Just weeks after nixing an agreement literally at the last minute in what seemed to be a fit of ire over one of his broadcasts critical of a rehearsed encounter between President George W. Bush and some members of the military, Armed Forces Radio has said it will in fact carry progressive talker Ed Schultz’s increasingly popular radio talk show after all.
The news arrived here in the form of an email from Schultz producer James Holm and Schultz announced it on his program. The progressive talker — whose show was purchased some months ago by two high-powered broadcast executives instrumental in the success of Rush Limbaugh and Clear Channel Communications — thanked his listeners for their massive letter and email campaigns to their elected officials clamoring for the Pentagon to stick by the agreement in a letter The Ed Schultz Show received some months ago giving the green-light to the program as a countervailing voice to conservative talkers such as Rush Limbaugh and James Dobson.
On his show Schultz said there was only one sticking point in the effort to get him on Armed Forces Radio: Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman responded to people contacting his office by basically dissing Schultz’s show, saying it didn’t meet the requirements.
Perhaps Coleman needs to re-read the requirements — which Rush and Dobson’s show seemed to somehow meet to stay on the air.
This is NOT an issue about liberals and conservatives.
Limbaugh’s show got on the military outlet after first meeting resistance from the Pentagon during the administration of Bill Clinton. Rush fans clamored for him to get on — as a different perspective.
Fast forward to 2000. George Bush is in power. And Limbaugh is, as usual, spending his three hours blasting Democrats, Liberals and Hillary Clinton and largely defending and promoting the ideas of the establishment.
At that point there was NO COUNTERVAILING VOICE — and Limbaugh essentially became an extension of the official line.
Once Schultz’ show’s debut was yanked due to what seemed like patently political (and, if theories are correct, perhaps petty) reasons, it was as if the official line was that only Limbaugh and Dobson were qualified. The reason: Schultz has the fastest-growing progressive talk show in the country, all the attention Air America gets notwithstanding. If HE didn’t qualify, who would (perhaps a progressive such as Michael Savage)?
This decision is a welcome one: it shows that free speech and a supermarket of ideas are alive on Armed Forces Radio.
Our prediction: Schultz is going to skyrocket in future years. His program varies in tone, he has a sense of humor, and he often irks people on the left as well as the right. It seems to have a different tone and pace than most talk shows on the right or left — and he’s bound to recruit more “Edheads” as people in the military get to listen to his show, even if they disagree with him.
READ OUR PREVIOUS POSTS chain linked below especially our exclusive, extensive Q&A interview with Schultz. This was done before he was bumped from his debut and we slightly revised it. Schultz did not mince words.
If you click on All Related Posts it’ll give you a chronology, starting from the controversy over the military media event, to our interview with Schultz to the efforts to get Armed Forces Radio to honor their original agreement with him.
UPDATE: Of course there IS one possible hitch. Now that Armed Forces Radio has given its green light to The Ed Schultz Show as an alternative voice, bases have to make airtime for it. Could we reach a point where the bases somehow don’t give it airtime so that the show is officially authorized but doesn’t actually get on the air (and, of course, that would be strictly coincidental….)? Under Armed Forces Radio regulations they’re supposed to offer more than one perspective.
We will keep you posted on how the show fares in terms of airtime (on stations that already air Rush and Dobson).
UPDATE II: Make sure you read the comments under this post. A reader says Coleman did NOT “diss” Schultz and that we were wrong. Also, he suggests that Schultz will never be broadcast on Armed Forces Radio. But don’t take our word, read his comments yourself (and our response to it).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.