In light of some other bloggers recent comments I felt the need to throw in my own.

Progressive Radio seems to be in another state of flux as a result of the whole Randi Rhodes situation. Here in the New York area, we have always had at least one alternative voice to counter the spin and disinformation of the M$M. For many years, the main choice was Pacifica Radio’s WBAI which always had an eclectic mix of programs to tune in. But, in recent years, the station has been a victim of factions and in-fighting with staff turnover that has turned the station into an un-listenable mess of amateur programming and hacks who are on the air because they are friends with current Program Director Bernard White. Except for Democracy Now! and a handful of smaller shows, I can’t listen to it anymore.

Fortunately, on March 31, 1994, Air America came on the air.


We in the New York area had received the network from day one through first WLIB and then later WWRL. I also ended up purchasing satellite radio so that I could listen to the programming of Air America and other progressive talk shows when I was outside of the New York area. Recent programming changes at Air America and at WWRL have created conditions where I lost the ability to listen to certain shows without being tied to the computer. It was one thing when I needed the internet to listen to Steph, but now like some other people I have to be tied to the computer to hear hours 2 and 3 of Thom or Randi Rhodes live and how many people can do that if they need to get other activities done. The convenience of being able to listen to these shows in my car or on a regular radio helped me quite a bit. So, you can compare the choices, here are the weekday schedules for WWRL, “Air America” XM 167 and Sirius Left-Sirius 146.

WWRL;
6-9 AM Local morning show (whose description disappeared from the web site)
9-11 AM Infomercials (who listens to Infomercials on the radio anyway?)
11AM-Noon Dr. Ron Daniels
Noon-3 PM Ed Schultz
3-6 PM Air America Afternoons (apparently WWRL’s new deal with Air America locks them into carrying the network at that time so no Randi).
6-8 PM Rachel Maddow
8-10 PM Al Sharpton (delayed broadcast)
10 PM-1 AM Alan Colmes

XM 167:
6-9 AM Bill Press (AAR no longer provides programming for this time slot)
9 AM-Noon Lionel
Noon-3 PM Ed Schultz (Exclusivity apparently doesn’t require them to carry the network full-time as is)
3-6 PM Air America Afternoons (no word on whether XM will bring back Randi any time soon)
6-8 PM Rachel Maddow
8-10 PM Thom Hartmann (first two hours delayed)
10 PM-Midnight Mike Malloy (hours 1 and 2 on slight delay)
Midnight-2 AM Clout (delayed)
2-4 AM Jon Elliot (hours 1 and 2 delayed)
4-6 AM Thom Hartmann repeat

Sirius 146:
6-9 AM Bill Press
9 AM-Noon Alex Bennett (in-house)
Noon-1 PM Thom Hartmann (first hour only)
1-3 PM Lynn Samuels (in-house)
3-5 PM Ed Schultz (hours 1 and 2)
5-8 PM Make It Plain with Mark Thompson (in-house)
8-9 PM Stephanie Miller (hour 3 only)
9 PM-Midnight Mike Malloy
Midnight-3 AM Thom Hartmann (all 3 hours)
3-5 AM Lynn Samuels repeat

So what are your options or are you stuck in front of the computer all day? Feel free to discuss.