Shakeup at Green 960: PD Scott exits

According to All Access, there are several upper-office changes at the Clear Channel San Francisco cluster. Most notable to readers here is the departure of longtime KKGN program director John Scott.

Scott also oversees conservative talk sister KNEW.

Also gone from the building is Stacy Cunningham, PD of hip-hop formatted KMEL.

Other personnel in the building will assume programming tasks. Ricci Filiar, assistant program director/music director for urban adult KISQ, will oversee the two talk stations.

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"Clout" comes back

According to AllAccess, "Hollywood Clout! with Richard Greene" has been resurrected and will continue via independent syndication. The show will air weeknights 9-10ET.

WCPT Chicago is the first station to pick up the show.

The show left the airwaves following the demise of syndicator Air America last month, and is one of several from the network to live on. "Ring Of Fire" moved to Westwood One and Nicole Sandler is offering her show via webcast and independent syndication.

"Hollywood Clout!" does not have its own website thus far, but can be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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Air America bankruptcy filing discloses creditors

For those still curious about the finances of Air America, its Chapter 7 liquidation petition, filed with a federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan yesterday, shows a few creditors and almost $16 million owed.

The company listed assets of $1,549,910 and liabilities of $17,357,302. Air America was current on their taxes, so no government liens were claimed. There are, however, two secured claims - a loan and a security deposit - that total almost $800K.

The largest claim is a promissory note for $15.8 million owed to Air America chairman Charlie Kierker, the head of Pendulum Media, which bought a controlling interest in Air America Media about a year ago. He will likely not get that.

Other creditors include Air America’s landlord, radio stations KTLK Los Angeles and WWRL New York, Westwood One, Arbitron, a few media brokers and others, in addition to various other bills. The New York fire department is owed $1,050, likely for a bedbug infestation at the company's studios late last year.

Several hosts are still owed money. Ana Marie Cox is owed $1,169 for expenses. Ron Reagan's production company is owed $6,350. Rachel Maddow is owed $3,951, a figure that the New York Times estimates is one-third of her monthly salary of $5,833, which amounts to a yearly salary of $70,000. Now, right-wing pundits are making hay about her paycheck, which is essentially for a rebroadcast of her MSNBC show. But considering that the radio replay was still syndicated across the country and aired in many large markets, the figure certainly sounds fair. Besides, Maddow's replay was perhaps Air America's most widely-syndicated weekday offering at the time of the network's demise.

Obviously, these supposed pro-business advocates need to brush up on their knowledge and find more credible things to whine about.

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KPTR moves to the right

In a California desert radio dial shakeup, Palm Springs progressive talker KPTR is set to move to the right. Physically, anyway.

Starting tomorrow, KPTR and it's format will move from 1340AM to 1450AM. The new frequency is home to KGAM, a conservative talker that airs the likes of G. Gordon Liddy and Michael Savage. That station will be no more.

The reason for the change is the sale and move of one of R & R Radio Corporation's FM stations, the soon-to-be former oldies outlet KDES (104.7FM). With that sale, expected to close today, the frequency will move into the Riverside/San Bernadino market, and as a result, KDES and its oldies format will move to 98.5FM (currently KWXY). KWXY's easy listening format will move to 1340AM, prompting the move of KPTR to 1450AM.

Got all that?

KGAM currently carries Los Angeles Angels baseball, and that will remain on KPTR.

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More station shuffling

A few updates on what stations are doing post-Air America...

Yesterday, I reported that Norman Goldman gained eight new affiliates, seeking a live show for evenings. Now it appears that Premiere's Randi Rhodes has picked up two three, KPTR Palm Springs (3-6P) and KVOT Taos, NM (4-7P). And KPTK Seattle has just picked up Rhodes for the slot vacated by Ron Reagan. Her show starts airing there next Monday.

One of the stations Goldman has picked up is KABQ Albuquerque. The station also adds Mike Malloy live for nights.

KTLK Los Angeles has, for some reason, added four hours of consumer finance guru Clark Howard in afternoon drive (3-7P).

WDTW Detroit is alive and well, and has added Alan Colmes for nights, WOR's syndicated Joey Reynolds for overnights and a Bill Press rerun for early evenings.

Air America refugee Jack Rice is filling in during the old Montel Williams slot (3-6P) on WWRL New York all week. Still no word on what they're doing to fill in other timeslots vacated by Air America.

State Of Belief, which had aired weekends on Air America, will continue, mostly as a podcast but will be available to any station wanting it (WXXM Madison is airing it, along with another Air America refugee, Free Thought Radio).

KCCT Corpus Christi dropped Air America several years ago, but has dabbled in liberal talk since then. Reportedly, they even ran Thom Hartmann's show, along with various local hosts. That will all change, as the station is currently stunting in preparation for their new format - something called "True Conservative Radio." Essentially, it will be low-tier conservotalkers during the week, and classic country and NASCAR broadcasts on the weekends.

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Norman Goldman picks up eight stations

Not surprisingly, one of the biggest winners in the post-Air America world of progressive talk radio is Norman Goldman, who has gained eight new affiliates looking to fill a gap in their afternoon/evening rosters.

According to RadioInfo, the show, distributed by Compass Media Networks, picks up WCPT Chicago, WWZN Boston, KKGN San Francisco, KPOJ Portland, KJFK Reno, WXXM Madison and WNYY in Ithaca, NY. His most noteworthy affiliate prior to this was KPTK in Seattle, where his company reportedly paid for the clearance.

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Updates, shmupdates...

As I tend to this somewhat-neglected blog, and clean up after the whole Air America demise thing, I've updated the links section in the center column. Hopefully, everything is up to date. Here are a few things I've revised:

All Air America links and whatnot are gone. As of last night, the stream officially bit the dust, as they make their way to the Chapter 7 graveyard. Air America hosts that are still doing shows (or may be doing so in the near future) remain, and the links now direct to the proper sites.

I took this opportunity to go through the listing of radio websites, and made a few additions and subtractions. Keeping up with the changes on the smaller stations is rather tough, since these stations are a bit out of sight, out of mind. I've noticed only two stations have changed as a direct result of Air America's demise. Obviously WZAA in Washington, DC is no more. And KKEE in Bellingham, WA has reportedly flipped to sports talk. Rational Radio stopped broadcasting on KMNY Dallas a couple months back, but are still going online. They have been moved to the "Progressive Talk Radio - Streaming" section. Other stations, such as WINI in Carbondale, IL dropped liberal talk from their schedule a long time ago, but nobody really noticed. But with all the various subtractions comes one notable addition. WZON (103.1FM), just outside of Bangor, ME, flipped to progressive talk earlier this month. The station is owned by Stephen King (yes, THAT Stephen King). They air liberal talk 24/7.

I may have left a few hosts and shows off the list. There are probably quite a few that need to be added, such as local shows, etc. Some former on-air hosts are doing what are essentially podcasts, and not really live shows. For others, I'm still scoping through to see what they're doing and where they're doing it. I do have a tendency, however, to avoid ones that aren't very established, or 'networks' and streaming services that constantly change their lineups. For the same reason, I can sometimes be wary of adding weekend shows, since these change constantly. The more established ones, such as Ring Of Fire and Peter Werbe, are still there, since they aren't going anywhere soon.

With all that in mind, if you notice a glaring omission that you feel should be on the list, just leave a comment, a link to their site and perhaps a live stream link. That would be most helpful.

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Report: Ron Reagan show up in the air

BlatherWatch reports that Ron Reagan has abandoned his radio show, hours before he was to launch the post-Air America phase of his on-air career:

No Ron Reagan on KPTK this afternoon. The Seattle-based son of the eponymous late president says he’s throwing in the towel on his radio show, effective right now.

Producer Tina Nole says it was his decision, and he has no other plans at the moment.

No further word on the show's fate, and no updates via the Facebook or Twitter pages for it. Reagan was to continue via his homebase station, KPTK, and possibly self-syndicate to his 47 or so affiliates, though many of the stations airing his show had switched to alternate programming. Other reports have claimed that Reagan had been shopping his show to other networks, and that a deal was pending.

KPTK is airing repeats of the program for the time being.

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WZAA to flip back to WTOP simulcast

Following last week's demise of Air America, WZAA, the Washington, DC station that they leased, will flip back to it's previous format - simulcasting all-news WTOP, according to dcrtv.com.

Air America had been leasing the suburban AM station from WTOP owner Bonneville International. WZAA will continue to fulfill its local sports commitments. "We have had some very intriguing offers and or suggestions (for a new format), but that's the plan for now," a local Bonneville executive told DCRTV.

DCRTV also reported that WAVA owner Salem has been looking for a DC AM on which to air its right-wing political talk format, but there have been no talks with Bonneville.

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What's next, post-Air America?

With the demise of Air America, many stations and hosts are scrambling to fill programming holes, and hosts are scrambling to acquire new gigs and/or syndicators. But seeing as Air America's on-air influence had been greatly diminished as of late, listeners may not notice many differences in their local station lineups.

First, the stations...

Obviously, it appears that WZAA, the station the network had been leasing and operating in Washington, DC, will be no more, unless owner Bonneville International or another entity decides to air a progressive talk format there. No word yet on WWRL New York, the other station that Air America leased time from. However, WWRL's owner does have a stake in Ed Schultz' show, so having a local affiliate in New York would be a benefit to them.

John Scott, program director of KKGN in San Francisco, said that the station's format would be unaffected, and that Air America "was dead a long time ago. They're just burying it Monday at 6pm PT." He claimed "management screw ups, overspending, talent management, it was a mess from almost the get go. There were truly some fine, dedicated radio people there that were part of the launch team, but they never had a chance."

"They offered un-entertaining programming. They deserved this. We are in the ENTERTAINMENT business, I am going to say this for the ten billionth time. We are not in the POLITICAL business."

NEW! KTLK Los Angeles will have to make a few changes, but it appears they will stick with progressive talk for the foreseeable future. KTLK PD Robin Bertolucci emailed LARadio.com, stating "We are figuring it out as we speak. Ron Reagan (M-F 3-6pm), Richard Greene (M-F 9-11pm), Rachel Maddow (M-F 2-3am), and some of our weekend shows are from Air America." Changes won't be in place until the beginning of next week. The station serves as the home to Stephanie Miller's show.

NEW! KPTK Seattle will remain. Local native Ron Reagan, who was employed by Air America and broadcast his show from the station's studios, will continue to do live shows on the station, while he seeks a new national distributor. Reagan was the network's most-syndicated host (not counting the re-airing of Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show). He is keeping fans updated via his Facebook page.

Until now, I didn't even realize that Montel Williams had an affiliate in Tacoma, WA, and a live one at that. But apparently, KLAY did carry his show. But not anymore, of course. Starting Monday, former Tacoma city councilman Mike Lonergan takes the morning slot.

KPOJ Portland, WCPT Chicago, KTNF in Minneapolis/St. Paul, WXXM Madison, KABQ in Albuquerque, WVAX Charlottesville, VA, WPEK Asheville, NC and KKZN Denver are among the stations so far that have all confirmed that they will continue with their current formats, though with some schedule modification.

Many other progressive talk stations will be unaffected, since they carried little to none of the network's programming, aside from weekends, which can easily be filled with reruns and other programming fare.

Former Air America nighttime host Nicole Sandler will continue her show online, via her website, but is looking for another broadcast opportunity. According to AllAccess, she is able to continue or fill in immediately on any station, via ISDN line. Jack Rice announced on his Twitter account that he is now "officially available for birthdays & bar mitzvahs" pending his next radio opportunity. No word on what's next for Lionel, Montel Williams, Richard Greene and the network's other on-air and behind-the-scenes employees.

Air America's weekend fare tended to cast a larger footprint with affiliates, though the offerings had been greatly diminished in recent years. Some of the shows are produced outside of the network, and will go on. "Ring Of Fire" is independently-produced, and will continue unchanged as a weekend offering, syndicated by Westwood One. Air America-produced shows such as "Inside Story", "State Of Belief" and "On The Real" are likely dead.

And then there's the non-Air America stuff. Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann and Bill Press are syndicated by Dial Global, not Air America. Nothing changes there. Randi Rhodes is syndicated by Premiere Networks. Mike Malloy, Norman Goldman, Karel and a few others are independently syndicated. All of these hosts have little to do with Air America, except that they shared many affiliates.

It didn't take long for others to start feasting on the corpse. Business Talk Radio Network and Lifestyle Talk Radio Network are both offering their programming to all former Air America affiliates on an immediate basis. Network staffers have been contacting the stations since yesterday to offer their services in filling programming holes. It's safe to say many other radio networks, particularly the ones offering liberal talk programming, are hitting the phones heavily as well.

So, what will happen to the vast audio archives of Air America? Well, nobody knows the answer to that question. Likely, they could find their way to other sources (might I suggest Internet Archive?). Some hosts did their own archiving, and will thus be unaffected. But it's too soon to tell what will happen there.

Obviously, there will be much more to share on this whole shakeup, so this entry will be updated.

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Air America folds

From Air America's website:

It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.

The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America's business. This past year has seen a "perfect storm" in the media industry generally. National and local advertising revenues have fallen drastically, causing many media companies nationwide to fold or seek bankruptcy protection. From large to small, recent bankruptcies like Citadel Broadcasting and closures like that of the industry's long-time trade publication Radio and Records have signaled that these are very difficult and rapidly changing times.

Those companies that remain are facing audience fragmentation as a result of new media technologies, are often saddled with crushing debt, and have generally found it difficult to obtain operating or investment capital from traditional sources of funding. In this climate, our painstaking search for new investors has come close several times right up into this week, but ultimately fell short of success.

With radio industry ad revenues down for 10 consecutive quarters, and reportedly off 21% in 2009, signs of improvement have consisted of hoping things will be less bad. And though Internet/new media revenues are projected to grow, our expanding online efforts face the same monetization and profitability challenges in the short term confronting the Web operations of most media companies

When Air America Radio launched in April, 2004 with already-known personalities like Al Franken and then-unknown future stars like Rachel Maddow, it was the only full-time progressive voice in the mainstream broadcast media world. At a critical time in our nation's history — when dissent on issues such as the Iraq war were often denounced as "un-American" — Air America and its talented team helped millions of Americans remember the importance of compelling discussion about the most pivotal events and decisions of our generation.

Through some 100 radio outlets nationwide, Air America helped build a new sense of purpose and determination among American progressives. With this revival, the progressive movement made major gains in the 2006 mid-term elections and, more recently, in the election of President Barack Obama and a strongly Democratic Congress.

Laws have changed for the better thanks to this revival.....but all the same our company cannot escape the laws of economics. So we intend a rapid, orderly closure over the next few days. All current employees will be paid through today, January 21. A severance package will be offered tomorrow to full-time current employees with more than six months of tenure.

We will strive to assist affiliates and partners in achieving a smooth transition. Starting at 6 pm EST today, we will provide our affiliates, listeners and users a selection of encore programming until 9 pm EST on Monday, January 25, at which time Air America programming will end.

We are proud that Air America's mission lives on through the words and actions of so many former radio hosts who are active today in progressive causes and media nationwide. In the years ahead, as we look back, we should all be proud of our passionate determination to assure that our nation's progressive voice would be heard loud and clear. Through the hard work and dedication of current staff, and those who preceded you, a lasting legacy was forged which will now continue through other voices and venues.

Thank you.

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So many turkeys, so little time

Just wanted to drop a note, saying yes, I'm still alive, and yes, the Turkey Of The Year is on the way. Just takes a little time to prepare the succulent feast.

Look for it later today, or no later than tomorrow. Until then, Happy Thanksgiving. Regular updates will resume tomorrow, with some current news.

In the meantime, enjoy "Alice's Restaurant."

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Schultz dropped in D.C.

Syndicated talker Ed Schultz is without a Washington, DC affiliate for the first time in five years as WTNT (570AM) has dropped him from the on-air roster in favor of local conservotalker Jeff Kuhner.

Station management cites ratings, though ratings for the station as a whole are pretty lousy all-around.


DCRTV.com's Dave Hughes sums it all up this way:

WTNT does a splendid job keeping all its programming changes a deep dark secret. And, as a result, it has almost no listeners. Great station, huh! What? 30th in the PPMs. The only reason it exists is to satisfy the egos of a batch of syndicated talkers who can claim that they're "on the air in the Nation's Capital." Keep up the good work, WTNT owner Dan Snyder. At least you get one or two people to listen, which is more than the cluckheads at CBS get for "The Big Talker 1580," which has yet to even show up in the PPMs. Sheesh.....

And Hughes is right. Aside from WMAL, all-news WTOP, and public radio, talk radio in D.C. gets crummy ratings all around. Getting a D.C. clearance typically seems to be more about bragging rights. That's conservative, liberal and everything else in between.

Schultz was added to WTNT's lineup in February after the demise of sister station WWRC's progressive talk format.

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Progressive talk gone in Missoula... again

Missoula listeners were no doubt shocked when, tuning in to listen to Stephanie Miller last week, they heard liners like "A new attitude and a great line-up or some of the best conservative talk!" Yep, KMPT (930AM) has abruptly shifted ideology. The station now airs a conservotalk format.

Market manager Scott Lindahl said the station under-performed with its progressive talk format, and they had to either "turn it off," sell it or change formats. Sports was considered, but they decided instead to go with conservotalk.

Lindahl said corporate members at GapWest Broadcasting gave the station input, but local programmers ultimately made the decision to go conservative. The station says they've answered several calls from progressive listeners.

"Did they like it? No." said Lindahl. "Did they understand it? Yes."

The KMPT flip is a sign of the times for radio. The current slump in broadcast advertising revenue has especially hit small AM stations hard. Many have flipped to tried-and-true predictable formats like sports and conservotalk to stop the bleeding. Some have gone off the air completely. Lesser-established formats like progressive talk are having a rough time as a result.

KMPT had adopted the format in January, 2008, after the market's previous libtalker, KKNS, switched to the Jack-FM format.

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The War Of The Worlds, and the Golden Age of Radio

In what has become somewhat of a tradition here at LTR, I thought I'd share a little history with you.

Seventy-one years ago yesterday, October 30, 1938, a radio drama aired that really made an impact on the airwaves of America. The Mercury Theatre on the Air, led by Orson Welles, did an adaptation of the H.G. Welles classic science fiction work The War Of The Worlds.

I wrote about this the past two years, here and here. Here's some of what I wrote then:

Welles and company prepared an adaptation of H.G. Wells' science fiction thriller The War Of The Worlds, which told the tale of a violent alien invasion of Earth. And in keeping with the eccentric nature of their on-stage productions, which included Shakespearian works set in Fascist Italy and the Carribean, among various contemporary settings, this adaptation would be unique.

The broadcast, as envisioned by Welles, was to be done as a hoax. Welles was never a fan of overly-political radio commentators such as Father Charles Coughlin, and perhaps wanted to show people that they could not necessarily believe everything they heard on the radio. Most likely, he was inspired by the horrific thought of his ambitious dramas getting clobbered in the ratings by a radio ventriloquist. Something had to be done.

The show started with an ordinary ballroom concert performance (actually the CBS radio orchestra conducted by Bernard Herrmann) would be interrupted by live news reports and announcer cut-ins, reporters on the scene, sounds of ham radio operators and interviews with fictitious government officials – all relaying a fictional Martian attack on Grovers Mill, New Jersey.

Not much more can be added to what I wrote earlier. But audio dramas such as War Of The Worlds, to this day, speak of the power of really good "old time radio" presentations, done before the advent of television. The better ones really had no need for television, as they effectively drew pictures for the listening audience. For example, Dragnet, considered by many to be the best of the old-time radio shows, and definitely the best-produced, was arguably more effective on radio than in its later television incarnation.

The Internet Archive has a mind-boggling selection of old-time radio shows on their site, including drama, comedy, suspense, horror, sci-fi, crime stories, westerns, variety, news broadcasts and much more. And it's all free, allowing anyone to download old episodes of the comedy duo Bob and Ray, or enjoy the Red Scare camp of I Was A Communist For The FBI (highly recommended!).

Listening to radio these days can often be either depressing or boring (or both). Thankfully, the Internet Archive has preserved many, many examples of radio's Golden Age.

For your listening pleasure this Halloween, here is the original Mercury Theatre presentation of War Of The Worlds:



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Vote for the Top Talkers of 2009

It is that time of the year. Time to cast your vote for the "LTR Top Talker of 2009."

It works the same as last year. Check out the poll in the middle column. You will see 40 or so personalities and/or shows listed on the ballot. To make things a bit more interesting this time around, I have added a few television personalities to the mix of typically radio, webcast and podcast personalities, seeing as much of the attention has been paid to the boob tube as of late.

The other names were all picked from the listings in the center column, and consist of all the entrants from last year that still maintain some sort of regular broadcast/webcast/podcast presence. They include some newer shows (Air America has added several this year) and a few local personalities. The names are all listed alphabetically.

Here's what you do: You can select up to ten names. If you only have three, or five, or eight, that's fine. Please go through the list carefully, and vote how you see fit. And don't stuff the ballot box. This ain't Tammany Hall here. One computer/IP address per bracket. Now, you talkers listed can wage campaigns if you'd like. I think it makes it more interesting. Not to mention, it brings the web traffic. But campaign efforts will likely be noted here by either myself or attentive readers, just so everyone knows what's happening.

At the same time, this is really all for fun. That's F-U-N FUN! Let's not take it all so seriously.

And please don't start any ridiculous debates about 'who's liberal' and 'who's not.' Anal retention is most certainly not fun.

The poll closes on December 24, Christmas Eve, at midnight. On January 1, 2010, the results will be announced here. Simple, huh?

For the curious, you can see previous results here.

So, Happy Halloween, and happy voting.

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National syndicator picks up Norman Goldman show

Norman Goldman's recently launched radio talk show has been picked up for syndication by Compass Media Networks. The show airs weekdays 6-9p ET, and is being aimed by Compass at progressive talk radio stations.

From the presser:

"Don't know Norman Goldman? You will soon," said Peter Kosann, CEO and Founder of Compass Media Networks. "Norman has compelling rags to righteous life-story, track record of success and -- if given the chance -- will help progressive talk stations win."


"We have methodically developed Norman's brand to give local affiliates a clear and compelling programming opportunity," said Bill Figenshu, President of FigMedia1 and advisor to The Norman Goldman Show. "After guest hosting for Ed Schultz frequently over the past four years, Norman is already well known and liked by audiences and advertisers of Progressive Talk stations from coast to coast. He has recently been added to the Huffington Post as a blogger in addition to his fill in work and full time show.


Affiliate benefits include: reduced network inventory, an all purpose fill in host at no charge, guaranteed market visits also at no charge and a prominent legal analyst made available to the entire cluster.


"I am honored and enthusiastic to work with Compass Media Networks and our radio affiliates." said Norman Goldman, "Each station carrying our show can expect extraordinary service, with a focused attention to audience and revenue development."

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When wingnuts get punk'd

Hey, remember all that brewhaha last week about some quotes right-wingers claim Rush Limbaugh didn't say?

Well, nobody really came forward with any proof that he did or didn't say a couple racist quotes attributed to him. Evidently, in in 1998, in the days before internet media watchdogs, someone didn't think of recording Boss Hogg's radio show for future prosperity. And because of just a few 'alleged' quotes, the tighty righties got all wound up, cranking the mockrage machine to 11. Never mind that they conveniently 'ignored' the really nasty quotes Limbaugh's critics did have recorded evidence for. Why let the truth get in the way of good spin?

And now, the tables have turned. The Right Wing Noise Machine has now been caught in a similar fiasco. This one emerged from the cesspools of the conservative smear machine. It claimed that Obama, while attending Columbia University, wrote a senior thesis attacking the Constitution. Here's the excerpt they latched on to:

[T]he Constitution allows for many things, but what it does not allow is the most revealing. The so-called Founders did not allow for economic freedom. While political freedom is supposedly a cornerstone of the document, the distribution of wealth is not even mentioned. While many believed that the new Constitution gave them liberty, it instead fitted them with the shackles of hypocrisy.

It took awhile, but this little thesis meme eventually snowballed around to other bloggers, who are always foaming at the mouth for anything to attack the president on. The meme went further up the food chain, to The FAUX Nation, then Lou Dobbs. And even the Grand Pillbaugh himself.

Problem is, the thesis story was all bullshit. A hoax. Please, don't be so surprised.

So, how did it all happen? This bogus meme started out on an obscure blog back in August. The story told about how Time Magazine's Joe Klein had obtained ten pages of the thesis. This past Wednesday, Michael Ledeen, a bottom-feeder at Pajamas Media, found the blog entry via Twitter and wrote about it as if it were the holy gospel.

Here's what Ledeen said about it:

Maybe instead of fuming about words that Rush Limbaugh never uttered, the paladins of the free press might ask the president about words that he did write.  Maybe he’d like to parse “the so-called Founders,” for example.  I’d like to know what he thinks of those words today.  And what about the rest of the thesis?

Yeah, what about the rest of the thesis? And what about the persecution of Limbaugh by all those lefty meanies?

The story went viral. Really fast. Other blogs, The FAUX Nation, then Dobbs, then the Fat Man himself. Limbaugh said about the thesis, "This little boy in college" had "disdain" for Constitution. Yes, he called our black president "little boy." Now, if that ain't racist, I don't know what is.

Unfortunately, nobody on the right could pull their heads out of their asses and actually do a little 'fact-checking' before they went nuclear over the alleged smoking gun thesis.

Finally, Klein himself took Ledeen to the woodshed, claiming the whole thesis story was "nonsense."

"I wonder about what the willingness to take this cheesy crap as gospel says about Ledeen's--and Boss Rush's--sensibility," Klein wrote. "Actually, on second thought, I don't wonder all that much."

Oops!

John Lennon once wrote, "Instant karmas gonna get you, gonna knock you right on the head." And that's what happened next. Yes, the story was bogus. In fact, it was initially labeled as 'satire.' Heck, the same blog had even done it before!

So, an obviously embarrassed Michael Ledeen, tail between legs, issued sheepish apologies all around.

But the fantasy was better than reality for some, as the story spread further. Bad enough that some pissant bloggers were spreading more fertilizer, but Lou Dobbs? Of CNN? Even after Klein stated the story was false? C'mon!

But one has to wonder, will Brent Bozell and the usual gang of idiots go after their own for spreading blatant lies about President Obama? Like he did when we justifiably went after Limbaugh? Of course not. It's nothing new really, since right-wingers spread lies about Obama everyday.

Come to think of it, didn't Dan Rather and his staff get the axe for reporting a story that actually had some truth to it? So, what about Dobbs? What about Fatboy?

Claiming "I have had this happen to me," Limbaugh said he didn't care if thesis quotes are fake, "I know Obama thinks it" Yeah, just like we don't care whether or not you condoned slavery, we just know you think it.

So, after weeks of whining and pissing and moaning about how that 'eeeevil librul meedya' gang-piled him to keep him from buying a football team, he knowingly went on his radio show and proceeded to spread lies about Obama, even after he found out they were fake. Sorry Rush, your credibility, whatever you had of it, is now even lower than a snake's ass.

As for attacking him on the constitution, Obama taught constitutional law in college. Limbaugh was a disc jockey. I'd put more faith in Obama's knowledge of how our country works rather than a guy who buys hillbilly heroin at the Denny's parking lot.

The best reaction on this comes from Gawker.com:

It's not like anyone's behavior here is unexpected or even all that terrible, it's mostly just hilarious. Once again: if you make something up and put it on the internet, Michele Bachmann and Rush Limbaugh will believe it.

So true.

Update from Thom Hartmann

Just got this in my inbox from Thom Hartmann, and I thought I'd share in its entirety (as Sundays can be a bit lazy):

We haven't been issuing press releases as this stuff has happened, so if you want to be the one to break the news feel free to put this stuff into your own words...

1. In addition to our commercial Dial-Global syndication, we're now a Pacifica affiliated show, providing a 3-hour live and delayed show to Pacifica non-profit and community stations around the world *with no commercial content* through the Pacifica audioport. We're doing this by simultaneously generating two identical shows; one commercial and one non-commercial (where the commercial breaks are filled with content like Labor Radio News, Hightower comments, a Science show, etc.). As a result of this, we've picked up just in the past few months since this affiliation began several dozen new stations, including one that covers an eighth of England and one that covers about a third of Ghana. Yep - our show is the only US-based mainstream political talk show, left or right, that (so far as I know) is carried now on local independent radio stations on 3 continents. And we're on more stations, have more listeners, and have more live clearances then any other progressive show in the country.

2. We also started doing a TV show - simultaneous with our radio show. We first migrated it to our new channel on YouTube, with whom we started a commercial relationship a few months ago, at www.youtube.com/thomhartmann. The show was picked up last week by Free Speech TV (on Dish Network satellite TV) and is now carried live from 2-3 PM ET following "Democracy Now" and "GritTV." We're also producing a half-hour TV show that will begin in the next week or two on FSTV, with most of its content cut down from our 3-hour radio/TV show. We'll also be offering this half-hour show as a video podcast.

3. We've re-established our relationship with Air America in that they're carrying my show on their Washington DC radio station and on their website. We're working on ways to strengthen that relationship, and pleased to see our name again on their brand new website at www.airamerica.com and that their DC listeners can hear our show on the weekends. (So our show is now "brought to our listeners - and viewers - by Dial-Global, Air America, Pacifica, YouTube, and Free Speech TV"...)

Keep up the great work with LTR, and if there's ever any way we can help, let me know!

Thom

Formulating the "Top 10" of 2009 (a little help is needed)

Just like the end of every year, this very blog will once again do a readers' poll of the top liberal 'talkers' of the year.

This poll, the fourth edition, will be similar to the ones done in the past. But, to throw a little curveball, I added some extra names. In addition to all the radio and webcast notables you've seen and voted for in the past, I have taken into account the various notable television personalities that many watch and talk about. Therefore, this poll will introduce left-leaning television personalities into the mix.

But before the poll goes up, I need your help.

Below are an assortment of names under consideration for inclusion in the poll. Granted, not all of these names may make the poll, but it's where I'm starting from. If there are any notable names missing from this list, please let me know in the comment section.

Bear in mind that the poll will include only personalities that are currently doing a show or a regular podcast. Hence, some names from years past, such as Sam Seder, Peter B. Collins, Laura Flanders and others, will not be included, as they are currently not doing any regular gigs. Marc Maron, however, is included, as he has recently introduced a regular podcast following the demise of his webcast and radio shows.

Here are some of the names included thus far (in semi-alphabetical order):

Alex Bennett, Charles Binder, Angie Coiro, Stephen Colbert, Alan Colmes, Ana Marie Cox, Chuck D, "Democracy Now", Jeff Farias, Norman Goldman, Richard Greene, Sam Greenfield, Thom Hartmann, Guy James, Bob Kincaid, Lionel, Errol Louis, Rachel Maddow, Bill Maher, Mike Malloy, Marc Maron, Jay Marvin, Stephanie Miller, Keith Olbermann, Bill Press, Lee Rayburn, Ron Reagan, Randi Rhodes, Jack Rice, "Ring Of Fire", Nicole Sandler, Ed Schultz, Al Sharpton, Mario Solis-Marich, Jon Stewart, Ray Taliaferro, Mark Thompson, Johnny Wendell, Peter Werbe, Montel Williams and The Young Turks.

Now, if there are any notables missing from this list, please let me know. Keep in mind that I'm trying to list only the best-known personalities here (to list everyone would be chaotic). Therefore, if you happen to have a sporadically-scheduled webcast or podcast with ten subscribers, you will likely not be listed. If nobody's ever heard of you, how do you expect to get votes, right? However, if you'd like to pimp your podcast, well heck, you can do so in the comments as well. I'll open it up.

The poll will go up within the next week or two, and polling will run through sometime in December. I may even restart the poll from time to time to add an element of surprise (tallying up the totals from all polls at the very end). So, if there are any obvious omissions, please let me know. Thank ya.