Liberal Talker Randi Rhodes Ending Show in May

Ouch. Well, at least this time, we Randi Rhodes fans got a little warning. Twice, we've endured sudden absences. As recently as a few months ago, The Randi Rhodes Show was slated for cancellation by Premiere Networks, and got a surprise year-long reprieve. So, this news is surprising, and not at all welcome.

The AM radio landscape is dying, led by a sponsor revolt at the whole format, mostly due to acerbic conservative host, Rush Limbaugh. Add to that the overall changes in media over the last couple of decades, and the concerted effort by radio network and station owners to squeeze liberal talk out of the market. Yes, yes, I'm aware that conservatives maintain that the people have spoken, and that they don't want liberal talk. If they'd ever gotten liberal talk on anything close to a level playing field, I might agree. But they haven't, and they didn't.

Randi, as well as The Stephanie Miller Show and others, were squeezed out of even Miller's own flagship station in Los Angeles in favor of Limbaugh, and the usual slate of conservative talkers. And is doing terribly. In fact, the whole genre is now doing terribly, and the right-wing side is only kept afloat by conservative think-tanks and like-minded groups. On the progressive side, not only are they fighting an uphill battle for programming, they don't seem to have the ear of monied liberal groups.

Randi has been hinting at a departure lately, and I figured this was coming. I thought it would be later this year, though. I know she has a good man in her life, and a home in Costa Rica, so maybe she's just sick of battling for a slot on the air. She seemed really bothered by several recent news stories, and has flat out said (paraphrasing) "it's time to go." As in leave this country.

In that, I wish her well. But I'll miss her New Yorker voice. Ironically, she herself admits she does not have a voice for radio! And she wasn't for all tastes. But since the days when I first found her, while looking for a new show called "The O'Franken Factor," way back in 2004, I've been a fan. And I'm hoping for some kind of revival at some point. Rest up, Randi, and come back in a new format!

[Excerpt]

Premiere: Randi Rhodes Show To End May 16th

A statement from PREMIERE said that RHODES "has decided to end her national radio program. We’ve had a successful partnership with RANDI for several years, and we wish her all the best for the future. PREMIERE NETWORKS will conclude syndication and production of RANDI RHODES on MAY 16th, 2014. . ."

Read more at: All Access

Limbaugh: Media Created "Polar Vortex" as Part of Global Warming "Hoax"

Noted Climatologist (and weather balloon) Rush Limbaugh,
image from source, Talking Points Memo.

As The Daily Show with Jon Stewart rightly noted on Monday night, FOX "News" has shifted gears from The "War" on Christmas to The Global Warming "Hoax." And whether FOX leads Rush Limbaugh, or he leads them (or they somehow coordinate with The Drudge Report), you knew that Limbaugh would be going there too.

I still haven't figured out why having a conservative world view means you can't believe 97% of climate scientists when they say there is a consensus on man-made global climate change. I haven't figured out how, why or when these scientists are alleged to have gotten together and conspired to pull one over on the world. But it makes sense to conservatives, because if there's one thing I've learned about 'em, it's that they don't track a theory to its logical conclusions to figure out if it makes any sense. It's Stephen Colbert's "truthiness" concept in action: they just feel it in their guts. Plus, if Limbaugh says it, it must be true.

And what Limbaugh says is, a "polar vortex"--in the news for its wrath on much of the country in recent days--was invented by climate scientists to aid them with the global warming "hoax." Even though a polar vortex was the major plot point of the craptastic movie, The Day After Tomorrow, which despite the title came out ten years ago. And that's just the recent stuff. According to Wikipedia (and yeah, I know it's publically edited, but it is also sourced.), the first mention of a polar vortex in science was at least 1853.

Keep this in mind next time you see a "Rush is right!" bumper sticker. He's wrong. A lot.

[Excerpt]

Limbaugh: Media Created Polar Vortex To Advance Global Warming 'Hoax'
 
. . ."We are having a record-breaking cold snap in many parts of the country. And right on schedule the media have to come up with a way to make it sound like it's completely unprecedented," he said on his radio show. "Because they've got to find a way to attach this to the global warming agenda, and they have. It's called the 'polar vortex.' The dreaded polar vortex. . ."

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Randi Rhodes Staying on Premiere Radio Network

Fun fact: I made this graphic on one of Randi's
returns after an absence. She's since used it on
her own site. So, yay!

Whew! As a fan of liberal radio hostess, Randi Rhodes, I'm breathing a sigh of relief. Randi let slip that she was likely to be terminated from her Premiere Radio contract at the end of December, sending her audience into gallows mode. Those of us who have followed her since the beginning of Air America Radio have had to endure two prior--unexpected--losses of our radio goddess. We know that in the radio business, only so many things can be said aloud, and that due to contracts and whatnot, Randi couldn't tell us where she'd be, when or why. So, we were girding ourselves for a Randi-free future.

Alas, she's been re-signed, and will be around for at least another year. Sure, I'd have survived listening to Thom Hartman (who I do like), but given the choice, I'd pick Randi any time. Already, I have the three-hour lull between The Stephanie Miller Show and Randi's show (yes, Ed Schultz is on then, but I'm not exactly a fan). There's nothing I like to listen to after 3 pm. So, I was gonna be stuck with half of Steph's show, and then kind of a doldrums. What would I do, switch to Sean Hannity? Blecchhh.

Conservative radio fans would say that Randi's near-cancellation is just an indicator that liberal radio doesn't work. Interestingly--though they insist that the media is awash with liberal programming--they claim there is no market for liberal talk radio. Cognitive dissonance of course, has never been an issue for the tea party crowd. But the truth is, when Rush Limbaugh went on his misogynistic, hateful, and completely ignorant rants against Sandra Fluke, advertisers left radio in droves. Rush (and Sean and the odious Mark Levin and Michal Savage, et. al) manage to stay on because of conservative think tank foundation money. And phony colleges. And paranoid, end-of-the-world seeds, and gold, and whatnot. Those options are not available to liberals in this "liberal media."

Anyway, I'm jazzed that I'm not losing my Randi, at least not yet, not this time. And to anyone who would sneer and say that she's just the liberal version of Rush (or any of the also-rans, wannabes and never-weres), I'll tell you this. Randi has always said, "don't believe a word I say." She says, she knows the company she keeps on the radio dial, and that you shouldn't trust anything any of them say, without checking it out yourself from real newspapers.* I've kept her motto here at my blog as well. Where Rush will tell you to trust him as your single information source, Randi is constantly urging engagement, and even assigns homework on her show and website (which includes sources and further reading on her topics, from legitimate news sites). Plus, she's funny as hell.

Congratulations, Randi!

[Excerpt]

I have good news—I’m not going anywhere. I know what you’re thinking—Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is saying the same thing. But in his case it’s probably not true... and in his case that’s not good news. But Premiere is going to renew my contract for another year, so the good news is that I’m staying put. The bad news is that I’m in Florida, but that doesn’t need to affect you. I’m not going to go away, no matter what Republicans might want. In that sense, I’m like Obamacare—I’m just a lot easier to access. That’s because I have a much better website.

Read more: Randi Rhodes


*My one quibble with Randi Rhodes is her disdain for bloggers, which--obviously--is my hobby. I agree with her that no one should take a blogger's or a radio host's word for anything. Most aren't credentialed in any way (not Randi, not me, certainly not Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity), and are just giving their opinion. An informed opinion in her case, but still just opinion. So, I get it, but I don't think bloggers are useless, I think we point people to news, much as she does. Still love her though.

And by the way, I must point out that the only way for me to listen to any liberal talk, I have to actively seek it out online or on my phone, via IHeartRadio.com, DAR.fm or other online source. Again, for all the talk of "liberal media," we have never had a liberal radio station here in blue Clark County/Las Vegas, Nevada.

Right Wing World: FOX "News" Losing Their Base?

There have been signs that FOX "News" is not what it once was. Surely, some people are still watching out of habit. And the nursing homes and your grandpa may not have yet discovered that there are other channels. But their ratings--while still technically #1 in the cable news biz--are in decline. Sean Hannity is looking bloated. Sarah Palin was politely turned loose (via very low resigning offer), as has been the always-wrong Dick Morris. The writing is on the wall, and some people are saying so.

Steve Deace is an Iowa talk show host of the radical right-wing, guns, God and (no) gays variety. I know of him because The Other Half is from Iowa, and because a former classmate of mine is an uber-conservative pastor there. Through Facebook, I've become aware of Deace, and he stuck in my mind because of his very anti-gay views which are in stark contrast to his very--shall we say--Marcus Bachmann-like air (and I have the same suspicions about the pastor). Deace may be an extremist, but he is 100% down-the-line FOX "News" bait. He's the guy they're selling to, and he's the guy who helps complete part of the right-wing bubble that FOX has cultivated over the years. But Deace looks like he's dumping FOX. And that makes me wonder if this bubble is popping, or if it's just splitting off into smaller bubbles?

[UPDATE]: Though this appears on Deace's blog page, I've just realized it was written by Bob Eschliman, and posted there. So, let me correct the record. One can infer from the lack of framing by Deace that he agrees with the sentiments contained. I'm happy to correct the record if that isn't the case.

[Excerpt]

Image from source.

Breaking Up is Hard to Do . . . But It’s Time

You’ve really got to hand it to Fox News. For many years, they been able to dupe an overwhelming majority of the American conservative movement into believing they were on their side with the cover of “fair and balanced. . .”


Read more (if you must) at: Steve Deace