Starting this past Monday, February 19th, Air America Radio (AAR) replaced The Al Franken Show with The Thom Hartmann Show. Thom’s show is on AAR live from 12:00 Noon to 3:00 PM Eastern on Monday through Friday, and replays at night (actually early in the morning of the following day) from 12:00 Midnight to 3:00 AM Eastern.
Unfortunately, XM Radio made a bad decision and is no longer carrying the entire Air America Radio line-up on channel 167, even though they still have the audacity to call Channel 167 the "Air America Radio" channel. Starting this past Monday they are now preempting The Thom Hartmann Show on AAR and substituting Ed Schultz for Thom Hartmann. This is the same dirty trick they pulled on Randi Rhodes at one time when they preempted the first two hours of her show with big ego gas bag schultz until finally listener complaints forced them to move the big ego gas bag to another channel and carry the entire Randi Rhodes show live on Channel 167.
Call To Action
XM Radio subscribers that would rather hear Thom Hartmann than Ed Schultz need to make their wishes known. If XM Radio gets enough complaints and requests for Thom Hartmann, there is a chance that they might do the same thing as they did before and move Ed Schultz to another channel and once again carry the entire AAR lineup.
To express our wishes, all of us that prefer Thom Hartmann, the thinking man’s talk show host, need to contact XM Radio. Here is the contact information:
Corporate Mailing Address:
XM Programming Center and Corporate Headquarters
1500 Eckington Place, NE
Washington, DC 20002
Corporate Phone Numbers:
Phone: 202-380-4000
Fax: 202-380-4500
Listener Care: 800-XM-RADIO (800-967-2346)
To talk to a live person, call the Listener Care number, 800-967-2346, and when the voice menu comes on hit 0# (Zero - Pound) and you should be taken to a live Customer Service Rep (CSR).
Please be polite. It is not the CSR’s fault that XM Radio management made the decision, but as firmly as possible please let the CSR know that you are an XM subscriber, and that you listen to Air America Radio, and that you want XM to carry the entire Air America Radio lineup, including the Thom Hartmann show. Please be clear that you want your request to include that you do not want XM Radio to preempt any of the Air America Radio schedule by carrying Ed Schultz in the 12:00 Noon to 3:00 pm Eastern time slot.
One other way to contact XM Radio is to send an email to one of the program directors for whom I found an email address, Don Wicklin, don.wicklin AT xmradio.com.
How To Listen Online
The last thing a business needs is for its customers to learn that they do not need that business.
For those of us that subscribe to XM Radio in order to listen to Air America Radio, and have access to computers, we do not need XM Radio. The entire AAR lineup is streamed online and can be easily accessed at http://www.airamerica.com/ and clicking on "Click to LISTEN LIVE."
You have your choice of Real Player or Windows Media Player.
Please take time to write or call RIGHT NOW.
Please also, refuse to listen to Ed Schultz on XM Radio as long as he is preempting the Thom Hartmann Show on Channel 167.
Thanks!