Talk Show Ratings

2010-01-21T06:21:00.000+02:00

Dilemma! What do I do?

I was in this dilemma when I stated blogging in December 2004. I had one blog for all my different audiences. At that time I also had web pages devoted to different sectors of readers.

There was a clamour amongst my readers of the blog that I was out of tune with them as they were reading many items that they were not interested in as they pertained to my alma maters or something specific to Oulu, etc.

It was then I started breaking up my blogs - besides my primary Blog (Jacob's Blog), I started one on Politics, another related to my association with Cathedral School (Mumbai), another about St. Stephen's College (Delhi), another about finding goods and services in Oulu, etc.

Everybody was happy!

All went well till my recent trip to India, where I stopped all my auxiliary blogs and kept only my main blog going, with just a few very specific entries to my other blogs.

My readership shot up as it appeared that many were interested in all aspects of my trip around India - which I had termed as "Incredible India".

The readership more than doubled at one point. People were referring others to my blog and it just snow-balled into a massive readerfest. Old and young, relatives and friends, school and college mates, Findians, O-Indians, my professional colleagues, past and present, were all tuned in. And many strangers from around the world were liking my style!

Wherever I went I found I needed no introduction as people had been following my blog. As I recorded, at one stage it became highly embarrassing, as people would come up to me and ask whether I knew them!

On returning to Finland, I went back to my old system.

Now I am having a spate of complaints. Many say that I should only blog at one point.

That would be great for me but not fair on my diverse audience. For instance the Cathedral School Alumni Association have especially complimented me on my sustained effort to keep the school spirit at its height by my blogging.

That is definitely not possible as my Seventh Heaven and Kooler Talk Blogs have very specific readerships. And not everyone likes my Politics. To burden all my regular readers with MY political views would be unfair. And my Oulu Best (Worst) Buy Blog is very specific to my Oulu Readers. Who in India or USA wants to read about the price of eggs in Oulu?

Is there any single solution, which is outside my very limited knowledge, which will help keep all my readers happy?

One way is that you could become a "Follower" of a specific blog. Whenever the one you are interested is updated, you will get a message from Google. No infringement of your privacy. You can always stop the "Follower" program whenever you want.

That way, it would stop my having to post important blog entries on my multiple blogs. (Possibly - as I have not yet looked into the ramifications of this alternative.)

If you have any suggestions, please email me or leave me a COMMENT. (Although my blogs are not exactly "Comment" blogs, I do read all the comments and reply them appropriately - also knocking off the spam that does come in.

This entry is being posted on all my major blogs, as it concerns all my readers in all categories.

2008-07-18T04:17:00.000+02:00

Happy 90th birthday, Nelson Mandela

Happy 90th birthday to the world's greatest politician, leader EVER - Nelson Mandela. May he have very many more.

Copyright: Photograph from Dismantling Apartheid

He has taught mankind through his sincerity to his cause - the people of Africa.

Thank you Nelson Mandela.

2008-04-11T07:30:00.000+02:00

Randi Rhodes quits AirAmerica

I was waiting for this move by the AirAmerica management as Randi's shows had become quite boring as she was over-stressed. In most shows, she would find one point and harp on it for several shows thereafter. I often wondered if anyone was listening to her. Her humour had vanished and there was no motivation in her programmes.

However, she had a devoted following and even her abusive manner to her callers and many of her guests, as she tended to overtalk them and continue to express her opinion and not allow the caller to get a word in edgeways, certainly made one mad. After all, the programme was hers and she could always give her opinion AFTER the caller had expressed his/her views.

I was quite surprised to hear from Greg Palast that it was he who had suggested Randi to the founders of AirAmerica. I remember that Randi had felt humiliated when he had called her to an event he was hosting in New York where he had not given her any prominence unlike other AirAmerica hosts. He had treated her like a stagehand!

Mike Malloy had, in a 45 minute rant in one of his programmes, paid tribute to his friend Randi and torn the present management of AirAmerica to bits. He revealed that, even as of today, they owed him $ 112000! Mike gave a very historical context of Talk Radio and AirAmerica. He had no hesitation in calling AirAmerica a tool of the right wing.

Mike was fired by AirAmerica by the Jewish cabal behind AirAmerica as they consider him anti-Semitic. He said the suspension of Randi was quite unforgivable. He gave news that Lionel was being axed (not that he was any favourite of mine) and that Thom Hartmann had lost prime time in New York to Ed Schulz, neither of whom are favourites of mine.

Randi was removed from my ratings in September 2007 and during the last 7 months I saw no reason to put her back in them.

Randi Rhodes is a survivor and when she lands on her feet you will find her ranting and raving on her plight.

The ratings remain about the same as Mike Malloy is undisputably the Number 1 Talk Show Host, with Peter Werbe a close second. The rest may scramble for minor places and with the right wing cabal having got rid of KIRO (Seattle, Washington) host Mike Webb (supposedly murdered) and Bernie Ward taken off the air (KGO, San Francisco, California)) on trumped up pedophile related issues, there is some shuffling. Rachel Maddow has continued to improve her style and is knocking around for top spot places. Sam Seder has managed to control a lot of his stuttering and stammering and should be able to get in the top ten if he can organise his programmes better. Ray Taliferro is still hilarious. Stephanie Miller could come back in the ratings as she has become a bit more serious, but she is not a Talk Show Host to be taken seriously.

I will post a half yearly analysis sometime in June 2008, so stay tuned for the next major ratings analysis.

2008-03-26T23:00:00.000+02:00

Hopefully back on line

(Posted on all my major blogs)

Yesterday, after some 33 days of being without my internet connection, I was put back on line. Several errors were found at the connections outside our premises and also in the Gateway.

The first thing I did after getting back my connection was test my speed. I pay for a 8 M line, but I was shocked to find my upload and download speeds were less than 500 kbps.

Additionally, I have a fixed IP and I found that the IP that I was using was not mine.

Thirdly, all my computers are connected to the internet through a Router. i found that if I went on to connect my router, I lost the internet connection.

Lastly, during the last 7 years I have used DHCP to connect to the internet. I have not used PPPoE. I found that I was unable to connect using DHCP and my own Fixed IP but only through the PPPoE which was assigning me the random IP.

All these problems has made life continue to be difficult as I am using just a single computer to connect to the internet.

I have a backload of about 6 weeks of work. With this situation I will only be able to catch up by the end of April.

I have lodged my complaint with my ISP .- and hopefully I will get some action by the end of this week.

Please bear with me till I get back into full swing.

2007-10-03T14:15:00.000+02:00

Through the eyes of an Arab Israeli human rights activist..."

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, Jacob's Politics Blog, the Move The UN Blog, and the Liberal Talk Show Ratings Blog.

Yesterday, Tuesday 2.10.2007, between 18:00 and 20:00 hours, at the Kirjakahvila Nispero, Pakkahuoneenkatu 5, Oulu, owned by Jarmo Stoor and his wife, I had the privilege and honour to listen to Israeli Palestinian Human Right Activist Najib Abu Rokaya from the B´Tselem Human Rights Group. This is the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories which was established in 1989 by a group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists, and Knesset members.

How would it feel if you got married to the person you love and are then told by your "Democratic" Government that you cannot bring your partner to your country but have to move away to another country where your partner lives and also give up your natural citizenship?

This is what happens in Palestine AND ALSO in Israel when it concerns Arab Israeli citizens!

No wonder that former US President Jimmy Carter addressed the present situation in Israel as being akin to the Apartheid that was prevalent in White South Africa!

But I digress.

Najib knows the effects of the Middle East conflict on the day to day life of those who live under it. His expertise has been used by the BBC (among others) in reporting on the situation there.

Najib Abu Rokaya is an Israeli Arab. He was one of the Palestinians who during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War stayed behind the green line (the internationally accepted border at the time between Israel and the planned Palestinian government) of what was to become the State of Israel. Today those Palestinians form about 18% of Israel's population.

Najib is a human asset in the position of Arabs inside Israel from his understanding of the law and personal experiences. He operates inside the internationally respected Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem.

The primary purpose of the group is to monitor the Israeli Army, Israeli governmental institutions and illegal West-Bank settlements in Palestinian areas. B'Tselem addresses its public reports to the Israeli political leadership as well as the general public.

Najib is the fieldwork coordinator of B'Tselem. Due to his position in B'Tselem and previous political activities, Najib has intimate details about the Arab minority question and the
current situation of the Israel/Palestinian conflict.

In his talk he started by drawing attention to the fact that the move to set up the State of Israel began as far back as 1890 and one of the locations suggested was Uganda! However, after the holocaust and World War II the United Nations gave Israel around 54% of Palestine.

After the various wars this increased to 70+% but when one considers the situation on the ground in Israel, Israel controls 100% of the territory.

However, clever politicking by Israeli "peace-brokers" and a feeling of absolute uselessness of the ability to stand and fight by the people of Palestine, Israel has transferred the international obligations of "the Occupier" on the Palestinians while continuing to occupy the whole territory.

As was rather strongly put by Najib, the Oslo Agreement was b------t! All it contained were paras which were to occur "God Willing", or in Arabisc "Inshallah"!

The wall / fence which has been built by Israel between "Palestine West Bank territory" on Palestinian land is another example of Israel usurping territory under the guise of "Security". The real border is about 320 km. But the wall / fence is over 700 km in length. Administration of the lands ursurped by the Israelis under this excuse is being integrated by a series of measures which makes it almost impossible for the Palestinians to even look after their own lands!

The absolute stranglehold by Israel over the Gaza is another example of how cleverly Israeli transferred "the obligations" onto the Palestinian Government while ensuring that they had absolutely no way of meeting those obligations.

There are two sides to every coin.

Najib was able, as an Arab Israeli, to put before the audience the side of not only the Palestinians living in "their" land of Palestine and of Arab Israelis, but also the 4 million refugees which have been packaged out of their land by this never ending conflict, most of whom are today stateless!

The stories given by Najib of the trigger-happy methods of the Israeli forces who have been ordered "not to take prisoners" as they infiltrate and murder the Palestinians was heart rending.

That is the other side of the story which is never told by the western media as the it has always been the Palestinians who have been accused of suicide bombings!

The Palestinians of all shades live in hope that they will once again be able to live in peace in their land. But it suits Israel to have a state of chaos prevailing as that way they will be able to draw on their superior public media presentation skills to highlight the Palestinians as the aggressors while they continue to enjoy and expand their hold of entire Palestine!

Many thanks to this outstanding personality for sharing his thoughts with us in Oulu.

2007-09-27T07:50:00.000+02:00

Has the US already reached the Fascist Stage?

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, Jacob's Politics Blog, the Talk Show Ratings Blog and the Move the UN Blog.

Mike Malloy continues to head my ratings of Liberal Talk Show Hosts. Mike lives near Atlanta in Georgia and he and his wife, Kathy Bay, who is the Executive Producer of his show, put together their show every morning which airs on NovaM Radio, a liberal radio station from Phoenix, Arizona. I listen to him live, online, over the internet. Besides being a great host, Kathy is an outstanding producer, and boy, is she quick with suitable music and her comments.

I get up at 4 am every morning from Tuesday to Saturday to listen to Mike, as not only does he have a different view point from any other Talk Show Host, but in my seven years of listening to him, I have found him to be honest and in pursuit of the TRUTH.

His listeners are known as the TRUTHSEEKERS!

Many of us get together on the Democratic Underground Forum to share the experience of listening to Mike. It is a great community.

One caller to Mike's show today from New York really set my mind thinking.

Mike has been saying that America has already reached the Fascist State. Many disagree with him.

The caller said that, at this time of the year, there are many dignitaries attending the UN General Assembly, so security is normally at a height. However, what he experienced earlier this evening was totally unexpected.

The caller lives in a small suburban area of the New York where, in the back street, there is a good small restaurant. He had gone out for a walk in the evening. On his way home, several black limousines pulled up outside the restaurant.

Out of the last car jumped out several men in full riot gear, fully armed. They stepped all pedestrians even crossing the street. The people had to wait a full 10 minutes till the dignitary emerged from the car and was safely seated in the restaurant!

Does this happen in a democratic society?

I sincerely do not believe it can - not in any Scandinavian country.

Remember the killing of Olof Palme over 20 years ago. On February 28, 1986, the Swedish Prime Minister, leader of the Social Democratic Party was gunned down on a Stockholm street home from a cinema with his wife, Lisbet. as he and his wife were walking on the streets of Stockholm without any security personnel?

Has any such procedure as described by the New York caller been put into operation in any part of Sweden? NO!

I now tend to agree with Mike that the US, led by an imbecile, has entered the final phase of a Fascist State.

As another caller said, on Mike's show, that as she was at an US Airport with her toddler, there was an announcement that the day's terrorism alert was ORANGE and she and her toddler had to go through security checks where even the toddler had to remove his shoes for checking.

Fear Rules the US - and that is what Fascism is about!

2007-09-25T21:45:00.000+02:00

Turncoats in unexpected places

Posted on Jacob's Politics and Talk Show Ratings.

Over the last four days I have heard what I always thought was the truth behind the political unsaid stand of certain individuals. I could not prove it till yesterday. Now it is time to share the facts with you.

General Wesley Clark.

When General Wesley Clark stood as a Democratic candidate to get the nomination for the 2004 presidential election, I was eager to see what were his views. There was one over-riding factor which was his stand. The American Army is composed of the greatest men that America has to offer.

I queried him, by email, several times on that.

He never provided me an answer. He was unable to say how this Army had lost almost every battle it had entered into! He was so blinded by his loyalty to his army, he was unable to see beyond the tip of nose. This Army has been and is led by a bunch of sycophants. The US army has been third rate as it has been and is run by third rate politically ambitious Generals.

This is the same Army that had run with its tail between its legs from Vietnam, it had run from Lebanon, it had run from Somalia and now it was causing an immense problem in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has been hammered out of existence almost everywhere it has shown its toothless open mouth.

It is easy for General Clark to spin all this problem on to the political leaders. However, if there are Generals in a well run Army, who know what they are supposed to do, then such situations would never arise.

As General Clark says in the Washington Post Op-Ed on 16th September "The Next War":

Any future U.S. wars will undoubtedly be shaped by the experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, however painful that might be. Every military refights the last war, but good militaries learn lessons from the past. We'd better get them right, and soon. Here, the lesson from Iraq and Afghanistan couldn't be more clear: Don't ever, ever go to war unless you can describe and create a more desirable end state. And doing so takes a whole lot more than just the use of force.

[...]

In Iraq, President Bush approved war-fighting plans that hadn't incorporated any of the vital 1990s lessons from Haiti, Bosnia or Kosovo; worse, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld fought doing so. Nation-building, however ideologically repulsive some may find it, is a capability that a superpower sometimes needs.

At the same time, the United States' top generals must understand that their duty is to win, not just to get along. They must have the insight and character to demand the resources necessary to succeed -- and have the guts to either obtain what they need or to resign. If they get their way and still don't emerge victorious, they must be replaced. That is the lot they accepted when they pinned on those four shiny silver stars.

Above all else, we Americans must understand that the goal of war is to achieve a specific purpose for the nation. In this respect, the military is simply a tool of statecraft, one that must work in tandem with diplomacy, economic suasion, intelligence and other instruments of U.S. power. How tragic it is to see old men who are unwilling to talk to potential adversaries but seem so ready to dispatch young people to fight and die.

So, steady as we go. We need to tweak our force structure, hone our leadership and learn everything we can about how to do everything better. But the big lesson is simply this: War is the last, last, last resort. It always brings tragedy and rarely brings glory. Take it from a general who won: The best war is the one that doesn't have to be fought, and the best military is the one capable and versatile enough to deter the next war in the first place.

We all know of the situation in 1962 when the then Defence Minister of India, Mr. V. K. Krishna Menon, had earlier put his war machinery to work building Expresso Coffee Machines in the Indian Ordinance Factories.

When the Chinese invaded, the Indian Army was routed.

The Generals who were serving their political masters had gone along with the policy which was to get another star on their shoulders rather than look at the best interests of the country!

So, when the US illegally invaded Iraq, the Generals who were worth their salt were left out of the equation. Those who strung along with the political policy, third rate Army Officers who had only got their stars because of the kowtowing with the politicians, were left to handle a war and its aftermath - something they were least capable of doing.

I was listening to the programme "Sam Seder on Sunday", a liberal Talk Show which runs on Air America Radio. His guest last Sunday was General Clark. As a forward to the interview, Sam was upbeat that General Clark would out the policy about the intentions to invade Iraq as being foolish, unwise, not good military science, etc. He was very expectant what General Clark would say about the politicised behaviour of General Petraeus.

General Clark, in quite nonmilitary behaviour, turned up late for the interview (with no apology) and within a few short minutes it became evident that the interview was not leading in the right direction as was obliging to the wishes of the US and Iraqi people.

First of all he indicated that the Saudis were arming the Sunni population in parts of Iraq. This he did not condemn. Then he went on to say that the major problem in Iraq was the Iranian interference.

His explanation was that the Iranians were providing health care to the Iraqis, providing electricity and clean water, and even educating Iraqis in the Universities in Iran.

To General Clark - this was the problem!

Something that the American Army could not do.

Here was a General pushing for war against a country which was helping to stablise the region in which THEY LIVE!

And to General Clark THIS WAS THE PROBLEM!

He was prepared to keep the US Army in the region indefinitely so as to ensure the resources of the region .- OIL!

This to me showed that this General, who had just a few days earlier come out in support of Hilary Clinton as the Democrat candidate for the next Presidential election, was laying the ground for the Defence Policy of this candidate in which he would either be the Vice Presidential candidate or be included as the Secretary of State or Defence.

It is important to remember that in 2004 the Clintons endorsed General Clark as the candidate for President, which nomination he lost to John Kerry. So this time, General Clark was putting his fortunes where he would be assured of his place in the Government.

To give Sam Seder his due, as he is not a particularly good Talk Show Host, for various reasons I have highlighted earlier on the my Talk Show Blog, he sensed something strange was going on.

But he just could not believe his ears. He wanted to go through the transcripts to analyse the words the General had used before he came to a conclusion as to where this was leading.

In keeping with this strategy, Hilary appeared on five Sunday Morning TV programmes. It was obvious that the campaign was going into full gear to throw the other Democratic candidates off balance as she stood for her beliefs and her war promotion strategy in keeping with the views of General Clark.

On Monday, Bill Clinton started to use the "fall out strategy". He used his goodwill standing with African leaders to get them to endorse Hilary as the next Presidential candidate by getting them to use their "social English" well wishing as international endorsement of Hilary!

And late on Monday, pResident Bush gave the mightiest blow of all, saying that he wanted Hilary to be the next Democratic party candidate so that the Republicans would win against her.

His endorsement of Hilary was given with the full consent of the Republican caucus as all of them know that no Republican can win this 2008 Presidential election with the Almighty Mess there is in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hence, they want an acceptable face in the White House who will cover their backside, and the only one who would be prepared to do that would be the Hilary / General Clark combination!

Bill Clinton was never a Democrat!

Any of you who listen to the top Liberal Talk Show Host in the US, Mike Malloy, will know that he has repeated this time and time again. And the agenda to carry on the Clinton / Bush hierarchy for another 8 years is tempting beyond all commitment to the Democratic Party!

2007-09-22T23:30:00.000+02:00

Unprofessional Lady Liberal Talk Show Hosts

The last week has made me remove to the two most popular lady Liberal Talk Show Hosts off the ratings lists because of their totally unprofessional broadcasting performances.

The first to go is Stephanie Miller and her couple of sidekicks. On the day of the Tasering of the University Student in Florida at the John Kerry event, the three of them completely went out of their senses and started to make it a laughing stock matter. They called the student an "Ass", time and time again. Then they claimed that he was "annoying". Hence, they came to the conclusion that it was his fault he was treated as he was.

The three of them kept repeating the same thing over and over again. I thought they were asses and annoying. Should the three of them have been Tasered?

The next day, from the emails they received, Stephanie Miller realised that she had done something wrong and started to be apologetic by excusing her behaviour as her having been through a psychotic phase. But the sidekicks continued their "ass and annoying" calling phase as they just could not come to acknowledging that they had misread the situation.

Such pedantism and stupidity has made me remove the Stephanie Miller Show from my ratings list. When they come back on, if at all, they will be at the bottom of the list until they show some maturity on their programme.

The second unstable individual that I removed from the ratings is Randi Rhodes. She has been for years promoting herself as the Goddess of Liberal Talk Radio. Such puerile histrionics that I heard last Friday was so amazing, that I just felt she could not be kept in the ratings.

If anyone disagrees with "her" reasoning, then they are usually to be shouted at, talked over or screamed at.

When she is in the company of a big wig, she is a gushing gal, almost sycophantic.

On Friday, just because a few people expressed their dissatisfaction with the Democrats who voted for the non-binding resolution which was put up by the Republicans because of the MoveOn ad, she went ballistic, throwing a tantrum totally unbecoming of a sane Talk Show Host.

Her stand was that the listeners should be glad of the different pieces that the Democrats put up for vote (all killed by the Republicans).

Why should anyone be glad for that - that is their job.

But to allow that time wasting resolution to be even brought up in the Senate was the stupidity that the audience were going on about. The Leader of the Senate should have just refused to bring it to the floor!

The crying, the sobbing, the so called deeply moving feeling that she experienced did not convince me of her sincerity of calling Democrats to task when they do something that their base does not want them to do.

Mike Malloy and Peter Werbe stay at the top of the ratings. Bernie Ward, Ray Taliaferro and Peter B. Collins are close behind. The irregular Guy James is still in the reckoning. I like Bill Press, who now makes it into the Top 10. The Young Turks are making a strong showing. Thom Hartman has gone down in the ratings but still stays in the Top 10. Nate Clay with his Sunday morning show is still up there.

The new format of Ring of Fire is good. Laura Flanders continues to impress. The Greens (Mark and Richard) who bought Air America to get their voices on the air, should get off just as soon as they got on. They are only exploiting their moneyed contacts. They can hardly be judged to be good Talk Show Hosts.

Along with Ed Schulz, Lionel, should be taken off the air. They irritate more than entertain!

There is much to be desired in the Liberal Talk Show area, but the two leaders - Mike and Peter show by example how it should be done.

2007-09-03T19:32:00.000+02:00

Philosophy behind my multiple entry blogging

Posted on Jacob's Blog, the Oulu Best Buy Blog, the Oulu CHAFF Blog, the Cathedralite Seventh Heaven Blog, the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog, the Jacob's Politics Blog, the Move the UN Blog, and the Talk Show Ratings Blog.

Many diverse groups of people with multiple interests are reading my blogs.

Some of you are reading more than one of my blogs.

It is very annoying to see the same posting on more than one blog.

I apologise.

I have, therefore, to introduce a strategy till such time as I can get all or most of my 120 000+ readers to install a policy of being updated whenever there is a new blog entry on the blogs of their specific interest.

If they do this registration, then I need only post any entry to a single blog. The blog info service should inform you if that particular blog has been updated.

If you subscribe to getting this info for three blogs, then I need not post an entry to all three blogs!

Till the recording service is fully operational, at the top of each entry I will include a list of the other blogs that the entry will be found.

For instance, this entry will be found on ALL my blogs.

If any of you have a better solution, I am all ears.

Remember, I am a computer idiot and know nothing about the art of designing things for the computer. :-) That's because I use a Mac!

2007-06-28T23:45:00.000+02:00

Why Mike Malloy is the indisputable No. 1

Please read the BUZZFLASH interview of Mike Malloy and then you will know why Mike Malloy is indisputably the No. 1 in Talk Show Hosts.

Peter Werbe stays firmly set at No. 2. His Talk Show Programme as well as his interviews are truly great.

Peter B. Collins, Bernie Ward, and Ray Talliaferro are fighting for the No. 3 spot.

It is good to see Guy James fighting to get back on top. He deserves more air time.

Thom Hartmann is ingenuous and does not take on a conversation (or email) which he knows he is going to lose an argument. He is a great historian, but unfortunately, in my opinion, not a good talk show host. He stays firmly on topic where he has a few bees in his bonnet.

The Stephanie Miller humour is a bit stale. Good for a short listening experience. So also, the Young Turks are sporadically good.

Randi Rhodes believes she is a goddess, but she is just a shill for the Democrat Party. Her conversations on the internet do not add much to one's knowledge abut any subject,

Ed Schulz is not worth listening to.

Of late I have found Bill Press to be interesting.

I am getting Tony Trupiano of Radio Power and he is a good host.

Sheldon (Shelly) Drobny, the founder of NovaM Radio was recently interviewed by Mike Malloy.

Shelly is a visionary. If I was younger, I would bet heavily that he is what is required to make liberal radio a success.

So, undoubtedly, Mike Malloy stays at the top of my Talk Show Ratings!

2007-04-30T21:15:00.000+02:00

Another fill-in about John Loftus

I recently was referred to another web page which had a take about John Loftus.

This was the comment that was placed on my blog!

Arkinsaw has left a new comment on your post "John Loftus thinks we are malicious This was the ...":

Wow! John is a bit delusional huh?

I have listened to a few of his shows and found him to be supremely arrogant. Nothing he says in his email to you is even close to what he spews on air.

Here's a link to my outrage at one of his shows:

http://www.mikemalloy.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=49189&highlight=loftus

I think I was a hundred percent right about what I wrote to Mike!

2007-04-26T22:00:00.000+02:00

Peter B. Collins makes leap into charts

I had not heard Peter B. Collins till he got a slot on Nova M Radio. He has an excellent voice, a great conversational style and handles his callers with a immense dignity.

Before I could rate him, he lost his slot on Nova M, reason unknown to me.

I dropped him a line and he pointed me to his regular spot. I have been listening to him, although at a most inconvenient time here in Finland. He comes in after Randi Rhodes after 1 am and before Mike Malloy, who appears on here at 4 am.

I usually tune out of Randi at 12 midnight (as she is usually repeating herself incessantly by then) to tune in to the station which airs Peter B. Collins. So I have to listen to an hour of Ed Schulz. This is because I go to bed on the 1st floor with my headphones on and the computer in the cellar is tuned in to the station carrying Peter B. Collins. I then have to get up at 4 am to tune in to Mike Malloy.

At 7 am, I tune over to KGO to listen to the last hour of Gene Burns so as to listen to Bernie Ward, and following him Ray Taliferro. I listen to Bernie only when he has topics of international interest, which these days is becoming few and far between.

With these new schedules, my ratings have undergone some major changes.

Mike Malloy and Peter Werbe, who is now co-hosted by his former producer, Juline Jordan, still hold the top 2 spots. Peter B. Collins has moved in the third spot, and is followed by the hilarious Ray Talifeero.

Stephanie Miller has matured considerably and holds the 5th position. Her strong showing can be seen in that she has been asked to host a MSNBC show.

Bernie Ward, Robert F. Kennedy and Mike Papantonio, and Thom Hartmann follow in my ratings. Guy James, Nate Clay, Laura Flanders and The Young Turks hold the next spots.

These are followed by David Bender, Rachel Maddow, Betsy Rosenberg, Ed Schulz, Randi Rhodes and John Rothmann.

Ratings for the week ended 21st April 2007:

Mike Malloy Show ***** 5 shows a week

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe and Juline Jordan ***** 1 show a week

Peter B. Collins ***** 5 shows a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show ***** 5 shows a week -

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Thom Hartmann **** 5 shows a week

The Guy James Show **** 3 shows a week

Nate Clay **** 1 show a week

Laura Flanders **** 2 shows a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) **** 5 shows a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 5 shows a week

Rachel Maddow Show *** 5 shows a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) *** 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz** 5 shows a week

The Randi Rhodes Show hosted Randi Rhodes ** 5 shows a week

John Rothmann * 2 shows a week

Under new ownership, Air America Radio is making some big programme changes, so expect a turn up in these ratings during the next few weeks.

2007-04-24T00:00:00.000+02:00

Shelby Drobny explains termination of John Loftus

With sparks flying, Shelby Dronby cooled things by giving his explanation for the termination of John Loftus.

Everyone:

The decision to drop the Loftus show on Nova occurred before this email. The show is more suitable for a different audience and that is why we made the decision. I have the a highest regard for John Loftus and the work he has done for whistle blowers and minorities. Unfortunately, intelligence should be apolitical and yet our audience is very political. It was my error and no one should take this personally.

The audience has every right to express its opinion about our shows and I would hope that you guys understand that nobody should take this personally. Thanks.

Sheldon Drobny
Co-founder
Nova M Radio

2007-04-23T23:50:00.000+02:00

I reply to John Loftus

On reciept of the copy of John Lotus email to Shelby Drobny, I immediately replied Mr. Loftus.

Dear Mr. Loftus,

Firstly, I am quite sure Mr. Shelby Drobny did not make a decision to terminate your show based on one letter from one individual from Finland.

Secondly, I do not do anything or say anything behind the back of any body. I had the courage to send you a copy of my communication.

Thirdly, your perceptions about yourself are based on your personal opinion about yourself and your show, while mine are based on listening to your show as a listener.

I do not need to know your beliefs or any other data about you. I made my judgements based on the contents of your radio show that I heard.

Two quite different perspectives.

If I have in any way libelled you, my apologies.

If not, then you owe me an apology.

The truth hurts, but as you sow you shall reap.

It is wonderful that some people have the courage to call you on your opinions.

I think the content of your shows are in the public domain and available from Nova M Radio.

I think that I am quite capable of sorting this out in a Finnish Court of Law.

If you wish to do the same, kindly let me know and I shall send you the details of my attorney.

Yours faithfully,

Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland

2007-04-23T23:45:00.000+02:00

John Loftus thinks we are malicious

This was the email we received from John Loftus when he received a copy of our email to Mike malloy which was copied to Anita and Shelby Drobny and he was fired the same night!

I recently received a false, malicious and defamatory email letter from Jacob Matthan of Oulu, Finland. This criminally libelous letter was addressed to me, Mike Malloy, Sheldon Drobny and numerous others. In this letter, Mr. Matthan accuses me of being a "rabid conservative", a "hate monger", and a "fascist."

In the first place I am a life long opponent of racism in every form, and have dedicate my entire adult life to fighting hate mongers. I am an Irish Catholic who has championed the cause of Muslims, Jews, Palestinians, African Americans, Native Americans and other victims of hatred and discrimination. Because of my strong stands, my family has endured death threats, poverty, and now Mr. Matthan's insults. I have been a Nazi war crimes prosecutor and am the subject of a forth coming feature film called "American Secrets" which exposes the secret fascist connections of American corporations. My forthcoming book, "The Witness Tree" exposes how the Bush, Walker and Rockefeller families economically supported the rise of fascism. To call me a fascist supporter is ludicrous. I am life long "Scoop Jackson" Democrat and a public and consistent supporter of liberal positions on human rights and the environment. For my staunch defense of these liberal positions, I have been denounced by Rush Limbaugh, Pat Buchanan many others on the far right.

Next, Mr. Matthan calls me a promoter of the "Chalabi of Iran" and again "A Chalabi for every viewpoint that he holds." I assume this means that I provided my audience with VIP guests who discussed Iran from every point of view. On my show, I have hosted a feminist spokeswoman against Iran, a leader of the Iranian government in exile, and even a former member of the CIA. As the recorded archives of my show make clear, neither I nor any of my guests support the use of military force against Iran except as an extreme last resort. To compare us to Chalabi, who advocated the invasion of Iraq is as false as false could be. We oppose any invasion of Iran, as that would weaken the Iranian resistance in overthrowing the cruel and bigoted rule of the Mullahs.

Here is another of Mr. Mathan's distortions: "Today he was promoting how good setting up walls to separate people." I am in favor of any temporary measure that would save lives, but Mr. Mathan is utterly wrong to then compare my point of view to the communist dictators of Berlin. The Berlin wall was built to keep oppressed people in. The walls in Baghadad and Israel are to keep the terrorist oppressors out, and let the victims of terrorism live in freedom and peace. I pray that someday, all the walls may come down, but first the shooting must stop.

Next Mr. Mathhan charges: "Also, he has spent his time readying the world for Israel to launch another horrible attack on the innocent people of Lenanon." This is exactly the opposite of what my program has been saying: I am predicting that Hezbollah in Lebanon would attack Israel with long range rockets from a safehaven north of the Litani River, and that Israel would be unable to defend itself from the missile attack because the UN force in between the Litani and the Israeli border would block any Israeli ground incursion. Similarly, the Iranian donation of advance anti-aircraft systems to Hizbollah would counter any Israeli air strike. The UN has confirmed all of this from German, French, American and Israeli photographs of the rearmament of Hezbollah with long range Syrian and Iranian missiles in violation of the UN resolutions.

But in this critical eve of war, when peace could still be saved, Mr. Mathan turns things upside down and says that it is Israel who is planning to attack the innocent Hezbollan, and that I am "readying the world for Israel to launch another horrible attack." Mr. Mathan is not just mistaken, he is a liar. No reasonable person who has listened to my programs could ever come to such a conclusion. I do not and never have supported pre-emptive strikes, and have advocated that Israel return the Chalabi farms, release the three Lebanese prisoners and support the demilitarization of the Golan under Syrian soverignty as a peace park open to picknicking visitors from both sides of the border.

Now we come to the nub of Mr. Mathan's written charges against me: "The way, in my humble opinion, he promotes the "fascist zionist" agenda certainly does not merit my supporting the radio station." I am reminded that Martin Luther King said that those who claim they are only anti-Zionist and not anti-semitic, are only covering for their racism against Jews. I have been to Palestine and Israel many times, and have found that most people there do not want either Arab extremists, or Jewish extremists, they just want the tourists back so they can have jobs for themselves and their kids. People like Mr. Mathan who denounce peace loving people like me with smear words like "fascist zionist" are the true enemies of peace.

Mr. Mathan next says: "John Loftus is the Judith Miller of Talk Radio." I am not sure what that means, but Judith Miller will confirm that she and I are enemies. I always tried to uphold the highest journalistic standards of objectivity, accuracy and fairness. On the rare occasions when I make honest mistakes, I post my goofs publicly on my personal website so that people will know that they can always trust me to tell the truth. Because I stubbornly insist on telling the truhth, some senior offcials of the Bush administration have done everything in their power to stifle my criticisms, even to the point of launching an economic boycott against the charity which i head. WWW.IntelligenceSummit.org.

As a final insult, Mr. Mathans says "The only things missing from his programme these days is the "three cheers" for the war criminals Bush and Blair." Here, Mr. Mathan reminds me of another of my heroes, George Orwell who wrote: "the most powerful form of lie is the omission, and it is the duty of historians to ensure that those lies do not creep into the history books." As a former war crimes prosecutor, I must inisist that Mr. Mathan apologize for his omissions, and forward my reply to everyone who recieved his attack on me.

As a personal note, I must add how dissapointed I was to receive the following reply to Mr. Mathan's letter from the owner of the network: "The Loftus show will be cancelled. Tonight was his last show. Thanks for the feedback. " Many people reasonable people will understand this to mean that Mr. Drobny has publicly endorsed Mr. Mathan's lies, circulated his libel to others, and terminated my job. How sad. I thought that we were friends, and now he has supported Mr. Mathan is destroying my professional reputation.

I want a public apology.

Sincerely,

John J. Loftus
Attorney at Law

2007-04-21T22:10:00.000+02:00

Wow! That was fast!

(Cross-posted on Jacob's Politics Blog.)
After listening to the Mike Malloy Show today, I stayed tuned to Nova M Radio and there is a show called the John Loftus Show.

While listening to it, I wrote an email to Mike and sent copies to several people including Anita and Shelby Drobny, the founders of Nova M Radio, as well a Mike Newcomb, the CEO of the station. (I had listened to this guy for several times and each time it was worse than the previous time.)

Subject: Some musings from Finland
From: "Jacob Matthan"
Date: 04/21/2007 5:05 AM

Dear Mike,

I think it was on Thursday, when you did that show about the Alberto Gonzales hearings, I was thinking how great it was that you had a producer who was really the very best - Kathy. She tuned in some of the best and appropriate music and that show, in my opinion, rates one of the very best in your many years on the air.

It was wonderful that you complimented her on air that evening. I am sure most of us listeners appreciated what a great team you make.

You have held the No. 1 Spot on my Liberal Talk Show Ratings. 50% of the credit, undoubtedly, goes to Kathy!

The reason I write is not to pay compliments only, but to respond to your question as to why some of us may not be Radio as Founders. (I do not know whether a non US citizen. non resident of the US can in fact contribute, but that is not the issue.)

When Nova M Radio airs the rabid one-sided conservative views of John Loftus, immediately after your show, although I support liberal radio, I do not support hate-mongering the way John Loftus does on his program.

So far I thought Bill Wartenburg of KGO was the most professional hate-monger on the air as he uses his intelligence in such a morbid manner. John Loftus does it more subtly than Dr. Bill.

The other day I heard him bring on air the "Chalabi of Iran"!

I realised that he does not have just one Chalabi, but "a Chalabi for every viewpoint that he holds".

Today, he was promoting how good setting up walls to separate people were - of course he did not mention Ronald Regan's cry "Tear down that wall, Mr. Gorbachov!"). Also, he has spent his time readying the world for Israel to launch another horrible attack on the innocent people of Lebanon!

The way, in my humble opinion, he promotes the "fascist Zionist" agenda certainly does not merit my supporting the radio station that pushes these views, even though that station gives you the airtime.

John Loftus is the Judith Miller of Talk Radio. It is a shame that he shares the same air space as you. The only thing missing from his programme these days is the "three cheers" for the war criminals, Bush and Blair.

I hope you understand my point of view. This may be part of the answer to your question why some of us have not supported Nova M Radio.

I have copied Mike Newcomb, Anita and Shelby Drobny and John Loftus on this email as also some major Liberal Talk Show Hosts (as Bccs).

Very best to Kathy, Molly and you.

--
Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland

Within five hours I had this email from Shelby Drobny.

The Loftus show will be cancelled. Tonight was his last show. Thanks for the feedback.

I do not know whether I was responsible, but I am glad Liberal Talk Radio listeners do not have to listen to fabricated hate-speech. I think the appreciation of listeners views is the reason Anita and Shelby Drobny are successful in launching truly Liberal Talk Radio. How I wish Air America would cast aside its ridiculous ways.

Thank you Mr. Drobny.

2007-04-08T23:30:00.000+02:00

Sam Seder going off Air America

I just learnt from The Washington Note, Steve Clemon's Blog that Sam Seder will be ending his regular talk show on Air America Radio,

I posted this comment of Steve's blog today.

Although Sam Seder is intelligent and has a great grasp of the liberal political approach, he was not a good Talk Show Host. Sam stuttered and spluttered and in many cases could not complete his sentences and thoughts, changing most of them mid sentence.

Compared to the truly greats as Mike Malloy, Peter Werbe, Guy James, Bernie Ward, Ray Taliaferro, Sam was more hype than a good talk show host.

That Sam is being taken off Air America was inevitable. Maybe we will see the truly great liberal hosts ( http://talkshowratings.blogspot.com/ ) come on the air and fake ones like Rhandi Rhodes (who loves the sound of her own voice and her ideas), Rachel Maddow and others follow the Al Franken and Sam Seder route OFF the air.

I am glad that he and Al Franken are off. Maybe the new management of Air America Radio will bring on the really good Talk Show Hosts - Mike Malloy, Peter Werbe, Guy James, and a host that I really like because of a great voice and a very strong positive approach to problems in the US - Peter B. Collins.

It was surprising he was taken off the new Phoenix Nova M Radio Station where he had a spot along with Mike Malloy. Even though the hours were difficult for me to listen to him, 2 am to 4 am, I enjoyed what little I heard from him. He will soon earn a great rating here.

2007-01-06T22:45:00.000+02:00

2007 vs. 2006

(Cross-posted on all our major blogs.)

2006 was a wonderful year, better than 2005; 2005 was a wonderful year, better than 2004, and.......

So what lies ahead in 2007?

Our Symbol for 2007 - The White Orchid.

Judging by the first 6 days, it is going to be a hectic year ahead, far more exciting than the previous few years.

We can see several changes ahead.

Already, the blogging world has changed. We have started something different in that we have, besides the blogs, started our own Google Groups.

The first two Groups that we started are the Oulu CHAFF Group and the Seventh Heaven for Cathedralite 59ers.

In a matter of just a few hours, the 40+ people of the Class of 1959 from the Cathedral and John Connon School, both the Boys and Girls, were aboard the Group. In a matter of a couple of days the list of persons grew by over 10 so that we have now identified over 70 members of our years at school. All our Group members are scouring the world to locate the missing persons so that we can hold a great 50th year reunion in November 2009.

This 3-year project which has excited everyone from the Arctic (Jacob) across the globe!

The Oulu CHAFF Group is only slowly taking off the ground. But the restart of the meetings in 2007 have started with a real coup with a 2005 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Arpad Hamos and his wonderful wife, from Hungary, gracing the first meeting on Sunday.

It is obvious that the Oulu CHAFF Group will have its work cut out for it during this coming year as there are literally hundreds of issues hanging over the fire. The amazing part is that those that once received help are now making significant contributions in helping others, taking the burden off the few that were origially involved in setting up this Assistance Forum. Much more ways of helping those in distress are becoming available and it is going to be an exciting year as CHAFF consolidates itself.

The main Jacob's Blog will remain intact and present a more focused look at the lives of two individuals, Annikki and Jacob, as it takes another major direction during 2007.

Important changes are just being discussed. But they are causing huge waves across the city of Oulu.

Several, we are sure, who will be quite happy to see the likes of us out of this City. But, there are an equal number who are appalled that we may make some move away from Oulu after the 23 years we have been here.

What is important to understand is that with the new power to the people of the internet, wherever we may be, in Oulu or in Newcastle, England or in Kerala, India, we will still be able to handle the problems, be parts of Groups, take part in the action in different parts of the world, without the need of the physical presence in any location.

In the computer world it is probably refered to as "virtual reality". Annikki and Jacob will be part of that virtual reality not only in Oulu, but in several locations around the world, throughout the year.

With that, both of us would like to wish each and every one of you a Happy and Prosperous New Year and let good health and vitality follow you wherever you are.

In that we share a greeting which was sent to us by Thomas Grorge from Helsinki:

May this 2007,
Blessings harrass you,
Happiness attack you wherever you go,
May misery be hijacked from you, and
May thieves pickpocket all your worries.

2006-10-31T16:20:00.000+02:00

Democratic Underground and Mike Malloy

Mike came back on at 4 am, not 5 am Finnish Time - I made a mistake as 9 pm ET is 4 am Finnish Time.

Luckily I was awake and tuned in so did not miss this rebirth. It was grand.

And it was amazing to see the Democratic Underground Mandatory Malloy Thread - which just ran away with 372 postings in the first hour. The thread had to be locked and Thread 2 already had 117 postings.

Is it no wonder that all of us consider Mike Malloy as the greatest Talk Show Host in this Universe.

Here are the links:

Mike's Web Site:
http://www.mikemalloy.com /

Stream Link from Mike's Web Site:
http://www.mikemalloy.com/listen.html

1480 KPHX Radio Site:
http://www.1480kphx.com /

Nove M Radio Site:
http://www.novamradio.com /
The NovaMRadio website has the NovaMRadio Schedule

Streaming Link:
http://novamnetwork.com/stream.php

I am listening on iTunes through te Shoutcast Stream. At the moment there are about 573 listeners on this stream.

Call the program LIVE 9 PM - midnight ET 800-989-1480 (its toll free! in the US)

Welcome back to your top spot Mike!

2006-10-31T08:15:00.000+02:00

Mike Malloy returns to the Air tonight

Mike Malloy will be back on the air from tonight. Mike will return to the airwaves Monday October 30th at 9PM ET, on the Nova M Radio Network!

It seems impossible to reach the Nova M Radio Web page.

However, you can listen to Mike from Tuesday to Saturday mornings at 5 am Finnish Time at (this is the link for iTunes)

http://sc8.spacialnet.com:17036/

If you enter this in your browser it should take you to a Shoutcast page and then click the Listen link which will download the link to be used in iTunes (which is the same as the one I have given you above).

If anyone can explain why the Nova M Radio link is not working, I would be glad to publish the info here.

2006-09-14T02:00:00.000+02:00

Finally it is done...

Many hundreds of you have been asking me to email you whenever I make a new entry on my blogs.

Now I have taken steps to ensure that every time I update my blogs, you will get an email.

However, you have to do something IF you want this to happen.

You will find on each blog page a small box just below the link to view my profile.

You have to enter your email address where you want to be informed into that box and send it so that Change Monitor can do the necessary entries.

Only enter this information for the pages that you really want to monitor.

I do not want your email Inbox filled with these update messages!

2006-09-01T20:15:00.000+02:00

Air America Radio - Stupidity Personified

It came as a shock when I tuned in earlier this week and had to listen to Thom Hartmann hosting the Randi Rhodes show instead of the announced Mike Malloy.

I was a bit confused at this unannounced change. But soon I found out that Air America Radio had not renewed the contract of Mike Malloy, the Number ONE Talk Show Host in the US.

Various theories have emerged as to why the Board of Air America did not renew this Contract. Sheldon Dronby, who was one of the founders of Air America expressed his total opposition at the action of the Board. Sheldon had this piece on The Huffington Post:

Mike Malloy and Andy Rooney
I am a good friend of Mike Malloy and when I started Air America Radio, I wanted him, Randi Rhodes, and Al Franken. I thought that would be a good start. And I got them. When I got a call from Mike Malloy yesterday I was shocked that the AAR board had not offered him a contract.

He is the lowest paid of all the regular hosts on AAR and they put him in an awful time slot, 10pm-1am ET. As I stated before, I am a minority owner of AAR and I am not on the board of directors. I do run 2 AAR affiliates in Phoenix and Little Rock. However, the AAR board does not seem to want my advice. It is a shame because I could really help. I have lots of experience in business and I understand good talk radio.

AAR is the most branded name in talk radio primarily because the MSM gave them all that free publicity and the right wing talk show hosts always bring up AAR. While I was involved in AAR operations, I recognized that the free publicity we got was wonderful. I also know that you do not have to like your talent and in fact most radio hosts are a bit egocentric and at times difficult to deal with. Howard Stern is the best example of that. Does anyone really like Stern? But, he does create controversy and get lots of listeners. Isn't that what talk radio is about? And Mike Malloy is extremely controversial, but he is knowledgeable and lots of people enjoy his show.

I suspect Malloy's termination was more about personality than performance. It certainly was not about money. My suggestion to those who love Mike Malloy is to do what the audience of 60 Minutes did when they terminated Andy Rooney several years ago. Email or write them about your feelings and we may still have a chance to get him back. I have already vigorously registered my complaint directly to the board and I understand that Sam Sedar also did on the air yesterday. Go to the AAR web site at http://www.airamericaradio.com and let them know how you feel. Register on line free and click "About Us" on the right side of the top and "Contact us" will appear. I talked to Mike Malloy and he would be open to coming back if too much time does not pass.

The reason mainly cited was "financial".

This is absolute rubbish as Mike has been one of the least paid Talk Show Hosts on Air America.

The following email/letter thst I sent to the Board of Air America implies the reasons:

To The Board of Air America,

I was shocked to hear about the fact that you have not renewed Mike Malloy's contract with Air America.

Mike is the top talk show host in the US, head and shoulders above any of the other talk show hosts on your station.

I am sure I know that jealousy and the Jewish Lobby (as they converge rather well in Air America) is the motive for not having his contract renewed. I also think I know it is someone who is hardly a Talk Show Host but guffaws through his programme laughing at his own jokes that is primarily responsible for this decision.

There is no other host who has such a solid following around the world. Go any day when Mike Malloy was on the air and the Manadatory Malloy Thread on Democratic Underground and you would have known what his audience thought of Mike.

Yes, every single day Mike was on air.

If you are so intent on killing Air America, just as Joe Liebermann is keen on killing the Democrat Party - well you have moved closer to your objective. Well done.

I am not an American, I am mnot an European, I am neither black nor white, I am not Muslim or Jewish (it is obvious the role played by the Jewish Lobby in making this decision). Mike was probably the only link for me, and thousands of listeners around the world, in having faith that America may come back into the fold of respectable nations.

That you want to follow the Bush Agenda, well woe betide your country when you remove the single most powerful and truthful voice that was on Air America.

Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland

It is my contention that the apologist for the Republicans who has his show on Air America, Al Franken, who is a comedian, wanted Mike off the air. Al Franken cannot stand in the shadow of Mike as far as hosting a Talk Show Host. Al Franken has kept pumping his own trumpet, his own books, his own jokes at which no one laughs but himself, with totally unprofessional guffaws, has been so jealous of Mike, that once Mike started exposing the hypocrisy of the Jewish Lobby in the US, that Al Franken got to work to remove him from the Air America line-up.

And the Board of Air America caved in to the Jewish Lobby showing that they are totally compliant with the Joe Liebermann lobby which is intent on destroying the progressive section of the Democrat Party in US politics.

I have not updated the Talk Show Ratings Blog for several weeks as there has been no competition to the top 5 shows, and the rest remain mediocre. It is my contention that Al Franken does not even merit a rating as he can hardly be described as a Talk Show Host.

Many have ascribed the reason that Mike Malloy had said on the Alex Jones Show that he had bought a gun and would use it to defend DEMOCRACY in the US.

Mike was asked by the Atlanta Police to get himself a gun, many many years ago, in case the right wingers attacked him for his progressive views that he expresses on the air. He has talked about is several times over the years - so this just a lame excuse which is all bunk!

Look no further than Al Freanken to see who was responsible for the elimination of Mike from Air America.

2006-04-17T09:00:00.000+02:00

NO RATINGS THIS WEEK

Ratings for the week ended 16th April 2006:

As my granddaughter was with me from England for the last few days, I was not able to monitor the shows, so I did not prepare the ratings for last week. She will be with me for the best part of this week. So there will be no ratings for the next week also.

See you in 2 weeks week.

2006-04-10T09:00:00.000+02:00

Stephanie is back in the charts

The Stephanie Miller Show is back on live and they have fixed the pulsation problem. Her shows are now back in the ratings.

The "1984" readings By Mike Malloy come so close to the situation in the USA today, it is surprising how George Orwell wrote this over 50 years ago.

Thom Hartmann remains way off target with his views about NAFTA, Free Trade, Globalisation. Wish Thom would listen to an alternative viewpoint from an intelligent human being!

Guy James needs more callers to push up his ratings.

Ratings for the week ended 9th April 2006:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 5 shows a week

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

Laura Flanders **** 2 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show 5 shows a week - ****

Thom Hartmann **** 5 shows a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Air America Mornings (Mark Riley 0500 - 0700 and Rachel Maddow 0700 - 0900) ****

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

Guy James 5 shows a week - ****

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz** 5 shows a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

The Randi Rhodes Show hosted Randi Rhodes ** 5 shows a week

John Rothmann * 2 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Mike Webb ** 5 shows a week - Not rated as unable to understand his "live" timings

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

The Al Franken Show 5 shows a week - Not a Liberal talk Show but one of a comedian interested in promoting himself

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week - Not rated as he swings with the tide of his callers

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week Removed from Air America Schedule

See you next week.

2006-04-03T09:00:00.000+02:00

Guy James is back, Bernie Ward climbs

It is time to welcome back Talk Show Host Guy James after a protracted absence while he built his own independent broadcast network. He is now not hampered by the station politics. It is nice to have him talking as openly and freely as he does. He is not hitting only the right wing, but like Mike Malloy and Peter Werbe takes no prisoners amongst the Democrats as well. Guy calls his shots well and I am glad to welcome him back among the top Liberal Talk Show Hosts. The only problem that Guy faces is that he does not have a broad spectrum of callers and the "professional" callers as "Alice", "Dave", Vinita", etc. seem to dominate his shows. Guy would do well to initiate what Mike does, the 3-day rule, as otherwise one doubts the broad base appeal of his show.

Bernie Ward was absolutely dripping with sarcasm the other day when he took the stand that all foreign things should be banned from the US . It was most surprising how few people understood his brand of sarcasm. I was rolling on the floor with laughter as he exposed the egoistic xenophobic nature of much of his audience who claim to be liberals. That one show alone has helped him to climb to 3rd place this week.

The Stephanie Miller Show is back on live, but immaterial which browser I use, after every 20 minutes the broadcast undulates and waxes and wanes like the tide, making it impossible to listen unless one gets back to the browser to reload the player. I have to keep the show off the ratings till this problem is fixed.

Thom Hartmann is way off target with his views about NAFTA, Free Trade, Globalisation and it is sad that his power of persuaion is also pushing independent Congressman Bernie Sanders into a corner in his opinions on these matters.

Ratings for the week ended 2nd April 2006:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 5 shows a week

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Laura Flanders **** 2 shows a week

Thom Hartmann **** 5 shows a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Air America Mornings (Mark Riley 0500 - 0700 and Rachel Maddow 0700 - 0900) ****

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

Guy James 5 shows a week - ****

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz** 5 shows a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

The Randi Rhodes Show hosted Randi Rhodes ** 5 shows a week

John Rothmann * 2 shows a week

Unrated this week:

The Stephanie Miller Show 5 shows a week - ** Not rated because of broadcast errors

Mike Webb ** 5 shows a week - Not rated as unable to understand his "live" timings

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

The Al Franken Show 5 shows a week - Not a Liberal talk Show but one of a comedian interested in promoting himself

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week - Not rated as he swings with the tide of his callers

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week Removed from Air America Schedule

Look forward to great week of Liberal Talk Radio, thanks to such hosts as Mike and Peter.

2006-03-27T10:00:00.000+02:00

Peter Werbe holds 1st and 2nd spot this week

Peter Werbe was hosting the Mike Malloy Show all last week. Although his style is completely different from Mike's, he managed to keep the Mike Malloy show at the top of the talk show ratings, while his own show, held its 2nd spot.

It is difficult to know whether John Rothmann is a Liberal or whether he is just posing as one. His hypothetical questions and the way he treatsd some of his callers seems to point to his roots as a Nixonian, the Republican Government in which he served. I will have to watch this show more closely, as much of what John Rothmann says is far far from the Liberal Agenda and more Zionist.

Ray Taliaferro, Bernie Ward, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio, still have great shows. Stephanie Miller was on holiday and her bubliness was not conveyed by her stand-in. Laura Flanders has a balanced show which keeps her amongst the top shows.

Randi was on TV and then she could not stop talking about her host. This is Randi at her worst as she follows the syndrome that the "last person who is nice to me is right". She kept talking about Lou Dobbs and how her 4 minutes on the show wass the greatest thing that could have happened in the universe. This performance, plus the way she overtalks on her callers, has dropped her ratings to the rock bottom, just ahead of John Rothmann.

Thom Hartmann is getting stale as he keeps repeating and repeating, but his sense of history is great. However, he still uses the micro-vision in many instances to influence his macro-views.

With all due regard, The Young Turks do not seem to have much idea as to how to run a TV programme. I wish they would stop expending such a huge amount of their funds with such boring visual TV! Stick to Radio is probably the best advice I can give them.

Al Franken is off the ratings and Sam Ceder did not help him get on them. Janeane Garofalo was probably the only person who gushed over am's performance on the Al Franken show!

Ratings for the week ended 26th March 2006:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 5 shows a week

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Laura Flanders **** 2 shows a week

Thom Hartmann **** 5 shows a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Air America Mornings (Mark Riley 0500 - 0700 and Rachel Maddow 0700 - 0900) ****

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz** 5 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show 5 shows a week - **

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

The Randi Rhodes Show hosted Randi Rhodes ** 5 shows a week

John Rothmann * 2 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Mike Webb ** 5 shows a week

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

The Al Franken Show 5 shows a week

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week - Not on air currently

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week Removed from Air America Schedule

Look forward to great week of Liberal Talk Radio, thanks to such hosts as Mike and Peter.

2006-03-20T10:00:00.000+02:00

What makes Mike Malloy the absolute No. 1

Anyone who heard Milke malloy do his Talk Show on Wednesday, where he dramatised the killing of awomen and children by the US forces, knows why he is unbeatable as a a talk show Host.

Then on Thursday he had a caller, a 14 year old girl whose father has vanished, mother is in prison for a drug offence and is being looked after by her 20 year old brother. The brother is now called up to proceed to Iraq.

If you have had heard Talk Show Hosts, you really haven't tll you have heard Mike handle a nervous, tragically affected girl. He talked her through almost three segmernts, bringing his international audience to tears at this diabolical situation.

Peter Werbe handled Miks's show on Monday and Laura Flanders on Tuesday, and both kept up the good work of keeping Mike at the top of the ratings.

Glad to note that Stephanie Miller is finally back on live on the internet.

Ratings for the week ended 19th March 2006:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Mike Malloy, Peter Werbe and Laura Flanders***** 5 shows a week

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Laura Flanders **** 2 shows a week

The Randi Rhodes Show hosted Randi Rhodes ***** 5 shows a week

Thom Hartmann **** 5 shows a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Air America Mornings (Mark Riley 0500 - 0700 and Rachel Maddow 0700 - 0900) ***

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz** 5 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show 5 shows a week - **

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

John Rothmann ** 2 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Mike Webb ** 5 shows a week

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

The Al Franken Show 5 shows a week

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week - Not on air currently

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week Removed from Air America Schedule

Peter is hosting Mike's programmes all through next week.

2006-03-12T10:00:00.000+02:00

Double positions in Ratings

With several people standing in for the same Talk Show Host, I have been forced to do double ratings for the same show. For instance, Mike Malloy on the Randi Rhodes Show pushed up that Shows Ratings, while the screaming and obsolete repetitive nature of Sam Seder, put down the show into the toilet.

Mike and Peter remain at the top of the ratings. Randi's Show hosted by Mike moved into 3rd place, while Randi's Show hosted by Sam went to the bottom of the table.

Sam wants to be in the good books of Randi, so he keeps repeating again and again that Randi is the Goddess of Talk Radio! He may think so, but not many out here do!

On his own show, Majority Report, he has kept claiming that the Right Wing talk Show Hosts keep throwing Softball Questions to their guests. When he had an opportunity to intertiew Congressman Sherrod Brown of Ohio, all I hear were softball questions from Sam - he never even asked Congressman Brown about the Paul Hackett affair!

Look at the difference between him and Mike Malloy, who explained to the audience BEFORE the interview that his interview with someone on Randi's programme was within the limits laid down by Randi's Show and not his!

Ratings for the week ended 12th March 2006:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Mike Malloy and Peter Werbe ***** 5 shows a week

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

The Randi Rhodes Show hosted by Mike Malloy ***** 5 shows a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

Air America Mornings (Mark Riley 0500 - 0700 and Rachel Maddow 0700 - 0900) ***

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Laura Flanders **** 2 shows a week

Ray Taliferro **** 5 shows a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) hosted by Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

John Rothmann ** 2 shows a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz** 5 shows a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

The Randi Rhodes Show hosted by Sam Seder * 5 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Mike Webb ** 5 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show 5 shows a week - Not Live

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

The Al Franken Show 5 shows a week

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week - Not on air currently

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week Removed from Air America Schedule

This coming week will again see Mike hosing Randi's show a couple of times while Peter will host Mike's show on Monday and Tuesday

2006-03-05T10:00:00.000+02:00

Bush's India Visit draws attention

The best quip was from Mike Malloy as he highlighted that Bush said he would enjoy eating Indian mangoes in return for opening up Nuclear Technology sales to that country!

Ratings for the week ended 5th March 2006:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Mike Malloy and Laura Flanders ***** 5 shows a week

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

The Randi Rhodes Show hosted by Randi Rhodes and Mike Malloy **** 5 shows a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

Air America Mornings (Mark Riley 0500 - 0700 and Rachel Maddow 0700 - 0900) ***

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Laura Flanders **** 2 shows a week

Ray Taliferro **** 5 shows a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

John Rothmann ** 2 shows a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz** 5 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Mike Webb ** 5 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show 5 shows a week - Not Live

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

The Al Franken Show 5 shows a week

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week - Not on air currently

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week Removed from Air America Schedule

Have a great week.

2006-03-02T19:45:00.000+02:00

Mainline: Geostrategy Feeds America's Oil Addiction

Cross-posted on all my main blogs -

Jacob's Blog
Jacob's Politics;
Seventh Heaven for Mumbai cathedralites;
Kooler Talk for Delhi Stephanians;
Oulu Chaff
Move The UN.

My topical article "Geostrategy Feeds America's Oil Addiction", which relates to the visit of Bush to India, has appeared in a major North American online journal Raise the Hammer in their fortnightly issue dated 1st March 2006.

Editor Ryan McGreal has really tidied up the article. Thanks.

What is original in this submission?

It is my long term speculations about:

1. The rationale for the attack on and occupation of Afghanistan relating to the Enron history.
2. Who most likely perpetrated the fraud of the Iranian election.
3. Why the Indian Industrial Community desperately want Bush and his malAdministration to stay in office for another 3 years!
4. Why the nuclear attack on Iran is imminent.

Many may wrinkle their foreheads in disbelief. But that is what political analysis is all about. I theorise and later people fit the facts to my theories.

Hope you enjoy it and would love to have your feedback - even if it is abusive!!

I love getting abusive email. I thrive on it as it drives me on harder to more fantasy! :-)

2006-02-27T07:49:00.000+02:00

American Ports Sales Hits Top Topic

This week the Liberal Talk Show Hosts had a field to themselves with the sale of American Ports to the U. A. E..

Most of the discussions were quite superficial with only the best of the lot hitting the subject on its real head.

Ratings for the week ended 25th February 2006:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Mike Malloy and Peter Werbe ***** 5 shows a week

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

The Randi Rhodes Show **** 5 shows a week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

Air America Mornings (Mark Riley 0500 - 0700 and Rachel Maddow 0700 - 0900) ***

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Laura Flanders **** 2 shows a week

Ray Taliferro **** 5 shows a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

John Rothmann ** 2 shows a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz** 5 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Mike Webb ** 5 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show 5 shows a week - Not Live

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

The Al Franken Show 5 shows a week

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week - Not on air currently

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week Removed from Air America Schedule

Have a great week.

2006-02-19T10:00:00.000+02:00

Go Cheney Cheney

This week the Liberal Talk Show Hosts had a field to themselves with the Cheney shooting incident in Texas.

Sadly, only a few of them made decent use of the chance of a lifetime.

If one talks about missed opportunities, this was the week.

The top two hosts did not miss a trick. But the others just prattled on without any focus.

Talk about the Democratic Party being in disarray - the majority of Liberal Talk Show Hosts appear to be even worse.

This was not the time to play around. This was the time to be deadly serious and bring the country around.

Here was the time to demand accountability not only of the Executive but also the compliant politicians, but also a sleep-walking media.

Thom Hartmann also missed a golden opportunity when he was talking to Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. Just when she had told him how she had quoted him on the House Floor and she had been struck out of order for quoting Thom, Thom went for a commercial break - and when he got back there was no Congresswoman around!

Ratings for the week ended 18th February 2006:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Mike Malloy and Peter Werbe ***** 5 shows a week

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Laura Flanders **** 2 shows a week

Ray Taliferro **** 5 shows a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

The Randi Rhodes Show **** 5 shows a week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

Air America Mornings (Mark Riley 0500 - 0700 and Rachel Maddow 0700 - 0900) ***

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

John Rothmann ** 2 shows a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz** 5 shows a week

Mike Webb ** 5 shows a week

Unrated this week:

The Stephanie Miller Show 5 shows a week - Not Live

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

The Al Franken Show 5 shows a week

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week - Not on air currently

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week Removed from Air America Schedule

Have a great week.

2006-02-12T10:00:00.000+02:00

America goes Fascist

If it was not for the Liberal Talk Shows that reach us via the internet, one would actually believe that the US is now a fascist country. All the news items emanating from there point only in that direction.

It is the solid work of these Liberal Talk Show Hosts that keep me from believing that all is not lost.

One only has to listen to reading of George Orwell's "1984" by Mike Malloy to see how close the US has gone in the direction of Fascism.

Ratings for the week ended 11th February 2006:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Mike Malloy***** 5 shows a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Laura Flanders ***** 2 shows a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

The Randi Rhodes Show ***** 5 shows a week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

Air America Mornings (Mark Riley 0500 - 0700 and Rachel Maddow 0700 - 0900) ****

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

John Rothmann *** 2 shows a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Mike Webb *** 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz 5 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe 1 show a week - No show this week

The Stephanie Miller Show 5 shows a week - Not Live

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

The Al Franken Show 5 shows a week

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week - Not on air currently

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week Removed from Air America Schedule

See you next week.

2006-02-05T10:00:00.000+02:00

Mike leaves competition far behind:

This last week was a crucial one as the Senate vote to confirm Samuel Alito as the Supreme Court Justice was to be made. The best programme was the almost 100 hour filibuster Talk Show programme run by the Young Turks with a help of a few friends. It pushed them to second place last week and they held that place this week.

Mike Malloy did his bit by reading the George Orwell Book, "1984" during his stint. I talked to Brad of the Brad Blog live on air and told him what we in the rest of the world thought of where the US was goning.

But the rage of Mike Malloy on his show the day after the vote was truly historic. It is that raw emotion that keeps him at the top of the Liberal Talk Show ratings.

As a result of the Fllibuster programme, The Young Turks moved into second place. Also, Peter Werbe is off on holiday and hence was not on air last week, and is not rated this week.

However, after the filibuster, the Young Turks have fallen back into their undulating stance and they are likely to fall back down the ratings. It is not uncommon to hear on of the hosts use the phrase "I hear you", when he wants to really say that he hears nothing except his own voice!

The Stephanie Miller Show has vanished from the online live spectrum, and emails sent to Stephanie Miller had some return with mention of change of server. But the programme seems to be still off the air. So also is the case with Lizz Brown.

It is sad that so many Lberal Talk Shows are vanishing off the International Online spectrum. America desperately needs these voices to communicate with liberals around the world, and as each show takes a dive, it really changes the image of US on the world stage.

Bernie Ward and Ray Taliaferro continue to be outstanding.

Ratings for the week ended 4th February 2006:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Mike Malloy***** 5 shows a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

Laura Flanders ***** 2 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

The Randi Rhodes Show ***** 5 shows a week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

Mike Webb *** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

Air America Mornings (Mark Riley 0500 - 0700 and Rachel Maddow 0700 - 0900) ****

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

John Rothmann *** 2 shows a week

Ed Schultz 5 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe 1 show a week - No show this week

The Stephanie Miller Show 5 shows a week - Not Live

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

The Al Franken Show 5 shows a week

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week - Not on air currently

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week Removed from Air America Schedule

See you next week.

2006-02-04T10:00:00.000+02:00

The White Rose Society:

There is one great site which does yoeman's service linking to many Liberal Talk Shows

We have to do justice by providing his banner on this blog:

Please visit The White Rose Society
to listen to Liberal Talk Radio.

This week's Liberal talk Show Ratings will appear later today. Compilation is in progress.

2006-01-30T17:00:00.000+02:00

Mike Malloy’s rage:

As America moves steadily towards fascism, the shout of the Liberal Media is getting louder and louder, but the Main Stream Media, which is controlled by the powerful corporate lobby, is shutting them out.

Mike Malloy went way ahead of the other Liberal Talk Show Hosts with his expression of his deep inner rage against what is happening in America today. His reading of George Orwell’s book "1984” is something that EVERY Liberal Talk Show Host should be doing on every show.

The Young Turks have started a massive online protest programme to block Ailto’s nomination to the Supreme Court and to ensure that every Democreat Senator gets on board to oppose the cloture vote and filibuster this in the Senate on Monday and Tuesday. This has pulled them from the bottom of these ratings to the top.

It is sad that it needs such an event to bring out the best in these three hosts, who make up the Young Turks. Otherwise we have heard them vacillating and vacillating.

Ratings for the week ended 28th January 2006:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Mike Malloy and Peter Werbe ***** 5 (# + 1 +1) shows a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a
Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

The Stephanie Miller Show **** 5 shows a week

Laura Flanders ***** 2 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

The Randi Rhodes Show ***** 5 shows a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

Mike Webb *** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

Air America Mornings (Mark Riley 0500 - 0700 and Rachel Maddow 0700 - 0900) ****

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

John Rothmann *** 2 shows a week

Ed Schultz 5 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Guy James 1 show a week - Not on air currently

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

The Al Franken Show 5 shows a week

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week Removed from Air America Schedule

Let us hope the Democrat Senators listen to their only base, the Liberal talk Show Hosts and vote according to what the Democrat grassroots are shouting trough their hosts to filibuster Sam Alito!

2006-01-21T22:00:00.000+02:00

Mike Malloy leaps far ahead:

Mike Malloy started reading from George Orwell's book "1984", a 6 minute segment everyday.

It is amazing what this Talk Show Host can do with such a simple tool as an old book. He just jumped miles ahead of other Liberal Talk Show Hosts in the ratings.

Stephanie Miller is getting good vibes from all around. Her short interview of Congressman John Conyers Jr. just a few minutes before the hearings in the basement of the House, because of the behaviour of the fascist, Republican Congressman and the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, James Sensenbeger, helped her jump up the chart.

Peter Werbe will be off the next two weeks, so do not be surprised when he does not appear on the ratings.

Lizz Brown has her technical team trying to solve why she cannot be heard live in Finland. Would love to bring her back into the ratings, but she will also have to keep her pages regularly updated to get a true rating.

Ring of Fire had some great items on last weeks programme, pushing them up the ratings.

The outrageously funny but deadly serious Ray Taliaferro really kicked both right-wingers and apologetic liberals in the backside on his shows this past week. He is one who takes no enemies and boy, was he good.

Nate Clay has been talking too much of local issues, but even so he still manages to hold his rating. He really exposes Democratic Senator Barrack Obama as an "Uncle Tom"! And Nate knows about Uncle Toms, he does.

Despite Sam Seder having a briiliant show with Louise Slaughter's scoop about day traders working with insider info out of GOP Senator's offices, the show still cannot hit the high spots because of the incoherent shouting that takes place on the programme. Louder does not make the items more sensational!

Ratings for the week ended 21st January 2006:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Mike Malloy ***** 5 (# + 1 +1) shows a week

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show **** 5 shows a week

Laura Flanders ***** 2 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

The Randi Rhodes Show ***** 5 shows a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

Mike Webb *** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

Air America Mornings (Mark Riley 0500 - 0700 and Rachel Maddow 0700 - 0900) ****

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) *** 5 shows a
John Rothmann *** 2 shows a week

Ed Schultz 5 shows a week **

Unrated this week:

Guy James 1 show a week - Not on air currently

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week Unrated - Not Live

The Al Franken Show 5 shows a week

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week Removed from Air America Schedule

Till next week.

2006-01-14T19:33:00.000+02:00

Talk Show Ratings back on track

This was the week of the Sam Alito hearings for his appointment to the Supreme Court of America. If CSpan could be included in these Talk Show Ratings, this would have been Number 1.

The Democratic Senators failed to question the nominee adequately and the Republican Senators showed that they were just part of the Bush Choir. There was hardly a single question put by the Republicans questioning the nominee on his record. The Republicans, in the main focused on tearing down the Democrat Senators who asked quetions and the liberals and the left wing - contributing nothing to finding out the good, bad and ugly side of Alito.

Most of the Liberal Talk Shows this week were directed to covering these hearings. Almost all of them did a good job, although none better than Mike Malloy who tore the Democrat Senators to pieces in a way that showed the sham of the US Senate procedures.

I had email from the Radio Station that airs Lizz (Elizabeth) Brown as she has dropped off our ratings as her show cannot be heard LIVE. We are now trying together to establish why this is so.

The same situation with the Mark Levine Show which unfortunately cannot be heard LIVE any longer, for reasons unknown. Maybe his producer would like to do some investigation so that we can hear his show LIVE once again.

Mike Malloy stays at the top without any doubt. Peter Werbe stays in second spot. There is quite a battle for the third spot as 3 ladies try to get ahead of each other - Laura Flanders, Stephanie Miller and Randi Rhodes. Randi continues to talk “over” her guests, but she has had some good guests on including James Risen, the New York Times reporter who was behind the disclosure of Bushes spying on Americans programme and the author of the book: State of War : The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration.

Bernie Ward is a very focused Host and Ray Taliaferro continues to be the most hilarious and yet the Host with about the greatest punch in this line up. John Rothmann continues his hot and cold routine.

Thom Hartmann did not have his Friday session with Independent Congressman Bernie sanders, as he had some host from Phoenix, Arizona fill in for him. This Host could not give his strange name (for us foreigners) in a decipherable fashion and did not have much to say other than tell us he was standing in for Thom Hartmann. Maybe this break will help Thom to freshen up his routine a bit, but Thom’s stand that “a little expertience is THE REAL THING” does not stand up for much scrutiny when he quotes his fleeting visits to regions and countries as his "undisputable experience”.

Mike Webb is on air again, but I am not sure exactly how he is on air. He seems to have a blend of recorded stuff on his juke box online presence, but whenever I hear him Live, he is great.

Sam Seder continues to run his show and I rarely hear his partner, Janeane. When on together the shouting match is just too much for my ears.

One excellent feature on Air America Radio is that we online listeners do not have to listen to those stupid advertisements that Americans want to listen to. But they have been totally unimaginative of what to do with the space, which should have provided Air America radio with a golden opportunity to send out powerful messages to the Liberal world. But all we hear some off-putting music which is really off-putting. What a waste of valuable air time!

Ratings for the week ended 13th January 2006:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Mike Malloy ***** 5 (# + 1 +1) shows a week

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

Laura Flanders ***** 2 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show ***** 5 shows a week

The Randi Rhodes Show **** 5 shows a week

Bernie Ward **** 4 shows a week

Ray Taliferro **** 5 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) **** 1 show a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) *** 1 show a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) *** 1 show a week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

Mike Webb *** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay *** 1 show a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

Air America Mornings (Mark Riley 0500 - 0700 and Rachel Maddow 0700 - 0900) **

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a
John Rothmann ** 2 shows a week

Ed Schultz 5 shows a week **

Unrated this week:

Guy James 1 show a week - Not on air currently

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) *** 5 shows a week - Unrated - Not Live

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) *** 4 shows a week - Unrated Not Live

The Al Franken Show 5 shows a week Not worth rating

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week Not worth rating

Wish you all very happy listening to the Liberal Talk Shows. The battle of the hosts is up and running again again - and may the best ones be at the top of these ratings!

2006-01-07T22:25:00.000+02:00

Only few shows rated this week

Like last week, this week has also been extreemely difficult to do the ratings. Many Talk Show Hosts have been on holiday. They had others fill in for them. Not quite the same.

Peter Werbe filled in for Mike Malloy for one day this week. Mike had a nasty throat. Peter did not have his own show last Sunday night / Monday morning.

Randi Rhodes was back and she had a couple of good guests. However, she has this horrible habit of talking over and for her guests, hardly giving them a chance to express their views. I do not know why she bothers to have guests on when she gives them so little time to do their talking. She does not get it that 4 hours of her non-stop talking is a bit much. She ruins the show by her "rude" behaviour. If I was her guest, I would walk off her set!

Sam Seder was on air and the show came up the ratings because of the fact that several shows were off.

Rachel Maddow has come back and goes up in the ratings. She shares the 4 hour spot in the morning with Mark Riley. They have the chance of making it big on the charts if they can keep their audience getting back to them. they have a nice international time slot.

Mike Webb is back on the air, but I do not know whether he is back on the station. He is his usual good self.

Ratings for the week ended 6th January 2006:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Mike Malloy or Peter Werbe ***** 5 (shows a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

Air America Mornings (Mark Riley 0500 - 0700 and Rachel Maddow 0700 - 0900) **** 3 shows last week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show **** 5 shows a week

The Randi Rhodes Show ***** 5 shows a week

Mike Webb *** 5 shows a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

Unrated this week:

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

Laura Flanders ***** 2 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week

The Al Franken Show 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz 5 shows a week

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

John Rothmann *** 2 shows a week Removed from rating this week for disingenuity

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week Removed from Air America Schedule

Happy listening as the Liberal Talk Shows resume their normal schedules from the coming week onwards. The battle of the hosts will begin again - and may the best ones win!

2006-01-02T17:34:00.000+02:00

No official rating chart for last week:

Ratings for the week ended 30th December 2005:

Due to many Talk Show Hosts being on holisday, there were many show cancellations, many "best of" shows, and many stand-ins with quite unknown hosts, it was not possible to make a genuine ratings chart except that Mike Malloy and Peter Werbe held top spot with the Mike Malloy Show, Peter had a recorded interview show which was good, but was not a Talk Show, and Mike Malloy brought the couple of spots he did for Randi Rhodes, take the Randi Rhodes Show into top reckoning. Tony Trupiano did some spots for Ed Schulz which were really good. Let us hope wins Tony wins his race for the Congress.

Another important development was the termination of Mike Webb on quite flimsy grounds by his station, 710 KIRO Seattle.

I sent this email to the station as my way of expressing my concern.

Dear Sir,

I was greatly disturbed to hear that you had terminated Mike Webb, one of the best Liberal Talk Show Hosts on the Air.

This is the thread at the DU Forum:

"I just talked to Mike Webb (recently fired liberal talk show host)...

In case you don't already know the story Mike was recently fired from 710 KIRO Seattle. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002708...

He is doing okay but he didn't deserve this. What ever happened to being Innocent until proven guilty in this country? Mike got into a car accident and then next thing he knows he got fired and he didn't commit any felony or any crime for that matter. This is a bogus claim, and it really looks like the SPD has a vendetta against him. And while I'm ranting about this what about Tom Delay who is still a US congressmen and Rush who admittedly was doing his show on drugs. This is insane. All this is over $5000 that he didn't even receive from the insurance company."

In the Talk Show Ratings, Mike Webb has consistently been amongst the top for over 2 years.

http://TalkShowRatings.blogspot.com

I hope that you will explain to us, his international listeners, how you made such a radical decision without any legal basis.

I feel confident other Liberal Talk Show Hosts will give your actions the correct airing.

It means we will be dropping your station OFF our ratings if Mike is taken off as it takes a long time (3 years) to get rated on this content rating system-

More fool you than me!

--
Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland
http://jmatthan.blogspot.com

I will assess the shows this week to see whether the Talk Show Ratings can be resumed from next week.

Till then, stay tuned and listening to the live Liberal Talk Show Hosts on the internet.

2005-12-25T16:39:00.000+02:00

Mike / Peter share top rating:

This week has been extremely difficult to do the ratings. Many Talk Show Hosts have been on holiday. They had others fill in for them.

Peter Werbe filled in for Mike Malloy for the first three days of the week. Mike did the Thursday Show.

Mike filled in for Randi Rhodes for Monday to Wednesday amd then we had best of Randi for the next two days.

Thom Hartmann filled in for Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder and did 9 hours of Talk Shows each day. Though I would like to compliment him on his stamina, the quality of the shows dropped. However, he did manage to raise the Majority Report in the charts.

Rachel Maddow filled in for a few days for Al Franken, putting his show on the charts, but her own show fell down the tubes.

I did write to Mike, his wife and producer Kathy Bay and their little daughter, Molly, to wish them all the best for the Season. Mike was kind enough to reply despite his gruelling schedule. So also Peter, who always keeps me up to date on his shows (see below) - and which I am sure he does with all his devoted fans.

John Rothman was particularly disingenious this week on the topic of the leader of Iran stating that it would be best if Israel was wiped of the face of the earth. I pointed out to John the actual quotation which he had given was wrong and I gave him the full context. While referring to my email on his show, he showed his Judeo roots and chose to ignore the truth and repeat his words intended to fuel hatred and anger against his target.

I had to drop John of this week’s ratings for his continued disregard of the truth.

Ed Schulz makes it into the charts, for the very first time.

Ratings for the week ended 23th December 2005:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Peter Werbe and Mike Malloy ***** 5 (3 + 1 +1) shows a week

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

The Randi Rhodes Show hosted by Mike Malloy ***** 5 (3) shows a week

Laura Flanders ***** 2 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show **** 5 shows a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

Mike Webb *** 5 shows a week

The Al Franken Show hosted by Rachel Maddow *** 5 shows a week

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) *** 4 shows a week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

The Majority Report hosted by Thom Hartmann (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) *** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

Ed Schultz ** 5 shows a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week - (No show last week)

John Rothmann 2 shows a week - Removed from ratings this week for disingenuity

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) 5 shows a week - Removed from Air America Schedule

The Rachel Maddow Show 5 shows last week

And the news from Peter:

Hi.

Good news: Although originally my Sunday evening NightCall program was cancelled for Xmas and New Year's day eves, the WRIF management decided to air this week's interviews this Sunday, Dec. 25 at 11pm Eastern.

These are two particularly interesting ones (in my humble opinion).

The first is with Pulitizer prize winning war correspondent, Peter Arnett, at 11pm and the other with my esteemed colleague, talk show host, Thom Hartmann.

I'll be talking with Arnett about the interview about his career in "Feet to the Fire: The Media After 9/11" and with Hartmann about his book, "We the People: A Call to Take Back America".

Their respective web sites are:

Arnett: http://www.newseum.org/warstories/interviews/mp3/journalists/bio.asp?ID=24 , and
Hartmann: www.thomhartmann.com.

Both these interviews will also be heard earlier Xmas day on WCSX and WMGC in Detroit with the former streaming the program.

See www.peterwerbe.com/ontheair.html for times plus repeat shows, iPod, and archive availability. There will be no show at all on Sunday, Jan. 1.

I'll be sitting in again for Mike Malloy next week, Tuesday, Dec. 27 and Thursday, Dec. 29, 10pm-1am Eastern.

Go to www.airamericaradio.com for a station in your city or listen to it on the Internet through that site.

In Detroit, the show will air on WDTW 1310 AM, but starts the show at 11pm.

Here's a selection from my web site www.peterwerbe.com that you might want to read:

http://counterpunch.org/hutchinson12202005.html

about how wiretapping is as American as apple pie; just ask J. Edgar Hoover.

Talk to you soon,

Peter

So you see why Peter remains among the top Liberal Talk Show Hosts!

2005-12-17T07:48:00.000+02:00

Rachel Maddow takes Al Franken’s Show into the charts:

Top two, Mike and Peter hold their own this week.

Rachel Maddow was really brilliant and has taken the Al Franken Show to No.3 in my ratings.

Marl Levine was ahead of the news cycle this week and has made a big jump up. Wish he was on at a more reasonable hour.

Bernie Ward has stoppped his rant about the charity and therefore makes it back among the top shows.

Sam Seder was great on his TV appearance about the War on Christmas. However, on his radio show he keeps shouting, and even at the lowest volume he comes through screaming. He is like my mother-in-law who thought that I would understand her Finnish better if she yelled it at me. Janeane Garofalo does not scream when she is on the phone - so probably that the best way she should come on this show.

Morning Sedition is in its last week and has held is name on the charts till the end. Sad to see such a good show be taken of the air.

Liz Brown was pushed off the charts with Rachel pushing Al Franken’s Show into the ratings. Her show web site has improved and is being updated, but her blogitude is still not updated. Obviously because she does not provoke a reaction from her live audience..

Ratings for the week ended 16th December 2005:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Mike Malloy ***** 5 shows a week

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

The Al Franken Show hosted by Rachel Maddow 5 shows a week

Laura Flanders ***** 2 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show **** 5 shows a week

The Randi Rhodes Show ** 5 shows a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

Mike Webb *** 5 shows a week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

John Rothmann *** 2 shows a week

The Rachel Maddow Show hosted by Isaa-Davy Aronson **** 3 shows last week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week - (No show last week)

Peter will be hosting Mike Malloy’s Show Dec. 19, 20, 21, 27 & 29. His own Show will be off the air on Dec. 25th 2005 and january 1st 2006. Mike will be hosting the Randi Rhodes Show on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Next week will be a big change as many regular shows are off the air and so you will see some new names featuring in the ratings.

2005-12-10T04:51:00.000+02:00

Mike back on top; Morning Sedition is ending:

Mike Malloy regained his top spot with no problem. The clips he plays are so topical and up-to-date, and his analysis so on target, that there is no room for anyone to challenge his top position on any grounds. He really knows to handle those apologists and right-wingers that call him, as Mike is absolutely solid in his position on ALL matters.

I just heard from Peter Werbe that he will be subbing for Mike a few times during the last two weeks of December. Peter continues to hold his own at the 2nd spot.

Soft spoken Laura Flanders still holds onto 3rd spot.

I still do not understand why Sam Seder of Majority Report has to keep yelling all the time. Janeane Garofalo checking in regularly from West Wing by phone is far more sedate and has helped to keep the show on the charts. Sam is driving the show south with his totally uncalled for theatrics. Not that Janeane is not prone to her share of yelling.

This is the last week of Morning Sedition, with Marc Maron and Mark Riley, on Air America Radio.

It appears that the top brass of Air America Radio are just like the Republican-lite in the Democratic Party. They seem to yield to the pressures. Will it be long before they take off Mike for speaking his views? They keep on such shows as Springer and Al Franken because they are big names and not based on show content. Recently, when I talked to a liberal American about Springer, the immediate association was with his outrageous TV Show and they do not expect him to be any better on the radio. Pre-judged yes, but it is not helping the Liberal agenda to drive away potential listeners with the reputation that precedes him.

Bernie Ward had Karel subbing for him, which was quite disastrous. Mike Webb had a couple of good shows last week. Randi Rhodes was on target for a couple of shows, but her continued talking over people, who have important stuff to convey, keeps her ratings from hitting top spot. Stephanie Miller and her team continue to impress, especially since they seem to be drawing more right wing callers. Their sharp humour is becoming addictive.

Ratings for the week ended 9th December 2005:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Mike Malloy ***** 5 shows a week

Nightcall hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

Laura Flanders ***** 2 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

The Rachel Maddow Show **** 5 shows a week

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show **** 5 shows a week

Mike Webb *** 5 shows a week

The Randi Rhodes Show ** 5 shows a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

John Rothmann *** 2 shows a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

The Al Franken Show, Al Franken 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week - (No show last week)

the Guy james Show will resume on 7th Januray 2006

Enjoy another week of Liberal Talk Radio on the Internet.

2005-12-03T10:05:00.000+02:00

Peter holds 1st and 2nd place:

With Mike Malloy and his wife and producer of his show, Kathy Bay, off on holiday, Mike asked Peter Werbe to host his show. Peter did an extraodrinary job and now has the unique honour of standing in both 1st and 2nd position in this week's Liberal Talk Show Hosts ratings.

Ratings for the week ended 2nd December 2005:

Mike Malloy Show hosted by Peter Werbe ***** 5 shows a week

Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

Laura Flanders ***** 2 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

The Rachel Maddow Show **** 5 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show **** 5 shows a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week

Mike Webb *** 5 shows a week

John Rothmann *** 2 shows a week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

The Randi Rhodes Show ** 5 shows a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

The Al Franken Show, Al Franken 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week - (No show last week)

You would have noticed a sharp drop in the standing of Bernie Ward. That is because he got caught in local issues which had no bearing on his international internet audience. Bernie spent a lot of time pushing his charity drive and then spent a far from balanced amount of time gloating over the fact that he had achieved his target and more. Bernie went so far as to tell some of those who complained about his over-exposure of this subject by telling his listeners that he would refund those who did not like him spending so much time talking about his achievement. One actually took him upon this challenge.

Thom Hartmann still pushes his theory about the fact that US has the right to withdraw from international treaties unilaterally, just as Bush has withdrawn from many such treaties. Thom seems to be gloating about the glory days when the US was raping the rest of the world as he sees the local manufacturing capacities vanish from the US. He blames this on treaties rather than the present indolent American psyche.

I drew his attention to a completely more reasonable position of the new German Chancellor, Merkel, who said that Germany had no reason to fear the countries with low priced labour.

By wording his discussions in a very clever, but disingenous manner, he seems to draw a lot of support for his totally unreasonable attitude. He is certainly making his international audience doubt his genuinity as a Liberal Talk Show Host with any true background in economics to support his views.

Thom's economic theory, if illogically extrapolated, would mean that he is saying that it would be best if slavery was brought back to the US!

Not much change in the remaining positions in the ratings.

2005-11-26T22:00:00.000+02:00

Politically Direct and Ecotalk move up:

Ratings for the week ended 25th November 2005:

Mike Malloy ***** 5 shows a week

Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

Laura Flanders ***** 2 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ***** 1 show a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

Ray Taliferro ***** 5 shows a week

The Rachel Maddow Show **** 5 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show **** 5 shows a week

Politically Direct (David Bender) **** 1 show a week

Ecotalk (Betsy Rosenberg) **** 1 show a week

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ***4 shows a week

Mike Webb *** 5 shows a week

John Rothmann *** 2 shows a week

Thom Hartmann *** 5 shows a week

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) *** 5 shows a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

The Randi Rhodes Show ** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay ** 1 show a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ** 5 shows a week

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ** 5 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

The Al Franken Show, Al Franken 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week - (No show last week)

This week, Ring of Fire, with hosts Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio, jumps to fourth place behind a still climbing Laura Flanders. They also have hit 5 star rating. It would be great that instead of their Saturday show being repeated on Sunday, that they had a second show as they cover interesting topics and they seem to have no shortage of them!

Both Rachel Maddow and Stephanie Miller are climbing and improving their star ratings.

Politically Direct, hosted by David Bender, is improving greatly in the ratings.

There is also a big jump for Ecotalk hosted by Betsy Rosenberg. The new time of the broadcast, 12 noon Eastern Time on Saturdays (GMT 17:00) makes it good early evening listening for us in Finland.

Thom Hartmann is still going down. I found a couple of major Talk Show Hosts agreeing with me that his absolutely stressful schedule of 6 hours a day is now taking its toll on the quality and content of his programs.

Randi Rhodes is still dropping. At this rate, despite her still continued great audience figures, she may drop off my ratings, joining Al Franken and Ed Schultz on the unrated list.

Guy James was again unable to take to the air last Saturday and, therefore, goes unrated.

Thanks for all the great emails about the rating system. I am greatly obliged for the many suggestions. I will reveal the system shortly. I do not as yet want copies of this rating system online, so only when this site is a permanent feature will I reveal the methodology used to come to my ratings.

But remember, these are purely MY ratings, not YOURS. You have every right to your opinions, just as I have the right to mine.

2005-11-24T21:50:00.000+02:00

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As the calendar is being printed and dispatched from our printer in China, please act quickly, as I will be transferring the final database to the printer for posting purposes within the next few days.

You can email your snail mail address to:

Free Calendar Request

2005-11-19T22:00:00.000+02:00

Malloy tops again; Sharp drop -Thom Hartmann:

There have been many sharp changes in this weeks ratings in the Liberal talk Shows.

Ratings for the week ended 18th November 2005:

Mike Malloy ***** 5 shows a week

Peter Werbe ***** 1 show a week

John Rothmann **** 2 shows a week

Laura Flanders ***** 2 shows a week

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) **** 1 show a week

The Rachel Maddow Show **** 5 shows a week

Bernie Ward ***** 4 shows a week

The Stephanie Miller Show *** 5 shows a week

Politically Direct *** 1 show a week

Ray Taliferro **** 5 shows a week

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) **** 4 shows a week

Mike Webb **** 5 shows a week

Thom Hartmann **** 5 shows a week

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) **** 5 shows a week

The Randi Rhodes Show *** 5 shows a week

Nate Clay *** 1 show a week

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) **** 5 shows a week

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) *** 5 shows a week

Ecotalk ** 1 show a week

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) ** 5 shows a week

Unrated this week:

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) 5 shows a week

The Al Franken Show, Al Franken 5 shows a week

Ed Schultz 5 shows a week

Guy James 1 show a week - (No show last week)

This week there is a steep drop in the rating of Thom Hartmann. Thom also loses a star.

Thom is getting careless, probably due to overwork and stress. Despite his many commitments to writing and research, he is also trying to keep 6 hours of Talk Radio going on every weekday. This week he allowed a guest to speak absolute and utter rubbish about the situation in Kashmir. If it had not been for a caller, an educated and responsible one from the other side of the spectrum, a total lie would have been let slip by Thom.

That is unforgivable by any Talk Show host.

On Friday he spent two hours on his "scoop" by having his co-author on the show to promote the conspiracy theory about the assassination of John F. Kennedy which is contained in their new 900 page book. Hardly a scoop for an international audience that listens to the show, maybe for the fringe groups whom Thom has continuously stopped expressing their views on his show.

John Rothmann was especially strong this week in his anger about the way the Republicans have been attacking John Murtha, the Democrat who came out strongly and adopted my position of withdrawing the coalition forces from Iraq immediately.

John concentrated on the issues rather than get diverted by side shows as criticizing other people. He gained a star.

Politically Direct had a great show last week and made it into the ratings. The show gained 2 stars. Ecotalk also makes it to the chart this week and also gains a star.

Guy James was unable to take to the air last Saturday and therefore goes unrated.

Randi Rhodes is dropping as she tends to love everyone who appears on her show, despite her stand against them on many issues. She behaves almost like a gutless gushing sycophant in many instances. If she continues in this vein, despite her audience figures, she may drop off the ratings, very much like Al Franken and Ed Schultz.

2005-11-12T15:00:00.000+02:00

Mike Malloy Loses Top Spot:

Yesterday, Thursday evening in San Francisco, Friday morning in Oulu, was a unique day in the arena of Talk Radio.

KGO, the station broadcasting from north to south in California, held a special KGO All Stars live debate where both liberal and conservative Talk Show Hosts that appear regularly on KGO went against each other.

Participants of the KGO All Stars Broadcast on 10th November 2005

It was one of the finest programmes that I have heard in a long while, full of emotion and issues, egged on by a diverse yet partisan audience, as the hosts tackled local and international issues.

The Liberal Talk Show Hosts, led by an absolutely superb Bernie Ward and emotional Ray Taliaferro, came out completely on top, despite the disingenuous effort by Dr. Bill Wattenburg to deflect the discussions away from the issues by using his standard technique of focusing on the messenger rather than the message. Karel, with his sniping, was not much appreciated but made the best interjection of the evening. When Bernie was talking about torture being illegal in the US and how it was being carried out in the 8 East European countries along with the rendition of prisoners, Karel quipped "That is why we outsource it!"

Dr. Wattenburg's argument about the war was that Kerry spoke and voted for the war, so that meant that Bush was not the one to be judged in carrying out this terrible death and destruction! He even made many ridiculous and false statements, such as that France vetoed the proposed invasion of Iraq! His suggestion for getting an exit strategy was even more outrageous as he said that it would be up to the Opposition to make a suggestion to the pResident as to the exit strategy!

Is the pResident so bankrupt of brainpower and the Republican party in control of both the House and the Senate so stupid that they cannot work out their own exit strategy which is good for America as a country? They are the ones who got America into this mess so they should make the effort to get them out of it. If not, they should hand over power to the Opposition to solve this mess.

In the light of this performance, this week's top rated Talk Show is this one-off KGO All Stars.

From the feedback, which could be heard immediately after the show, when John Rothmann was standing in for Bernie, this event may now become a quarterly or half-yearly event. In this instance, it was held after a period of 4 years.

Mike Malloy holds 2nd spot this week. Peter Werbe holds on to 3rd spot. Even though Thom Hartmann's Friday guest, Independent Congressman Bernie Sanders was exceptionally good this week, and the reports from White House correspondents on Thom's programme were interesting and first hand, Thom has dropped two places behind Peter to 4th.

Now that Bernie Ward is back on the online air, he has moved up sharply to 5th place. Guy James had a time mix up which meant several listeners did not hear his new programme from the new radio station. Guy is introducing a new call-in function. Although I called in, this did not work as yet. Let us hope we can try it out tomorrow night, as this could lead to a sharp improvement in Guy's present rating of 6th.

Ray Taliaferro jumps back up 7th place. Laura Flanders holds 8th place. Mark Levine's interview of Joe Wilson helped him jump to 9th spot. Mike Webb dropped down to 10th.
'
As can be seen from the above, the battle for each place seems to be really hotting up. This applies for spots from 11th to 20th as well.

Ring of Fire (11th), Morning Sedition (12th) and The Rachel Maddow Show (13th) are standard and good programmes. They out-rate the two popular and lively ladies, Randi Rhodes (14th) and Stephanie Miller (15th). Though good, these shows tend to be superficial and largely egoistic. Nate Clay has moved down to 16th position.

The chopping and changing of hosts in The Majority Report has led to its going down to 17th. There was a short interview of Janeane Garofalo on the Randi Rhodes Show where she did not appear on time and had to leave early. That did not help her own programme rating. Lizz Brown, who is still struggling to get her programme live on-air on the internet, is in 18th place. John Rothmann is now at the 19th spot. He raised some good questions during last week which evoked quite lively listener comment. The unpredictable Young Turks occupy the 20th spot this week.

If you want me to investigate and rate any more shows, please send me complete details for online listening, for my further perusal. Please email the names of the hosts and the times they are available on the internet for me to check them out.

Ratings for the week ended 11th November 2005:

KGO All Stars Show *****

Mike Malloy *****

Peter Werbe *****

Thom Hartmann *****

Bernie Ward *****

Guy James *****

Ray Taliferro ****

Laura Flanders *****

Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ****

Mike Webb ****

Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) ****

Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) ****

The Rachel Maddow Show ****

The Randi Rhodes Show ***

The Stephanie Miller Show ***

Nate Clay ***

The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ****

Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ***

John Rothmann ***

The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) **

Unrated this week:

Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) *
Politically Direct *
Ecotalk *
The Al Franken Show, Al Franken
Ed Schultz

I am sure that all the Talk Show Hosts are now be competing for top spot in what is becoming the best and only independent rating system on the internet for Online Liberal Talk Shows. The methodology which I use will become evident as I write my short analysis of each of these Talk Show Hosts over the next few weeks.

2005-11-11T17:15:00.000+02:00

KGO All Stars - Great Show:

(John Rothmann, in the KGO show after the All Star Show, read part of my email to him! He read what I emailed him that this was probably the best 2 hours of radio that I had heard in a long long time.)

This was not Liberal Talk Show, but the major Talk Show Hosts, including some Liberal Talk Show Hosts, who broadcast on KGO, had a real live debate between tonight, called the KGO All Stars Show.

I hope this is archived somewhere.

This show may go right to the top of the ratings for this week.

It was an absolutely great to and fro, moderated by Ed Baxter.

It was indeed an outstanding performance by Bernie Ward, Ray Taliaferro and Karrel on the liberal side. They won every arguement as the right had to resort to diversionary tactics.

This is not to say that the others - Pete Wilson, Gene Burns and Dr. Bill Wattenburg - did not get their say, but those on the right were just without any solid ground to stand on.

The most dangerous Talk Show Host on the Right is Dr. Bill Wattenburg, as he is a brilliant individual who knows how to twist the facts to get his point across - never answering the real questions that are posed to him. This was not much different today.

I do listen to Wattenburg as he "blinds" his audience with "science" to get them into the mindset to twist them around his little finger. He throws in his political philosophy most suttly and his listeners follow like sheep.

Wattenburg is one of the most dangerous men on the radio, substantially more dangerous than the idiotic people as Bill O'Rielly, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, who everyone knows are just straightout liars.

2005-11-11T01:30:00.000+02:00

With Bush tanking:

Clear Channel is starting to bet on Liberal Talk Show hosts.

This is their line up at Detroits Progressive Talk radio at am 1310 wdwv

Streaming Shows (Times shown must be EST which is in Detroit, Michigan which is -5 hours to GMT)

5am-6am Rachel Maddow
6am-9am Nancy Skinner AM
9am-12pm Jerry Springer
12pm-3pm Al Franken
3pm-6pm Ed Schultz
11pm-1am Mike Malloy
1am-6am Air America

However, there appears to be a problem with streaming.

I have emailed their streaming software company, Eonstreams, which is based in Knoxville, Tennessee, that their streaming does not work on my computer using the latest Netscape 7.2 and the most up-to-date Mac OS X software.

Doing my own research, after installing a Windows Media Player Plugin, the stream is now working. It is near to hear Nancy on line.

Rachel Maddow, Jerry Springer and Mike Malloy (No. 1) presently feature in my Liberal Talk Show ratings.

2005-11-10T03:30:00.000+02:00

Radio and me:

My love of radio started when I was a small boy living in India.

I used to love to listen to cricket broadcasts from around the world, Australia playing England for the Ashes, either in England or Australia, India against the touring English side, which was called the M.C.C, and of course, the performances of the West Indian superstars, especially the three W’s, Walcott, Weekes and Worrell, who later became Sir Clyde Walcott, Sir Everton Weekes and Sir Frank Worrell, as well as the great rivalry between India and Pakistan with such great names as Mushtaq Ahmed, Vijay Hazare, Ghulam Ahmed., rolling off my tongue

Politics never entered the equation of my listening experience.

My listening of cricket was so intense that my late grandfather, K. C. Mammen Mappillai, who laid the foundation of the Malayala Manorama newspaper to become the largest circulating one in India (presently over a million copies daily), encouraged me to write a summary of cricket test matches that I listened to on the radio for printing in the newspaper, when I was less than 10 years old. He even paid me for my efforts.

Seeing my very first article published in the Malayala Manorama, receiving the appreciative comments from my mom and dad, raised me to revere the field of journalism. It was not just reading and listening that drove me on, but the thought that I could use that knowledge gained to communicate to literally thousands of unknown individuals who also wanted to know, fired me beyond my wildest dreams.

After that phase I moved into the more sedate music phase. I listened to American and British pop and jazz music as played by the most popular Radio Station at that time in India, Radio Ceylon, as it was known then. Even the school going was set against the time checks provided by that station.

After the music phase, I entered the BBC Comedy phase where I greatly enjoyed the comedy that was heard over the radio, such as "The Goon Show" with Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe. Also the superb programmes by Gilbert Harding as the "Round Britain Quiz", "The Brains Trust", and "Twenty Questions" attracted me greatly.

All through the early years, the old valve radio set was the main means to receive these Short Wave broadcasts. There were very few programmes on Medium Wave as the Indian Radio network, known as All India Radio, was just getting its legs.

I got my first transistor set when I set off to Delhi University where I was to live in the college hostel. My mom knew I was a radio addict and she knew it would keep me glued to my study table if I had this constant companion. One of the very best presents I ever received.

There, I had to listen through headphones, as it was not allowed to use a radio in our college hostel rooms.

My interest in news got a boost when the Chinese attacked India on October 20, 1962. Many of my friends were glued to my radio set to hear what evil had befallen our troops, especially as we had fathers of many of our college friends in the army. The student in the room very next to mine, had his father, a Brigadier, who was captured by the Chinese.

We listened to news from stations outside of India to get accurate news of what was happening as the Indian News was being filtered. The idea was supposedly not to demoralise the population!

That was my first taste of the censorship practiced by a country at war. I hoped that it would just go away, as I got the feeling that freedom of news and the truth was far more important for a national whose country is at war. Propaganda may sound nice, but when one knows the spin is totally against the grains of truth, then one gets worried as to what else is being spun.

Those days we were able to pick up BBC World Service as well as Voice of America. From these we were able to glean more accurate news than delivered to us by our Indian News Service and even the local newspapers.

I carried the same radio set with me to England in 1963. The same set entered me into a new phase of listening - as the Medium Wave channel in England, quite bankrupt in India, was filled with programs, news, discussions and music.

Late evening was spent listening to Radio Luxembourg, which was the top station for the latest pop music, till pirate radio stations off the coast of England, like Radio Caroline, came on stream. BBC dominated the news scene with a series of stations. I even got used to listening to a couple of series, such as the Archers, although British Comedy still remained my staple diet. All four of us who shared the flat would gather around to listen to some of the great shows of that time, as "Round the Horne" with Kenneth Horne, Hugh Paddick, Kenneth Williams, Betty Marsden and Douglas Smith. "Steptoe and Son" with Wilfrid Brambell as Albert Steptoe and Harry H Corbett as Harold Steptoe was also a favourite.

Right through till 1984, this Short Wave and Medium Wave experience was sufficient for my diet.

My wife, Annikki, also became a radio fan as she carried out her housewifely duties and she also tried to listen to very weak signals of the Finnish Broadcasting Station when we were living in India.

When we came to Finland, I bought a second hand radio cum 4” screen black and white television. Besides entering into the world of miniature TV screens, I got interested into the world of FM, as the broadcast was crystal clear. However, this was in the Finnish language, which I did not understand too well in those days, so BBC on Short Wave remained my staple diet.

When travelling to India on vacation, I bought the best digital radio set that was available at that time, from Dubai, which greatly enhanced my Short Wave listening experience.

This digital set replöaced an absolutely superb Russian radio that I had obtained in Finland.

With the advent of a desktop computer in our home for the first time in 2000, the Short Wave radio was replaced by listening to the CDs I could play on this device. Since I was getting live news on the internet through various web pages, my interest in the traditional radio became less and less.

Then came the anger at Bush and his policies in the run up to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. I was desperate to get information and give information about the anger that I felt against the injustices of the Bush regime.

Then, in iTunes, I discovered the world of Internet radio and RadioPower.org, which was carrying broadcasts of Liberal Talk Show Hosts, Mike Malloy and Peter Werbe, who were broadcasting on the now defunct ieamericaradio.org. Thom Hartmann came onto the scene as he stood in for one of these hosts, and I got hooked on him.

My anger at the US and Americans was dissipated very quickly as I suddenly realised that there was a whole army of people in the US who shared my beliefs. From that time onwards, Liberal Talk Radio from the US became the godsend that I had been looking for.

With the advent of broadband connection and with the Mac computer becoming more universal in the types of programmes it could run, such as RealPlayer and Windows Media Player, other than just iTunes and Quicktime, this has been an exploding experience.

When Peter got fired by ieamericaradio, I must have been the only non-US citizen in a far-way land who wrote a stinger to the radio station!

The closure of ieamericaradio.org was great depressing moment of my life as Mike (and Peter a few weeks ewarlier) had departed from my life. I lobbied Air America to get Mike back on the air.

Then came Guy James, several KGO liberal talk show hosts, Mike Webb and Air America radio into my life - and things have looked bright since.

What you will see written in subsequent blog entries is my post-2000 experience as I discovered several great Liberal Talk Show Hosts.

I also discovered many right wing Talk Show Hosts.

It became easy to distinguish between the two. The right wing hosts focused on very local sources and local issues, which obviously got them huge local audiences, but they missed the global picture.

This took me back to my life in India, where the censorship of issues was being played out, and I could read the distortion from that side of the fence with no problem at all.

It is not to say I did not find a few on the left of the spectrum who also distorted the truth, but these got thrown in the garbage heap very quickly, just as the right wing hosts.

I listen almost constantly, when I am computing, to the Liberal Talk Show hosts. Thanks to the absolutely dedicated service of people like Ben Burch, who archives many Liberal Talk Shows on his site, The White Rose Society, and Shelby LaPre, who runs the RadioPower.org stream in iTunes, this has been a point in my life that I could contribute to the debate in my own small way.

I will be telling you some of this in later postings as I continue in my endeavour to rate Liberal Talk Show Hosts for those interested in knowing which shows to listen to on their computers.

2005-11-06T10:30:00.000+02:00

Liberal Talk Show Ratings:

There is presently no web site or blog that actually rates Talk Shows based on the overall content, presentation, or any important criteria that listeners would like to know to decide which Talk Show to listen to.

The objective of this site is to rate various Liberal American Talk Shows so that you, as a listener, can decide which Talk Show to listen to.

Presently, I only intend to cover US Liberal Talk Shows in the English Language that can be heard either live, are rebroadcast on the internet or are podcast on the internet. Live and rebroadcasts could be directly from the radio station or rebroadcast by such wonderful sites as RadioPower.org Network or archived by the most outstanding site of all The White Rose Society.

Talk Shows from the Right Wing are just a load of bull, regurgitating Talking Points issued by the Republican National Party. The Right Wing Talk Shows may have a huge listener base, but that is purely because of how their shows are marketed by a compliant mass media. I do not subscribe to rating these Talk Shows.

The ratings that I make are completely different from what you get from Arbitron. Arbitron is the only organisation which actually does listener surveys to arrive at ratings of listener habits.

My ratings have nothing to do with listener habits. My ratings are to do wth the shows themselves.

The Talk Show hosts must be truthful. They must be online, either live, rebroadcast or podcast for listening on the internet. The ratings reflect the quality of the host or hosts, the quality of the listeners, the quality of how the host handles his callers, both pro and anti, the competence of the host, the sources that the host uses, the playbacks used, the quality of the music played, and almost everything that makes a Talk Show worth listening to. The passion of the Talk Show host plays only a small small part in arriving at the ratings.

But that is not all that I use to arrive at the ratings. I look at the formats used to relay the show on the internet. If the shows can be heard by all the different computer operating technologies and formats, it certainly helps to push up the ratings (eg. Quicktime, RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, mp3, Mac, Linux, Windows, etc.).

Additionally, I study the web pages of the show, whether there is an active discussion forum, whether the show has an active blog, whether the show or host has a moderated or unmoderated discussion group. Another important aspect is whether the callers are screened or not.

I also evaluate the quality of the technology used for handling callers, especially those from non-US locations. The news that Guy James intends to use Gizmo Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in this week's show, and if it is successful, would dramtically influence his ratings, already high on the list.

The hours at which shows are braodcast does make quite a marked impact on the ratings. Also, whether the show is once, twice, three or five times a week does make a difference on the ratings, but is not crucial. The reason is that the content becomes quite critical for its usefulness to the listener. To hear stale news on a Talk Show degrades the rating quite markedly. Hence, some Talk Shows, even though only once a week, are truly outstanding to get very high ratings. Peter Werbe and The Guy James Show are examples of this type of once a week show, although their formats are completely different.

It is sometimes sad when top rated shows clash - as is the case on Saturday nights with The Guy James Show clashing with another outstanding show, The Laura Flanders Show.

Many Talk Show hosts tend to concentrate on local issues rather than national or international issues. This also affects the ratings, as local, national and international audiences may have quite different expectations. But then it is up to the Talk Show host to make his subject universally interesting. Mike Webb did an outstanding job when he was covering the 2004 race for the Washington State Governor.

Some Talk Show hosts use guests, some use opponents to debate issues, while some only concentrate on callers. This materially does not matter, except that it must keep my interest, as an international listener. If it does, the rating goes up.

I also watch the callers that call in. If the same callers come on day after day or week after week, this pushes the ratings down considerably.

It can be seen that several callers seem to dominate on all the major Talk Shows, so I cannot penalise the Talk Show because of this. However, if they tend to use the same callers week after week, it really means that their show is not prompting the larger audience to call in.

The ratings may vary quite sharply on a weekly basis as they proceed as there is quite heavy competition between these Talk Show hosts.

I am in quite detailed correspondence with several of them, especially those who like to know why their shows are rated above or below someone else.

Remember, there are two types of ratings which I give - the actual position (1 to 20) in the table as well as the show quality rating based on the 5-star principle.

Most of these Talk Show hosts have been on first name terms with me for many years. That in no way determines the ratings that I give them. They have to fight for their positions in my table as I know that if I do not like their broadcast, they will drop position or get a low star rating, or even go totally off the list.

I am sure that my views are being listened to, as corrective steps are seen to being taken by Radio Stations when they find their ratings drop on my scale.

Your feedback, however, would be most welcome. Also, Talk Show hosts who feel I could also include them in my study should contact me.

Here were my ratings for the week ending 4th November 2005.

1. Mike Malloy *****
2. Thom Hartmann *****
3. Peter Werbe *****
4. Guy James *****
5. Laura Flanders *****
6. Ring of Fire (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio) *****
7. Morning Sedition (Marc Maron, Mark Riley) ****
8. The Rachel Maddow Show ****
9. Mike Webb ***
10. The Randi Rhodes Show ***
11. The Stephanie Miller Show ***
12. Nate Clay ***
13. The Majority Report (Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder) ****
14. The Young Turks (Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Jill Pike) **
15. Springer on the Radio (Jerry Springer) *
16. Revolution in the Air (Lizz Brown) ***
17. Radio Inside Scoop (Mark Levine) ****
18. Bernie Ward *****
19. Ray Taliferro ****
20. John Rothmann ***

The Bernie Ward, Ray Taliaferro and John Rothmann streams were now off the internet when these ratings were done. Possibly, because of my ratings, KGO has rapidly got them back on stream on the internet. Their station, KGO, had not replied to my several emails. Hence they are at the bottom of my top 20 ratings, but their value is much much greater than that. Next week will show them in the correct spots.

Also, Mark Levine moved his time slot so as to make him drop low, as I am a listener who rates shows only on the live content. I do listen to Mark who is archived at White Rose Society. Similarly Lizz Brown is not live, despite my many emails to her station, but she too is archived on White Rose Society.

KGO has removed Bernie from the White Rose Society archives, which could impact the ratings considerably, as Bernie has a competitor in Mike Webb from Seattle, Washington, who is also exceptionally good.

Politically Direct and Ecotalk are not included in the above list, but whenever I have had a chance to listen to them, they have been very good programmes.

Tony Trupiano was high on the list but because of his decision to go active in politics, his show is now off the air and my list.

Probably the worst programme on air today is The Al Franken Show, Al Franken, as he is a egoistic comedy routine. I find it difficult to understand how he is kept on Prime Time and that he is given so many repeat slots!!

But then, as he is hopefully planning his Senate run, he could be quietly moved off off the air without losing his support, which I do understand Air America Radio depends on for political expediency. After his co-host has gone his show has gone from worst (unrated) to even more worst (totally ignored).

I also find it difficult to listen for any length of time to the otherwise top-rated Liberal Talk Show host, Ed Schultz, so he is not presently on my list.

I hope you enjoy my efforts, and do Comment on the page if you want to tell me something specific.