Press Release: St. George, ME March 20, 2007

MPBN's Charles Beck has created "Guidelines" for Radio Host Robert Skoglund, who has produced The humble Farmer radio program since April 8, 1978.

"The "Guidelines" came as somewhat of a surprise," says Skoglund. "For over a quarter of a century or so I really didn't think that anyone in management knew I was there." Skoglund points out that the "Guidelines" not only determine what he can't say on the air. They are really more concerned with what any of humble's 13,000 or so fans who listen to the show might "perceive" humble said. Because humble is famous for telling stories without punchlines and letting his audience provide the last line to suit themselves, this gets kind of sticky.

Skoglund was alerted to the impending "guidelines" last November in a phone conversation from MPBN Vice President, Charles Beck. Beck had earlier reprimanded Skoglund in February of 2003 for saying that Hitler was a “war-mongering, rat faced wimp” and later for reading from the Encyclopedia Britannica a definition of Fascism in Mussolini’s Italy.

Skoglund says that he would not have considered Fascism a suitable topic for commentary had he realized that some of MPBN’s support might come from Fascists, and that the topic was, therefore, controversial and therefore off limits.

Skoglund said, “For almost three decades I’ve worked hard to entertain my friends in Northern New England and Canada and they've been good about answering my questions over the years. I’m an entertainer who likes to see friends laugh. It never occurred to me that any honest, decent American would squirm or become enraged at anything I might say. Most anyone who has listened for 10 or 20 years will tell you that that's not what my program is about --- although I was planning to ask my radio friends some questions about the KKK and Nazi Skinheads. Now I’m going to hold off until I see if it is permissible.”

Skoglund, who for 28 years produced The humble Farmer radio program as a public service for Maine people, recently asked to be paid $30 for each show when his well-known wife, Marsha, The Almost Perfect Woman, was disabled with oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy --also known as Barbeau's disease.

The humble Farmer show that Skoglund sent to the MPBN studio for Friday, November 3, was not aired. The alleged "outrageous" controversial content which caused the show to be pulled and never aired was a letter from a radio friend in Maryland which said:

Dear humble, We live near DC and "tax cut" never means better control of pork barrel spending or programs that benefit corporations at the expense of everyman. It always means that the cuts will be in social services, humanitarian efforts, environmental issues, and all those "useless" programs that generally benefit the poor and middle class and not the wealthy. A tax "ceiling" was implemented on spending in nearby Prince George's County. The result - PG County is now one of the worst counties in the nation in terms of student achievement, even though it has had had a huge influx of higher paid residents. The folks who can afford it, even the minority residents, are sending their kids to private schools. Teachers have to buy their own supplies, books arrive three weeks after school starts because the school system's expenditures are slow. Fiscal responsibility is one thing. Tax cuts designed to "red tape" needy programs to death while expediting tax cuts to the wealthy (described as "beneficial to the economy") are another.

What do you think? Do "outrageous" letters like that have any business being read on what used to be Maine Public Radio?

Count how many times a form of the word "perceive" appears in the letter below.