It has been nearly six entire months since Keith Olbermann hosted his highly-rated news program, Countdown. Fans have been earnestly "counting down" Keith's triumphant return, back to television. Just one more weekend, and the highly anticipated "Countdown with Keith Olbermann [2.0]" will be back on air, only this time, it will be on Current TV.
The major difference between Current TV's "Countdown" and MSNBC's "Countdown" is that Keith will have complete editorial control, essentially being his own boss. Since Keith announced his transition to Current TV, I have been pondering what exactly it will mean for the "Al Gore Channel". Yesterday, I got my (highly-satisfying) answer:
In a conference call yesterday, Keith announced his intentions for Current TV and his future plans as Chief News Officer:
Looking a couple years down the road, however, Olbermann’s ambitions are the opposite of modest. “We are gearing toward eventually being a 24-hour news, commentary and information network,” he said. That would be a substantial change from Current’s present lineup, which includes mostly documentary-style shows but also some original entertainment programming, including a show called “Bar Karma,” which bills itself as “the world’s first community-developed television series.” http://blogs.forbes.com/...
Amazing. Keith is planning on turning Current TV into 24-hour news and commentary network. Imagine a "MSNBC" without the Mika Brezinski's, Sacarabrough's and Micheal Steele's. In the conference call, Olbermann went on to say that Current would be a Progressive TV news operation, BUT do not expect anyone to carry water for either side of the political isle. It will be blunt, truthful and PROGRESSIVE. Keith went on to say that, as the Chief News Officer, he would be creating the line-up for Current and attempt to recruit intelligent progressive talent.
When I read this, I was over-joyed to learn that Keith was placing the foundation for Liberal Talk on the television. Although, when Keith announced his "team of contributors", it was a little disappointing to see no Liberal Radio hosts. Now don't get me wrong, Keith has assembled a STELLAR team of individuals:
Lending their views and voices to “Countdown” on a regular basis will be film maker Ken Burns, Nicole D. Lamoureux, Executive Director, National Association Of Free Clinics, comedian Richard Lewis, film maker Michael Moore and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas.
...
Lending their views and voices to “Countdown” on a regular basis will be Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi; John Dean, Former White House counsel to President Richard Nixon; Heather McGhee, Director of the Washington office of Demos, a non-partisan policy center; Jonathan Turley, law professor at The George Washington University School of Law; comedian and activist Maysoon Zayid; Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones energy and environmental reporter and investigative journalist and author Jeremy Scahill. Actor Donald Sutherland and Derrick Pitts, Chief Astronomer and Planetarium Director for the Franklin Institute will also regularly appear on the program. Mr. Pitts, like previously announced Countdown contributor Ken Burns, will be contributing non-political elements to the show.
(Yes, that Donald Sutherland).
I am MORE than excited for Keith's return, but if Keith's intention is to create a Progressive station, who better to pick up than national Progressive talkers?
Progressive radio has been under assault for years, yet some talkers have been able to prevail in the right-wing abyss that is "talk-radio". People likeBill Press, Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, Hal Sparks, Shannyn Moore and Sam Seder.
These people have essentially been fighting the fight that Keith Olbermann is about to endure; having Liberal Talkers on the airwaves and being successful. Hopefully Keith can add some Liberal radio hosts to his impressive list of contributors, not only for the success of his program/channel, but for the good of Liberal Talk in general.