"The 6th Annual AM1090 Forum" (with audio and video)

AM1090 with audio and video:

Click Here For Pictures, Audio And Video!

The 6th Annual AM1090 Forum “Progressive Values: Protecting The Social Safety Net” brings the biggest nationally syndicated progressive talk radio hosts together on one stage to discuss the major political and public policy issues facing our country and what we as citizens must do to put our nation on a path toward progress and prosperity.

With federal budget woes and the ever growing corporate influence on politics and policy, the very fabric of our American way of life is wearing thin. Join us as we discuss the essence of Progressive thought; the need to fight back against attacks on Social Security and Medicare; against the erosion of our country’s manufacturing base and the outsourcing of American jobs; against the war on the middle class; and why bigger and bolder government action may be the only hope to fix the mounting problems we face today.

This year’s lineup includes US Representative Dennis Kucinich, Stephanie Miller, Mike Papantonio, Norman Goldman, Randi Rhodes, Mike Malloy, and special guest Ron Reagan. Questions from the audience will guide the discussion, moderated by former Seattle Times Chief Political Reporter David Postman.

Howie P.S.: Parts 1-9 on YouTube here. If you want the short course, go to Parts 8-9 where the panelists present their summary statements.

Fifth Annual Seattle Progressive Talk AM1090 Forum (with video and audio)

KPTK with video (60:00)and audio:

Thanks again to our Moderator David Postman and Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, Norman Goldman, Randi Rhodes, Mike Malloy, special guest Ron Reagan, and to the many fans of AM 1090 for attending.

Howie P.S.: The most interesting comments for me came near the end as the talkers discussed their feelings about Obama's first 19 months in office.

"Will KPTK step up to radio reality?"

Michael Hood (BlatherWatch):

Seattle liberal-interest money groups have long talked up the possibility of buying a radio station to counter the overwhelmingly conservative news talk stations in a market that's overwhelmingly liberal.

That's probably not a good idea, since it's been proven many times that radio should be left to radio professionals...Oh wait, that's right, a generation of professionals put radio where it is today: in the shit.

KVI, KTTH, and KKOL have always been rock-ribbed conservative; while KIRO had a few progressives. That's over. There are no liberals there any more- Dave Ross (m-f, 9a-12p) comes close: he's a left-leaning moderate in the old Dan Evans mode. They recently added the right-wing, but live & local Frank Shiers, (7-11p) and a forgettable religious right-winger on the late night (11p-1a) whose show they don't even bother to mention on their website.

(We hear the studiously inane Ron & Don Show. KIROFM m-f, 3-7p) are in the sights of Bonneville programmers: they're hoping to inject some news-meat into the troubled show. Can the Curly & Moe of drivetime pull off pith? We doubt it).

No matter what former King of Seattle Talk Radio Dori Monson claims, KIROFM's PPM numbers haven't budged: they're still number 20 in the market. Even their own right-wing talker, KTTH, boosted by Limbaugh and Beck still pulls better numbers in the rankings- it's still 19th.

(Fun, but sad, fact: KKOL's Mike Siegel moved from morning drive to evening drive (!) and nobody knew. How the mighty has fallen- Siegel once owned Seattle talk. KKOL is so unlistened-to, it's not on any rating list).

Music rules now, but KOMO showed well again, and public radio news talker KUOW gained impressively in the new book, again proving that listeners in Seattle can handle smart radio that doesn't yell at you. It's a market whose audience could be wider than the over-50 white males talk radio has been catering to since its inception. You know, like women, fr'instance?

It's counterintuitive that a liberal talk station wouldn't work here. But we'd posit: it's never really been tried. KPTK, the CBS-owned progressive station has ventured very little into the station. It's run by robots who beep down cheap, syndicated shows from the satellites. CBS is loving their kicking-ass music stations (KMPS, KJAQ, KZOK) and have laid-off almost everybody at AM1090.

It's got a great line-up of the best progressive talkers: Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, Ed Schultz, Ron Reagan, Randi Rhodes... but obviously, that's not enough. There's nothing giving the station a local connection; nothing to make listeners loyal to AM1090.

(We dream of talk star David Goldstein (KPTK m-f, 3-6p) doing a live remote from Les Schwab in Lynnwood, and taking the payola in frozen meat).

We know that running a station as a no-risk, low-overhead, low-profit money generator has been in vogue, but we gotta ask: how's that been working for you?

By our lights, not well. KPTK is scraping the basement with numbers even lower than KVI's, even.OK, we know that radio in general is still swan diving after going lower in revenues than anyone thought possible. It's also true that KIRO, with all its local jocks, is in the shit-can too.

You'd think KPTK would have little to lose.

We're just listeners around here, we couldn't possibly know as much as the suits who have done this to radio, but isn't it time to try something different?

KPTK: Peace Marches and Protest Actions (audio)

Lee Callahan (KPTK's "Community Matters"--audio):

Logan Price of Seattle's Progressive Action group, The Backbone Campaign, is in St. Paul at the RNC this week. Hear his great story and insight.

Howie P.S.: Price talks about the large peaceful demonstrations you didn't hear about in the corporate media, the "attitude" of law enforcement and his overall observations of the scene there.

AM1090s "We The People" the 2008 Town Hall Forum (audio and video)

AM1090:

Check Out The Audio And Video Podcasts Of The Event.