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:
Just think, three weeks from today (October 12), this very blog you're reading now will turn five years old. Yep, believe it. And with that, I'm slowly streamlining this thing in order to make it easier to read, and perhaps more interactive.
1. Many readers here have been checking us out on various social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. If not, by all means do. I don't really deal with MySpace too much anymore, since it's not very interactive, aside from being a spam repository. I still check in from time-to-time, so if you want to send a friend request, by all means do. As for the others, Facebook does have more interactive features, and I plan on doing a bit more with it. It is a nice place for readers to congregate and whatnot. As for Twitter, I plan on posting news tidbits, links, announcements of new blog entries and whatever it is most people do with Twitter. Frequent updates that may not make the blog can be found there.
2. As for this blog, I am slowly going through and doing some cleanup. The column situation (which seems to be a problem every few months or so when web browser creators update their software) is now straightened out, and should render well in virtually all browsers. Dead links will either be updated or go bye-bye. And some of the advertising will go as well, likely replaced with more effective stuff (I really don't think anyone has ever clicked on that Zlio banner). As for the other stuff, such as Amazon and Google AdSense, that will stay. And I do encourage you to shop through these links as well, since every click-through and purchase do help to keep me motivated enough to provide you all with blogging goodness. Hey, at least I'm not outright begging for money, right?
3. In regard to the Wiki, I've been neglecting it for some time, but plan on straightening it out. It is a bit overwhelming to keep up with, but I'll try my best. And I encourage anyone who wants to contribute to it as well.
4. The Blogger software has improved considerably over recent months, and I plan on incorporating some of their new gimmicks here. One idea I have is to implement 'page breaks', which will show the first few paragraphs of a given entry on the main page, with a link to continue reading on another. This should minimize load times and the general appearance of the blog. In addition, it will allow me to post even more content, without it all getting lost.
If any of you have further suggestions, please leave them in the comments below. Thanks for reading.
Okay, it's been awhile, but that's what happens when...
A. There's nothing to write about.
B. The only stuff to write about is ridiculous wingnut exploits like picking apart Barack Obama's birth certificate and kissing the asses of corrupt health insurance and pharmaceutical companies
C. I've got writer's bloc.
D. It's summer, and I've got a bitchen' tan!
E. The dog ate my homework.
Nonetheless, I haven't forgotten about all of you. As a matter of fact, I decided to get a little more social. Now, many of you are familiar with the LTR MySpace page. It's been there awhile, and if it serves some sort of purpose, I shall soon find out exactly what it is. At least it makes more sense than my YouTube page (which I no longer publicize and, to be quite honest, I've forgotten the web address).
And now, like just about everyone else there, I expanded to a few new frontiers, for all you web socialists. I've been up on Twitter for awhile now, but just haven't really found the time to tinker with it, or figure out a use for it. I guess I'm supposed to post whenever I brush my teeth or tell you what I had for lunch (turkey and swiss sandwich, BTW). But I won't bore you with that stuff. Perhaps some news updates or something (which is kinda what I have this blog for, right?). Hey, maybe some stuff that doesn't seem to cut the mustard on the blog (I do try to keep out the excess). I tried Twitter before Twitter became cool, but couldn't figure out what to do with it. But everyone is seemingly using it, so I guess I'll finally figure it out. Bear with me.
For Facebook users, you're not left out in the dark. You can find the LTR Facebook page here. Now, bear with me, as I have no idea what to do with these things thus far. But I imagine it's a simple concept like "Build it and they will come". So, I guess it will unfold somehow, some way.
So again, if you'd like to follow the shenanigans on Twitter, you may do so here. Facebook users can find me here. And I may very well find a use for both of these sites. So c'mon, be my friend.
In the four and a half years since I started this crazy thing (for reasons I sometimes don't understand), I have always held the desire of keeping a somewhat low profile. I don't crave personal attention. I don't see myself as any kind of expert or guru. And I'm certainly no pundit. Definitely not an attention whore. Actually just preferred to casually lurk in the shadows. That's just my personal style, kinda modest in that way. I'm really just an aggregator of information, who also likes to dispense a little opinion once in a while. No big deal, really.
Over the years, I have gotten many requests for interviews, writing assignments, P.R. puff pieces and whatnot. We're even talking a few notable media outlets. Because of the reasons stated above, I have always turned them down or ignored them (sorry, it was nothing personal). As far as I was concerned, whatever I really needed to say was written on my blog. I'm also not Mr. Know-It-All. Serious writer? Moi? Maybe I just didn't give myself enough credit. Perhaps I just didn't feel this blog, while better than most similar ones out there, was all that fantastic. There are certainly some people who do it better than me. Yeah, I guess I am a little humble. And I was certainly a bit bashful about all the attention and fuss. It was, however, inevitable that I would crawl out of my little hidey-hole and come clean with a third party.
And that's when Mark and the gang over at Buzzflash came calling. He'd been meaning to interview me (of all people!) for quite some time, to get some kind of opinion as to the ever-increasing world of liberal talk, which they have written heavily about. And since I'm one of the few bloggers left writing about just that, hey, why not me?
So, why now? Well, liberal talk has been on a wild ride as of late, as even a casual glance of the contents of this blog can attest. Most of the analysis of the various situations have come from right-wing blogs, which have dispensed much disinformation, spun nonsensically in ways that attempt to support their often flimsy, misinformed arguments. Analysis from the other side often sounded a bit like Baghdad Bob and his clueless affirmations, or gleamed a 'sky is falling' response after reading the right-wing blogs. It was time to cut through all the spin and bullshit.
Enter Buzzflash. Buzzflash has always been kind to me. They're all big fans of the blog, and have sent a ton of traffic this way. They were also one of the first left-leaning sites I had ever discovered, all those years ago, when I wanted to get away from obtaining my news from frivolous sources like Drudge Report. I figured, if I was to do a very rare interview, why not with friends? There was really no good reason I could come up with to say no. And I guess I owed it to them.
So, with this rare, exclusive interview, I hope to clear the air a bit about what I feel is going on with progressive talk radio, what I feel is a rather honest and realistic assessment. What the world needed was some plain speak, and someone to break up some of the misinformation and misunderstanding of it all, without the lies, grave-pissing and idiocy. Some of it's positive, some of it is pretty blunt. But above all, I think it's all a fair assessment. The entire interview can be found at Buzzflash, and below as well, though I did correct some grammatical errors and made it a little easier to understand.
So, here we go...
1) You've been an excellent resource for BuzzFlash on news relating to progressive radio. Anyone reading your site knows that it's been a rough ride. Do you think progressive radio is in better or worse shape than 5 years ago?
Yeah, things have been a bit crazy lately. But you know what? I think progressive talk is in better shape nowadays, even with all the chaos. It is certainly a bit more established than it was five years ago. The problems affecting the format now are similar to those affecting the radio industry in general. The economy has really battered the radio business, particularly in decreased advertising revenue. Whatever Air America, Nova M, mom-and-pop outlets, etc. are going through, the big guns like Clear Channel, CBS and especially Sirius XM, are experiencing even more of, though they have a softer cushion to fall back on.
And the big radio owners are going with cheaper, homogenized programming, in order to cut costs and go for the lowest common denominator. They're trying to play it safe, as opposed to doing something original, creative and more personal that may actually attract listeners. How many music stations are currently building afternoon drive shows out of canned talk breaks from Ryan Seacrest's L.A. morning show, in place of a live-and-local personality? Listeners aren't gonna go for it in the long run. Add to that new technology. As a result, more people find that they can simply load their iPod with whatever they want, listen to streaming radio and even discover new music via MySpace and other sites. Radio is becoming a dinosaur, because listeners are becoming more and more savvy. The industry has no clue how to deal with this.
I've been expecting a bit of a liberal talk shakeup for years now, with lesser shows and content providers falling by the wayside, and the strongest ones getting stronger. As it turns out, the biggest player in the format now is Dial Global, which is actually a very successful radio network that recently swallowed up Jones Radio, another successful player in the marketplace. They've been doing well with Ed Schultz, Bill Press and Stephanie Miller, and now they're bringing in Thom Hartmann. That move is a game changer. Dial Global succeeds because they're a radio company. Sure, they carry conservatives like Neal Boortz, and a bunch of music programming. But selling radio content is what they know. What's on the shows is secondary, and as a result, it's not as distracting to their inevitable goal. They don't care what it is - they just move it. As a result, they've indirectly carved out a nice niche for themselves.
When Jones started with Schultz, they set out to prove that a liberal show could play the same game as any other ones. Schultz prides himself on attracting blue chip advertisers like Office Depot and GM. And that's a good thing. Small businesses with progressive owners don't wield that kind of advertising muscle, though it's great that they're buying time on radio shows. But sadly, too many outlets have been concentrating and relying too much on these kinds of businesses, at the expense of the big advertisers. After all, you're not selling the content, you're selling the people listening to it. And left-leaning listeners buy the same stuff as right-wingers do. They drive the same cars, eat the same food and drink the same beer. For liberal talk to succeed, they have to know how to play the radio game, rather than just build an ideological wall around themselves.
So, you've got Dial Global, which is doing good. Then you've got stations in places like Madison and Portland, which recently had huge ratings books. And you've got a few strong, stable hosts anchoring the format, along with a few erratic ones. So all in all, things aren't all that dire. It just takes time. After all, Rush Limbaugh's show started out on a few crappy AM stations before things really got rolling. It takes time to build.
2) Is the challenge that progressive radio faces insufficient capitalization, the wrong models, or obstruction from a largely Republican corporate radio infrastructure?
There are a lot of people involved that don't really understand the radio business. It's much more complicated than they think. And it involves a lot of game playing and a different sort of inflated ego.
Another problem is the funding is very lopsided. We all saw the ridiculous stuff the early investors and management teams of Air America were spending money on, as opposed to things they should have been investing in. And just last night, I was reading the whole 16-page lawsuit recently filed by John Manzo against Nova M. In it, he claims that there were too many instances of the whole operation being run on the cheap, with management not paying the right bills on time for whatever strange reason.
A really big problem is that too many people running these operations are concerned too much with the message, or content. Sure, that's ultimately what it's all about, but it's much more than that. They often fall into the trap of trying too hard to be a megaphone for their ideas. But that's not the way broadcasting works. For example, how many commercial FM stations are run successfully by hardcore music fans nowadays? Not very many. Look what happened to Indie 103.1 in L.A. last month. A station run by music fans for music fans. And it was a great station. Unfortunately, they're no longer on the air. But here's how the radio business works. First, you have to have a strong business model. Second, you have to make it entertaining, or worth listening to. And if those steps are taken, the content will take care of itself. Keith Olbermann's successful because he knows how to do a show. He didn't even come from any sort of progressive background - he's a sports guy! Jon Stewart isn't an ideologue. He's an entertainer. Yet, they both know how to build compelling shows, how to inject the right amount of personality and humor, and how to get people to tune in. The ideology is just icing on the cake.
As for the corporate infrastructure, yes and no. Keep in mind that the most successful progressive talk stations in the country are run by companies like Clear Channel and CBS. In the markets where they program the format, they stick with it because it delivers listeners and revenue. I get the feeling that the big owners really don't care what the programming is, so long as it yields results. Look at Entercom. A big radio company that donates as heavily to Democrats as Clear Channel does to Republicans. Yet they've done a mostly crappy job with the progressive talk format. The only station left doing it is in Buffalo, and who knows how long that will stay around. Meanwhile, there's Saga Communications. I have no idea what the general ideology of their upper management structure is, or who they donate to, or if they even give a rip about politics. Yet they run the format in quite a few mid-sized and smaller markets, and do well with it. They keep progressive talk around because it works for them. And that's what most radio station owners do. They stick with what works.
I do think we'd see more of a commitment to the format if there were more independent owners, and fewer corporate monopolies. In addition, we could see more of a local approach, which is something that iPods and webcasters can't provide that radio can. But ironically, there is a problem with some of the mom-and-pop owned stations. Many are shoestring operations. They have a tough time competing with the big guys. And all too often, they don't make as much of an effort to sell advertising, or just don't have the infrastructure to do so. Witness what happened in Santa Cruz, where the owner just expected people to walk in off the street to buy ads. He got pissed that they weren't doing so, and pulled the format. There are some stations that have tried to go with a listener-supported model, which almost always fails, because a) their fundraising is not as organized and established as most noncommercial operations, b) commercial radio listeners typically don't like to pay for something they assume they can get for free, and above all, c) it smacks of desperation. That's part of what happened to Nova M.
3) When progressive radio has succeeded, it appears to be based on the brand "personality" of the host. In short, Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow -- and until a couple of weeks ago, Randi Rhodes -- created their own personal followings, just as Limbaugh and Hannity have. And one of the biggest impacts progressive radio had was that some of these people crossed over into television and provided a counterbalance to the right wing blowhards in the last couple of years. Of course, Rachel Maddow is the best example of this. What are your thoughts on the marketing the personality issue?
Maddow was certainly effective in crossing over. Luckily, Keith Olbermann helped pave the way. As for personalities, that is important. That's how Rush Limbaugh became successful. He was a Top 40 jock back in the 70's, and that kind of situation was very personality-oriented. People come back to listen to personalities they like, the ones that they are entertained by, and the ones that keep them from turning off the radio. That's the key in broadcasting - keep 'em coming back and keep 'em tuned in.
4) Back to the capitalization issue. Has Air America just been underfunded and at times poorly managed financially -- or has the model of a progressive network been flawed from the beginning. For example, Air America has had a revolving door of hosts. When a host leaves, his or her particular audience doesn't necessarily transfer to the new host, does it?
With Air America, there were too many rich people who wanted to play radio, but didn't have the experience or the stomach to fight it out in such a crazy environment. In the early years, it was a clash of egos. At least now, Air America has hired some actual radio people, though they've hemorrhaged a lot of talent in the past few years. Now, they're trying to do a more web-based approach, a sort of Huffington Post with audio. It's a good idea, but HuffPo does the web content thing a lot better than Air America, which has a lousy reputation to combat in regard to their web approaches. As for their on-air lineup, they're kinda like a baseball team rebuilding after losing their best players. They have to work on the shows they have now, just like in the early days. Rachel Maddow was once a mere bit player there, and look what happened. And they have to make sure it's about the entertainment value, rather than the message. I've been saying that for years. After all, they can't get the message out if nobody's listening.
5) Although BuzzFlash has been on a lot of progressive radio programs, I've personally felt that progressive radio producers, owners, and hosts have never really grasped the potential for a synergy between the liberal Internet sites and the promotion of their shows. An enormous audience for progressive radio gets their news from the Internet. What are your thoughts on this?
It seems the more progressive hosts are better at synergy with the web than the conservative ones. And a new kind of format has the advantage of tapping into newer forms of technology. I've often joked that conservatives dominate the old, fuzzy, antiquated AM dial, which has been around for 90 years, while we on the left dominate the new and innovative internet. Nice metaphor, huh? Which has more future potential? I'll take the web.
As for the synergy, you're probably right. Radio people in general need to keep doing more and more to meld with technology. Air America, for example, has kind of the right idea, in that they're trying to push their web content. But they need to make it better. Huffington Post, for example, is a very good example of what can be accomplished. It's a very good, informative site with a little of everything to bring in readers, and their web traffic is simply amazing.
I think one area that just hasn't been taken advantage of enough is podcasting. I criticize Clear Channel for many things, but their podcasting is impressive. I can download Thom Hartmann shows from three different stations. One smart thing some stations do is to sell sponsorship for their podcasts. No commercial overkill, just a few messages and perhaps a couple short spots. NPR does this too. Podcasting costs money, and while some operations and shows charge membership fees to pay for bandwidth and the guy who edits and uploads them, a sponsorship approach could cover that. Besides, it gets the advertiser more involved with the station. I think some shows could grow if they went with this approach and offered free downloadable episodes. Someone who just wants to sample Ed Schultz isn't just going to fork over an annual fee to do so. If I can download the entire audio from Bill Maher's HBO show for free from iTunes, why should I have to pay to get whole Stephanie Miller shows? I'm sure it's a question many people have. Better availability will draw listeners.
6) Rush Limbaugh has, at times, claimed he's really just an entertainer. Is progressive radio, with the exception perhaps of Stephanie Miller, just too serious? (No one would accuse Stephanie of being too serious, yet she is distinctively progressive.)
I think Rush used to be more of an 'entertainer' than he is now. Now, he's got too much of a messiah complex, thinking that he has the power to single-handedly influence government policy, and I get the feeling that most of his listeners tune in nowadays just out of habit. The 'entertainer' claim is basically a cop-out.
And yeah, some hosts are a bit too serious. Again, it's easy to fall into the trap of message over entertainment value, and dry, dour rants can get a bit exhausting after awhile. Hardcore liberal talk listeners may chastise someone like Ed Schultz, who goes off-topic with things like football and fishing, but it breaks things up. Hey, you chew your food before you swallow, right? It also makes him more personable. Listeners like people who seem to have lives. Talk radio listening is, often, about companionship. You're driving alone in the car, and sometimes you want a traveling companion. People like Schultz have a human quality. More so than robots barking talking points.
There are many shows that are just way too serious, and not entertaining enough. Often, they fall into the trap of being too angry. As far as more serious shows go, Thom Hartmann is one of those who can pull it off. Sure, the show gets a bit wonky when he debates the Ayn Rand folks about supply-side economics. That's a bit too heavy. Perhaps he needs to loosen up a little. However, Thom does have a strong, positive personality, which comes from many years spent working in radio. He's pleasant to listen to because he's enthusiastic. Rachel Maddow is another example - she has the right kind of personality to pull it all off. Not a vast resume, but a natural talent who has a feel for what her listeners want. Both liberal and conservative radio have way too many dull personalities that are all about pounding ideology down peoples' throats. That may appeal to some people, but not to all. It's like a music station playing nothing but Frank Zappa. Very intense music that may appeal to a small, die-hard crowd, but not the kind of thing one would do if looking to make a viable mass-appeal business venture out of it. That's the way the game is played.
7) Why, in your opinion, haven't the big bucks liberals invested in progressive radio in the way Republican corporate America has?
I really don't know. Perhaps some were turned off by the business models. The backers that filtered in and out of Air America in the early days did have some pretty strong egos. Could this have been a turn-off? I don't know. Perhaps there were too many question marks with some of these ventures. Although I do recall that Ed Schultz did have some help from well-heeled people when he got started in syndication. Bill Press got help from a liberal think tank. Perhaps there was more of a realistic game plan here than the 'if you build it they will come' idea.
In addition, the corporations that invest in conservative radio do so primarily as a business decision. They're radio people, mostly. Not a lot of outside investors, except for stockholders. Some of the smaller groups, like Salem and the religious networks, are an exception. And I've always held the theory that conservative radio grew because of Limbaugh. Radio is a copycat business. They imitate what works. Rush Limbaugh, like him or hate him, got listeners. That's why we see so many Rush clones. Remember, Howard Stern inspired a ton of imitators. If a liberal host all of a sudden exploded on the marketplace and became a massive success, we'd no doubt see lots of imitators. That's how the business works.
8) WCPT here in Chicago has really gotten creative in its marketing and appears to have picked up a lot of actual paid advertising. That is because the owner of the station is a committed liberal and understands marketing and advertising. How important is owning the bricks, mortar and radio license?
WCPT is fortunate in that it is owned by a very experienced broadcaster, Fred Eyechaner. He used to be in television, and built a successful independent UHF station virtually from scratch. He sold it to News Corp. a few years ago, at the perfect time, for a ton of money. With that, he bought a bunch of small suburban Chicago stations, some that he leases out and the AM, and now three FM, stations that carry WCPT. Ironically, we have Rupert Murdoch to thank indirectly for giving Chicago a progressive voice on the radio.
They'll never be a ratings monster. Not in a market like Chicago, with some pretty dominant stations that cover the entire area (which is huge). But they can most certainly carve out a successful niche. And Eyechaner has hired some salespeople who know how to sell the format. Plus, he makes some money leasing out the nighttime hours, when talk listenership goes down, to the Dance Factory folks. Kind of a weird combination, liberal talk and club-mix music. But it works.
As for owning the whole operation, it's definitely a plus. Eyechaner is definitely dedicated to the format - he's a big Democratic fundraiser - and is not at the mercy of some crazy owner that people have to pay rent to. And some of the small owners that own the leased stations can be a bit peculiar. We've seen many examples of shaky leased time scenarios. There's one going on in Boston as we speak, and I don't really hold out much hope for it, sadly.
9) Progressive listeners can make a difference, however. Tell us a little about how the Madison, Wisconsin, liberal radio station was kept from dropping progressive programming.
WXXM (92.1 The Mic) has some big initial success, but then had a really bad ratings book. As far as I can tell, ultimate programming decisions are often made by regional managers. Around that time, they evidently saw the revenues the station was bringing in and felt it was time for a change. As I said before, all too often we see operations where the account executives are intimidated by the format, or are too set in their ways with their own accounts. In short, they don't know how to sell it. And we saw a perfect example when a listener, who had no sales or radio background to speak of, actually went out and lined up a long list of area businesses that were willing to advertise on the station, getting more results than the highly-paid sales department ever accomplished. That had to be embarrassing.
In short, the listeners rallied around the station, and the local Madison management told the regional manager, who had killed the format in three Ohio markets, that the station should stay as-is. It paid off. In the most recent Arbitron ratings book, The Mic actually tied its sister station, the top country station in the market, at #6. For a midwestern market, that's huge. Ironically, that book came out after they tried to swap in Dave Ramsey for Thom Hartmann, and the listeners once again revolted. Whether that ratings success was a fluke, during the election season, or whether they can build on that, remains to be seen. Look at it this way - the station is dirt cheap to run. The syndicated shows they run are offered virtually for free (via a barter deal). There are currently no local personalities to pay. They pay a guy to cut on-air promos and liners, and that's probably it. It's as simple as a computer in a closet.
10) Finally, is having a Democratic president good or bad for progressive radio?
It's definitely a paradigm shift. Now that Bush and Cheney are gone, who's the bogeyman now? Actually, I'm being simplistic here. Right-wingers use that meme. But remember, conservative radio thrived even after they didn't have the Clintons to kick around anymore. Progressive radio can succeed with Obama in the White House. With the stimulus package, the war and whatever else is going on, there's plenty to talk about. Plus, it removes a common crutch that all too many rely on - bashing Bush. Not that he doesn't deserve it, but it becomes a cliche after awhile. And if further in doubt, there are quite a few liberal talk personalities today who were doing talk radio during the Clinton years - I'm thinking Mike Malloy, Randi Rhodes, Amy Goodman and others - so they know how to do it.
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The whole interview can be found here.
Okay, okay - I heard ya!
For reasons that go beyond rational explanation, recently, the complex code that makes up this very blog you're reading decided to take on a life of its own. This isn't the first time, and while previously, it seemed to affect users on Internet Explorer and render effectively for users of Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera and other browsers, this time, it was the other way around.
It was all enough to make one go crazy.
Since the base template I had been using was no longer being supported by its author, and since it obviously wasn't working well anymore, changes had to be made. Hopefully, this will do the trick. And what better time to do so than a few days before the fourth birthday of this very blog you're reading. Don't say I didn't give you nothin'.
On October 12, 2004, in the heat of a rather heated national election season, LTR debuted. It was a rather crude, simple blog at the time. But over time, it too took on a life of its own. But in a better way. Four years later, once again in the midst of an even more heated election season, it seems as if we're finally going places. Currently, LTR is one of the top resources on the web for news and commentary about progressive radio and alternative media. Readership keeps growing and growing. Many of the people written about here read it, and have even emailed or mentioned it on their shows or own blogs. What started as a simple little hobby for me has taken on a life of its own.
And as LTR enters its fifth year, it's time for a fresh coat of paint. As I said, it's something that was born of necessity, since various styles of computer code (originally HTML-based, later CSS and now XML) used over the years have had a rather complicated time keeping up with the browsers that render them, and vice-versa.
Not a great deal has changed. Many of the same features are still here. First and foremost, the meat of the blog, the entries, are pushed over to the left column. Hopefully, that will keep that section from being shoved far down the page.
As the blog has grown, so have all the various features with it. In order to keep it lean and mean, some of the bloat had to be removed. You may notice that the listing of Non-commercial stations has been removed. It won't go away, though. That part will soon resurface on the LTR Wiki, which is a work in progress and compliment to this blog. Hopefully, this will make this blog easier to read and sorth through.
In addition, links to email, the MySpace page and the Wiki can be found at the very top of the page.
Hopefully, you all will enjoy the freshening-up of your favorite blog, and will continue to do so. It's a bit rugged right now, but will be cleaned up a bit over the next few days or weeks. If you have any comments or suggestions, don't hesitate to let me know. And I will also lean on all of you to do a little beta testing for me. Same as the entry last week - let me know how this renders on your system/browser, particularly those of you using Firefox or Safari (which seemed to be having many problems as of late). Thanks for reading, and enjoy Year Five.
A few short items, including The Young Turks, an NPR experiment that didn't quite pan out, and more.
Turks go wide
Here it is, transcribed from the Air America press release:
Following a brief six month hiatus, the first progressive radio show to air across the country is set to return July 14th, 2008 to the airwaves and in syndication on TidalTV and Air America Radio. As mentioned previously, “The Young Turks,” hosted by Cenk Uygur, just moved to its new on-air home on XM Satellite Radio during yesterday's morning drive, airing from 8–10A ET on XM’s America Left. TidalTV will broadcast on tape delay, while Air America’s Website will host the video live from 9–11P ET daily.
Outside of the two hour political show carried by XM, TidalTV, Air America and The Young Turks' website will also have a third hour of entertainment and pop culture programming from 11-12Midnight ET. Video clips from this extra hour can be found on AOL and You Tube.
Head Turk Cenk Uygur said “We are coming back to our roots and thrilled to be a part of the line up on XM, TidalTV and Air America. This new programming is going to be a perfect compliment to our tremendous web presence. When we’re able to combine the power of our internet audience with the audience we grew in our previous stint on XM, there’s an excellent chance we are going to be unstoppable.”
Bryant Park(ed)
Well, it was a pretty ambitious undertaking. Basically, an NPR morning show geared toward younger listeners, a laid-back, upbeat and less stuffy version of the rather dry Morning Edition. And with some markets having multiple NPR outlets, and the fact that the two-hour Morning Edition is played over and over again by most affiliates until seemingly everyone hears it, The Bryant Park Project at least had some potential. The show also positioned itself heavily toward online listening and interaction. It was also a morning show for people who were tired of the American Idol updates, "Battle of the Sexes," intern stuntboys and "Whip 'em Out Wednesday" shenanigans littering the rest of the FM dial. Breezy conversation and news about Zimbabwe? Who'da thunk? I admit, I actually liked it.
But new national program launches are never very easy. Especially when they carry a $2 million price tag. So, come July 25th, The Bryant Park Project will be no more.
Part of the show's struggles concerned its hosts. Alison Stewart and Luke Burbank are both very capable, but they didn't cement themselves as hosts well. Burbank bolted for his hometown of Seattle and a gig at KIRO, while Stewart took time off to make babies. News anchor Rachel Martin got a gig at ABC News. In addition, very few stations had picked it up thus far, preferring to simply rerun NPR's morning mothership over and over all morning.
Stewart, returning from maternity leave for the show's final week, told the New York Times, "From what I understand, we are obviously in extra-tough economic times, and it is a financial and strategic decision. I was told it had absolutely nothing to do with the quality or content of the show."
For morning radio listeners who can't stay awake during Morning Edition, and don't particularly care for the Morning Zoos of the world, there is one other public radio offering still available. Public Radio International launched their morning show, The Takeaway this past April. The show, hosted by Adaora Udoji and John Hockenberry, does have a market, as they've already lined up co-producing affiliates in New York (WNYC), Boston (WGBH) and Baltimore (WEAA), among others, as well as support from the BBC and The New York Times.
Well, here it is. The last post ever on LTR.
Yes, after three and a half years, I have decided to wrap this thin....
APRIL FOOL!!!
Okay, just kidding. Yes, I have returned after a long-deserved siesta from this blog. Why so long? Well, I got burned out by it, and bogged down by real life. Like Garry Trudeau, the longtime cartoonist who created "Doonesbury" and is currently on his own three month hiatus, I decided to step away and recharge the batteries a bit. I was getting a bit tired of it, and pretty discouraged by the overall state of the dying medium of radio, the ridiculous state of news reporting, where some ridiculous 'controversy' involving Barack Obama's outspoken former preacher gets more airtime than the economy or how John McCain angled to send much-needed defense industry jobs to his cronies in Europe.
But I've heard the calling from you. You told me to get off my ass and get back to work. So back to work at LTR I am, fully recharged and ready to rock and roll.
Yep, the bitch is back!
2008 marks a new year. And it marks a new look here at LTR.
You may notice a few changes around here. First and foremost, the layout is entirely new. As of now, LTR is compliant with Blogger 2.0 (aka 'New Blogger'). The new layout incorporates XML formatting language, which replaces the previous CSS layout and the crude HTML before that. The result should be a page that loads much quicker, with better rendering and improved results in Google searches.
This blog will also load a bit quicker because articles will be archived faster. As of now, only the most recent five articles will be on the main page. You can access any article easily via the archives on the left or the "Older Posts" link at the bottom of the page.
Many of the same features are still here, though I switched things around a bit to make archiving and search engine pinging much easier (something that the former layout hindered very badly). New features also include a full archive, located on the left side of the page, allowing readers to quickly find articles by month and year. A labels section on the lower left allows for finding certain topics quickly. Larger print in the body of the page will make reading much easier.
On each post, you can now bookmark or share them with the AddThis icon, which allows quick social bookmarking for your own use or for voting or recommending articles to sites such as Digg. I also added a Buzzflash 'Buzz It' icon, but it is not quite compliant yet with New Blogger, meaning it doesn't quite work yet. Still working on a hack for it, so be patient.
The new layout also allows for other nifty things such as polls, as you can see on the left column.
And finally, as mentioned last week. Google accounts are no longer required to leave comments. As part of a reconfiguration by Blogger, OpenID is now configured for LTR. Meaning that you can sign in and leave comments via OpenID-enabled services such as WordPress.com, LiveJournal, and AOL Journals, or even with an AOL/AIM account. You can read more about OpenID here. So far, I've noticed a few people leaving comments with their AOL accounts. Cool!
All in all, it's the new and modernized LTR for 2008. Hope you enjoy it.
In the past three-plus years since the birth of this very blog, it has grown. A lot.
While the scope, reach and influence of this here puppy has vastly expanded, so have parts that I would rather not have grown so much. You may remember a lot more stuff here, including a wide array of web links, directories and whatnot. You may also notice that some of that stuff is now gone.
For a while now, I've been expanding this thing to the limits of what a blog could reasonably do. From the schedule and streams listing on the left side of the page to listings of personalities, networks, stations, etc to reciprocal links and even syndicated feeds from other sites of note. Needless to say, this thing was becoming a bloated pig. And with that, the coding became chaotic, search engine spiders were having a tough time crawling the blog and it was becoming a chore for older systems to load. With the syndicated feeds, it was like loading five different sites at once! That's insane! Think of it as a parallel parking a Hummer near a college campus. Pretty crazy stuff. The last straw was a few days ago, when Blogger automatically reformatted this blog so that everything was shoved to the left side. Something had to be done.
Some have said that the amount of crap stuff on this blog would be enough to fill an encyclopedia. Well, now it is. Introducing LTRapedia! Yes, your favorite blog now has a companion Wiki! In it will be many of the features you have grown to love here, and some features from the past that sadly had to be discarded.
What will be on the new LTRapedia? Here's a few:
Some of you faithful readers may have noticed that this whole thing went haywire this morning. To be honest, I have absolutely no idea why.
In the past, I had problems with readability in Internet Explorer, and as a faithful Firefox user, neglected at times to check with Bill Gates' nightmare browser. Well, this problem affected Firefox users as well.
Ironically, I haven't heavily altered any code recently, so there is really no explanation why this all happened. I did, however, narrow down the problem, and will try and correct it.
In the meantime, I'm taking this opportunity to trim some fat on this blog. The syndicated news boxes are being removed for now, and I'm also going to trim a few links as well. This thing has turned into a fat pig.
So, things should be back to normal now (fingers crossed). Sorry for the inconvenience.
What a long, strange trip it's been... so far.
Yes, it was on this day in 2004 that this very blog you're reading began. Simple and crude in its day, but it eventually became something more. and now, three years later, here we are.
So, happy happy birthday... to we!
I'll follow-up on the KLSD rally and some other stories soon, but in the meantime, here's something I'd like to share with all of you.
Quite often, many have asked me about LTR promotional banners for their website or blog. I have conjured up many different prototypes, but just haven't been able to settle on any that I was satisfied with.
Besides, I would have to come up with many different sizes, as well as enough web server space to host these. It could work on a small blog, but let's say a high traffic site such as Daily Kos decides to slap one up. Now we're talking massive bandwidth!
In addition, I experimented with those java-based headlines boxes, but wasn't very impressed with them. I was always holding out for something better. Now, it looks like that something better has arrived.
As of this moment, LTR is available in widget form for your very own blog or website. This cute little thingy, as shown on the right (click to enlarge to actual size) displays the most recent headlines from LTR, along with a paragraph or two of the most recent headlines. Thanks to the wonderful folks at Widgetbox for the capability to do this.
If you'd like to put the latest LTR headlines on your blog, without having to use any of your own server space (save for the code), you can proceed from this link. From here, you can customize how it is displayed, by choosing either a vertical (narrow) or horizontal (wide) layout. You can also customize colors and whether or not you would like only headlines or headlines plus article excerpt (the default).
It's better than a boring ol' banner. This game actually moves as you play (I always wanted to quote a song from L.A.'s coolest punk rock band, X, on here). Hey, it's live - what more can you say?
The widget is available in either java or flash (for MySpace profiles, etc.) here.
UPDATE: I changed the default color a bit, with a black background. I think it really pops. If you put it on your site, blog or MySpace/Facebook/Live Journal page, please drop me a line with the URL. I'd love to know where it is, and I may even link to you. Thanks.
Just a note to all of you who have emailed me and wondered why things have been so quiet here. I've been laid up a few days and just got out of the hospital (following an appendectomy). So I've fallen a bit behind, and am in a bit of pain right now.
Luckily, I went to the hospital early enough, opting wisely not to wait until my appendix ruptured on its own, so it was a pretty quick and easy surgery (but it still friggin' hurts!). So bear with me as I spend the next few days playing catch-up, answering emails, etc.
Greetings!The purpose of this blog is to report on and help promote a new form of talk radio - a form that leans toward the left. I hope you enjoy and visit often.
The blog grew little by little, at first getting about 50 hits a day. The writing was admittedly a bit crude and stuck mostly to the facts. Nothing fancy here. Luckily, the name that was picked was a good one, since it enabled high placement on Google listings (if you type in "liberal talk radio" in Google, you'll see LTR near the top, just below Air America and above Thom Hartmann, who owns the liberaltalkradio.com URL, which I had initially looked into obtaining). Soon, LTR grew further, and apart from a brief period a year ago when news was slow, the format was stagnant and I neglected it, LTR has been on a climb ever since.
In the past year, readership of LTR has skyrocketed immensely. Whereas last April, when this blog got roughly a thousand hits a month, this April sees LTR hitting 30,000. A few weeks ago, when LTR broke news of Lionel's hiring, a single-day record of 13,000 hits occurred. As of this writing, LTR gets an average of 500-700 readers a day and climbing. Last week, LTR welcomed its 100,000 visit, only three months after hitting the 50,000 mark.
If you're reading this post, then congratulations! You are probably one of the wise people to kick Internet Explorer to the curb and are seeing this site (as intended) with either the Firefox or Opera browsers. Or, you have gone all the way down the page with your dreaded Internet Explorer to see the meat of this blog.
For IE users, this site may look a bit funny to you. See, IE has issues with reading Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) layouts in HTML code. They still like using what are called 'tables' (which I may go back to if I can't find a work-around). And getting CSS to work with IE can sometimes be a very frustrating experience.
So please bear with me while I try to correct this issue and return this thing so that it looks the same in all web browsers. Or, you can move away from IE and get a real browser, such as Firefox or Opera. They're both free, don't take over your computer, don't kill your system resources, are more secure and can all coexist on the same system. Go ahead, ditch Internet Explorer and stand up to Microsoft and their shitty web browser. You can thank me later.
UPDATE 4/16: After a few cold MGD's, lots of Diet Pepsi, and way too many Camel Lights, I think I solved this for now. All three columns line up, thanks to a 'container' and 'wrapper' command (this may be over the heads of all but dedicated coding geeks). It still looks like hell in IE, but it's tolerable for now. At least this eliminates the need for going through the long process of designing a layout from scratch, which I had started doing. Special thanks to kingcosmonaut for this brilliant, yet simple hack. I raise my bottle to you!
Now, back to business.
Okay, so you're logging on to LTR now and wondering to yourself, "What the hell happened?"
Well, as promised, LTR got a long-awaited makeover. Hopefully, this will make finding things a bit easier, and open itself up to more functionality.
First off, the old 'tricked-out' blogger template is history. The original layout was heavily tweaked from one of Blogger's available templates. So much that it barely resembled the original. Unfortunately, there was a ton of old useless code bogging the whole thing down. That needed to go.
Last week, after seeing a reminder on Blogger telling me to upgrade to their own markup language, I bit the bullet and tried it out. I wasn't impressed. Blogger's new template... err layout interface is basically stupid-proof. They do away with CSS and all the other goodies. In short, it's designed for the Myspace generation. Ugh! And to convert to it would mean translating two and a half years of work via my CSS layout to this new system. I decided to take a pass. Luckily, I found a pretty nice resource called PsycHo, which is an open-source template generator. Of course, in keeping with LTR tradition, much modification was done from that point, but PsycHo laid the groundwork. Thanks guys!
So, enough fo the geekspeak. What does this all mean for LTR and the faithful readers? You'll still find all the cool stuff you love about LTR here, and even more. You may have noticed the new tagline "the alternative media resource". This signals an expansion of sorts. In addition to the unparalleled coverage of liberal and progressive talk, unequaled by anyone else, LTR will cover other areas that seemingly intersects with liberal/progressive radio. You'll read about grassroots media, the impact of technology (streaming, podcasting, etc.) on the medium, and virtually anything about broadcasting that's non-conservative.
The next question many may have is, "where's all the stuff?" With the move to a three-column layout, many of the elements that are part of LTR will be a bit easier to find. On the left, you'll find a listing of the most recent articles posted here. In addition, you'll find all the cool station, webstream, personality and site links that have long been popular here. Just scroll down, it's a long list!
On the right, you'll find links to the vast LTR archives, as well as LTR feed links for various newsreaders, so you can subscribe in numerous ways. Headline links provided by a host of other sites and services, including Yahoo!, Raw Story, HuffPo, OpEdNews, Buzzflash and others will also be found here. And of course, there's advertising. Near the top are some Amazon links to books and whatnot that relate significantly to the content found here. And every purchase made through LTR helps out a really great resource.
So, without further ado, here is the new LTR. I hope you enjoy it, and if you have any suggestions for things you'd like to see here, just drop me a line.
UPDATE: Users of Internet Explorer may notice that this page looks a bit strange. I rendered the whole thing for Mozilla Firefox (which is what you should all be using anyway), but in IE, it looks a bit screwy, with columns shoved all over the place. As much as IE annoys me these days, I realize that the majority of computer users are browsing the web with some form of IE. Sit tight and please bear with the chaos while I try to get this thing IE-compliant.
So, as you're looking through the amazing collection o' links here at LTR, you may be noticing a few things that are different. Well, there are some changes.
First off, in acknowledgement of the growth of non-commercial community radio, stations that fall under that banner are now being given their own section. Therefore, radio stations are divided into two categories: Commercial liberal talk and progressive/alternative/community-oriented non-commercial community stations (got all that?). The commercial stations consist of the typical Air America/JRN affiliates, as well as African-American talk stations (which tend to lean to the left anyway) and even stations that mix it up a bit. For most stations that are listed here, the general requirement is at least two liberal talk shows on the schedule, but that rule is rather flexible, and there are a few exceptions, such as that little station in Canton, IL that carries two hours of Randi Rhodes live every afternoon (just found that one today!).
For non-commercial stations, you'll find mostly community-oriented stations, in addition to the five stations owned and operated by Pacifica Radio. Many of these non-coms air syndicated shows such as Democracy Now or Free Speech Radio News. Quite a few carry their own local progressive programming. And most air music-oriented shows, which I won't hold against them, since some of the music programming is quite good and a welcome break from all this liberal talk stuff. Also included are low-power FM (LPFM) stations airing this type of programming. Those are denoted with a (LP) after their call letters. And there's one pirate station on the list, Free Radio Santa Cruz. Normally, a pirate station would not be listed here, due to the temporary (and downright illegal) nature of many of them. But FRSC has been around forever, they cater heavily to the community, have a strong web presence and even produce a few good shows. And the people of the Santa Cruz area have gotten quite nasty whenever the FCC attempts to shut them down (similar to the situation in Nevada that saw Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid get involved). Now, LTR doesn't condone illegal broadcasting, but FRSC exists, and is noteworthy enough for inclusion. Also keep in mind that quite a few of these stations operate translators and/or simulcasts on other frequencies in neighboring areas. Only the main signal is listed here. If you see a particular station on the list just outside your area of listening, click on it and see if they have a stick near you.
What about NPR/PRI stations? In order to maintain sanity, those have been left off. There are simply way too many of them, and I'm just not enough of a masochist to even try and list them. Besides, the big public radio networks do a pretty good job of keeping track of affiliates, so you can always check out their site.
Aside from the station listings, I've expanded the listing of online broadcasters. In doing this, I moved away from the cute little chicklet graphics, and decided to list them instead (as traffic has increased drastically, I decided to whittle down some of the graphics a bit, in order to speed up load times). And there's quite a few new ones added to the list, including radioActive SanDiego, which carries a variety of music and talk programs, A-Infos and Progressive Podcast Network, which are more a collection of podcasts than anything else (and good ones at that!). Also added are TalkRadioX (sent to me by the webmaster) and something called "The Journey," which positions itself as Christian radio without all the right-wing nonsense and guilt-mongering. They air Pacifica programming too. Seeing as this fills a pretty unique niche (and they're progressive), it has been added here.
If you have any suggestions, or stations/broadcasters I've missed, don't hesitate to drop a line to LTR. It's still a work in progress, so if you don't see your favorite station listed, you likely will in the future.
After vowing not to do it, we went ahead and did it anyway.
Yes, LTR now has a Myspace page!
So the question is, why? Have I lost my damn mind? Okay, maybe I have.
Last month, I claimed that a Myspace thingy did cross my mind, but I felt it would be too redundant. A Myspace would just be repeating the stuff I post here. However, one of the biggest goings-on in the world of liberal talk is the power of the people. I've written many times in the past about how grassroots movements and individuals are changing what we listen to. From the effort to 'Save the Mic' to Spocko's crusade against racist radio, we've all become a force. Time magazine was correct in naming "You" as people of the year for 2006. It's the truth. Back in 1970, John Lennon sang "Power to the People," and we've finally taken up that charge.
So, enough bullshit. What's this thing all about anyway?
"LTRspace" will perform a somewhat different function. I plan to link up with other like-minded pages (such as those of radio stations, fan pages, grassroots movements, etc.) and perhaps even pull in more traffic.
I once criticized Myspace as being the "Seinfeld" of web sites - namely, it's a site about nothing. And for the most part, it still is. But I felt it would be cool to make 'something' out of 'nothing'. Again, we're not inventing new ways to split the atom. It's just a fun little extension, and perhaps a bit more interesting than Tila Tequila.
But, you ask, what about Rupert Murdoch? After all, his company, which also gives out paychecks to the likes of O'Reilly, Hannity, Hume and the usual gang of idiots, owns this "GeoCities for minglers." Well, so? It's not like I'm forking money over to him. I surf Myspace via the Firefox browser, with scripts turned off. I see no ads. Besides, I love irony, and nothing's more ironic than me over there spreading subversive messages. Gotta love it!
Will this change anything here? Absolutely not. This is the mothership. Nothing changes. The Myspace thingy is merely an extension, not a replacement. Besides, Myspace sucks for blogging.
So, check it out. LTRspace is now open! Visit at myspace.com/ltrspace.
As you peek around this site, you may notice a few additions. Namely, a few show and host links, as well as some funny little orange symbols that look like 
The symbols are located next to the names of various hosts and shows to show if there is an RSS/XML feed available. From that feed, you can download podcasts (mp3's) of those particular shows.
So, how does one do this? Well, if you currently have a browser that incorporates XML, RSS or other feed reading (such as Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla Firefox 2.0), you're all set. You can also 'copy shortcut' to insert link into your own feed reader or any podcasting program.
Many of you may already use iTunes to download podcasts and shows, and that's fine. I plan on adding iTunes links as well, for people who prefer this method, as well as for shows (such as "Real Time with Bill Maher" or Alex Jones) that seem to be available only through that service. Oh yeah, did you know HBO's excellent "Real Time" is available as an audio podcast? Or even highlights from "Countdown with Keith Olberman"? Well, you do now! Check the links.
There are also some shows that don't provide feeds, or even make programming available to services such as iTunes. Rather, they feature show archives exclusively on their websites. I have those marked with a 
What about unauthorized feeds, torrents, etc.? Uhh... I won't go there. You're on your own with that. We're trying to be legit here, okay? However, some podcasters do use torrents to spread their shows. Those may be added.
More personalities, shows and podcast-only links have been added to the listings on the right-hand column, with more to come. So far, the list consists of both commercial (Air America, Jones Radio, Nova M, etc.) and non-commercial (Pacifica, NPR, PRI, etc.) radio shows, as well as podcast-only offerings (like the hilarious Irrational Public Radio). The goal is to create as complete a list as possible of liberal talk shows, hosts and podcasts, in addition to other recommended programming that isn't necessarily political in nature (i.e. Penn Jillette, Tom Joyner), but may be of interest to readers of this site.
If you know of any that you feel should be here, or that we just plainly missed, just drop an email. I've tried to keep up with links that have been sent in (thanks to Harry O, Barry Gordon and anyone else I missed for dropping me a note).
So, while other bloggers' 'added features' consist of massive amounts of slow-loading Amazon.com ads, we're giving you more of what you want. Just our way of saying "Happy Holidays".
*** * * P
* XML/RSS Podcast link
Anchorage, AK KUDO 1080AM
Eureka, CA KGOE 1480AM * Los Angeles, CA KTLK 1150AM Monterey, CA KRXA 540AM Palm Springs, CA KPTR 1340AM Riverside, CA KCAA 1050AM * San Diego, CA XEPE 1700AM * San Francisco, CA KKGN 960AM San Francisco, CA KGO 810AM * Denver, CO KKZN 760AM Daytona Beach, FL WPUL 1590AM * Destin, FL WNWF 1120AM Jacksonville, FL WBOB 1320AM(2) * West Palm Beach, FL WJNO 1290AM Atlanta, GA WAOK 1380AM 
Chicago, IL WCPT 92.7FM Chicago, IL WCPT 820AM Dekalb, IL (Rockford) WCPY 92.5FM Park Forest, IL (Chicago)WCPQ 99.9FM Boston, MA WWZN 1510AM * Grand Rapids, MI WTKG 1230AM * Grand Rapids, MI WPRR 1680AM Petroskey, MI WJML 1110AM * Traverse City, MI WLDR 1210AM * Mpls./St. Paul, MN KTNF 950AM New York, NY WWRL 1600AM Asheville, NC WPEK 880AM Portland, OR KPOJ 620AM Brattleboro, VT WKVT 1490AM Montpelier, VT WDEV 550AM Seattle, WA KIRO 97.3FM * Seattle, WA KPTK 1090AM Madison, WI WXXM 92.1FM Madison, WI WTDY 1670AM * Denotes live stream available African-American-oriented talk
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