Ed Schultz the progressive host from the heartland broadcasting for the Jones network from Fargo North Dakota, arranged for one hour of his daily talk show to be broadcast on the AFR(Armed Forces Radio) to our troops in Iraq. The morning his show was to debut, his office recieved a call from Allison Barber, assistant deputy for communications for the defense department. Her comment to MR Schultzs’ producer was something to the effect that his show would not be airing on AFR that week. When asked if it would be debuted the following week she said she didn’t know. When asked if it would EVER air she repeted she didn’t know.More on the story here.
It would present a more honest front if these “gummint” thugs would come clean once in a while. Our troops are now listening to stuff like NPR, news, and of course oxi-rush. A couple hours a day of him. The only political commentary these brave Americans is the view from the RNC. I find it odd (but not surprising) that Rummy and his crew are so threatened by any opinion other than their own. There has been speculation that the reason Ed was dropped like a piece of molten lava is because he commented on MS Barber getting caught rehearsing troops for bushs’ recent much ballyhooed “spontaneous” conversation with troops via satelite link.
Athough it is certainly possible that Eds’ comments could be PART of the reason his show was dropped before it even got started, But I think it goes deeper than that. I think it’s because bush’s policies in Iraq and everywhere else are so weak, transparent and undefensable that he and rummy can’t take the chance that the brave men and women carrying them out, might hear anything but their spin on issues. I find that attitude outrageous on many levels. It indicates that our military are of such a weak mind that they could be swayed by an hour a day of talk radio.Also, if anyone in the world would know if the bush”doctrin” is working or not, it would be those who fight, get wounded, or die implimenting it.
I’m not writing this as a news story, because it’s a rapidly aging story, I AM writing this as an American citizen who finds it a disturbing commentary on the state of our leadership. When an administration that claims to be so concerned about freedom and democracy stifles opinions and open dialouge, the word hypocricy fails to do justice. Audrey and I do a smalltime local radio talkshow. It is disheartening to see a successful show like Ed Schultz treated like this by his own country. We do a certain amount of ranting about local AND national issues. I suppose we have a file created in some government database. I’m not paranoid, just pragmatic. What a shame that over the last two centuries, our grand experiment of democracy has devolved to this.
Frank your comments relate to this new poll. These are amazing statistics. I e-mailed this to several people including progressive talk show host Jay Diamond. Jay wrote back stating he sent the article back to people who sent him “vicious hate mail” regarding his Boston Saturday night program! Will they read this poll and stop bothering Jay???!!!
As for Ed Schultz, the story is not over as members of Congress will investigate. I find it hard to believe that Armed Forces Radio even have Limbaugh and Dr. Laura one there. Rush and Dr. Laura are mostly just opinion talk shows whereas you hear both opinion AND interviews on Ed’s show. BTW, Chuck Harder used to be on shortwave, and I don’t recall if it was Armed Forces or something else.
The Myth of The Pro-War, Pro-Bush Military Shattered in New Poll
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.cfm?page=Article&ID=5255
Military shares public’s declining support for Bush, war
By TIM WHITMIRE, Associated Press Writer, October 28, 2005
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — More than half of North Carolina military members surveyed in the latest Elon University poll disapprove of President Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq and his overall job performance.
Nearly 53 percent of military members said they strongly disapproved or disapproved of Bush’s handling of his job. And just more than 56 percent of that same group strongly disapproved or disapproved of how he has dealt with the Iraq war.
Overall, 53 percent of those surveyed for the poll released Friday did not approve of Bush’s job performance, while 57 percent did not approve of his handling of the Iraq war.
“We see that those most involved in the Iraq situation, the military, are not so different from the general public after all and share the same concerns about Iraq,” said Hunter Bacot, the poll’s director. “Conventional wisdom might suggest that the military would be more supportive of Bush in Iraq, but that simply isn’t the case if you look at the numbers.”
North Carolina has one of the nation’s largest military presences, with major Army, Marine and Air Force installations based in eastern North Carolina. North Carolina-based active-duty and reserve units have seen extensive action since the United States attacked Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Of the 539 adults surveyed for the Elon poll, 80 – or 14.8 percent of the sample – were active-duty, reserve, retired or veteran members of the military. The telephone poll was conducted between Monday and Thursday and has a margin of error for the entire sample of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.
The margin of error, which reflects the confidence that the results speak for an entire group, is higher for smaller groups, such as the 80 military members.
Just over half of those people surveyed said the United States should no longer be in Iraq, while nearly 43 percent agreed that the country should remain there. The rest said they did not know or refused to answer.
Roughly half of those polled – 52 percent – said they do not know if the war in Iraq was worth fighting. The poll showed about 15 percent believe the war was worthwhile and 29.1 percent do not think so.
Military members were somewhat more supportive of the United States’ presence in Iraq than the general population, with exactly half saying the nation should be there and 41.3 percent saying it should not.
More than half of military members – 51 percent – said they did not know if the war was worth fighting, while 19 percent said the war was worth it and 29 percent said it was not
The low approval numbers for Bush seen in the poll continue a pattern of declining support for the second-term president seen in previous Elon polls and nationally.
The percentage of those surveyed who say they strongly approve or approve of Bush’s job performance was down to 41 percent in the current poll from a recent peak of 55 percent in February 2004.
Approval of Bush’s handling of the Iraq war has dropped from 52 percent in September 2003 to nearly 39 percent now.
Approval of the president’s handling of the economy ticked up slightly in the current poll, to 37 percent, from the 36 percent approval registered in April. The peak was 42 percent in September 2004.
Elon’s Institute for Politics and Public Affairs has been conducting its poll since 2000.
Link: Armed Forces Radio Voice Channel Program Schedule…
Looks like Clark Howard currently occupies the Noon hour, which is the first hour of Ed Schultz.
And they evem have JIM HIGHTOWER and DAVE ROSS on their schedule, but no Ed Schultz!!!
Rush at 0900, Dr Laura at 1000, Rome at 1100, Howard at 1200, etc.
http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/radio/afn/schedule.asp
Ed Schultz has MORE AFFILIATES than ANY OTHER ‘PROGRESSIVE’ talk host – 103.
See this essay on the current status of liberal talk radio from Bruce Kaufmann, an e-mail acquaintance of mine who is a media consultant in southern California. Bruce has just started this blog:
http://www.talkingradio.blogspot.com/
Here are the first few lines:
Monday, October 03, 2005
Liberal Talk Radio Takes Off
“Liberal talk radio has been steadily growing since Air America Radio launched in a handful of markets in April of 2004. Now 18 months later, the fledgling liberal talk radio network is carried in 70 markets serving over 60% of the country. However, despite the steady growth of AAR and the emergence of a few dozen other liberal talk radio hosts, the talk radio landscape is still dominated by conservative talkers. Conservative talk radio gets over 85% of the share of talk radio listeners. The other 15% is divided between…..”(15%…Hmmm…that’s a cliffhanger…click the link to read more!)
Try AM 620 for Air America and Randi Rhodes…if you’re out of the AM 1090 nightime service area… Sunset time for November is 430pm, and Randi Rhodes is on from 3p – 7p on AM 620 in Portland (KPOJ-AM).
Due to other stations and skywave interference, AM 1090 has to cut nightime signal strength from the east to south of Maury Island at night. The station has to do this, just like KLAY has to cut power to the east at night to protect a Kalispell station (and probably others). 1090 reception is low or nonexistent at night in Issaquah, Kent, Covington, Auburn, Enumclaw, Sumner, Puyallup, South Hill, Midland, etc. etc.
AM 620 does fairly well in Pierce County at night, but can sometimes be difficult. Try to find a radio with high sensitivity AND selectivity…like the portable Grundig FR-200 for $39.99 available at Radio Shack and elsewhere… It’s an old-fashioned looking receiver with an analog dial, but it is the best AM radio for the money, and even surpasses some more expensive digital AM radios. It also has a built in flashlight and can be recharged by winding it. It also has an external headphone/antenna jack if you want to hear it on your amplified stereo system.
Interferece can be a problem for getting distant stations at night, so place the radio well away from TV’s, computers, fluorescent lights, dimmer switches (including some types of outdoor sensor lights), and some types of washing machines. Your own scenario with interference will be different than somebody else. The list of potential interference sources is endless. Driving and listening to 620 works best on freeways where there are no power lines. To give you an example of how tricky sources of AM interference can be to track down, there’s an outdoor sensor light here that causes static on any AM radio – AC or DC – up to 100′ away whenever someone walks by! 🙂
Here’s the FR-200 from amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002AHRVI/103-5411253-8254258?v=glance&n=172282&n=507846&s=electronics&v=glance
Air America AM 620 KPOJ Portland:
Thom Hartmann 6a-9a
Al Franken 9a-NOON
Ed Schultz NOON-3p
Randi Rhodes 3p-7p
Majority Report 7p-10p
Mike D. Malloy 10p-1a
http://www.620kpoj.com/main.html
AM 620 Air America Randi Rhodes 3p-7p:
AM 620 Daytime Reception:
I should have noted in the previous entry that 620 can be heard in some areas during the DAY as well…Randi Rhodes 3p-7p.
There is a religious station on AM 630 that interferes on 620. From *purely* a theoretical basis, the further WEST and SOUTH you get in Pierce County, tbe better AM 620 will come in DURING THE DAY.
At night, 620 is loud and clear, since 630 cuts its power down and changes its coverage pattern. Plus, 620 comes in by the skywave at night, which can be stronger than the groundwave that occurs during the day.
The skywave starts 1-2 hours before sunset in winter. The FCC sunset time for most stations in the area is 430 pm in November, 415pm in December. So that means that reception of 620 will increase around 3pm if not earlier.
From thanksgiving to Christmas, sometimes you can hear California stations during the day like KGO news/talk 810.
AM 1090 changes its pattern at sunset, eliminating eastern Pierce County and eastern King County. We are VERY lucky to have an alternative – 620 out of Portland.
Anyway…Frank had asked if I’d post some info on these stations…Radio reception is a hobby…esp. receiving distant AM stations…
If you have a favorite radio for getting stations, post the brand and model number here! 🙂
Ed Schultz: ~2 Million Listeners!
Al Franken, Alan Colmes, Stephanie Miller: each ~1 Million Listeners!
Finally!!!
See the NEW on-line SURVEY RESULTS from TALKERS MAGAZINE, the nation’s LEADING news/talk trade publication.
This is the FIRST TIME that major syndicated Progressive talkers have appeared on this publically released list, although certainly Bob Brinker, Doug Stephan, and Dr. Joy Browne lean leftwards on some issues.
http://talkers.com/talkhosts.htm
|takes a few seconds to load…)
Short excerpts:
“Hosts on the upward path include Neal Boortz, Mike Gallagher, Bill O’Reilly, Doug Stephan, Jerry Doyle, Bill Bennett, Ed Schultz, Tony Snow, Michael Medved and Dave Ramsey.”
“Making their first appearance on the survey are Al Franken, Alan Colmes and Stephanie Miller.”