LINES OF THE DAY

". . . But the past does not exist independently from the present. Indeed, the past is only past because there is a present, just as I can point to something over there only because I am here. But nothing is inherently over there or here. In that sense, the past has no content. The past -- or more accurately, pastness -- is a position. Thus, in no way can we identify the past as past." p. 15

". . . But we may want to keep in mind that deeds and words are not as distinguishable as often we presume. History does not belong only to its narrators, professional or amateur. While some of us debate what history is or was, others take it into their own hands." p. 153

Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995) by Michel-Rolph Trouillot

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Thom Hartman Gone from NYC's Air America Flagship Station

Instead, get this!

Ed Schultz, from North Dakota, has his prime time 3-hour slot from noon to 3 p.m.

I gotta say, I didn't like Franken at all, because he's a lousy radio person, and he isn't anywhere near as funny as he thinks, but I liked his guests and his topics, and the show moved fast, in exactly the way a talk radio should.

I haven't liked Hartman much at all, because he gave so much time to whackadoodles and neoCons. Nor did his show move or have rhythm. Franken's show did have some rhythm. Both he and Hartman are fixated on 60's rock for their bumpers and so on, which I think is a big mistake and just because it bores the sh*t out of me personally. But because it is so white and monolithic.

Schultz's voice is so close to the Big Cheese's I can hardly stand to listen to it. So far his show is even more boring than Hartman. No color, no rhythm, no sense of segue. And even MORE boring music choices.

Why can't progressive radio have great voices instead of these boring middle of the road old white guys?

This is about as antithetical to the picture Obama is attempting to get us to visualize of the U.S. as you can get, i.e. multi-cultural, multi-rhythmed, multi-colored, and not OLD and white.

So -- Schultz has actually moved to NYC, and at the moment has Obama on the phone, talking about Grand Forks, ND, where he's going to be Friday. I wish Schultz well, but hope he didn't buy whatever housing he's in. The Air America NYC station is so badly treated, nobody seems to last long, except Randi Rhodes.

Now Hartman, though gone from NYC's AA, is on an additional 4 AA affiliates, which says to me this:

Hartman doesn't have the voice for NY radio. Schultz doesn't either.

Whereas Randi Rhodes does -- and so does Rachel Maddow (gads, she's great!), so does Sam Seder, and so Laura Flanders, as Brit inflected as it is. But she's just the greatest, and has got it all: great guests, great topics, great rhythm, color, cool, authority -- o can she roll and turn on a dime!

5 comments:

Graeme said...

I listen to "This is Hell" podcasts. It is really good.

http://www.thisishell.net/

Foxessa said...

This one looks kind of like our local WBAI station.

So what is the criticism of Amy Goodman?

Love, C.

www.northdecoder.com said...

You probably know Schultz does a morning show that is North Dakota specific and is broadcast across most or all of North Dakota.

I don't know if this makes any sense, but I really like listening to his morning show (when I have time) but, like you, struggle through his national AA show in the afternoon (when I have time). Why is that?

Foxessa said...

I didn't know he had another show different from this one.

I first heard him when I was spending so much time back home with my dying mom. Finding his voice on the radio, then, was such a relief.

So my reaction to him on AA was a reluctant admission.

For one thing, he insists on making some very elementary errors in usage and definition: he insists on talking about a book or a news story, that should be backed up with cited, valid, legitimate, solid sources as 'resourced'. He means any of those other words, plus a few more, as well as 'researched.' Makes him sound ignorant and foolish.

He also doesn't have a rhythm. You gotta have a 'roll,' to do well on radio. He has no modulation in his expression. His voice also has the same timbre and projection as Limbaugh. I swear, every time I tune to AA and hear him I think I made an error and tuned the other direction and caught limbaugh instead.

Love, C.

Foxessa said...

Big urban market radio's audience is remarkably diverse; you cannot expect a common background, to start with. He developed his skills in a remarkably homogenous market, for the late 20th and early 21st century (though ND's audience isn't anywhere near as homogenous as it used to be).

What works in a that market doesn't work in this one. He's trying, I suppose, but doesn't get it which is why you find the AA show as much of a struggle as I do.

The thing is, this kind of market doesn't give you the time you need to figure out how to get it right. It costs too much.

Damn these NYC AA owners, one after another, get it wrong over and over. That's because they aren't professional radio people.

Love, C.