Albuquerque Talk Radio, Stoplight Signal Length, KOB-AM

RUNNING THE COUNTRY

Looks Like Lott Was Right On The Money







Sure enough, talk radio is running the country.

How do we know? It seems talk hosts in Albuquerque may now be determining stoplight signal lengths.

Now that's power!

No more pesky tickets for running red lights, it seems the yellow/ amber warning has been adjusted upward. Excerpted from the Albuquerque Tribune's Joline Gutierrez Krueger:

Last week, the airwaves of KKOB-AM radio began to crackle again with the collective rage of callers seeing red over red-light cameras, as per usual.

It might have been the same old inflammatory banter commandeered each weekday afternoon by talk show host Jim Villanucci, known for his caustic distaste for Big Brotherisms and stupid people.

But this time, things veered beyond the armchair grumbles. This time, change was a'coming.

This time, it was war.

His guests that Tuesday included a loyal gaggle of city officials, including Municipal Development Director John Castillo, there to cheerlead for the much maligned red-light cameras - how numbers of crashes have decreased at those intersections, blah, blah, blah, how the camera fines are not the city's unfettered money grabs, blah, blah, blah.

Villanucci and his listeners would have none of it, and tempers boiled over when someone mentioned that yellow lights at the offending intersections were timed shorter than they should be.

Apparently, every shorted yellow second adds to the likelihood that motorists will run the red. A scam, in other words. The shorter the yellow the bigger the green, as in dollars - $100 and up in fines for each offense.

Listeners armed with stop watches, second hands and, in one case, an especially precise chronometer hit the streets to time the yellow lights.

Cutting to the chase:

Villanucci lambasted the officials as just another batch of snooty, scheming, money-grubbing bureaucrats. He became the champion of the second.

It all seemed to work in Villanucci's favor. During his next show, callers reported that the yellow lights, including the ones at San Mateo and Montgomery, had miraculously lengthened overnight to 4 seconds.

One caller claiming to be a city employee said he and other street workers were called in early that morning to adjust the yellow-light timing quickly, quietly.

Villanucci and the power of the peeved had seemingly done the impossible: They got the city to do in a few hours something the public wanted.

Senator Lott, why did we ever doubt you?


AT NEWSBUSTERS: a surprising critic of liberal talk radio.

INTERESTED in New England talk radio? Click here.

SAVE Internet radio: it's almost too late! The Day Of Silence kicks off on Tuesday.


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