Hello, hello....

I must ask for your forgiveness. I have not listened to Talk Radio in two weeks. I am making some headway in my collection of bumper stickers from Talk Radio stations though. I also collected t-shirts from three different stations and a coffee mug from www.WBAP.com so all that's pretty cool, right? In the meantime, you can check out my posts on my other blog: www.xanga.com/ChrisFrancz

ABC RADIO NETWORKS TO SYNDICATE
THE MARK LEVIN SHOW

Top-Rated Conservative Talker, Best-Selling Author and Constitutional Lawyer To Be Heard In Four of the Top 10 U.S. Markets Beginning January 30th

ABC Radio Networks announced a multi-year agreement with talk show personality Mark Levin to nationally syndicate The Mark Levin Show to radio stations around the country. The program will air on 4 stations in the Top 10 markets beginning January 30th: WABC in New York, WMAL Washington, D.C., WBAP Dallas and WJR Detroit.

Levin’s program is currently among the most popular talk shows in the New York area, heard daily from 6-8pm (ET). In the first 18 months on the air, the program jumped to #1 in the time slot.

“I am elated to be able to contribute to the growing conservative dialogue across our country,� said Levin. “I think listeners will find my perspective and approach thought-provoking, educational, entertaining and sometimes controversial – but never boring. We’ll plan on having a lot of fun, too.�

A frequent guest and substitute host on The Sean Hannity Show, Levin is one of the country’s preeminent conservative commentators and constitutional lawyers. He is a contributing editor for National Review Online, and writes frequently for many other publications. His book, Men in Black, which was released in February 2005, was on the New York Times Best Sellers list for 10 weeks!

“We are thrilled to bring Mark Levin and his unique brand of talk to listeners around the country,� said John McConnell, Senior Vice President of Programming, ABC Radio Networks. “Paired along with Sean Hannity, Levin’s show is a tremendous one-two punch for programmers to grab and keep listeners on the radio dial.�
Levin has served as a top adviser to several members of President Ronald Reagan’s Cabinet, including Chief of Staff to the Attorney General of the United States. In 2001, the American Conservative Union named Levin the recipient of the prestigious Ronald Reagan Award. He currently practices law in the private sector, heading the prestigious Landmark Legal Foundation in Washington, D.C.

We will return

No, no, I didn't die or anything. I just took a week off from talk radio, that's all. Business will return to normal this Monday as the hottest talk radio-related website resumes....em...business as usal except with, you know, entries and stuff. In the meantime check out some of the message boards and forums on the right.... If you are interested in my clever and witty writing, please visit my other blog: www.xanga.com/ChrisFrancz

Stack full of stuff...

This is something that I just posted on www.TalkRadioForums.com
click -Talk Radio cartoons
This site has a huge selection of cartoons / comic strips talking about talk radio. It's all one-sided though and they all make fun of talk radio hosts, especially Rush Limbaugh. Everyone's fair game in a comic strip but when the artist purposely gives half-information or portrays a host's listeners / fans as idiots - well, they lost me. Believe me - if Al Franken had a medical condition and was prescribed pain killers and he then got addicted to them really seriously - I would NOT find it funny to see a conservative cartoonist make fun of him as a drug addict. I had a big, big problem with Glenn Beck when he kept going on and on with Michael Moore fat jokes. That kind of stuff is just not funny to me.

I am getting so sickened with politics lately that I have been cutting back on my talk radio listening time. Bill O'Reilly was on the Laura Ingraham show on Friday night and it was amazing at how composed he was while speaking of his appearance on David Letterman (see www.BillOreilly.com) for the video). I guess when someone is speaking the truth they are not easily harranged or offended by immature behaviour because they know that they are right and no amount of childlike behaviour is going to shake you. I tip my hat to Mr. O'Reilly. My post about the O'Reilly/Letterman incident drew four pages of replies on the WABC message board. Check it out. http://www.wabcradio.com/goout.asp?u=http://www.hannity.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=10
Has anyone else seen the move, Talk Radio? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096219/
www.BillOreilly.com
www.LauraIngraham.com
www.TalkRadioForums.com
www.MarkLevinFan.com

Full video of O'Reilly's appearance on David Letterman: www.BillOreilly.com

The Letterman Meltdown

The E-Blast Returns! http://www.LauraIngraham.com January 5, 2006
The Letterman Meltdown
CBS's Late Show host David Letterman is supposed to be funny. He makes more than $20 million a year because he is funny. His Top Ten List is a brand unto itself. He was endearing when he did bits like his old Stupid Pet Tricks. I laughed when he ribbed Oprah and Uma.
But on Tuesday night's show, he acquitted himself as just another unhinged member of the liberal entertainment mafia when he interviewed Fox New Channel's Bill O'Reilly.
Even before O'Reilly walked on stage, Letterman acted like a spoiled brat when he used a pencil to stir O'Reilly's mug of water. (So the audience and Letterman were snickering as O'Reilly was oblivious when he went to drink.)
The most revealing exchange occurred toward the end of the segment.
Letterman: I'm not smart enough to debate you point to point on this, but I have the feeling, I have the feeling about 60 percent of what you say is crap. [audience laughter] But I don't know that for a fact.
O'Reilly: Listen, I respect your opinion. You should respect mine.
Letterman: Yeah, but I think there's something, this fair and balanced [Fox branding]. I'm not sure that it's--I don't think that you represent an objective viewpoint.
O'Reilly: Well, you're going to have to give me an example if you're going to make those claims.

Letterman: Well I don't watch your show so that would be impossible.
O'Reilly: Then why would you come to that conclusion if you don't watch the program? Letterman: Because of things that I've read, things that I know.
Novel concept for a comedian/talk show host: invite a guest on your show, then insult him based on second-hand accounts of his work.
O'Reilly: You weren't aware of the big giant controversy over Christmas?
Letterman: Well, I ignore stuff like that, it doesn't really affect me. I go ahead and do what I wanna do. Let it go. It will take care of itself.

I'll bet Letterman liked all those stories about President Bush living in a bubble, detached from the real world. But what about the blue-state-mentality bubble that Letterman lives in?
Other Letterman knee-slappers:
On Cindy Sheehan: "I am very concerned about people like yourself who don't have nothing (sic) but endless sympathy for people like Cindy Sheehan. Have you lost family members in armed conflict? [O'Reilly answers no.] Then you can hardly speak for her."
On the war in Iraq: "Why the hell are we there to begin with?"
Letterman deserves credit for having traveled both to Iraq and Afghanistan to entertain the troops. But does he stop to wonder how his pro-Sheehan, anti-Bush lines would go over there?
When Al Gore or Howard Dean or Al Franken sit down with Dave it's light and funny and cozy and friendly. With O'Reilly, Letterman was dismissive, condescending, and just plain nasty. He was more Carville than Carson. Actually, even James Carville is funnier than Dave these days. And nicer, too.
Why does this matter? Be cause for better or worse, many younger Americans get the bulk of their cultural and even political news from hosts like Letterman and Comedy Central's Jon Stewart, who want us to believe that their humor is non-partisan. After all, they are quick to point out, let's not forget all the Monica jokes they told when Bill Clinton was president.
But Letterman's sit-down with O'Reilly, much like Stewart's petulant attack against Tucker Carlson on CNN (calling Carlson a male-private part), was notable for what it revealed. Underneath it all, Letterman is just another liberal frustrated at the very existence of guys like O'Reilly, and of men like President Bush. You look at his facial expressions when he's talking to O'Reilly and hear his tone and you know he's thinking -- how can Americans be so ignorant? How could they elect the buffoon in the White House and how could they watch this buffoon sitting across from me?
It is painfully obvious that many of the entertainment giants are making the same mistake the "mainstream" media giants made decades ago when they began staking out biased and "edgy" political positions that offended and alienated millions of potential viewers. Eventually, this drove people to seek out alternative media outlets -- such as the Fox News Channel. If the Letterman and his ilk don't drop the persistent disdain for red state America, we can expect to see the same thing happen to their industry.
Then we'll see who has the last laugh.

Well, I still haven't thought of any clever nicknames for Michael Savage. I do have other good news though. I've started to collect bumper stickers from talk radio stations. So far (I just started two weeks ago) I have seven from stations in seven different states. One person submitted a nickname for Savage (see the last post) - "Messy Mike." Good start but, I am looking for something that rhymes with Michael or Savage. I really thought that it'd be easier.

This is from the WABC boards - who filled in for Levin on that Tuesday? What made him appear liberal to the person who posted this? An official No-Prize will be sent to the first person to answer this question. Was it Mark Simone?

Re: Best fill-in host for Hannity?
"I liked the liberal guy on Tuesday night he had.He has a mind of his own and brings up issues that Limbaugh hasn't already talked about. Guardian Angels rock. I wish he'd just admit to being a liberal instead of pretending to be a con. Levin doesnt really say to much that Limbaugh hasn't already said."