exponentially as Houston grew and the people poured in.

Now it's thirty years later and many of these good ole’ boy TV anchors have drifted into a retirement interrupted only by appearances in bad television commercials.

And such bad commercials. I know of which I speak because for much of my tenure here I was involved in the advertising world. Like the media, the advertising community here has always been awash in mediocrity, especially in contrast to Dallas, which has always been considered in the major leagues among advertising agencies nationally. My fellow progressive colleagues may part company with me here but I have always viewed advertising as an entertainment art form. But in Houston, ad standards of embarrassing bad taste prevail, like Gallery Furniture’s commercials. Our city seems to wear its "used car" style local advertising like a badge of honor, with one hack trying to emulate the next.

On local TV, our newsreaders have followed the national trend and moved from folksy to perky, bringing us the latest fire, wreck or murder with smiley faces. Newspaper copy is best described as dreary and safe. The rare breakthrough piece such as the recent series on the death penalty or the Rehabilitation/SSI claims disgrace in the Chronicle or The Houston Press’s coverage of the Byzantine county mental health services is always a surprise. Houston radio? Chewing gum for the brain. Houston public television? Back-to-back travel and adventure programs all calculated to avoid controversy so as not to disturb the member base with hard questions.

So given this environment, is it any wonder that KPFT's Garland Ganter and his staff would take the path of least resistance and turn KPFT into an entertainment medium? It is no real surprise that the station is now a jukebox complete with ersatz commercials for the clubs in town featuring Americana music. KPFT's goals are the same as the mainstream media in Houston, namely, bring in the bucks with the least strain. Ganter's found his formula and doesn't care that it disregards Pacifica's mission. Or that he runs KPFT like it is his own station and not the community’s.

KPFT has no standard of excellence in Houston broadcasting to compete with or measure itself against. Breakthrough programming takes effort and a large dose of courage. Dissent, let’s face it, just ain’t popular in Houston. This is a go-along town. Always has been. KPFT will continue to be proudly mediocre in the hands of opportunists like Ganter. His lack of ambition fits comfortably into the dreary Houston media landscape. A not-so-happenin’ radio station in an otherwise happenin’ town. In Houston, media mediocrity rules.

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At least until the ruler is overthrown.