my day with TBTM on their 1st anniversary (etc.)

[nostamj]

my friends,

it was a especially beautiful day in NYC today. (and the weather was nice too)

i was invited to attend the taping of the Take Back The Media radio show on the occasion of the website's first anniversary.

it was also (amazingly!) the first time that Symbolman (Mike Stinson) and americanstranger (Don Waller) had ever met!

we had a small (but enthusiastic!) studio audience.

i think fans of the show will notice something different with this edition. it's the first time these guys have done a show when they weren't 3000 miles apart. (and Symbolman was wearing shoes!)

i also want to report about the TBTM's West Coast crew's act of political theatre. Symbolman crafted a cardboard coffin which they draped with a flag and a tombstone that read: ARMY OF ONE

(this is a reference both to a current Army recruiting meme AND a fierce TBTM ad that--I believe--will be running in the NH primary.)

anyway, they brought the coffin to Times Square and set it in front of the recruiting station. according to Symbolman, a large sargent told them that they were on private property.

Symbolman pointed out that they were on a subway grate.

well, they went away eventually, but the coffin was in the studio and will be on the tape of this event.

(did I mention it was videotaped? it was.)

TBTM has done significant work.
TBTM has received significant attention.
TBTM has scared some people.
TBTM has been attacked.

everyone, EVERYONE in liberal/progressive talk radio must come together. we need a comprehensive source for this. we need the Mike Malloys and the Randi Rhodes and..... to share and network their audiences.

RadioFreeAmerica ??? we MUST do this. Randi listeners must know that other voices are out there. people listening to the handful of locally broadcast voices need to know that there are national voices available on the internet.

[ThirdWheelLegend]

1. boot!

kick!

[bpilgrim]

2. kick for networking

peace

[thebigidea]

3. oh my god, I feel like the biggest idiot

I was supposed to go and tape that, and shit - I thought it was Sunday somehow! I just got home from the freakin' city, and sent that stranger a message "is everything still on for tomorrow?"

God I feel like an idiot!

a JEALOUS idiot.

[prolesunited]

4. They must have found somebody

nomstamj: (did I mention it was videotaped? it was.)

I guess you can make it to Sunday church services after all now. ;-)

[thebigidea]

5. I was just talking about it with some friends on the ride back

we were all excited and everything.

Can't wait to ring tomorrow and say: "Uh, fellas. I kinda fucked up. It was, uh yesterday."

GENERIC FRIEND: "You mean the yesterday that put us in the neighborhood of that studio?"

"Uh, yeah."

GENERICO: "Gawd, you're an idjit."

(cameras - yeah, they wanted LOTS of em.)

on the plus side, I did manage to burn a stack of DVDs featuring clumps of my paranoid video work thus far that I was going to hand out like poisoned halloween candy. GOING ONCE! GOING TWICE! SOLD TO THE MAN IN THE YELLOW HAT! OOooo, it looks fucking great on a big tv n' surround. to hell with that realvideo CRAP!

oh, and that networking idea sounds great. So many talented mutants out there... if only someone would hand out bags of money.

[nostamj]

7. i was wondering what happened to you...

(always like to meet DUers off-line!)

well, the radio show should be up tonight (according to stranger)

don't know when the video will be shown or where for that matter, but, it (most) of the taping was taped.

[pstokely]

6. when will TBTM update the OxyRush sponsors list?

it hasn't been updated since March

[prolesunited]

8. Sounds like you had a great time!

Very jealous. :D

RadioFreeAmerica sounds like an excellent idea. I used to listen to i.e. America Radio more, but with the exception of Malloy, it just doesn't have the edge it should.

So, how do we make this happen?

[nostamj]

9. i wasn't really thinking about starting some NEW

but finding ways to network/grow audiences across the dial.

a page where you could enter your local time and get a listing of shows and links.

a comprehensive listing of which shows are available in archives

that kind of thing.

no reason for that kind of resource not to be available right here on DU....

[prolesunited]

10. Well, that's MUCH

easier to accomplish! :D

Why not start a thread to compile the info and I'm sure we could find someone to throw it up on a Web page.

[nostamj]

12. i'm going to do a little research

who knows, it may already be out there. i have one listing but (last time I checked) it was out of date.

i also want to check with bpilgrim (and GFP). i have this vague notion that there is something on his site.

p.s. replayed FWIW for the first time in months this morning. still just stunning, esp. after seeing/reading the reports from Miami.

p.p.s. to anyone who hasn't seen prolesunited's QuickTime movie, set to "For What It Worth" and featuring an amazing collection of international anti-Iraq was images, there's a link in her sig.

[ConsAreLiars]

15. A very comprehensive list is at

http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/radio.htm

Put together by DUer and BuzzFlash World Nedia Watch contributor Gloria Lalumia, it is kept up to date and provides lots of other info, like shortwave.

What it lacks is an easily used format, since it is essentially a long list with times listed for the Central Time Zone.

[nostamj]

16. butt ugly format

the info might be there but it's hardly friendly...

[prolesunited]

17. Yikes!

Looks like a lot of good info there. Can any of our Web gurus redesign it?

[americanstranger]

11. 'Edginess' is key.

You hit an important point there - Malloy sets the tone for the network, and the effort should be made to match that intensity throughout the day, whether it's in a style like Thom Hartmann's (who is more 'cerebral' than Malloy, but he still gets his point across very effectively), or with the white-hot intensity of Malloy, or with edgy humor like some folks we know who don't have a show on the network yet do (hint, hint.....). :)

After I read about Anshell selling off the network to a guy who wants to make it more 'centrist,' I'm afraid that that enterprise will end up being the 'Alan Colmes Network' - a day full of tepid, meek, nice hosts who don't want to rankle the Right for fear of being called 'Bush Haters' or whatever.

If that's what the Anshell venture turns into, I'll give it a year, tops. You have to have talent who is a fearless in attacking opponents as the Rightards are in attacking us. It's painfully obvious to me that there's only one way for liberal talk to work - and that's to avoid the low-key, get out on that limb and raise some holy hell.

If you listen to Malloy or Randi, there's a reason they are the figureheads for liberal talk in this country. They compel you to listen, either because it's extremely intense (Malloy) or it's sometimes goofy and sometimes deadly serious (Randi). Just sitting down in front of a mic for four hours and talking meekly about issues will not cut it.

IEA should get off the 'family' programming, commit itself to compelling liberal talk and go for the throat. It's the only way they'll cut through the noise of the Limbaugh/O'Reilly/Hannity/Weiner axis and get noticed. IMO.

-as

[prolesunited]

13. Thank you for elaborating on my point

This was what I was getting at, but you stated it much better. :D

I know you guys are doing the news digests for them now — an big improvement over what they had I might add — but have you ever been able to guest host or get a trial slot? What would it take for that to happen?

[americanstranger]

14. We talk about it from time to time.

We may end up with a weekend slot as a trial - that's the situation that we've brought up to them a couple of times.

But IEA did some lineup-juggling earlier in the year, and they're still waiting to see what works and what doesn't at this point.

We still want a shot at a regular show on the network, and it's still well within the realm of possibility. The fact that we're doing the news for the network is a big point in our favor.

As they say, stay tuned. :)

-as