S/D: Liberal/Lefty/Progressive Talk Radio shows

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Ok, we've have several left-leaning (non-NPR) talk radio shows for a coupla years now. If you actually listen to any of 'em(Air America or otherwise), which ones do you think are worthwhile? Why?

for me:

Ed Schultz - friendliest, more affable & accesible host. the guy I think has the widest appeal for voters our parents' age.
Thom Hartmann - knows his history better than pretty much anybody
Al Franken - funnier. Occasional cameos/contributions of SNL folks or Tom Davis

Mike Malloy - way too goddamn shrill/paranoid. I like his 1984 readings, tho.
Randi Rhodes - see also
Sam Seder/Janeane Garofalo - i hate their hosting style, but they have some of the best and most compelling guests of almost any show out there. I can't listen to the show when Janeane's on, tho.

What say you?

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 5 May 2006 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

otm re: ed schultz. i think that "meat eatin gun totin' lefty" thing, while not my personal style, would really appeal to a lot of people in the south who, from my experience, don't necessarily subscribe to everything right wing, but still want to be able to bear arms, etc.

i always liked randi rhodes because she would snap right back at people when they were being ridiculous, but the thing is, she's so volatile that a lot of people just won't take her seriously.

i also think stephanie miller is funny, but she spends too much time joking around and mocking o'reilly to really make any kind of statement about current affairs.

― tehresa (tehresa), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

while not my personal style, would really appeal to a lot of people in the south who, from my experience, don't necessarily subscribe to everything right wing, but still want to be able to bear arms, etc.

right, also from michigan or any of the northern states w/ a lot of hunting/fishing

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

i think he would really appeal to the "average joe"... kind of the way... *cringe*... w does, in that he's your buddy, etc.

so, why is he not more popular?

― tehresa (tehresa), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:04 (nineteen years ago)

so, why is he not more popular?

i think its a mix of him only being on 100+ stations for less than 2 years and not having the promotional arm or coverage/syndication that all the righty folks do. I keep trying to find a station so that my grandpa in suburban knoxville can listen(my dad subjects grandpa to rush all the time).

still, ed has one of the top shows in several markets that he is in, but i've only seen a coupla ratings books, and don't know how he's doing overall, aside from the fact that he's getting more stations(except for the couple that rightwing fundies bought out & shut down).

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

i wish he'd gotten more public attention after the whole armed forces radio fiasco :(

― tehresa (tehresa), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

true, but at least he's on there, and as everybody says, this is a marathon, not a sprint.

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I've never heard of him! Chicago canned Air America pretty quickly.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:16 (nineteen years ago)

I thought the Chicago thing had to do more with the station owner pulling shenanigans, tho.

Oh yeah, and Ed's show is worth hearing. You can listen from streams here. He's on from 3-6pm EST, and on both XM & Sirius.

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:21 (nineteen years ago)

Don't listen to a lot of radio except MPR. I've caught Al Franken. He's fun to listen too. Randy Rhodes, however, makes me want to jam pens in my ears. I tuned into Air America on XM and there must have been some sort of Randi Rhodes marathon. I listened for a while, but it's just not my schtick, so I tuned it out. I puttered around the house cleaning, reading, whatever, growing more and more irritable and suddenly realizing it was Randi. That voice, and so strident, unrelenting. If I had to listen to Randi Rhodes for hours on end I would go mad.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:22 (nineteen years ago)

Randy's daily how is 4 hours long, which is way too much. But it's great when Thom Hartmann hosts.

Click two stations down to XM 165 and you can hear Ed on at the same time as Randi(but only for 3 hours).

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:24 (nineteen years ago)

i kinda like lionel, too

― tehresa (tehresa), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:26 (nineteen years ago)

oh yeah, and I got to meet Ed when he last came thru PDX:

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/6524/edmeetsjeremy5ic.jpg

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:32 (nineteen years ago)

I'll have to catch Shultz. Lionel?

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.lionelonline.com/

― tehresa (tehresa), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:48 (nineteen years ago)

I stopped listening to this stuff about 18 months ago, but when I listened regularly to Franken, it wasn't just because he was Liberal/Lefty/Progressive, or because he's 'funny' - I just like the dude.

Randi Rhodes could be frustrating, but I'd defend her if called upon to do so. Garofalo and Co - never saw the point there.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:51 (nineteen years ago)

mike malloy is pretty good. he's all fiery and stuff.

― ed slanders (edslanders), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:53 (nineteen years ago)

Also, Tony Trupiano had a show from detroit which was carried on Sirius, but he put it on hold to run for Congress. He still sits in for Ed once in a while.

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

S: Mike Malloy when he shrieks "jesus christ" and you can hear him audibly fuming. Also, when he cheerfully puts down all forms of religion.

― -rainbow bum- (-rainbow bum-), Friday, 5 May 2006 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

i think i heard trupiano sitting in for ed once, discussing his campaign. not bad.

― tehresa (tehresa), Saturday, 6 May 2006 00:17 (nineteen years ago)

a gandhi quote should disqualify anyone from being considered serious. randi rhodes is not very bright. the problem with air america and the like is that it pushed all of these people who should be doing their loony local public radio shows up to the big leagues before they were ready. probably why a lot of it is silly conspiracy theory and possible indictments talk. it's as if someone like mark scott was doing a national radio show, it's absurd to think about it.

― keyth (keyth), Saturday, 6 May 2006 02:41 (nineteen years ago)

I like Ring of Fire w/ Robt. Kennedy Jr.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 6 May 2006 02:43 (nineteen years ago)

a crazy homeless friend of mine likes to always say:

the "left" is a flag/t-shirt propped up by the rich to give sheep the impression that there are two nearly equal opposing sides.

it's grassroots action for the changes you want, or it's just empty self-righteous banter.

...and the sheep march on

left right
left right
left right

― nicky lo-fi (nicky lo-fi), Saturday, 6 May 2006 06:54 (nineteen years ago)

― j blount (papa la bas), Saturday, 6 May 2006 07:33 (nineteen years ago)

well, obviously he knows what he's talking about. he's using his mystical hobo powers to drop science on us all.

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Saturday, 6 May 2006 08:12 (nineteen years ago)

tim, i forgot about ring of fire! i only heard it a few times, but his voice... so soothing, and good, thought out discussion (not screaming and/or mockery of the right all the time)

― tehresa (tehresa), Saturday, 6 May 2006 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

he's not even an authentic hobo. he one of the newer younger trendy homeless that started popping up in the mid 90's. they have not taken well to the city's gentrification, and are now getting much more bitter, and much less mystical.

― nicky lo-fi (nicky lo-fi), Saturday, 6 May 2006 18:29 (nineteen years ago)

what, more of a crusty punk type? does he have a dog?

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Saturday, 6 May 2006 21:09 (nineteen years ago)

The Big Show With Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick

― milo z (mlp), Saturday, 6 May 2006 21:18 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I've never heard of him! Chicago canned Air America pretty quickly.
Chicago's got Air America now on 850 AM, but the signal is very weak. I'm usually only able to listen in the car. They've got:
Rachel Maddow, Jerry Springer, AL Franken, Ed Schultz (who's not actually part of Air America proper), and Randy Rhodes. Due to some weird restriction on their licence, it goes off the air around 8pm.
They've got more on the weekends, including a best-of Malloy (good in small doses, I think), the Bobby Kennedy thing, and some other syndicated stuff.
I used to listen to The Majority Report, but I haven't heard it since they put the kibosh on Air America Place's free archives a few months ago.

I've got Sirius now, and I really like The Young Turks a lot.

― Mike Dixn (Mike Dixon), Saturday, 6 May 2006 21:20 (nineteen years ago)

milo totally otm!!!

― j blount (papa la bas), Saturday, 6 May 2006 21:21 (nineteen years ago)

I lke to read http://www.fair.org

although I'm afraid I've become a cynic and a skeptic, and don't trust anybody anymore.

― nicky lo-fi (nicky lo-fi), Sunday, 7 May 2006 04:42 (nineteen years ago)

that's fascinating!

― j blount (papa la bas), Sunday, 7 May 2006 07:21 (nineteen years ago)

we're all doing what we can!

― nicky lo-fi (nicky lo-fi), Monday, 8 May 2006 12:20 (nineteen years ago)

whats the right counterpart to 'progressive'? 'conservative'?

― -+-+-+++- (ooo), Monday, 8 May 2006 12:31 (nineteen years ago)

progressives wear the more expensive glasses.

― nicky lo-fi (nicky lo-fi), Monday, 8 May 2006 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

not mine! $40 plastic indie geek frames!

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 8 May 2006 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

Al Franken is alright with me .. the others all sound like they're ranting when they talk, which is a huge turnoff to me. Al kinda sounds like he's just talking most of the time. (With an occasional rant.)

Rhandi Roads has that 9/11 tower conspiracy video on her website. enough said about her.

― dave's good arm (facsimile) (dave225.3), Monday, 8 May 2006 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

I miss Marc Maron & Mark Riley's morning show.

Also, here in Portland, Thom Hartmann does the local morning show(which took over the spot from Marc & Mark).

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 8 May 2006 19:04 (nineteen years ago)

for NPR, On the Media is really good

anything Olbermann is on, though I only watch his TV show really.

― dar1a g (daria g), Monday, 8 May 2006 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

except that I don't think that On The Media is really set up as a lefty/partisian show, in as much as a Democracy Now/Pacifica/Air America thing...

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 8 May 2006 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

but yeah, it is a good show, as is Keith O's

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 8 May 2006 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

Ring of Fire w/ bobby kennedy is so listenable, it's on once a week but should be every day, instead of randi rhodes for 4 hours... at least that's how it is on my local station (which is not air america but carries many of those shows, it's cool for being unique, being the first -commercial- lefty talk station in the US.)

― -rainbow bum- (-rainbow bum-), Monday, 8 May 2006 20:23 (nineteen years ago)

Meanwhile, Richard Perle is on Al Franken's show for the next 45 minutes or so, talking about the war.

This should be fun.

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 11 May 2006 17:14 (nineteen years ago)

And Ed's going to be on Larry King tonight to go over the NSA thing, along with a few other radio folks(probably Randi or Stephanie Miller, and two rightwing douchebags)

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 12 May 2006 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

five months pass...

http://talkprogress.com/

Clear Channel/Center for American Progress is holding a contest to find the next lefty talker.

I vote for the Nabisco/Blount Show.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 13 October 2006 02:34 (nineteen years ago)

the CAP should be ashamed of itself for getting into bed with CC on this.

― milo z (mlp), Friday, 13 October 2006 03:16 (nineteen years ago)

I had unmitigated love for Jerry Quigley(my peoples, my peoples...) on the local Pacifica station until he got a little too enamored with 9/11 conspiracies, but at least he saves that stuff for the pledge drives. He's as humorous as Amy Goodman is humorless, and they're the best Pacifica has to offer at the moment. I miss Larry Bentsky, anyone know if he's still on the Berkeley affiliate?
'Left, Right, and Center' is a perverse pleasure also, counting Huffington as 'center' stacks the deck but I'm not complaining.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Friday, 13 October 2006 19:57 (nineteen years ago)

the CAP should be ashamed of itself for getting into bed with CC on this.

enh, ya go with what ya got. CC owns the leftie talk station/air america affliate in portland.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 13 October 2006 20:03 (nineteen years ago)

Destroy - Randi Rhodes. That voice! Like fingernails on a chalkboard.

― mucho (mucho), Friday, 13 October 2006 20:51 (nineteen years ago)

i have to admit i've hated every "lefty" talk show i've heard, i don't like being pandered to.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 13 October 2006 23:42 (nineteen years ago)

i mean, none of them were truly informative.

well pacifica has some good stuff actually.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 13 October 2006 23:42 (nineteen years ago)

i have to admit i've hated every "lefty" talk show i've heard, i don't like being pandered to.

what shows have you actually heard?

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Saturday, 14 October 2006 05:26 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

how to tell you've arrived: when you get a death thread just for showing up on Hannity & Colmes.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 30 October 2006 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

Our thoughts on the letter:

* This shows how nutty and dangerous political debate has gotten in the United States. Honestly, does it not seem as if we just one baby step away from that dreaded day when we learn that some talk show host (or blogger) is blown away by someone who does not agree with her/his views? This is symptomatic of the polarization that vote-hunger politicos have fed to obtain power. It's a cliche to talk about Frankenstein's monster getting out control, so we wouldn't DARE point to that..

No, it shows how nutty and dangerous one person is.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Monday, 30 October 2006 19:31 (nineteen years ago)

eleven months pass...

booo, local bro-oriented station replaced the two hours of Stephanie Miller's show with an extra hour of Dennis Miller and "Fox Sports Radio."

Of course, this is also the same station that broadcasts Tom Leykis for four hours a day.

― kingfish, Monday, 22 October 2007 20:14 (eighteen years ago)

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