Somewhere back in 2003-2004, I discovered I could listen to the radio on the internet while I was at work. This was back when I had to drive to work and leave the friendly confines of greater Boston and travel all the way out to the seven hills of Worcester, MA. You would lose some stations in Worcester, and even more inside the steel framed building. So, a physical radio wouldn’t do the job. It was at this time that I was able to get talk radio that was neither sports (to which I still listen) nor right-leaning.
It wasn’t always the case; in the 1980s radio station WEEI (850 AM) had talk radio, and they strove to produce a good balance. My favorite show at the time was The Clapprood and Whitley Show, hosted by former Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Marjorie Clapprood and conservative talk show host Ed Whitley. I loved it; the two of then argued their points, but were always respectful, and never personal. It what talk radio was meant to be.
And then, along came Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, and a bunch of imitators. Now to get ratings, you had to be shocking, outrageous, and unapologetic. When Entercom Broadcasting bought WEEI and WRKO (680 AM), WEEI became sports talk, and WRKO became conservative talk. Now how a city like Boston could be without good liberal opinions on the radio was beyond me, but it was. So, sports talk it was until 2003 or so.
Back to the internet: through the magic of RealPlayer, I discovered several good talk shows, sequentially, on some radio station in California: the trio of Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, and the topic of this diary: Randi Rhodes.
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I didn’t know at the time, but Randi Rhodes had been broadcasting since around 1980 after she spent a brief three-year stint in the United States Air Force. By the time I heard her voice, she had been on the air for at least 17 years, working in Texas, Alabama, New York City, Milwaukee, and Miami. [see: Wikipedia] I believe I first heard her on Air America Radio, which was fine by me. Apparently, Miller and Hartmann were not on Air America, but the radio station in California (and I wish I remember the call letters) felt Randi was such a special talent, they aired her show as well.
As she describes in her bio page, Randi is a “spot-on broad-minded journalist and broadcaster.” This must be true, because she tells us today that she had to meet those standards when she started out; you couldn’t get a license to broadcast news without those standards. I have listened to her talk knowledgeably about issues concerning the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the United States government, and more. Through the years, there were two things that you count on from Randi: unvarnished truth, and an interruption in service.
Sometimes, the interruptions were not of her doing. There was a time when I would only be able to listen to her between late October and mid-April, because I couldn’t listen when she was on Air America over the internet (because I had RealPlayer, and I had a limited choice of stations), and there was no progressive talk radio I could get near Boston. So, I would listen to as much as I could on “the skip” from WWBN (or was it WBBN, or WBEN?) from Buffalo, NY. This only worked when the sun was down (I never remember why, but I’m sure we have someone informed enough to explain just how “the skip” works in the comments below, or even write a diary about it), so I’d go months without hearing her, and feel less informed.
But, if you know Randi at all, you know she had run-ins with political figures and had temporarily to leave her broadcast. Probably most famous was her “comedy act” where she referred to at least one woman who was on a particular Democratic ticket as “a whore.” (To be fair, just about everybody who’s been on any major ticket for the last 36 years has been some type of “whore”; it’s just not about sex for money, but access for money.) Still, this didn’t sit well with Air America Radio, her employer at the time. Apparently, some people (see the wiki, folks) demanded she be fired, and Air America, also a “whore” for advertising dollars, decided to do that. Actually, I think she was “suspended indefinitely without pay.” In other words, you have to quit so we don’t have to fire you. Now, that’s no way to treat a person who in 2007 was named Radio Ink’s Most Influential Woman, TALKERS magazine’s Woman of the Year, and received the Judy Jarvis Memorial Award for Contributions to the Talk Industry by a Woman.
After Air America, Randi joined Nova M radio for about 10 months, after which she joined the Premiere Radio Networks (a subsidiary of ClearChannel -- now iHeart -- radio). She broadcast there for five years, with the enviable job of cleaning up the mess of the previous nine hours of the right-wing echo chamber. After years of having her soul sucked out by the corporate radio because they would hate the truth from her, she left that broadcast, making me very sad.
However, in 2016, seeing that the relatively ignorant American populous was going to nominate and maybe even elect the current resident of the White House, she decided to return to the air to do what she could to stop that. She ran a Kickstarter campaign, and in July of 2016 formed Dark Horse Radio, and resumed broadcasting on the internet, both on Progressive Voices radio, as well as on her own YouTube channel.
In fact, it was YouTube that was an instigator between Randi and one of her best known traditions. Every Friday, she would start her show with the phrase, “It’s Friday, ya bastids!” and then play the Rusty Warren song, “Bounce Your Boobies.” (You can listen/watch here) This was fine over the airwaves, because Randi had the ASCAP license and could broadcast the song. YouTube, however, saw this as a copyright violation, and would pull all her shows from Friday until she contacted YouTube and proved she had permission from the artist in the form of a signed letter to use the song. Recently, though, she has stopped that Friday tradition, to the delight of some, and the sadness of others.
Randi couldn’t stop the tidal wave of Russian interference, but keeping up with her broadcasts and her homework are great ways to see what will be making news in two weeks (sort of like reading the Daily Kos). She was able to piece together the puzzle that was the Magnitsky Act, the trove of Russian bots on Twitter, the ties with the Republicans and Russia, and why James Comey was a good man when all of us hated him in October 2016. She continues to do great work, with a two-hour show (Mondays through Fridays, 4-6 PM ET), which you can get on the above mentioned stations, and maybe on Facebook Live (I barely use Facebook myself), and on and in a pinch, Periscope.
But, she can’t do it alone. She has one sponsor I know of, and the rest is self-funded. So, she counts on people like you to go to her website and purchase some of her items in the store. Most importantly, though, when you’re at the website, click on “Support the Show”, and buy a stinkin’ podcast. It will be the best investment of your money in the freedom of the press, and the only way to keep the one, true independent voice on the air.
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From Youffraita:
Wee Mama had a top comment in my diary "And now, for something different: The Oxford comma"
And if you haven’t read the comments yet, be sure to read them. :)
From yojimbo:
A top dinner comment.
From BeninSC:
I am submitting this comment from first-time Daily Kos commenter, LorettaScholl, because I find it so encouraging when new members come in with a clear perspective on our current national debacle.
And first-time commenter, me c, with this comment, rips Orrin Hatch, as he richly deserves.
Highlighted by boran:
Is this comment with a fine graphic progression by Ralphdog! In boran’s Saturday ArtKos diary.
TOP MOJO
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