KLSD listeners (those who didn’t have to work) showed up Aug. 27 at 7:30 a.m. on Monday at the Clear Channel building in Kearney Mesa to protest the threatened format change by corporate station owner Clear Channel from an independent/progressive talk radio format to All Sports.

What brings hundreds of people out to a business park parking lot at 7:30 on a weekday morning to fight for a radio station – people like Bree Walker and Michael Aguirre who mostly 30-plus, middle-class, respectable, easy going and who just don’t do this kind of thing?

The answer: desperation, plain and simple.

They were desperate to save the only access to the sliver of progressive talk radio bobbing in a sea of Sean Hannitys and Rush Limbaughs (not to mention that turncoat Roger Hedgecock, who once wooed the gay community to defeat Mayor Maureen O’Conner then shut us out in the cold and now rails for our demise every day on right-wing radio).

They were desperate to save the only station that speaks for the 50 percent of San Diegans who register as Independent, Democrat or Progressive; the 50 percent of us that suffer under the “Big Money” politics that hand out all the meat to the rich Republicans and give the gristle to the working class. (Let’s not forget, San Diegans elected a Democratic mayor – Donna Frye, a write-in candidate – before a conservative judge overturned the results, and the U.S. Constitution, by throwing out ballots that spelled her name wrong, or forgot to darken the “Other” circle on the ballot.)

They were desperate to save the only station that actively supports the GLBT community and runs a gay talk show from San Francisco.

Clear Channel, the corporation that owns 1360AM LSD, San Diego’s Air America affiliate, makes excuses for its decision, claiming the station suffered low ratings and low ad sales.

Protesters answered the charges by asking the program director of KLSD why Clear Channel, (whose owner is a big money right-wing Conservative) hasn’t boosted the channel’s tiny 5,000-watt broadcast to the 50,000 watts that other Clear Channel stations have, which would increase the broadcast area to East County and North County listeners, and increase ratings and advertising sales.

Walker, a former San Diego anchorwoman who recently purchased Camp Casey, Cindy Sheehan’s war protest site seven miles from President Bush’s ranch, wondered if Clear Channel was 100 percent truthful about switching to an all-sports format to make money, considering San Diego already has three sports stations. L.A. sports stations are also carried in San Diego.

Walker said Larry Mayes, the owner of San Antonio-based Clear Channel, often attended barbecues at Bush’s ranch, and she had a gut feeling that Mayes might be doing Bush a favor by shutting down our military town’s progressive radio station that questioned Bush’s motives for a preemptive war in Iraq. Stacy Taylor, morning host of KLSD, said maybe Clear Channel didn’t want Air America’s message broadcasting as far as Camp Pendleton.

City Attorney Mike Aguirre said the air waves belong to the public. “People from San Diego should be making the decisions about San Diego, not people from Texas.” Then he joked, “We have enough of them doing that already.”

Why should the GLBT community give a darn about the protest? Because the station speaks for us! The radio hosts on KLSD AM 1360 fight for our rights and politicians who support us; because KLSD supports unions and unions support us; because every Friday at 3 p.m. Randi Rhodes starts her show off with “Bounce Your Boobies;” because Sunday at 4 p.m. Stephanie Miller’s show will make you laugh until you cry, and right after, Pride radio comes on. And every Saturday and Sunday morning, Garden Compass will teach you all kinds of cool things to make your rose garden or patio look fabulous.

According to Cliff Albert, the station’s program director, it is not too late. The hammer has been raised, but it hasn’t been brought down yet. Listeners can support the station by letting the advertisers know that they heard them on KLSD. And an online petition is available at www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-klsd-am-1360.html which sends a message to Clear Channel headquarters.