The continuing funding problems with the Pacifica Radio foundation have now affected one if its signature programs, Free Speech Radio News.
The half-hour alternative news broadcast — which was created as an alternative to the Pacifica Network News back in 2000 — will air its last regular radio broadcast next Friday, Sept. 27.

The broadcast has barely been surviving financially for awhile, but its fate was sealed recently as Pacifica failed to pay FSRN for months. It currently owes the broadcast about $198,000.

From its inception up until this January, the broadcast ran in some form on WMNF-88.5 FM in Tampa. But the show was missing when programming changes were made last winter, and it now airs on the station’s HD-Channel — a major blow to local listeners who appreciated the voices heard from around the world on the daily cast.

Tampa resident and former WMNF DJ Nell Abram has worked on the broadcast since 2001, most recently as headlines editor. She said that monthly funding from Pacifica to FSRN peaked at around $50,000 a month in 2008, but annual contributions from the network had flagged ever since.

When Pacifica failed to fulfill its financial obligations to the show back in 2010, producers went directly to the listeners, asking them to contribute directly to the show to keep viable. But that will not be the case this time around.

In a letter sent to FSRN reporters today, the FSRN Staff & Steering Committee wrote that if the show ever receives payment from Pacifica, “FSRN’s Board will decide how the organization will proceed. Depending on the size of the payment, we may have several options. We are discussing the possibility of transforming FSRN into something new, more digitally-centered and financially sustainable, but still focused on bringing under-represented issues and voices about peace and social justice issues to a global audience.”

FSRN was created by disaffected reporters with the Pacifica Network News, who were “disgusted by the censorship and heavy-handed moves by Pacifica management, (and) banded together and raised enough funds to go daily in broadcasting their program to 35 markets across the country.”

That’s from a Creative Loafing story that I wrote back in 2001.

WMNF was one of those original 35 markets, and the station’s board of directors gave a generous sum of seed money (if memory serves around $10,000) to keep FSRN alive in its first few months. For years, most of its content could be heard aired on the WMNF Evening News, but in January of 2011 the station cut the Evening News down to half an hour (rebranding it as the WMNF Drive Time News) and began airing FSRN in its entirety at 4:30 p.m.

But WMNF management took the show off its regular schedule this past January, relegating it to its HD-Channel, though WMNF Drive Time news anchor Sean Kinane still airs segments into his daily broadcast.

The show often had as many reports from outside the U.S. as inside, providing a grassroots take and decidedly progressive take on national and world events.

“I think the Tampa Bay area listeners lost the access to that information and I also think that the amount of alternative news and progressive perspective available to the WMNF audience was narrowed dramatically when FRSN was taken off the main radio channel,” Abram said.

Meanwhile, Pacifica Radio’s blues continue. Last month the network’s finances evaporated so rapidly that they announced they were laying off 19 of its 29 employees at their most valuable property, WBAI-FM in New York City. The New York Times reported that the network owed more than $2 million in broadcast fees to Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now! program,” by far the network’s most popular show.

The problem I’ve been having lately is that between writing work, my IT day job, and writing for my own blog, there’s just very little time to lay back and read a good book or magazine. So one way that I have managed to enjoy a little bit of intellectual stimulation is through talk radio while I’m getting some work done.

While searching for an interesting topic this week, I realized that we’ve never really covered radio talk show hosts here at MUO. Both David and Dean discussed how you can get started in your own talk show host career by launching an Internet radio show, but what if you’re looking for popular radio show hosts to listen to while you’re online?

Listening to Top Radio Hosts Online
Before writing this article, I asked around amongst my MUO colleagues for some good ideas. Many of them listen to online radio sites like Digitally Imported, Sky.FM and cool science or technology Podcasts like RadioLab.

These are all awesome resources if you’re looking for something interesting to listen to. However, I wanted to offer specific radio hosts – popular, well-known personalities – that host podcasts and syndicated radio shows that offer free content you can listen to or watch online.

Coast To Coast With George Noory
The very first radio talk show host that I have to mention, because they cover topics that I’m most interested in, is George Noory over at Coast to Coast Radio.
Coast to Coast covers paranormal topics that run the entire gamut, including crop circles, UFOs and strange news. The shows are really interesting to listen to, at least as far as the entertainment factor goes.

Kim Komando Tech Reports
If you’re into technology (you’re here at MUO, so you must be, right?), then you’ll definitely want to check out the highly popular, syndicated show by Kim Komando.
Kim tests the latest tech gadgets and talks about online and offline technologies. She produces what are called “Kim’s Reports“, shows that cover all of the latest technology trends people are most interested in right now. You can watch Kim on Demand for free, but the archives are members only.

Al Sharpton & Civil Liberties
This next suggestion is one that I am including mostly because it is a radio show I turn to whenever I’m looking for a story to write about related to civil liberties or civil rights abuses. If there’s anyone that’s usually on top of those issues, it’s Al Sharpton.
I don’t always like the guy’s style or his approach to many of the stories that he covers, but when it comes to getting the word out there about issues of civil liberty, Sharpton’s the man.

The Delilah Love-Fest
Now, I’m as surprised as many of you will probably be that I’m going to suggest this – but I have to also recommend talk show host “Delilah“.
Delilah is all about stories of humanity – tales of kindness and love. Sometimes, the song dedications are a bit overboard. But, then again, I once found myself sitting in traffic, listening to a deployed soldier dedicating a song to his wife and kids, and found myself on the edge of tears. Click on “Listen All Day” to hear the show. Take my word for it, you’ll want to take the Delilah-love in small doses at first.

Neal Boortz For President?
If you’re a politically minded listener, I can’t leave out the ever-popular Neal Boortz. Neal is a published, New York Times bestselling author, and often goes into some major (and entertaining) political rants in his show.
I wouldn’t say that he’s overly right-wing. He’s a self-described Libertarian, and has no qualms about attacking both sides of the aisle on his radio show. Check out his show under Latest Audio and Video.

Jeremy Vine Covers the News
If you’re over in the UK, or anywhere in Europe for that matter, then you’ve probably heard of Jeremy Vine and his BBC talk show.
Jeremy’s focus is discussing the latest news and the most pressing social issues of the day. He does so in a format that’s interesting enough to make him one of the UK’s most popular talk show hosts. His show is well worth a look, and available for free online.

Glenn Beck – Another Conservative Show Host
Many of the top political talk show hosts in the U.S. are conservative. Glenn Beck is no exception, but he is certainly a little bit unique in how he covers stories compared to other hosts that lean more to the right than Glenn does.
While I disagree with most of his opinions, I do find his coverage of the “truth” to be somewhat refreshing at times, even though I’m not Conservative. Just click the yellow “Listen Now” button streaming audio.

Ricky Gervais – Offensive & Really Funny
As I try to do with my lists, I’ve saved my favorite for last. This offering might offend some people, because let’s face it, there’s little about Ricky Gervais that isn’t offensive. With that said, there’s also little about him that isn’t funny.
I was introduced to Ricky by a friend in the UK, long before Gervais ever became popular in the US. My friend forwarded me a single clip from one of Gervais’ podcasts, and in just a few moments I was doubled over from laughing. If you like your comedy with biting wit and offensive sarcasm, then Gervais is your man.

In the limited space that I have, I’m forced to stop here, but there are most certainly many more radio talk show hosts out there that are very popular, and who offer free streaming content from their websites. I was also curious about top talk show hosts from India or Asia, do you know of any? If you have any Western hosts that you feel should be on this list, please share your opinion in the comments section below.

The Daniel Ruth Show, WWBA 820 AM News
by CL STAFF
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Times columnist returned to the Saturday-morning AM airwaves around a year ago, and it was about time. Sure, we sometimes can go without the incessant name-dropping of actors or directors he once interviewed when working in Chicago back in the day, but nevertheless he’s well-prepared and entertaining even when there aren’t any callers contributing to his program.

So you’ve seen The Today Show, or Oprah, or Jerry Springer, and you’ve thought “hey, that could be me!” Well, except Jerry Springer – let’s hope you’ve never thought you could be Jerry. But anyway, being a talk show host looks like one of the most fun (not to mention most lucrative) jobs out there, if you ask me.

But how do you get a talk show? And how do you use it to make millions of dollars? Well, I can’t help with the second part (let me know if you figure it out), but I can help with the first. It’s called BlogTalkRadio, and is a fantastic Web app for becoming the host of your very own Internet talk show.