I was busy yesterday morning enjoying the sunny day before the rainstorms hit (they're here now - so the hillsides that burned last October will now wash away), so I didn't check my email. This morning I did, and I got an email from Stacy Taylor, a local radio talk show host who was the former morning drive personality on KLSD, the now-defunct Air America affiliate. Stacy is back on air on 1700 AM from 4-7. So, maybe progressive radio is back - well maybe.
Here's the link to the station. You can look at the lineup yourself and skip the rest of this diary if you want. Otherwise, read on.
Since KLSD went off the air, I went through several stages of grief. For the first couple of weeks I went through LSD withdrawal, but I slowly drifted back to listening to NPR. I also began tuning into Air America online. I have to say that KPBS our local NPR affiliate continues to present vapid local programming that feigns "balance" even though we all know that the news-comment programming is clearly being manipulated by the San Diego (anti)Union-Tribune editorial staff. The NPR stuff is pretty good, though.
Now Stacy is back, and I guess it will be good. However, Stacy has never been the most progressive of radio personalities (he says he's an independent), and he has tended to blow with the wind a little. Still, with the exception of Jon Eliott, who does Air America at night (and has no local on air outlet - go figure), he's about as progressive as anything San Diego has been able to produce.
So, what's the line-up like on 1700 AM? Well, here's the rundown:
5-9 a.m. - Mark Larson - typical right-wing talking point megaphone.
9-Noon - Ray Lucia - what I think is a good money/investing show (although he can say some pretty socially-unenligntened things).
Noon-1 p.m. - New York Mike - Oh boy, this clown is the owner of the local Harley-Davidson dealerships, and he ran for Mayor a year ago. Mix Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo, and Alfonse D'Amato into a putrid puree and bake for an hour, and - well I think you get the picture.
1-4 p.m. a mix of financial shows and Dennis Miller. I don't know which is likely to be more pathetic, a bunch of financial "gurus" who have no idea what's going to happen with the economy, or what to do with what money you have left, trying to run away from their past bad advice, or Dennis Miller saying anything.
4-7 Stacy Taylor So there's Stacy, in the afternoon drive slot, following up after all of that lovely brain damage.
7 p.m. - later: Mike Reagan, more Dennis Miller, Neil Boortz, etc. Bleah.
Wow! What a great line-up, huh?
I sincerely hope that this station, which is not part of Clear Channel, can allow Stacy to say whatever he wants, and maybe, if progressive talk draws more audience than the D-list wingnut brigade, they'll bring in Stephanie Miller or Ed Schultz. I kind of think that the mid-afternoon slot looks as if it's a place-holder until something better comes along, so maybe Ed Schultz is a real possibility. For now, I think Clear Channel has Air America stuck on HD FM and doesn't have any plans to let it loose, but who knows?
Anyway, the signal sucks at my home (I'm in a canyon), but it is coming from Mexico, so once I get in my care and up to the mean elevation it may improve.
Half a loaf, I guess.