Tuning Out Dr. Laura

摘要

There is no progress without resistance." That's one of those "Lauraisms" that Laura Schles-singer, the radio scold better known as "Dr. Laura," must suddenly deplore. Even she could not have been prepared for the resistance by gays and feminists that preceded this week's debut of her new eponymous weekday TV show. Her incendiary views have galvanized antihate groups into perhaps the most successful "education campaign aimed at advertisers"—don't call it a boycott—in talk-show history. Before the television show was ever on the air, potential advertisers were backing out. Even her six-year-old radio show started taking on water, and 16 percent of her regular advertisers have jumped ship. "We have never faced anything like this before," says Premiere Radio Network president Kraig Kitchin, her syndicator.