HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, LTR!!!

My, how time flies. Yes, your Liberal Talk Radio blog is now entering the terrible twos!

Just don't send me a card like the one pictured above.

Whatever happened to... Katherine Lanpher?

No one seems more surprised about the reinvention of Katherine Lanpher than Lanpher herself. Not so long ago, she was a radio personality in Minnesota, a woman with a career, a house and a husband. But today, only a few years later, she’s become a New Yorker who has built a new life in the West Village. Turning away from radio, she has become a regular essayist for The New York Times and the host of the monthly “Upstairs at the Square” interview and performance event at the Union Square Barnes and Noble. And as of Oct. 10, she has also emerged as a published author, who has already received a glowing four-star book review in People magazine. It is, as she says, “a surreal time.”

Lanpher points to three profound changes in her life as the impetus for her book, “Leap Days: Chronicles of a Midlife Move.” Among them: the loss of a brother, the loss of a husband and the cross-country move which began on Leap Day, 2004 and took the Minnesota Public Radio talker to her new high-profile position as co-host of the “Al Franken Show” on Air America Radio.

Now a New York resident, living just off Washington Street, Lanpher wrote initially about her experiences as a Minnesotan discovering the Big Apple for the first time in her life, essays which were accepted by the Times and became popular pieces with visitors to nytimes.com.

The more she wrote, the more Lanpher started reflecting on the other profound periods of growth in her life, notably her time as a young journalist, her struggle to cope with her brother’s death and her decision to end a marriage. As writing came to consume more of her time, she also made the decision to leave the “Al Franken Show,” focusing instead on developing, writing and editing her “Leap Days.”

Together, these essays offer a candid and honest meditation of a life at the crossroads, a reflection of what it’s like to leave the safety of the familiar and to set out on a journey to discover something entirely new.

You can read more at The Villager, including a brief interview about her life after Air America Radio.

New documentary: The Story of the 101st Fighting Keyboarders (do they give Purple Hearts for carpal tunnel?)

From Daily Kos:

Regardless of how one feels about the war in Iraq, it seems, everyone agrees that the men and women of our armed forces deserve our praise and gratitude for selflessly placing themselves in harm's way in a dangerous land. Yet there is another group of Americans who have been crucial to our success in the war, who deserve our thanks as well. You may know some of their names: Glenn Reynolds. Michelle Malkin. Jeff Goldstein. Robert Novak. Ann Coulter. But there are countless others, some known only to God. Theirs is a story of courage, determination, and above all, typing. They are the conservative bloggers, pundits, and commentators whose loud and prolific support of Republican foreign policy goals helped change the course of American history in ways that will be felt for many years to come.

They are the men and women--mostly men--who have come to be known as the 101st Fighting Keyboarders. And now, at last, their story can be told.

(snip)

Part I examined the role the 101st Fighting Keyboarders played in building support for the war during late 2002 and early 2003. Now, in Part II, we learn about the role they played during the invasion and occupation of Iraq: while American troops braved the tanks and guns of Saddam's defense forces in Iraq, the Keyboarders played an equally important role at home, using their bellicose rhetoric to create a crucial bulwark of support for their President. It would come to be known as their finest hour.

This is a very important story of some very brave individuals (snicker), the keyboard commandos who risked their lives fighting the good fight while wearing their pajamas sitting behind their basement computer defending our great country (like I should talk, right?). And now, Paul Henry salutes these armchair quarterbacks for the great patriots (tee hee) that they are. Because, as the saying goes, if you can't be an athlete, become an athletic supporter!

You can see this very entertaining and humorous documentary at War of the Words. The first two installments are up, with more to follow. And you can see the trailor here.

Perhaps this is the documentary that Ken Burns should have done.

Mike Malloy coming back to radio (almost)

From Mike Malloy's site:



Listen to Mike Malloy as he substitutes for Jerry Springer next Thursday and Friday October 19 & 20! Check your local Springer on the Radio affiliates for broadcast times.

(snip)

We hope to have some good news to share with you in the next few days (as well as our Air America saga), thanks for hanging in there! What a long, strange trip its been.

Yes, indeed. It sounds as if Malloy will return to Air America (somewhat) by way of Springer's morning show, which airs on WSAI in Cincy, WCPT in Chicago and WDTW in Detroit, among other places. The show will be streamed as well. Look for it next week. And there are persistent rumors about a new job for him as well, but we'll have to wait for that.

KEZX/Medford, OR flips to progressive talk (sort of)

Al Franken picks up a new affiliate soon as KEZX (730AM) in Medford, OR will soon dump their current easy listening format and switch to talk. But, it doesn't look like they'll be a typical Northwest progressive talk station.

In addition to Franken, the station will also air Don Imus and Neal Boortz. Yes, you heard that right. The management, in their infinite wisdom, thinks it will be a strong competitor in the market with a delayed Imus in the morning drive shift and C-list conservative screamer Boortz.

This newspaper article makes it look like KEZX is doing something cutting edge. No. Not to put down Medford, but it seems like 'cutting edge' talk radio there has a much different meaning than in other places. KEZX's new format will be what General Manager Dean Flock considers an alternative to the area's conservative outlets.

"There are two right-wing talkers in town and they're both going after the same audience," Flock said. "There's a large audience of people who have an alternative viewpoint. We felt this was a need that hadn't been satisfied in this market. It's not the most popular perspective in Southern Oregon, but there is a large Democrat and independent vote in the area."

"This is a format that has had some success on the West Coast and other parts of the United States," Flock said. "It has also faltered in places."

Unfortunately, Flock doesn't seem to understand the format. Progressive talkers on the West Coast are succeeding with an all-progressive talk format, and personalities such as Stephanie Miller and Thom Hartmann. Liberals are not going to listen to Boortz and likely nobody will listen to Imus (who does rather poorly outside of East Coast markets). Flock's vision of the format is not exactly the same thing that's being done in other West Coast markets. KPOJ and KPTK are benchmark stations for upper Northwest progressive talk stations. They do very well. Only problem is, KEZX's planned format seems a bit far off that template. Even KTTH in Corvallis and KOPT in Eugene are full-blown progressive talk.

There is no mention in the article what the rest of the schedule will look like. But it is assumed that Imus will be delayed, since he is on during morning drive in the Eastern time zone, which translates to a 3AM start in the West. And since Franken and Boortz air their shows at the same time, it looks like at least one of them will be delayed.

Sure, a liberal/conservative mix of talk can work, and I admire stations that do this, but if KEZX is looking to compete in what seems to be a rather crowded Medford talk market, I'm not sure this is the way to go. As far as I'm concerned, an all-or-nothing approach would be a better route to take. Either they're true progressive talk or they're not. If KEZX is planning to go to war against their much stronger competition, they need to truly offer something different. Imus and Boortz aren't all that different. Better to go with hosts like Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann or Schultz. Al Franken will not prop up a station on his own.

The station will compete against the market's public radio offerings, and particularly with top-rated KMED, home of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glen Beck, and KCMX, which gets the leftovers (Bill O'Reilly, Lars Larson) and the usual conservocrap from TRN (Laura Ingraham, Jerry Doyle, and Michael Savage). Which begs the question: If they're looking for something different than the competiton, why Boortz? On a so-called 'progressive talk' station? Who knows?

I guess Medford listeners will just have to stay tuned. No flip date has been announced, since they're still trying to work out some technical issues in regard to the satellite and automation stuff.