"we’ve realized — that democracy is not just a job for politicians" . Great, they've learned Democracy 101 : Demo= the peoplw, cracy = rule. So when are they going to learn that removing sensitive issues ( abortion, gay marriage) from the democratic process does not win voter trust?
A "seedy" corner of West Hollywood?!?! Tell that to the Beverly Center!
Great story! Been a "Friend of the Pod" since it launched. Also LOVE Crooked Media's "With Friends Like These" with Anna Marie Cox. These folks are doing great work!!
Their smarts and intellect aren’t limited to the podcast. Be sure to follow them on Twitter, too. Theses guys are the Beatles of progressive politics.
2
It is fascinating to read all of the comments that essentially say "Love what you're doing - now do it differently". Great pod, glad you are expanding with other voices as well.
1
This article is another example of the MSM not having a clue.
The entire MSM is essentially a mouthpiece for the DNC.
For those tired of Leftist slants on everything, conservative talk radio is one of the very few outlets that don't preach Leftist rhetoric.
It's hilarious how threatened the Left is by Fox. Fox is the only news outlet not saturated in Leftist views. To hear some of the comments, the government must shut down Fox! There cannot be any alternative to Leftist propaganda! Shut down Fox!
Freedom of speech? Ha! What a joke, when the Left cannot tolerate any alternative to their cram-it-down-your-throat rhetoric.
The reason Liberal talk radio doesn't gain traction is the fact that every channel, station and newspaper is already steeped in Leftist ideology. It isn't as though there is a shortage of Left outlets. Oh wait! There is one channel, Fox, that isn't steeped in Left ideology, but the Left cannot allow or tolerate even one that doesn't spew only Leftist views.
I read this comment and wonder if you’ve subconsciously equated “attempt to get to the truth” with “leftist.” Because the Fox News I’ve seen has been pretty close to a nonstop propaganda machine with rare exceptions. And conservative talk radio is even worse: it’s strongly-felt opinion drenched in conspiracy theory. How can anyone take conservative talk radio seriously when they peddle PizzaGate and the idea that the hurricane evacuation orders hitting south Florida this past year were a liberal conspiracy. You are getting played.
3
All for more left-of-center media of every stripe, and Pod Save America is certainly welcome in a right-wing echo chamber world. Just have to say that "craft-and-beer-bullsessions, and the "power chair" sound pretty reminiscent to me of The Young Turks, whose internet audience numbers in the millions, who have their own teams of investigative journalists, and whose "Justice Democrats" candidates are challenging incumbents in several states. How about an article about them, and their partnerships with other resistance organizations?
Judging by the comments, I have no doubt these talkers will make a living by their words.
Typical piece from the New York Times. I stopped reading when I got to the assertion that liberals have heretofore been "squeamish about using media to partisan advantage". That's the Times, alright; looks me straight in the eye and tells me a whopper.
Normally, I don't count beans but it's appalling that the hope of the "left" is three white guys under 40. Neither the author nor the subject reflects the reality of America. It's amazing that in 2017, there's not a single woman in the mix. Perhaps the Times editorial staff needs to reflect more deeply on their perceptions of what represents hope for the liberal left. I for one, am not buying this or reading it. Or maybe, this actually is a reflection of what the Times hopes for the liberal left, a return to the safe liberalism of the Kennedy years--progressive politics carefully stewarded by white guys.
3
Go to their website and check out their other podcasts like With Friends Like These, Pod Save the Ppl (often with a female cohost), some of the Crooked Conversations, and the soon to be released Girls just wanna have Pod. It just happens that these are the founders, doesn't mean they are trying to exclude women.
1
Did you read the article? They hired women as their two top executives, and they’ve started a series of other podcasts under Crooked Media that are hosted mostly by women and minorities (e.g., Pod Save the People, With Friends Like These). They have women from the Obama administration (such as Alyssa Mastromonaco) as well as top female senators and legislators on nearly every episode. I would encourage you to check them out!
4
Have you actually listened to their content? They have plenty of non white male guests on their respective shows, and have shows hosted by non white males as well. Also, they hire non white males within the organization. Just because they started this platform, it should not be dismissed because of their race and gender.
1
Pod isn't really an 'answer' to conservative talk radio, it's more like Fox News without the hard news component. I don't think it's possible for Liberals to have anything like talk radio--the whole Liberal infrastructure is like the Catholic church, it's basically a hierarchy that exists to hand out doctrine and interpretation of doctrine there's no room for discussion of any key points in Liberal theology, while Conservative talk radio is more like a Bible church--everybody is on an equal footing and has an opportunity to persuade others to agree with their beliefs. Basically liberals are people who like to be told what to believe and conservatives need to be persuaded and that's why there will never be a successful liberal version of talk radio.
1
it must be opposite day in your world. the Christian right wing of today is owned by a propaganda machine of monumental proportion. there is no individuality of thought nor evidence of critical thinking. it is a rare liberal who is so easily led or swayed. the authoritarian impulse does not take hold, as it so powerfully does on the right.
1
So the democrats want their own group of voices to push the party to the brink of collapse and the country to an atmosphere that reeks of the potential for violence? While they may not be adopting the same format or personalities they do seem to be enamored with helping heighten the polarization of this country. Tell me why you are celebrating this? There is absolutely *nothing* admirable about what Rupert Murdoch did to conservatism. At this point, conservatism no longer exists, it's just raw tribalism and anger. These guys want to make more of that and you're happy about it?!?!?
1
Elvis is alive.
You have no interest in talking with a Trump supporter? That's what keeps the divide entrenched in America. You cannot win the vision unless you understand the consequences of ignoring the motivation of a Trump supporter.
It's true, some are intractable because of willful ignorance, others are very persuadable and primarily just frustrated at perceptions of left wing politics of big government, forced social changes that discount some traditional values, etc, but there is a middle ground that we'd better find before we tear ourselves down.
The corrupt duopoly focuses it's negative energies on our divide. In a democratic republic, we never get 100% of what we think we want, but you can find common interests. The fact that a politician accused of horrible crimes can be elected, re-elected is a huge red flag of politics gone wild.
An evenly prosperous America would just focus on those issues that are common cause instead of areas of disagreement. How we can have tax reform without looking at Medicare and Medicaid is absurd and that is a bipartisan failure.
When we build a bridge over the duopoly driven dividend Right vs. left or Blue vs. Red states, we will be able to move the rock up the hill. We cannot keep expecting success of what we value, when we focus so much energy on division instead of what is just right for today and tomorrow regardless of the contrived ideological camps of Democrat or Republican.
1
The role of Pod Save America and the other Crooked Media podcasts is not to break through to "undecided" voters or Trump fans, it is to energize the Democratic base - particularly the younger demographics. The broader goal should be to have a say in the direction the democratic party takes in the future so they can energize the base - something Hillary failed miserably at.
4
How refreshing! Thanks Jason for this intro to "Crooked Media". Just went to the website and enjoyed the flavor. Confident talk with a dose of self deprication (remember that word?) and a bunch of humor. I really like this.
Now, if I could only find a way to carve out 60 minutes to listen to a podcast. As a heavy reader, I have become bored with being talked to. But I'll try.
3
"Confident talk with a dose of self deprication (remember that word?) and a bunch of humor."
No I don't. But I do know what deprecation is and even how to spell it.
So fitting. One guy is the guy photographed drunkenly groping a cardboard Hillary Clinton in 2008. Vietor is the guy who graduated from driving a campaign van to a senior advisor position. How did they miss the fine arts school dropout who was Obama’s top national security advisor? A clown show.
4
How fitting that this transmission emanates from the demonic stronghold that is West Hollywood, and the seedy section at that. I'm not sure I ever fully believed in the devil until Team Obama came into power. It's no great surprise that "Pod Save America", which not so cleverly replaces trust in God with trust in technology, is brought to us by the spawn of that administration.
2
My goodness the self-validation herein is thick.
Based on many of the comments already posted, I dont understand why those on the Left would need leftist radio content to confirm their self-assessed superiority over the ignorant and malevolent rubes they consider their fellow citizens to be. Perhaps you should simply bask in the glow you generate and be content.
5
If there was a way to short their future success, I'd put all my money in it. Whatever the reasons, liberal talk radio is a failing business model, and this won't be different...
1
Did you actually read the article? The podcast model is different from the talk radio business model.
1
The hate-mongers and liars on FOX News have been preaching their awful garbage to millions of Americans for more than 20 years. They have destroyed my family whom I no longer can stand to visit. Why did the regular media and the government allow FOX News to spew out all their hatred and conspiracy theories for all these years without fighting back with a big baseball bat? These liars could have been stopped if anyone had just tried to shame them off the air with the exposure of the truth and their constant lies. I fear that my country will never be the same after the right-wing onslaught by an Australian billionaire who just wants Republicans in office so he can make mo' money ...the owner of FOX News and the Wall Street Journal, and God knows how many other media outlets all over the planet. Our people are being brainwashed. I do not think America can survive this destruction of the truth. now FOX News people are running our country through their stupid, ignorant puppet, Donald Trump, the most dangerous man in America. May God have mercy on us.
11
I subscribed to their podcast, then I unsubscribed when I realized they couldn't find room for one woman in their group.
10
That's a pity. One of the Crooked Media podcasts, With Friends Like These, is hosted by Ana Marie Cox.
5
The company’s top executives are women, which you’d know if you had read the article, not just looked at the picture of the hosts of one of their 6 shows.
1
I'm going to check in on this immediately.
1
Just downloaded the app and began listening. We have to listen!
2
Conservative talk radio seems to me to be mostly fake stories and outrage about nutty things. I have talked to few liberals that seem to enjoy that type of thing for the left, but not very many. Most tend to get tired very quickly of the pretense and want to go back to the real world.
5
I agree, reader. I lost interest in Rachel Maddow for just that reason. most on the left actually enjoy a more balanced, less overly passionate reporting style. though at her most strident, Rachel is delicate compared to the rube of the right, Rush Limbaugh!
These guys make me smarter. I have no interest in talking to a Trump supporter and I don't. The key to winning elections is to energize the Democratic voters and they do. I never miss Pod Save America or Love It Or Leave It.
11
A decade ago, Randi Rhodes got it. Ed Schultz also. Other than they, "liberal" talk radio has largely been a non-addicting soporific. Most purveyors simply don't seem to understand entertainment, which is what talk radio is all about. Right, Left, and UFOs, are all the same, when they are identified through a personality.
3
Over a decade ago, Randi Rhodes got it. So did Ed Schultz. Other than they, "liberal" talk radio has largely been a non-addicting soporific. Most purveyors simply don't seem to understand entertainment, which is what it is all about. Right, Left, UFOs, are all the same, when it comes to personality driven media, especially talk radio.
2
Two thoughts:
"[D]emocracy is not just a job for politicians...It’s a job for every single American." The sad thing is that this fact is news to them. This fact is THE guiding principle of democracy, and when people don't follow it, democracy fails. Half of Americans of voting age don't vote or even recognize that they as individuals have the constitutional DUTY to participate in their own self-governance, that they are in fact THE government. They've allowed politics to slip out of their hands into the control of the people with the most money. So when they sit out elections and complain about ineffective politicians, they should look in the mirror.
Secondly - leftwing radio and these podcasts cannot succeed for one simple reason: there's no hate involved. Rightwing radio isn't called hate radio for nothing. Hate is a terrific fuel. Liberals are more interested in hashing out solutions to problems, in reaching out for others' insights and ideas; they believe that politics is the art of compromise. It's not all that exciting, doesn't get your adrenalin flowing, it's...thoughtful. (Yawn!) It doesn't make for gripping radio.
Conservatives these days are not about solutions but about revenge, mockery, conspiracies, fake facts, racism, sexism - in short, the right is all about hate, which is rooted in fear. Their solution to anything is authoritarian: kick'em out, cut'em off, lock'em up.
And most important, hate is the reason they VOTE. And thus they win.
14
PSA replaces hate with humor. It works.
Have they interviewed Katherine Gehl or Michael Porter yet?
1
PSA is smart and funny. The conversation is generally intelligent - but at times needs fine tuning.
Beyond the rhetoric, they are doing a great job helping people get engaged - above ranting and raving, they are helping the Left Wingers getting involved beyond inane Facebook posting.
What is most important is the energizing of younger voters. Very evident on their recent tour - I was the old guy attending their Chicago show with over 2000 folks - the energy was incredible.
Twice a week for PSA is enough - so it is always fresh and timely and does not come off as a 3 hour rant.
3
Air America redux. I'll give it about a year before the listeners abandon it.
5
Probably not. This one is coming from the ground up while the other ones were down from the top down. Big difference
4
I've listened to these guys (Pod Save America) religiously since they appeared in January - after searching n vain for the disappeared Keepin it 1600. What a great tonic for the insanity that has taken hold at the white house and throughout our government. Every Monday and Thursday, as I leave my office, i look on my phone to see if the latest episode has downloaded, and then look forward to my commute home.
With Pod Save the World though I wonder if the formula of finding former Obama officials to tell "war" stories can be sustained.
Keep it at guys. We need you. And as our Virginia elections showed, we can reclaim sanity.
9
Successful talk radio is about entertainment first and ideology second. Liberals have never understood this and actually believe it's the other way around. (And conservative hosts who forget this do so at their own peril. When Glenn Beck led his rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he crossed the line from entertainer to ideologue - taking himself too seriously - and quickly began losing stations.)
There's also no substitute for actual radio experience. Rush, Hannity, Beck, Schnitt, etc. came up through the radio ranks (and even hosted "zoo" type morning shows.) Liberal hosts - including most on the failed Air America - simply don't know how to operate or be compelling within the constraints of the talk format. It's a lot more than just asserting a point of view.
It takes four months for Pod Save America to aggregate the listener total Rush Limbaugh reaches daily. Until the next article like this includes a bunch of radio station call letters, this podcast is just a group of like minded folks singing Kumbaya around the fire.
Don't throw us baby-boomers out with the bathwater! But it is time to pass the torch to this new and energized generation as we step back for their leadership.
3
Clinton, GWB, Obama. Please do drain the baby boomers out with the bathwater. That generation of narcissists had inflicted the greatest disaster on the United States since the Civil War.... speaking as one of them.
I listen to PSA all the time! Great show. Feels good knowing we’re about to catch a big wave!
9
These guys have been my lifeline through these dark and depressing times - a connection to all those smart, thoughtful people who are horrified by the train wreck that has been happening since last November 8th. I love all their podcasts, but I have to give a special shoutout to Lovettt's "Lovett or Leave It" - I look forward to listening to it each weekend and he and his guests' ability to find the humor in the darkness is the light at the end of the tunnel of every week. Thanks Jon - Pundit is indeed an angel and I'll treat you to Shake Shack after your workout anytime!
14
I wish these guys luck and I may listen at some point. However, I think part of the reason the left has had difficulty with the medium the right has mastered is simple (and I know this may make me sound like the arrogant liberal the right despises): most people on the left don't feel the need to be spoon fed propaganda to satisfy themselves. They can see very clearly what's happening in our country and don't need radio jocks to give them the "real story." And many (myself included) are already angry and frustrated; thus, listening to people tell me why I should be angry and frustrated isn't helpful. This is probably why left leaning comedy is appealing to those on the left: at least we can get a laugh along w/ the outrage.
10
This attitude also makes you sound like the arrogant liberal the left despises. Perhaps you should listen to the show before calling it “spoon-fed propaganda,” and making judgements against those who listen.
3
Absolutely!
1
I believe you misunderstood Andrew N's comment I think the spoon-fed propaganda to which he referred is that if the right, not Crooked Media's offerings.
2
I wish these guys luck. I have listened to a few of their podcasts, and it seems to me that 1.) no one is going to fix our corrupt, dysfunctional political system by punning on the word "pod"; 2.) they are preaching to the already converted; 3.) their podcasts, like fake news comedy and MSNBC, are ultimately little more than liberal infotainment, and 4.) finally, and most important, I will say to the creators of Pod Save America what I say to MSNBC and to all of my Democratic friends: You can beat up on Donald Trump all you want, but he is an awfully easy target. The real problem is the Democratic Party, in thrall to centrism and in the pocket of big donors. If you are looking to the Democratic Party to save America, all I can say is that the results are already in, and it has failed spectacularly.
16
I started listening to Keepin' It 1600 because of Jon Favreau - that is, I thought it was the *other* Jon Favreau, of whom I'm a fan. I quickly learned my mistake, but stayed for the intelligent, thoughtful, funny, passionate discourse. Watching the Crooked Media 'empire' start and thrive and engage so many people has made me as proud as if I were one of their mums (which I'm old enough to be), and I wear my Friend of the Pod tee shirt with equal pride. Thank you Jon, Jon and Tommy for all you're doing to keep us sane and motivated.
31
While I am fine with a any type of thoughtful discussion show, I am not so sure we NEED liberal talk radio. I think that the conservative talk radio audience is a bunch of people, probably mostly older white guys, sitting around having their daily need to feel anger and outrage fed by showmen who have perfected the genre. And it is a show, designed for a very specific audience. It has nothing to do with providing thoughtful discussion. It is designed to appeal to angry people who only want to hear the most partisan ideas rehashed again and again and be spoon fed content that reinforces their outrage at liberals.
Why would liberals wish to emulate such a genre? I don't want to sit around each night listening to an echo chamber amped up to provide me with hyperbolic content and emotions just so I can nod along muttering agreement and occasionally slam my fist down on the table. In my opinion, it is a sick and misbegotten genre.
8
This is not an emulation. That's not the point. This is something different, and is smart, and is helping to inform and support people taking action. Give it a listen, you might be happy surprised.
6
Eve: That's fine - not knocking the attempt, just pointing out what is wrong with the general concept as it currently exists. If it can be something different other than the content, then perhaps it will help, but I really have to wonder if it would ever reach any conservatives. If it helped get younger people out who who may not have voted in past elections or are ambivalent about it, that would be very good.
Randi Rhodes got it, at least when I could get her on radio a decade or so go. Ed Schultz also. Other than they, "liberal" talk radio has largely bean a non-addicting soporific. Most purveyors simply don't seem to understand entertainment, which is what talk radio is all about. Right, Left, UFOs, are all the same in that sense.
4
This is not another version of talk radio. This is something different, and is smart, and is helping to inform and support people taking action. Give it a listen, you might be happy surprised.
1
Thanks Eve. As a Registered Luddite Dinosaur, podcasts aint my thing. However, if that and they are what it takes to get results, , Pod Bless 'Em!
2
My take on it is that we liberals are not as crazed as the wingers, so we never achieve cult status like the notsobrightbarts and stormtrooper crowd
10
It’s rooted in psychology: liberals don’t need an authoritative father figure to hold their hand, politically of course.
10
Yes, for sure, it is the abnormal psychology and destructive bent (and inability to critically analyze) of a large number of people.
1
This article falls into the same trap that happened when Air American & Currents were being hyped: It interpolates healthy growth & a high-sounding number with relevance. While 1 million listeners is pretty good, Rush Limbaugh dwarfs it with 14 million listeners — in real time, no less.
I wish these guys godspeed & hope they succeed, but it's way too early to devote so much space in the Times to hyping their "success" because they can attract a crowd of 800.
6
I am 70 years old and find “my boys” the most informed, interesting and entertaining out there. The entire Crooked Media lineup is now on on my podcasts. Having been a lifelong Republican who started seeing changes I didn’t like my first Democrat vote was for Obama.
Keep up the great work and for those who haven’t listened- join us Baby Boomers and Millennials!
32
Yes. "Boys" is the key word here. And Obama didn't do people any favors, which these "boys" warily side step.
3
Great to see the New York Times covering Crooked Media. We love you in Berkeley “Dem my boys!“ I listen to Pod save America religiously. I check out who’s on Pod save the World but sometimes it’s just too depressing (no fault to Tommy Vietor who does an excellent job of explaining foreign policy to those who know nothing, distilling complex subjects and asking the right questions). And for something lighter, I usually try and catch Lovett it or Leave it. It is so refreshing to have voices on the left covering these issues that I can listen to in my car or walking my dog (so we always love to hear about your dogs :-) It makes me feel that we’re not alone hear on the left coast and hearing your perspective on breaking issues.
12
It doesn't matter what the liberal talk uses to employ their zeal for caring and fairness. They will fail to incorporate conservatives because they have abandoned, for the most part, values like loyalty. They are often anti-authority unless the authority bends to their will. They are completely oblivious to moral degradation in favor of "complete freedom to do what ever you want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, i.e. mary your dog or cat. They truly believe that "smart" is best illustrated by witty articulation of facts, figures, opinions and criticism. They deny the human character.
3
Values on right? Is that why we have our present POTUS and the gentleman accused of pedophilia running in AL? Or the tax bill being sold hard on the right as salvation for the poor? Maybe it's refusing to correct deficits in the ACA and instead blowing it up? Perhaps it's the values that allows the Secretary of the Interior to be photographed sitting on a dead elephant or the Head of the EPA taking secret and not so secret meetings with oil companies and coal barons to promote energy sources that have to decline? Mane it's the values of driving an education system to "vouchers" to heard children to educational choices that can further the divisions between haves and have nots not unlike religious madras in Islamic countries (that has worked out well)? One is allowed to wonder at the "reasoning" that got us here.
8
Sorry, but if you believe two men or two women can't be in a committed relationship (which I assume is the point of your rather strange about "mary"a dog or cat), you're the one denying human character.
5
Is that you, Michelle Bachman?
8
Favreau, Lovett and Vietor, go on Chapo.
3
These guys have found the right medium for their attitude and knowledge. Unfortunately they wasted the Obama administration's 'momentum' being all 'post-race' and too naive to put together a defense against the racist hateful old time politicians of the GOP. Trump's current cabal are venal and corrupt, but Obama's hires were so out-of-their-league naive.
4
I adore the Crooked Media and I listen to their pods fairly regularly. They are interesting, smart and often very funny. The conversations are a lovely mix of thoughtful, analytic and authentic. While the hosts can at times be sneering (particularly Lovett), they are just as often sincere, sweet and deeply empathic.
They are unabashedly "liberal" in a world that has been treating liberal as a dirty word or joke since at least Reagan. There is definitely a young chummy men's club sound to them at times when the original trio gets together (Favreau, Lovett and Pfeiffer), but they also have many female guests from many different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. Furthermore beyond PSA, Lovett or Leave It and PSP, the network also has some podcasts that actively include conservative voices like With Friends Like These, Crooked Conversations and Majority 54. The idea is to encourage their listeners to listen to non-liberal voices.
Once in awhile, I've had reservations about the amount of singing to the choir that they do and the bubble of their audience. But actually, I think the pods play am important role in energizing a discouraged base and rallying ordinary people to become activists. The podcasts are restorative for those of us who have been disheartened by Trump's bigotry. I think there is a role for that sort of partisan cheerleading as long as it is in service of getting their fans to be politically active as well as pushing the fans to go outside the bubble.
53
This is really gonna go to Lovett's head.
21
All due respect to the fellow at Crooked Media. I love all of their shows. But the liberal blogisphere has been around long before these gentlemen showed up. The Professional Left podcast with @driftglass and @bluegal is a great addition to any liberal listening rotation. They understand the history of the right's assault on the critical thinking. They also point out the truth of the so-called media obsession with right wing talker to the exclusion of truth tellers on the left. I highly recommend the Professional Left. A loyal listener to the all of the Crooked.com's podcast as a to the Professional Left.
6
The assault on critical thinking is being carried out right now on college campuses around the country. Haven't you noticed?
5
Have you people never heard of SiriusXM Progress 127? Mark Thompson, Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartman, Michelangelo Signorile,
Dean Obeidallah, The Young Turks? Liberal talk radio at its finest EVERYDAY!!!! You act like these Pod people have just invented liberal radio!! Get with the program. I've been listening for years and they have saved my sanity after this crazy Trump debacle.
9
I can't afford to pay for SiriusXM which is not to say the I only listen to POD save America et al because they're free. I enjoy the commercials for Blue Apron as well.
1
They are all on podcasts as well.
Thanks for this article. I'll be sure to listen. As a big fan of Air America, it is good to know something like this is filling the gap. We on the left need a voice. It is so lonely out here.
6
We found you! The one actual fan of air America!
The success of “Pod Save America” is encouraging. However, in order to break through the blue bubble, the producers should consider broadening its distribution beyond podcasting to include conventional radio. Though podcasts are a growing medium, their audiences are still dwarfed by the millions of people who tune into local radio station in their homes, workplaces and especially cars each day. These huge audiences are why conservative media companies like Sinclair are investing heavily in broadcast outlets and why Trump’s FCC is pushing for greater TV and radio station consolidation. If “Pod Save America” and other progressive digital media producers ignore conventional radio they’ll do so at their own peril.
36
Easy to say, next-to-impossible to accomplish. To break into radio requires getting on literally hundreds of stations, almost all owned by a few companies that have talk wannabes knocking on their door every day. The only way they'll get sufficient carriage to attract advertisers is by offering more money than the other companies representing talk-show hosts — figure approaching 9 figures. And a large financial cushion for the first several months; until ratings are established, it won't attract advertisers.
1
This is commendable. I hope it works. But it probably won't. L.A. is one of the most liberal cities in the U.S. Yet in 2014, KTLK-AM, L.A.'s only progressive radio station became The Patriot, espousing “True American Values,” anchored by Rush Limbaugh. Ratings are good. Why do progressives refuse to support like-minded media in numbers approaching the tune-in enjoyed by conservatives? Why can’t liberals get more people to watch & listen? Maybe it's because liberals have terrible marketing instincts. When the Politicon organizers approached the “Pod Save America” hosts about appearing they recoiled? Seriously? Didn't bother Ann Coulter, Tomi Lahren or Roger Stone. To them appearing ...emphasis on appearing...was a moral imperative...whether it was at the Politicon or a Socialist confab in Berkeley. They get it. That's how you build an audience...by always showing up at events like this. Conservatives aren't squeamish, they aren't afraid to sling mud, even humiliate themselves if it will enlarge their 25-49 demo.
1
I can’t remember how I found them, but I feel this podcast has saved my sanity during this reign of terror by Trump and the GOP. There’s a depth and behind the scenes quality that their experience at the White House provides that sets them apart. I’m probably not their demographic since I’m in my sixties, but I check my podcast library every single day to see if they’ve released a new Pod Save My Sanity episode. Pod Bless Them.
14
Personally, I find PSA to be like a salve for the neoliberals - simply telling educated whites what they want to hear. They represent the centrist Democratic Party that has gotten us to this moment in time.
For young voices on the actual Left, try Chapo Trap House. I definitely don’t agree with everything they say, but it’s definitely on the bleeding edge of liberalism, as opposed to the comfy and safe middle.
3
Progressive radio doesn't work because progressives, unlike those on the right, don't need to be spoon fed what to think on a daily. They're also not as angry, which is what drives ratings. Simple as that.
10
Oh, how I wish that were true, but on Facebook I discovered how many people of my acquaintance, lefty liberals all, wants — even need — to be spoon fed information. I prefer listening to & reading right-wing voices because I find the people I violently disagree with to be much more interesting than agreeing with Rachel Maddow or laughing with Stephen Colbert.
1
@HKguy That sort of productive disagreement was how the United States was built. But we no longer have that quality of individual common in our body politic.
Now if you go to court college campus since express an opposing view they will store in the stage shout you down and if they can physically attack you.. The bulk of the talk audience we would call conservatives just won’t listen; They’ll never show up to a discussion identified as liberal except perhaps for some drive-by trolling, With little understanding of what’s actually being discussed.
I love these guys. I listened to them before the election, and am grateful they decided to create Crooked Media afterwards. I subscribe to most of the show on that platform. I count on Jon Lovett to get to the crux of things. When he rants there's usually a good reason.
THE PROFESSIONAL LEFT is another staple of my podcast diet.. They're smart with a heart, and they've been at this for a looong time. Give them a listen.
10
When defeated, the left usually tries to signal virtue. One commenter traces its failure to its embrace of a "message of hope", while the opposition has a "message of hate". This is nonsense.
The left's inability to harness talk radio is not a sign of the its inherent goodness, but its ineffectualness. And its ability to polarize the electorate is at least the equal of the opposition.
4
Big fan of the pod, here. Best podcast out there. Best news commentary out there. Best media critics out there. Pod Save America may just be the exact thing that may save our country.
9
Until they have on going female hosts, this will continue to be a bro-show; two female executives make not slightest difference, and non white men don’t change it much either.
So, the politics may be good but it’s just the same old structure.
40
Ms. Cox and her terrific Pod "With Friends like these" would most likely tell you to stop making the perfect the enemy of the good...The world IS turning, the structure is changing, be a part of it...
4
Crooked Media does indeed have ongoing female hosts. In their expanding podcast portfolio, there's With "Friends Life These", with Ana Marie Cox. The podcast "Crooked Conversations" features a rotating group of hosts including writer Erin Gloria Ryan. Former Obama staffer Alyssa Mastromonaco has also filled in as a substitute host for Pod Save America at times.
Pod Save the People is hosted by Black Lives Matter activist Deray McKessen, and regularly features Brittany Packnett, a member of President Barack Obama's 21st Century Policing Task Force. I think we're going to increasingly find that everyone will have a seat at the table in this network.
35
They do on a regular basis. Lovett has all female panels all the time
7
Rachel Maddox's show is the highest rated on MSNBC and very competitive with Fox in her time slot. Since the Roy Moore scandal hit she has regularly been beating Hannity.
The fact that her show is so successful makes it clear that liberals like long form, fact based reporting and do not want to be fed simplistic sound bites. Kudos to MSNBC for allowing Maddox to do her signature long segments with no commercial interruptions.
19
That's not true, Hannity continues to trounce Maddow regularly in the ratings. What IS true, however, is that Maddow dominates in the only demographic advertisers care about.
2
Maddow.
1
Nothing like irony to make a liberal heart fall in love. Crooked Media is a great antidote to Straight media or whatever the fox-like programs like to call themselves.
The hope stirred perhaps will push some of the crazy aside and we will stop being victims of the nasties.
Who isn't tired and discouraged by the conservative pundits and commentators pretending to provide news and analysis when all they are doing is giving a wedgey to progressive and liberal exchange of thought. To O'Reilly or Coulter and the rest, nothing says happiness like a screaming, frustrated to the point of incoherent liberal and in their words, socialist person trying to debate an idea rationally. Calling that news or editorial has confused us all.
Three cheers for finally doing it their way. The far right shock jocks won't feel so smug when their victims begin to show a little spine.
3
Limbaugh came on the radio scene Mocking the Homeless. He had a favorite record he would play during his callous, sick rants. It was "Ain't Got No Home"
The sponsors that kept him propped up on the hundreds of "Clear Channel" radio stations that were suddenly blanketing America's airwaves are despicable.
republican Reagan trashed the "Fairness in Broadcasting Doctrine". The FCC trashed the regulations against one company, like "Clear Channel" owning many, many stations. This manipulation of our airwaves gave Right Wing, Hate radio, its propaganda juggernaut, reaching into far rural areas where not much else was being broadcast to. Spewing its sickness across the land. I've often wondered "Where Did The Money Come From" to set up this Propaganda base,.. to buy up all those stations.
Anyone know ?
Today;
Ending Net Neutrality is obviously the number one goal of the right wing.
They want to control what you hear, see and convey. Just as if Putin is in the oval office. Then, that same Straight Jacket of lies, that keep shackles on the Russian people will become our children's wardrobe.
There can be no escape once our minds are cast into the prison of lies.
12
My daughter hooked me up with the Pod at the very beginning and I love that they are successful and growing. Majority 54!!! Love that it is now a podcast and the truth. Another boomer listener so you have reach boys. Keep us sane!!
45
Unlike most kneejerk partisan media, Pod Save America will be the first to admit when the Democratic Party has a weak hand, or a party leader's judgment is in question. If you want to explore progressive media, but don't want to be encapsulated in a bubble, Crooked Media is the way to go.
11
I love these guys and this was a pretty good profile, though I wish you had at least mentioned Pod Save the People, which is hosted by DeRay McKesson, a leading Black Lives Matter activist. His show is a little uncomfortable for me as a while liberal to listen to, but it's absolutely essential that we do.
7
For Liberalism to succeed, Clintonism must get off the stage. And Joe Biden must clearly state that he understands that his best role is to help pave the way, along with President Obama, for a new and exciting generation of democratic leaders to emerge and take the helm of the party. Sure, Hillary came close, but every time she grabs the spotlight (like talking recently about the dangers of AI), it poisons the well for any other potential democratic candidate in any local. State or national election. This Podcast can help, but so long as clitonism staggers around like a political zombie looking for more liberal brains and pocketbooks to eat, these kids don’t stand a chance.
8
Great article. I just recently discovered the podcasts, Podsave America is excellent so is Majority 54. And they're growing in popularity. The podcasts are rich in factual information and analysis of how policies impact Americans.
Conservative radio is the same, factless, and meant to anger people with rope a dope twisting and excuse making.
7
Pod Save America is a favorite among those in my office. We admire it for providing valuable information about how policy is made & about job descriptions of various federal employees. We also appreciate it for giving us direct action items - call this person, go online to this organization, donate to this candidate. And of course it is very entertaining & offers talking points which counter the garbage coming out of Republicans. Crooked Media shows are far superior to the cautious, insincere steps of the Democratic Party.
4
OK, I'll give it a try. I remember Air America and it was as insulting as right wing talk radio. You know, they tell you what they're going to tell you, then they tell you and tell you and tell you, then they re-explain what they just told you. And just like right wing they took a call or two but insulted and hung up on anyone who disagreed. Good Luck Pod Save!
3
Exactly. Right-wingers fulminate at Fox because people like Tucker Carlson often has liberals on; even if they have to yell to get heard, the key is arguing with people who have opposing opinions.
32yrs of listening to Rush Limbaugh and always searching for a leftist equivalent I hope these guys make it to a.m. radio. To succeed though, they must abandon the caracature view the left has of Rush to understand his success.
2
Proudly rocking my “Friend of the Pod” shirt this morning. Good merch, even if shipping was glacial.
Lovett as “comic relief”? That’s so very far off base. He’s witty and informed (just like all of the hosts). And his rants are truly hilarious.
The only problem with these costal elites at Crooked Media is that they need to take the live show to red states, like Montana. The odds of being body slammed are low.
Also, I think the author lifted “bargain-priced room on La Cienaga” directly from You or Your Memory by The Mountain Goats.
2
Preaching to the converted. Get in a car, drive out past an urban center, and put on the non-satellite radio. All the talk will be Christian and hard right. There is no liberal equivalent. What do you think Trump supporters listen to, anyway?
2
Did you mention Randi Rhodes? She was a headliner in Air America and now she is back on YouTube with a daily show and a podcast version.
1
No mention of Amy Goodman and "Democracy Now!"?? Her show has been on WBAI for more than 20 years and on some television stations. Her show is also in podcast form.
Crooked Media hosts stand on her shoulders, shoulders which are covered by the most excellent black leather. And "Democracy Now!" has more substance and depth in 30 minutes than Mark Levin has every uttered in his entire on-air career, which actually isn't saying much.
7
No mention of "Lovett or Leave It?" That's Lovett's comedy podcast, which I highly recommend.
4
Truth does indeed have a Liberal bias.
Extol that truth and Liberals will follow wherever it might lead.
2
As liberal self-parody, this is brilliant.
1
I didn't read through the reader posts, but anyone remember Air America in the Bush years? I always felt that helped elect President Obama.
1
i know Will Rogers is no longer active but hey we could bring back Mark Russel too.
Centrist Democrat punditry is now defined as the left? Well done, corporate America! Sheesh.
1
When a movement stands for nothing but self-service, social elitism and class warfare, there is very little of substance you can promote in depth.
Can a J. Brown or M. Cuomo stand on records of steep decline of every middle class opportunity in their states?
Can a Clinton, Warren, Holder, Lynch Obama or Harris/Feinstein point to a national success in Business, Education, Defense, Infrastructure?
When you answer no to those and yes to Race bigotry as your legacy talk is not only cheap but deadly to your socialist cause.
1
“Can a J. Brown or M. Cuomo stand on records of steep decline of every middle class opportunity in their states?“
Sure they can. Middle-class America equals White capitalist patriarchy, neocolonialism and cishet normativity. Destroying those things is Progress.
I think I discovered "Pod Save America" through the NY Time's podcast "Still Processing" and I've listened to both religiously ever since. There's no denying how authentic these 4 guys are, they all seem like genuine friends who actually enjoy working together, unlike those hacks at MSNBC who look like they're all suffering a case of Stockholm syndrome, in stiff suits and afraid to be real. Crooked Media is REAL folks, no forced propriety, no spreading of delusional propaganda like Fox & Friends. If you're an endangered species- liberal, a Democrat, progressive- then Pod Save America is for you.
4
Ooh. Way cool that some well-heeled, in-the-club white kids are discussing all things Left; no doubt the vast numbers of the underclass - whose votes are the only reason there are ANY liberals in Statehouses or Congress - leap with knowing resonation at the musings of the latte set. More parody than powerful this sideshow has that thinly veiled - to us - but clueless to them, annoyingly patronizing tone of a classroom crone, or a Hillary....or a Warren...or a Franken for that matter. Nope. It won't be long before the real alternative on the Left emerges; it will not be "liberal" in the Caucasian sense, it will not be cooperative, in the co-opted sense, and it will not be supplicant to the party of Wasserman, Clinton, Clooney or the host of other know-it-alls who we followed for far too long.
1
Yes, too much of our world across multiple dimensions is propagated through a "caucasian" lens. I recommend checking out the other Crooked Media pod casts available, especially my favorite, Pod Save the People, as well as Majority 54 and Friends like These. It seems to me that they are responsive to critical feedback and a growing diversity is reflected across the podcasts. We are different and we are all human beings. I believe they are on board with this truth. I want to call out white supremacy where I see it and I also want to be able to recognize my fellow travelers.
Hope it works. The Liberals need some intelligent support. Write more about them in a month or three. Good luck, gentlemen.
3
Let me take a spin of the Rant Wheel. It’s landed on “No Mention of Lovett Or Leave It?”
If you’re new to Crooked Media and podcasts in general, you should check out Lovett or Leave It.
And if you want a podcast that really “touches Excalibur”, check out Chapo Trap House.
1
WWBD
(What would Barack do.)
Get the bracelets.
1
Interesting there is not a link to the show in the article. Choice or chance?
1
I sincerely look forward to hating Bill Kristol again.
5
Wonderful piece. Thank you. Fresh air to the blue minded like me. I have not heard of Podcast America nor Professional Left. I stick to NYT and NPR as my news media platform. Call me oldie and that is fine by me. The young blue minds need a media and I think Podcast America fits this purpose. It is welcomed. However, this piece makes this media appears flaky and soft left. I would highly recommend to dip their toes into the deep left like good old kosher Karl Marx without hesitation. It will not make the alt right happy and intimidate them as well as the catholic moron Steve Bannon. Alt right and Steve Bannon are house of cards. The blue mind will then truly blue. By the way, Crooked Media headquarter in seedy West Hollywood is perfect.
1
Love their podcasts. They're keeping me sane in these dark times. And the best part is that they challenge listeners to take action and provide suggestions on how to do it. I'd also like to give a shout out to Brian Beutler, who's editing the Crooked Media web page. His writing is wonderful and the other articles on the site are always thought provoking. Keep up the good work!
37
The show is really fun to listen to and they know their stuff. Favreau is a very likeable and measured guy and clearly a brilliant writer who knows how to run a tight ship on air.
Sometimes it can be a little glib and oversimplifies complicated issues, which reinforces the walls of the Bubble. BUT this may be the key to rallying young (under 50s) Dems to VOTE! I tend to think the Weeds and the Ezra Klein show are the best podcasts for getting a thorough look at issues, digging down further to consider what- if possible- a smart opposing opinion would look like. Klein et al always ask themselves, "ok but what would a smart conservative argue here?" or "what could be the Right's possible rationale here?"
(Of course, these days they tend to conclude that there really is no smart argument on the Trumpian Right but I like that they push themselves to ask).
2
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I gave up on Podcasts a few years ago but I'll seek them out again. These types of tactics are encouraging steps in the correct direction. Never underestimate the amount a message must be communicated to be effective.
1
This is the pod that has saved my sanity. I obsessively wait for each episode to drop and make time to listen to it. I'm so happy for these guys that it's been successful but I'm more happy for the nation. Liberal pundits, unite! Unite and laugh and discuss and try to make sense of what is going on in this country. It is an empowering and enlightening pod. Long may it air!
3
Pod Save America sounds almost too good to be true; it is witty and relevant and hits all the sore spots in our current mess of a political environment. From my view from the other side of 50 it seems a tad young and eager, but that's okay. Lord knows we on the outside certainly need a platform and a point of view that actually has a couple of active verbs in it.
1
There's a whole new genre of progressive/left internet and podcast programs out there. As others have commented they help keep me sane and remind me that I'm not alone. Other shows to look for are The Professional Left with Driftglass and Bluegal, The Majority Report with Sam Seder and his crew, and The Nicole Sandler Show. Progressive Voices is an app and website for accessing a variety of progressive shows.
3
Never heard of these guys, never will listen to their show, but I have words of advice: we don't need a Fox News or Rush Limbaugh "of the left." At some point these guys will be tempted gloss over the facts or hide something to make "the left" look great. Don't do it. Give us the facts. Hold the Democratic Party to account for their errors, bad ideas and especially for their absurd loss in the 2016 election to a self-proclaimed groper billionaire who hid his tax returns from us and lies to us regularly. The message from Democrats is still muddled in areas like immigration and entitlements for lower income folks. Hold the fire under their feet.
5
Actually Air America Radio was pretty good, it just didn't have enough financial backing to allow it several years to build up an audience.
2
But can they get out the vote? Can these Millennials get their peers to forget Bernie Sanders losing the Democratic Primary to Hillary Clinton? After all they did see Sanders as their only hope of getting all that 'student loan debt' forgiven?
And can they get out the inner city, minority vote in 2018? We all know how difficult it is to rally the troops in a mid-term election, especially when we know how effective the Religious Right has been getting out the vote; For example, they almost single-handedly got 67 of the 80 or so Tea Party Candidates elected in 2010. Once those The Tea Party candidates came out against a Women's Right to Choose they garnered the Evangelicals' support, evidenced as they flocked to Town Hall Meetings, book signings, and rallies.
There has to be some real 'walking the walk' after all this 'talking the talk'.
4
Join a local Indivisible group and you’ll find out
2
For those of us trapped in red state miasma, Pod Save America is like getting a twice-weekly dispatch from friendly terrain where the folks are lucid, base their arguments on stated facts rather than raw animosity, and have a sense of humor about both their opposition and themselves. Long may the guys prosper.
6
I'm glad some are speaking out with a semblance of honesty, honor and compassion. I'd hope a large part of this was delivered seriously, due to the serious challenges we face: poverty, inequality, concentrations of wealth, power, access, privilege, income, etc. And, of course, the horrors facing the planet as a whole.
The 'right wing' radio has benefited from being bankrolled by the wealthy; even to the point of basically giving away hours of 'hate radio' to all that requested. Because the 'issues' they talk about are supposed to take us away from the real issues. This is the 'circus' that keeps us from understanding tax policy, fiscal policy, housing policy, etc. and being actual good and informed citizens. People don't love America; if they did they'd work much harder at understanding our economic and social policies, our environmental and international policies. You never really achieve the highest level of citizenship because it's so demanding today that the best you can hope for is to be fairly well-informed and committed.
So, thanks for your efforts. Huzzah! As they might have said around the time of the Constitution's ratification. Let us bring about the 'more perfect union', let us see the 'common good', let us be the 'better angels'.
I've been a listener of the PSA podcasts since Trump took office. These guys have provided solace, humor, and above all, information on how a Democrat like myself can deal with a Trump presidency and how to get and stay organized at the local level. When I wear my Friend of the Pod t-shirt, I usually get thumbs up from fellow podcast listeners. The assistance the hosts provided to Virginia Democratic governor-elect Ralph Northam probably helped him bury Republican Ed Gillespie by 9 points. These guys get it: turn your anger into organization and voting.
4
One beacon of hope for the future of liberalism is the fact, mentioned in many of the comments below, that millennials no longer rely on the corporate-owned legacy media of cable and network news and radio as their primary source for news and opinion. The "cut the cord" mentality is alive and well among our young people.
Thus, the podcasters such as Crooked Media no longer have to worry about pleasing corporate advertisers and "balancing" their coverage with false equivalencies in order not to offend certain key ratings demographics, as do the cable networks.
We are now in a twilight media period where the corporate legacy-media is fading out, along with their older audiences, and the newer media age of streaming, satellite radio and podcasts are moving in with their younger audiences.
We can only hope that this development will help to level the media playing field which has been tilted so far to the right (especially without the Fairness Doctrine) by the corporate media for the past generation.
4
"partnering with MoveOn to send nearly 2,000 listeners to Republican town-hall meetings"
If I recall correctly they most didn't do a lot of listening (other than to themselves).
5
Nice little media project there with fresh new voices. Now, tell me exactly how this is going to earn back the votes of former Dems who switched sides and voted for Trump, and more importantly, how this is going to break the stalemate between the two wings of the Dems? The majority of us who'd like to see a better and more representative government don't have time for podcasts, for cable news, for much of anything except working and taking care of real life. Even if we did have time, these so-called voices of blue America are not our voices. Maybe these guys should go on a listening tour first.
2
When are we citizens going to stop the frenzy of picking sides like our favorite football team, making our political dialogue resemble a high school student council election and start to be serious about our real problems? People get elected by selling us soap (MAGA) and then do policy without our even getting it. I am pretty sick of the constant polemics masquerading as political dialogue. I think we are being conned by both sides and don't realize that wisdom would be to find compromise.
Love, love, love this podcast. Helps keep me sane in these dark times. I recommed it to everyone. Gives me hope that we will find our way back to intelligent, empathetic, and caring governance in my lifetime!
1
It must be my baby-boomer generation/age...this is the first I have heard of these guys and Crooked Media. (Thank you NYT for enlightening me!)
Later today I will find out how to access a podcast, listen to some of their shows and purchase a "POD Save America" shirt.
I especially like the fact that they are not mimicking the horror of/on right-wing media. Instead of shouting lies and venom, it sounds as if they are presenting facts, reality, intelligent discussion, critical thinking, political truth, all with humor and barefisted enthusiasm for making America live up to the ideal of government of the people, by the people, for the people.
2
Terrestrial Radio may be 20th century but it's a brilliant medium. It pains me that throughout the West the airwaves are now almost completely taken over by political hate mongers & far right preachers. Air America use to out strip Rush Limbaugh's ratings in the major markets but was taken off the air anyway. After 30 years of deregulation, and conglomeration, Radio is dead.
The loss of our once vibrant radio landscape is a detriment to culture and the intelligence of the country at large that NO podcast can adequately replace.
47
Air America died because no one was listening. It is implausible to argue that it was beating Rush Limbaugh in "the major markets" but "was taken off the air", by unnamed persons, no less. Having larger audiences is a metric of success.
Anyone with internet now has access to a greater galaxy of radio-form programming through podcasts (and live streams) than anyone listening to terrestrial broadcast radio in any single market ever had.
You do need to go get it, though, not just wander through the dial. (Some great programs that I follow as podcasts are produced for broadcast, so *some* people are still finding them by happy chance.)
Agreed. As a former avid radio listener, I am repelled by virtually everything om AM or FM - from talk to music. The only safe haven is NPR.
But, just as in "viewing", the landscape has changed dramatically - there are so many ways to listen. "Over the air" radio is about as relevant as "Cable TV". Those who want to live in echo chambers and listen to babble that makes them feel "right" will keep it alive.
For the rest of us there is what we get on our phones via Mother Internet - the good news is that the variety is enormous. The bad news is that the choices are enormous. And then there are good books, cooking, grooming and walking your dog... So little time, so many options.
1
Call me unhip but I don't listen to podcasts. I do watch MSNBC and I am mystified that MSNBC is not mentioned once in this article. Is it not a major media player? Is it that terrible?
5
You're unhip. And MSNBC wasn't mentioned by name, but they were referenced in the section that talks about how liberals don't want a mirror image of Fox News (shouting at the camera about "blank"). Frankly, if you're still watching cable news, you are getting a poor product delivered to you. Download a podcast app, subscribe to Pod Save America, and you will be better for it.
1
The article is only about Crooked Media and their flagship program. It's not a survey of all the "voices in blue America's head."
1
Don't know how I made their lists, but I am barraged with multiple daily right wing emails on their favorite subjects. one of which is Hillary Clinton. The Right has mastered the use of all media to spread their propaganda. Progressives don't seem to have a clue how to get their message across.
7
Crooked?
1
It's a play to Trump's repeated claim that Hillary is "crooked"
1
Authenticity is vital in podcasts. If listeners can be involved by taking their opinion,it will be great. Like in newspapers,we have comments section,and letters to the editor,it will be more interesting. Other subjects can also be taken up in podcasts,which affect citizens' lives. Politics alone should not be discussed .
1
My feelings echo the other comments, even on the most depressing news day these guy keep me sane and informed, I'm glad the word is getting out.
5
Why do these articles always leave out The Young Turks? The conservative hosts seem to see them as the left's version and they draw millions of viewers (YouTube) or listeners (SiriusXM) to every show. YouTube shows them at over 3 billion views. Yet NYT articles always act like they don't exist.
12
This is commendable. I hope it works. But it probably won't. L.A. is one of the most liberal cities in the U.S. Yet in 2014, KTLK-AM, L.A.'s only progressive radio station became The Patriot, espousing “True American Values,” anchored by Rush Limbaugh. Ratings are good. Why do progressives refuse to support like-minded media in numbers approaching the tune-in enjoyed by conservatives? Why can’t liberals get more people to watch & listen? This article gives us a few clues. (1) Liberals have terrible marketing instincts. When the Politicon organizers approached the “Pod Save America” hosts about appearing they recoiled? Seriously? Didn't bother Ann Coulter, Tomi Lahren or Roger Stone. To them appearing ...emphasis on appearing...was a moral imperative...whether it was at the Politicon or a Socialist confab in Berkeley. They get it. That's how you build an audience...by always showing up at events like this. Conservatives aren't squeamish, they aren't afraid to sling mud, even humiliate themselves if it will enlarge their 25-49 demo. (2) On the radio, liberals are a constituency who'll turn to NPR. That sucks up a lot of the white audience. Minorities are a large portion of liberal America, but they prefer ethnic programming: Spanish-language radio or inner-city stations. Those stations have talk programs, but it's not the same as a Limbaugh. It's more general, not railing against the system. The bottom line: this is a genre that the right wing is simply better at than us.
4
Perhaps the reason left wing talk has never taken off the way right wing talk has not only taken off but seems to be in control of the right-wing is that at its core the right-wing is driven by hate while the left wing is driven by hope.
Hate is easy to feed with an angry raised voice pandering to fear. Facts, truth, and blatant hypocrisy have little resonance to hate.
Hope on the other hand sees the world for what it is but still persists in believing it can be better. Hope is built on finding solutions while hate is built on finding someone to blame. Hope doesn't need anyone to explain to them how things are - they already understand - while hate needs someone to constantly stock its fires.
In a nation and a world seemingly more and more drive by hate I'd like to think hope can still win out. I welcome every bit of help be it from Pod Save America, or even the few semi-sane people on the right that are left, but in the end it will not be any of them who turn the tide from hate to hope but all of us.
United by a common foe will never be enough to save us until we are also united by our common humanity.
12
I don’t know what I would do without Pod Save America. I literally can’t wait for each episode. It’s excruciating and humiliating to see what’s going on in US politics right now but PSA helps me process it and have hope. Thank you for giving voice to sanity.
9
Also a big fan of Slate's Trumpcast podcast.
1
Remember Air America? Al Franken was going to put Rush out of business. How'd that work out?
4
Which of the two was elected to the U.S. Senate?
3
“Which of the two was elected to the U.S. Senate?”
In an election that was decided by a cache of votes mysteriously found in the trunk of a campaign workers car. Somehow, that set of votes was balanced very differently then the several million that preceded it.
This podcast is a very welcome contribution to the necessary debate in America. Living in N Ireland we are faced with irrational, inward-looking politics in the form of Brexit which have huge similarities to the politics of Trump. It is sad to see the Republican Party shredding itself in pursuit of so-called tax reform. The rise of racism is alarming but it can be stopped, especially by analysis and comedy as exemplified in Pod Save America. Racists are shy in the presence of facts and have no sense of humour. They hate being laughed at as it destroys their warped beliefs.
2
Jason Zengerie,
You evidently missed the Memo about using:
"False Equivalency" in your articles.
That is a definite "No Go".
1
Liberals are doing fine with a majority of the main stream media dominating blatantly biased coverage of the never Trumpers both Democratic and Republican. But they cannot easily brain wash or capture the independents. Because the independents are free thinkers and practical and do not easily get influenced by the press and pundits and are results oriented and base their thinking on the truth that they seek from a variety of news outlets and avoid the extreme left and extreme right. Why should any politician care about the independents? because influence the outcome in places outside the cities of America where Americans think for themselves, have time to think because they are not commuting to work as much and don't like to be told who they should vote for. Most importantly they are humble and do not look at themselves as holier than thou but who will best represent them for their own pocket book, for the best interest of the nation and the world. Simply said, I am quite thankful for the way things are economically for the country and the state if the world. For instance wars in Afghanistan and Iraq I see as winding down, I see Syria return to rebuilding due to cooperation between USA and Russia and Libya is somewhat in a low level hostilities and Yemen is at a stage of war fatigue. Fewer people displaced. So in a way I am thankful that the world is at greater peace than at any time during the Bush and Obama era. How we got here and who deserves the credit is not my concern.
2
Maybe the reason the left has trouble finding a carbon copy of conservative talk radio is that the very foundation of the liberal ideal is that a singular, droning, consistent and unadulterated voice is not the way to educate oneself. That said. Go get ‘em Pod Save America. I will listen.
5
Right wing media will always be more popular, because its promotion of the (primal but socially-suppressed) virtue of selfishness is both comforting and entertainingly naughty. It's able to ridicule the downsides of being nice, including overreaches of political correctness.
But now that there's so much to ridicule on the right, progressive talk has its opening.
52
Being nice? You mean using other peoples money! When the top 5% pay most of the taxes it's sheer stupidity to assert these taxpayers are mean. How much is the right amount of taxation, 80%? The system we have rewards those who work and punishes those who don't. It really that simple.
1
Crooked Media is fine, but there are others out there who have been ringing the bell for years. The Professional Left and The Majority Report are worth your support.
1
Podcasts literally keep me sane these days. This one is in my top three with The Professional Left and The Bob Cesca Show.
Their idealism reminds me all at once of a combination of the TV show the West Wing and Air America, the ill fated but much loved progressive/liberal talk radio network that brought us Mark Maron, Rachel Maddow, Sam Seder, Randi Rhodes (who came back on YouTube a while back) and, yes, Al Franken among many others. Irreverent, smart as a whip and way before its time this network just couldn't seem to get out of its own way and drove itself into bankruptcy despite their enormous potential and the quick witted talent that drew millions of listeners. I was addicted and this was before crazy propaganda cable shows.
Of course so many of the AA talent went on to bigger and better things but it's fantastic to see these talented and intelligent people at PSA pick up the mantle and run with it. I can't wait for each week to come when the new one comes out on long car rides. Crooked is the polar opposite of these guys.
1
NPR is liberal talk radio.
It's gotten a little cloying lately...the All Things Considered hosts are wearing their sympathies on their sleeves.
I think the difference between conservative media and liberal media is that conservatives need their anger to constantly be stoked, their sense of victimization to always be validated.
Liberals, or non-conservatives, actually just want to learn new things or hear about new books and music.
2
The difference is that lefties have a baseline of empathy that the right wing can’t even perceive. Reading the Op Ed today that Maureen Dowd’s brother wrote confirms every awful stereotype you’ve ever conjured about “them”. Their callous dismissal of anyone who needs help is so jarring to those of us who’d like the world to be a better place that it’s almost impossible to take them seriously. It seems like an act designed to impress the guys around the pool table.
The other difference is that lefties care about data and science. I love the name Crooked Media because it’s thumbing our noses at the bullies who’d like to be able to label us. We know exactly what we are. And we know exactly what you are, too. And guess what : we are better. I’m ok with being called an elitist. Elite athletes are better. “Elite” simply means that you’ve excelled.
And perhaps the most important difference is that they’re not taking anyone’s money. Except advertisers. And if I were an advertiser, I’d place ads with them, because their audience is actually listening and not just being spoon fed or brainwashed like they are at Info Wars or Fox and Friends.
3
[[in the age of Trump,]]
Zimbabwe had a president for 37 years...you could say "in the age of Mugabe."
We can be rid of this baboon Trump in the next election. And just as Obama's work could be reversed, the damage being done by Trump can be mitigated or reversed by the next president, who hopefully will not be a deranged narcissist.
2
Yay! A win for the cisgender, straight, white male liberal - what a refreshing change of voice!
2
Lovett is gay. But don't let that get in the way of your pointless division.
2
Taher,
Might I encourage you to check out the entire Crooked Media portfolio? All voices and perspectives are present. All hosts are wise and insightful and informative. And BTW, Lovett is an open and proud gay man.
3
The one and only reason that liberal talk radio has never made it is that liberals are much less capable of tolerating the endless commercials that make these radio shows profitable. Plus, we all already listen to NPR!
1
It sounds like you haven't listened to the podcast.
I’ve been a loyal “friend of the pod” since the podcast launched. Frankly, in those dark days following the election and the inauguration, their pithy combination of outrage and humor kept me sane. Since these guys were former White House staffers, they don’t have the conventional journalistic slant, and it’s fascinating to get an insight into Obama’s tenure in the WH.
1
Randi Rhodes got it, at least when I could get her on radio a decade or so go. Ed Schultz also. Other than they, "liberal" talk radio has largely bean a non-addicting soporific. Most purveyors simply don't seem to understand entertainment, which is what talk radio is all about. Right, Left, UFOs, are all the same in that sense.
1
I'm thankful for any indication that the current younger generation is showing signs of leadership and commitment to the causes of social justice, equality and political relevance. All generations must work together to achieve these core goals, despite our differences in perspective. Rest assured, we Baby Boomers also thought we had all the answers, but we were only half right. You can learn from us. Lesson number one: your adversaries will do absolutely anything to advance their misguided point of view and control the nation. Lesson number two: moral courage and superior intellect will ultimately prevail over Lesson number one. Never give up.
4
I didnt watch TV for 5 years until I watched cable news to follow the 2016 presidential election. I was appalled and disgusted by the pettiness and pure stupidity on both the liberal and conservative sides. I felt like there was no sane mind to turn to; it felt very lonely and scary especially after Trump won. I feel really grateful for finding Pod Saves America. I don’t think I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to reasonable people. Luckily they’re also funny.
2
A group of guys who ALL worked for Obama, who had enough clout to get him on their show, and who have the capital to host multiple podcasts, hire presumably expensive people from well-known television stations? No thanks. The whole thing reeks of elite, establishment Democrats. Normal, working people don‘t get to work in the White House (unless they’re cleaning staff). The children of wealthy elites do, and the children of wealthy elites cannot provide a true and honest interpretation of the American situation: politically, culturally or economically. Heck, the very fact that they are getting effusive praise in this newspaper is cause enough for suspicion!
For all their flaws I’ll stick with the Humanist Report and Jimmy Dore. They make mistakes, and don’t have any of the ‘access’ the ‘Pod’ guys might have.....but at least I can rely on them to be honest, and to focus on IDEAS and policies....not on parties.
5
It sounds like you have not listened to the podcast.
2
I'm pretty sure Lovett was an aspiring comedian who got his introduction at the White House by winning an essay contest. He got a permanent job there because he's an amazing writer. I don't think he fits your stereotype.
Chapo Trap House are $80K/month on small donations talking about the failures of capitalism, liberalism, and media, yet all NYTimes wants to talk about are these Obama-era drop-outs.
Liberalism is failing. These feeble attempts to try and resurrect it will fail time and time again. The sooner we realize that the sooner we can get to the work of actually effecting our lives rather than reaeating "Drumpf is bad" into the abyss. The sooner we can get to actually building a left in this country, not liberalism which continuously allows the right to win.
4
Another chapter in the overclass' project to label centrist, corporate Democrat boilerplate as "the left." Limiting solutions the old fashioned way, narrowing the range of acceptable discourse.
These guys are awesome. Started listening a few months ago and have been hooked. It’s refreshing how openly partisan they are, the fact they are called Crooked Media. Gotta love it.
1
The Crooked Media “empire” (as they so lovingly reference it) has been a lifeline to sanity over the past year. Their mix of editorial commentary, policy dissection, earnest analysis, humility and candor, and humorous anecdotes have energized our household during a time that has - quite honestly - felt surreal, at best. Their constant check of “this is not normal,” balanced with “but here’s what you can do about it,” has helped us direct our frustration and disbelief.
I will concede, though, that their progression hasn’t been flawless. The absence of a female perspective was glaring, at first. They’ve done well with incorporating guests to fill this void (props to Lovett’s inclusion of female comedians on his show), as well as the expansion of shows with female hosts (thank you, Ana Marie Cox). However, these areas of critique are minor in comparison to the void that they are filling and the service that they are providing.
If nothing else, listen to the Pod for the ads. I mean, those alone are enough to make even the most cynical crack a smile
5
I've listened to most of these podcasts at least once. The only one that I return to every day is the "Daily" from the NYT, where I get a nuanced understanding of news events that I don't find in print journalism.
Though I've identified myself as "liberal" my whole life, I'm frankly getting tired of the partisan bickering. Michael Barbaro seems to have the "voice" that can transcend the tribal squaring off of political pundits.
Liberals think podcasts that only they listen to will save them. Liberals believe that they can consume their way out of their problems. Liberals believe represent America.
The media opportunities that actually reach people are Twitter, YouTube, and similar social media platforms. Liberals will always fail on these platforms because liberalism is dying. While Crooked Media are making bank, the hearts and minds of young Americans are being infected by much more effective ideologies, mainly the far-right, but also figures are beginning to creep up and define something further to the left of liberalism.
I am excited for a future where liberals are no longer relevant in our discourse. I am excited for a real left in this country to rise up and actually challenge the right rather than bow to neoliberalism. They will holler and stamper as their irrelevant ideology dwindles away, but the world will hopefully, one day, move on.
1
"The foundation of every State is the education of its Youth." We are a young country and we need these young people to save us all. "Teach your parents well."
2
These guys are smart, funny and passionate. They convinced me to make my first ever political donation to Doug Jones by explaining in very clear terms just how important that race is. Their show provides me with hope, laughter and most importantly, FACTS, in this crazy upsidedown world. Thank you guys!
16
It's all well and good to listen to others, but you will find that if you disconnect from electronics for a time, you will experience thoughtful reflection and personal insight. You want to be leaders, not followers, and that takes a good listener with good thoughtful time to analyze what you have heard.
42
A resounding yes - I listen to all of their podcasts as I reno a house. Even their commercials are irreverent and entertaining!
3
The Crooked crew is fun, funny, smart, informed, irreverent and more. Even the commercials are hilarious. All of the Crooked Casts are at the top of my listening list.
2
Great stuff, a healthy pushback, democracy IS an everyday activity, the default is we get (got) "aliens" running things and telling us what to yell about.
The article fails to mention grass roots liberal radio, such as Arnie Arnesen on WNHN in Concord NH, which is also broadcast on Pacifica stations in Houston. There is more going on than meets the eye.
1
I listen to 5 different Crooked Media podcasts to and from work 5 days a week. Democracy, education and organizing in action.
3
Most Liberals think they have all the answers and (a) there's no need to listen to anybody else, think most Americans are "deplorables", or (c) they are better than anybody else and, for instance, are free to abuse women.
I guess that "Crooked" is a good word for it. So, maybe these guys will do okay.
7
Wrong, wrong and wrong.
Good to read about these guys but also happy to watch Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Samantha Bee, Trevor Noah and John Oliver who regularly eviscerate Trump’s nonsense to huge audiences. And thank you Rachel and Lawrence and Joy and the gang at MSNBC and writers like Charles Blow at the NYT and the great reporters around the country who keep exposing the corruption and criminality of the Trump family. And Godspeed Robert Mueller.
2
Glad to know about you guys.....real people doing real work for good reasons!
You are not telling the whole story:
1- Air America was blacklisted for advertising- a death sentence for a commercial broadcast enterprise.
Here is the memo of some 90 outfits that blacklisted Air America- so much for not being partisan, huh?
http://www.fair.org/images/ABCmemo.pdf
If the NYT failed because of a blacklist of advertisers, would you condemn newspapers?
2- Thom Hartmann has a M-F program that runs on both Commercial and non-commercial stations as well as on Free Speech TV. This program is in it's 14th year and is profitable. His weekly cume is higher than these guys.
3- The then Clear Channel (now iHeartMedia, Inc) took profitable Progressive stations off the air in various markets - including San Francisco (KKGN- now KNEW), Los Angeles (KTLK- now KEIB) and Portland (KPOJ) and replaced them with Sports Radio or more Conservative talk. The company's leadership is well known to bias to the Republican side.
4- Online Streaming & Progressive Voices. Terrestrial radio is largely dead. Most of us who do not want 24/7/365 Republican talking points listen online in the form of streaming stations, podcasts or aggregators like Progressive Voices- which has apps to allow you to stream anywhere on many devices. A video Channel called Free Speech TV also runs a video channel with video streams of many progressive programs. You might also check out The Young Turks they get over 200 million views on YouTube every month
Source (Digiday):
https://goo.gl/81uYSF
1
I'll know they've succeeded if random people come out of nowhere and start accusing them of sexual harassment.
Lets not forget these boys won't bite the hand that feeds. They're former White House insiders. Do they have what it takes to bury 3rd way Dems? Is this
about the net worth of their media company, or actually promoting the best outcomes for middle class Americans? One thing I can't really stand about Lefty podcasts, and I'll include the Chapo Trap House/DSA ilk in this group too... They never have evolving viewpoints. Go ahead, say you've been wrong about something. I get that millenials are upset and motivated and they should be. I just have no confidence they understand economic nationalism and why its crucial to implement that message above all else into the Democratic party... I personally have given up.
5
I haven't heard this podcast yet, but it sounds fun, and I wish the team the best. But, I think it's a mistake to label it a successful answer to conservative talk radio.
Tailoring a show to cater to people who would already like it, is good business, but not good for America. If liberals want more Americans to hear their message, the so-called "arms race" in talk radio is exactly what's needed. "Antagonistic talk" might not be what liberals want to hear, but it can be entertaining, and the content of its message can, quite literally, be anything! For a lot of disenchanted Americans, what resonates is exactly that edgy delivery. As this article points out, past attempts at liberal radio shows have failed. I just hope folks don't stop trying, and that investors don't stop promoting the long term effort to communicate with "everyone".
These guys are smart, well-informed, and funny. However, I prefer Thom Hartmann. He has a streaming radio and video show live Monday thru Friday 12-3 pm. He is fantastic: brilliant, very well read, articulately outraged at what the current regime is doing to America. Even when he hosts a conservative pundit for an exchange of views he manages to stay sincerely cordial while squelching any alternate facts or questionable logic from the guest. He gives me hope for the future of progressivism.
2
I️ listened for awhile,but it got old. While I️ always found myself nodding in agreement with the hosts, the problem is that it felt like shouting into the wind, and meanwhile nothing politically ever changed.
2
These fellows must be too young to remember that Limbaugh started out the same way: skewering the MSM and being funny and "jaunty" at the same time.
1
Republicans are no longer an ideology that has a party. It is now firmly a dysfunctional, internecine, cult of "know nothing, hate everything and everyone." It is inseparable from the vitriol of religious dogma, crackpot economic theories, conspiracy theories, racial fear insecurity and anxiety - among other things. The moral majority has won, they call themselves the values voters. Like another medieval religion, republican reform has meant a giant leap backward (to when it was great), i.e., pre-civil rights America, or if possible, pre-civil war.
The center and left cannot demagogue as redress and find similar traction. They cannot yin this yang. The desire to create a separate cult is no less insidious. Nor practical. The American centrist is now a 'cognitive' (a bad word among the yahoo right at this time). They are unresponsive to leftist shrills. Air America was destined to fail, as was Al Gore's foray into liberal commentary.
The clear challenge to Pod Save America is fostering engagement among the disengaged. Among them, the Millennials are exhibiting attention spans of fleas, clinical level of addition to cell phones, self-absorption and narcissism.
This is a tough audience. Hence, unless Pod Save America is ridiculously creative and innovative (in ways current media not), traction among the center and disengaged is a low probability outcome.
I wish them well.
Kalidan
1
Love the Pod Save America podcast. It explains the issues, and the unapologetic liberal viewpoint is so refreshing. I hadn't really thought about how the false balance that mainstream media tries to offer is often just giving space to shoddy ideas, but it's true. For truly thoughtful balance between Left and Right ideas, I recommend the Pantsuit Politics podcast. Those women offer nuanced discussions about how policy choices should reflect the choices on how we want to live and what kind of society we want to build.
1
Not as successful as Ben Shapiro.
See elsewhere in the NYT for how the "Gladiator" is showing the way to win the hearts of young Americans.
These guys need to be more transparent about their business model and cash flow. I used to listen faithfully to Pod Save America but grew tired of the brand building masquerading as altruism, not to mention the ads. If listeners knew what was paid content (the guests?) and what was not and what all the ad revenue was funding, perhaps people like me would feel more comfortable supporting these guys.
1
The Jacobin podcasts are all superior to this bourgeois liberal claptrap.
1
Their hip “craft-beer-bar-bull-session vibe” won’t appeal much outside the Birkenstock-clad grad student set and the Upper West Side organic food types.
The 68% of American adults over 25 who don’t have a college degree - the deplorables - won’t be attracted. Thus this podcast is doomed to be a tiny niche.
1
They're open about this. The shows aren't necessarily about winning over hardcore trumpers. It's about reassuring the majority of Americans that "Yes, this all actually as crazy as you think. And more importantly, here's what you can do about it."
And frankly, it's refreshing for a media company to not be catering to "the deplorables" in Rusttown, OH these days.
You need to tune in to "The Roundtable" on WAMC in Albany every weekday morning from 9:10-10:30. They bring in commentators of all views and have quite interesting discussions. I plan my day around it. I'm a card-carrying liberal. Have been since the 1960s. Will be until the day I die.
They are fantastic. Favreau, Vietor, and Lovett have a great chemistry. Crooked Media also avoids the “bro” voice with Pod Save the People and With Friends Like These.
Where the comparison fails is that this is news with a viewpoint, but still factually-based. It’s not comparable to the fear-mongering of the supplement peddlers on the right.
Pod Save America is an easy success because they're Progressive not Liberal. They're not Democrats — they're the future.
2
Crooked Media podcasts are great - a light in the darkness. Take it from me, just turned 67 and I oughta know a thing or two.
They bring a wide range of commenters, guests and expertise to their conversations, lots of humor, and have offered good practical ideas for people who are actively trying to keep our republic alive and well.
Thank you crooked ones.
2
For educated, liberal Americans to engage in the irrational and emotional discourse of talk radio is a fundamental contradiction. The idea of creating a liberal version of Limbaugh is like the idea of creating a medical school that teaches that babies grow in cabbages - a factual impossibility. Since the majority of the US population in uneducated and unenlightened, the likes of Limbaugh and Trump will always have a commanding advantage. This is an advantage that cannot be replicated by people endowed with reason and critical thinking simply because "emulating" Limbaugh or Trump negates reason and critical thinking. In the long run, it is reasonable to expect that liberal, educated people will find living conditions in the US increasingly intolerable and will seek to emigrate. The same forces that brought intelligent, open-minded people to the US are now beckoning from distant shores.
1
It sounds like you haven't listened to any of the Crooked Media podcasts. You might be pleasantly surprised.
What a week! And we're back!
I am a dear Friend of the Pod - love these guys. But my heart belongs to Jon Lovett. His podcast, Lovett or Leave It, is the freshest, most interesting and funniest pod around.
Wishing Crooked Media lots of success, keep up the great work guys!
4
Immediately heard the music when I started reading this.
Just now subscribed, never heard of these guys before, but they have to be better than most of NPR political fare. Listening to someone tell the truth might even help me get to sleep at night.
1
Americans do not have the ability to debate or reason. They are smug in their selective trenches and no matter how many intelligible facts are offered there is no convincing any of them to think differently. Americans' inability to listen and reason leads to shouting and screaming matches- nothing is accomplished or solved.
Last year, 47,055 PEOPLE died from drug opiate overdoses -- Instead of people, if these figures were the FAMILY DOG due to a preservative in dog food- the CEO of Purina would have been tarred and feathered by now.
We are desensitized to the real tragedies affecting this nation and neither party is ready or equipped to address any of them. Let these guys talk on their pod cast all day- their fans will listen- but the people who need to hear their messages won't.
Essentially it's game over for us as a society and nation. Our priorities are sideways and skewed.
8
Actually the Sept 12, 2017 podcast deals with the opioid crisis. What’s so great about this podcast is that it not only talks about politics but also important social issues (not really addressed in this article). Go listen to this podcast and you might be pleasantly surprised.
1
I haven't read the article yet, but I've been listening to every podcast that comes out for the past couple of months, and tell everyone about them.
They are smart, funny, self effacing and informative.
1
Us liberals/progressives don't get our news like conservatives.
The folks on the political right stay tuned in to conservative talk radio (home, cars and workplaces) by day and keep their televisions tuned to FOX News by night. In other words, they don't get real news at all, they get talking points. They do this whether they're actually listening/viewing or not so it skews the ratings upward.
Liberals don't need to stayed plugged in to know what to think and what to say on a daily basis, we reach our own conclusions based on input from multiple sources on-line, in print, or word of mouth. If you find yourself in a liberal's Prius or Subaru the radio will most likely be tuned to NPR. Other than watching The Newshour or other programs offered on PBS, us libs mostly use our televisions to stream Netflix and/or Amazon.
1
I've been a regular Pod Save America for the last few months, and I've got to say, these guys are really smart and funny, and well worth checking out. The other two essentials in my online media diet are the Professional Left podcast, an excellent and bitingly funny weekly roundup of poltics and the media, and Heather Parton's "Digby" blog.
2
Love the crooked media guys! I’m actually sad when the pod ends...these guys are my morning driving companions. Keep the podcasts coming!
1
Liberal talk shows sound patronizing. Conservative talk shows sound outraged. That makes all the difference in the world as far as entertainment values go. Even though I trust Alex Jones about as far as I can throw him, I still listen to his show for the laughs.
9
PSA appeals to its followers beyond educational background or deep specialty expertise. PSA is simply does not indulge in running with lies and propaganda to manipulate audiences and themselves. Those liberals don't have all the answers, they just engage more in probative thinking. They are not trying to perfect their spinmeister skills.
1
Pod Save America is fantastic, or as my wife and I call them “the boys”. Hilarious jokesters, former government staffers who understand how the process works, astute Democrstic Party strategists, stalwart Trump skeptics, often advising listeners on how to organize and contribute. I just can’t say enough good things about their show.
Their expanding Crooked Media podcast network also brings a lot of diversity to the table including Black Lives Matter activist Deray McKesson, and former MTV writer Anna Marie Cox. They are becoming a force to be reckoned with. Undemanding Fox News viewers will soon be quaking in their boots.
3
What a week!
I am a true Friend of the Pod! I listen avidly to Pod Save America and I do not miss an episode of Lovett or Leave It (my favorite podcast). Jon, Jon, Tommy and Dan are brilliant and are geniuses at making current events understandable and interesting to young people.
Keep up the good work guys!
4
Friend of the pod here. These guys have kept me sane this last year and are my biggest hope for the future of this country. I really hope members of the DNC are listening.
4
I love, love, love this family o'pods: Pod Save America, Lovett or Leaveit, Pod Save the World, Pod Save the People, With Friends Like These and Majority 54. I listen to all of their shows. Even tiresome conversation (like deep dives into the health bill) becomes interesting with the Pod Daddies (Jon, Jon, Tommy). AND, pundit is an angel.
1
Pod Save America is like taking my three smartest friends, infusing them with both practical experience, the idealism of the Obama 08 campaign and about 50 IQ points, and then sitting in a room and hashing out events. It's a balm on my dried and cracked belief in basic decency.
125
I have been an avid Crooked Media listener for month. These guys, as well as Ana Marie Cox, give me hope. They also make me laugh which helps me as I try to live through the era of Trump. If you are not listening to Crooked Media podcasts you must start now!
1
Not one mention of Chapo Trap house podcast? Or is that too left for NYT and its readers?
4
The problem with a liberal talk show is that liberals are all over the spectrum on how to solve the problems facing our nation. Trump voters on the other hand are unified by one thing – their hatred of liberals. Liberals debate about how to make things better. Trump conservatives just want to burn down everything that the progressive movement has fought for over the past 40 years.
3
I'm old enough to be these guys' mother, and I don't miss a podcast. They bring us the perfect mix of brains, knowledge, and irreverence. They help me survive an otherwise awful time.
1
I can't wait for a new episode of the long running 'Professional Left' podcast every Friday afternoon. Husband and wife political savants Driftglass and Bluegal broadcast from an Illinois cornfield...
1
I think we have next week's Chapo Reading Series. Take the rest of the week off.
1
"...Favreau asked the crowd: “Is everyone registered to vote?...”
traditionally, voices in one's head were expressed at the ballot box or in the voting booth, not in podcasts. democracy is only as good as the people motivated enough to vote. talking and writing do not really matter, unless they motivate people to vote or to otherwise act.
...
“I think that when you have a president gaslighting an entire nation,” Vietor says...
i wonder too about the voices in red america's head. democracy is only as good as the people motivated enough to vote. talking and writing (of candidates and elected officials) do not really matter, unless they motivate people to vote or to otherwise act.
but if people were angry in 2016, they can become angry again in 2018 and 2020 (at the opposite party).
...
“If there is one way that I would sum up what the 2016 election was on cable news,” Lovett says, “it was world-class journalists interviewing morons.”
squeaky wheels get the grease (or attention), and the morons are almost surely aware of this. (so maybe they are not really morons.) journalists should be aware of this too. above all, the electorate should be aware of this.
1
PSA has seen a lot of quick success because of the names and funding behind it. It's good and I'm glad it exists. If you like PSA, there are others worth searching for outside the beltway the have more to offer. There are a number of great progressive podcast that have been out there doing impressive work for years now. The first one that come to mind is the the Professional Left Podcast. proleftpod.com
1
Conservative talk radio is built on the energy of the base as they took over their party. Similar to Chapo Trap House on the Left today. This podcast is just by and for people connected to a fading status quo.
2
These guys help me retain my sanity, twice weekly. Just sayin.
1
A good article - but rather dated as the reporter seems to have done this interview in summer - and we are almost in winter.
In the alt world of Trump, a day is almost like a year.
Two things.
In one paragraph, it says Obama's speech writer worked 8 years. Then later, it says he checked out after first term.
Which is true?
And regarding 2016 election coverage on tv, mr. Lovett is quoted as saying (& I am paraphrasing) "it was watching a bunch of world class journalists interviewing a bunch of morons." Or something like that.
I beg to differ.
"It was a bunch of world class morons interviewing a bunch of journalists."
Jon Favreau started working as Obama's speech writer during his Senatorial campaign. That is how he built up eight years, even though he left in Obama's second term.
1
Pundit is an angel!!!
FOTP here, and yes, it's absolutely wonderful learning from and laughing a bit with these gentlemen. Even their theme music is helpful: When they did live tour eps and the music comes on and the audiences are cheering I just felt like, yeah, we're going to make it through 45's reign of error. We can do this.
1
"Mainstream" media is liberal -- with the bonus of pretending it's nonpartisan -- so what's the point of duplicating it?
2
EXACTLY. The left already has NPR...PBS...ABC, MSNBC, CBS.
That's not even counting liberal newspapers and magazines.
How much more dominance do they actually need?
Thank goodness for Pod Save America. It gives me some hope that all is not lost
1
Like most new shows, it was fratboy funny and edgy at first, but they got scared when it developed an audience. Now it sounds like an audio Daily Kos. Liberals want more news, less opinion. They want to be equipped with facts they can fling. God bless NPR and The Federal Register.
Sorry Just cannot forgive Bill Kristol for his relentless drum beating of the Iraq war. It was not necessary. He misled us. And hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives livelihood families property. Ancient civilizations lay in ruins. Kristol has a distorted vision of the world, because of his pro Israel stance and viewing everything from a tiny country's perspective in a geopolitical area that has multiple players.
Very very sad tragic horrible and pathetic, generations to come will pay for this mistake, are already..
1
This baby boomer found these guys summer of 2016 and I haven’t stopped listening. Ok, Lovett?
4
So ... the left has one (1). And the right still has numerous voices, of whom Hannity and Limbaugh are only the most recognizable -- until O'Reilly lands somewhere and his immense self-regard again descends on the nation.
The reason is that the right responds more naturally to rousers of rabble than the left. That's a heck of a handicap under which to operate, and not one that finding additional rabble-rousers likely will effectively counter.
A word of advice, though. Soon enough, Al Franken may be in the wind again and looking for somewhere to land. He had his shot with Air America and crashed and burned. Stick with the newbies with recognizable last names.
8
Richard, there are a lot of young men and women out there who think clearly, write well and speak with passion. It's Thanksgiving weekend and that's a lot to be thankful for.
Thom Hartmann
Norman Goldman
Stephanie Miller
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Bill Press
Leslie Marshall
Mike Papantonia
Those are just a few of the national heavyweights who show up on our local progressive radio station in Asheville
Remember the old joke about alcoholics? (how do you know when an alcoholic his lying? his lips are moving)
How do you know when Richard is wrong/exaggerating/lying? His fingers are typing.
The right's media personalities function as the attack dogs for huge, deep pocket and reactionary/conservative corporations like Fox, iHeart Media, etc. Corporate America has always had a strong interest in brainwashing the public to accept their various self serving narratives. This is a different gestalt than Pod Save America...
I'm not sure if they or any of their guests have really registered with the American people yet. I wish them luck getting the most popular politician in America on their show, Bernie Sanders.
53
?? You clearly don't listen to the show?? Also they warn against the cult of personality. Perhaps you should heed their warnings
Yes - exactly. They go out of their way to avoid discussing the popularity of Bernie Sanders, and the progressive movement in general. It’s disappointing and has turned me off a good bit.
1
Hope you're enjoying life back there in Summer 2016. Let us know when you're ready to come join the rest of us.
1
Nice article.
Great point about why Air America-style and right-wing media clones don't work for liberal audiences.
Wise of "The Three Founders" or "Pod-Fathers" (whatever Favreau, Lovett and Vietor decide to call themselves) to move away from a "boys only club" staff with Crooked Media seeking the talent to be found among non-male, non-white employee pools.
Like the picture of Pundit, the goldendoodle having a seat at the table and the mic.
67
Pod Save the People
1
These guys are fantastic. They are different from the likes of fox news because they actually read real newspapers. They mention the times and the post. They read the New Yorker. They read the horrible bill that Republicans are trying to push through. It's no wonder that liberals like listening to them. It really shows the education and empathy gap we have with the other side.
447
Conservatives have been very clever with their media use and liberals have not been. Fox "News" and Repub media stars, Limbaugh, Coulter, etc, have kept a whole swath of America growing ever more conservative while liberals have scrambled around trying to figure out how to respond. Liberal audiences are different than conservative. You can't just mimic their shows, throwing in progressive thoughts with conservative-type rants. Here are my biased views: liberals won't go for the ends-justifies-the-means game in the same way conservatives do; truth DOES matter; a smart argument is better than a hate-filled rant; liberals are more compassionate, so appeal to that compassion (studies actually show this to be true—conservatives are less able to put themselves in another's shoes). Appealing to emotion is good, but it has to be honest, not sensational like the conservative's fear-mongering methods. Fox News is a brainwashing machine that has been incredibly successful. There is no way to respond directly without trying to mimic what they've done, which won't work with progressives. Good luck to these new efforts, Pod Save America; keep it real and keep it smart.
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Conservatives aren`t clever. Conservatives have the advantage that the most of the US population is uneducated and racist, especially in areas advantageous to the electoral college. That gives them a huge advantage over liberals.
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All good reasons to be liberal and proud of it. We must respond with good ideas, not hate or condensation. The most important part is that we must include every American.
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I gather you've never listened to Pacifica Radio, or been anywhere near junior college faculty represented by a bargaining unit. I'll grant you that conservatives don't wish to wear your shoes, however, they'd prefer you wear theirs. We all are far too steeped in emotion and Rush has no monopoly on fear mongering.
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I'm really happy Crooked Media is doing well. I urge all of their listeners and your readers to listen to the smart quality podcasts that have been at the forefront of the movement since the Bush Administration, namely The Professional Left podcast as well as The Bob Cesca Show. You will not be disappointed.
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The success of Crooked Media appears to be a confluence of multiple factors, to name a few: the results of the 2016 election, the political atmosphere therafter, the White House credentials of the hosts, the comedic and effervescent nature of the dialogue, and the podcast medium itself. Without any one of these, the enormity of their success would be severely diminished.
For many, the behavior of the United States government is cause for despair. Pod Save America is not only a loud voice insisting that hope is not forlorn, but also looks like it will become an incredibly powerful agent for driving the left's eventual counterpunch.
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Crooked Media is great and fills a lot of holes in the liberal landscape. But there are also other great leftist podcasts out there such as THE PROFESSIONAL LEFT. The hosts are a husband and wife who live in Illinois and offer a smart, biting and humorous look at how media in this country is corporatized and leans heavily towards conservative interests. I work alone and consume podcasts on a daily basis, and the PROFESSIONAL LEFT is, by leaps and bounds, my favorite podcast
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There must be something for you here, too.
I second that recommendation! I look forward to The Professional Left show every week.
Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a listen.
I live beyond the ocean, but am an avid listener of most of their podcasts nonetheless. The Crooked folks keep me sane during what’s a deeply stressful time in world politics. Among the hosts, I particularly cherish the level-headed and earnest Tommy Vietor.
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Friend of the pod since the beginning. If you only listen to one podcast make it theirs. They are leading the way out of this madness, I only hope there’s time to save the country before Trump & followers push us off the cliff into climate destruction, economic disaster and civil war.
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It is probably already too late, and getting later every day.
The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal is my personal favorite. Real people with real lives and honest well thought out opinions about how this old democracy thingy is working and how it should be working. Well worth a listen.
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This isn’t even democracy. It is the mst blatantly fraudulent allocation of franchise on Earth.
Besides Pod Save America, Professional Left is a must-listen for me too. Also, Best of the Left is a great podcast, an aggregator of other podcasts, each one on a particular issue. I've learned a lot from all of these!
Last November, my world turned upside down. Then I found these guys and in listening to them, found comfort in knowing my world view was still shared by smart, contemplative people. I love these podcasts and have converted every single person I have shared them with into die-hard Crooked Media fans. Lovett, I'm a total fan girl. Your rants are insightful and brilliant and necessary. Honestly, all the podcasts under the Crooked Media umbrella are as thought-provoking as they are thoughtful. Thank you all for making this reign of terror tolerable.
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Glad you find it tolerable. Every new day of Trump enablement looks another day closer to renewed covil war to me.
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Right there with you, Tokyo! I adore them for that exact reason.
If your "world was turned upside down" and "all your friends agree with you"....you are living in a dangerously elite, ivory tower bubble with only people "just like yourself.
That is, in fact, why your side lost.
Thank you, boys (and girls). We only survive by keeping our wits about us. Pun fully intended.
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With a dad that listens to Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talk show hosts religiously, I know that one of his favorite aspects of their style of show is that people can call in live and debate the issues right then and there. He especially loves that liberals will sometimes call in and get their ideas shot down. He questions liberal ideas if they can't be debated in the same way in front of an audience. I think a strong opponent to conservative talk shows would incorporate this into this their shows, or else we're just providing a softer, different alternative.
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I absolutely agree about the "call in " function of conservative radio. On the local level, I call it "Buddy Radio" because is reinforces the notion of "we are the champions". Locally, the talk radio "hosts" sponsor all kinds of "get to getters" to fund local charities and support their sponsors. They also always parrot what the "big guys" are saying - so they are reinforcing right wing talking points. Liberals can not even get on most local talk shows. I am in the "older" demographic. I don't even know what a pod cast is. I emphatically support what is being done..I wish them well. But the elephant remains in the room.
How would Limbaugh's listeners know whether what went on air was representative of who called in or whether the callers weren't paid actors?
If I were running a radio show meant to appeal to one side or the other, I'd do one of two things - either screen the callers on my opponent's side very agressively and select the ones that I believed would make their points badly, or have paid actors call in with a script to be shot down by the host.
Conservatives seem to find glee in seeing us educated elites bested by their pugnacious hosts. I don’t think that will translate to a liberal audience. There’s no sport in that.
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My standby favorite progressive political podcast is The Professional Left with Driftglass and Bluegal. They keep me sane! I listen to David Waldman on DailyKos Radio on my morning bike ride every day and Pod Save America when they publish. Great thanks to all of them for everything they do!
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I love Pod Save America. I listen to it while I'm making dinner or cleaning the house. Knowing brilliant funny and YOUNG guys like this once had a lot of power in the White House gives me hope it can happen one day again.
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Great piece about a great phenomenon, but here’s an amplification. Lovett is not “comic relief.” He’s seriously spontaneously witty, yes, but he’s also the moral poet, the dude whose outraged riffs are original, adept and soulful. I learn from all these guys, and laugh with all of them, but Lovett makes me cry.
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Plus one!
This exactly. Lovett is the moral center and poet ,love his riffs
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these guys have changed how I view politics. so happy for them.
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This has been said many times before, but television news is a dying medium. Young professionals (like me) have cut the cord years ago and rely on social media and podcasts for most of our up-to-date news and analysis (with the occasionall NYT and WAPO subscription thrown in). Crooked Media has tapped into both a growing anger at the Trump administration, but also an incredible frustration amongst young people that nobody is listening to us. We matter, we have opinions and pay taxes, and deserve our fair share of the American dream; instead, we are constantly demonized and bullied by the Greatest Generation. We aren't entitled, whiny millenials - we have been beaten down by financial crises, housing crises, cuts in education and healthcare funding, etc.
Crooked Media, Slate, and Vox speak for us, unapologetically. And while I may not agree with everything they say, I am grateful that our voices are starting to make a difference.
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What makes Katya think old professionals don't feel the same as she? We oldsters have been beaten down by lost jobs, we have been robbed by Wall Street of our retirement savings, we've lost our homes to the great god of unfettered capitalism. Powerlessly, we watch as rich white men in Congress decide whether or not we "deserve" Medicare and Social Security for which we have been paying for our entire working lives. Powerlessly we watch presidents send our sons and daughters off to fabricated wars either to kill or be killed or both. We hang our heads in ignominy recognizing we never did nearly enough to destroy the vicious evil suddenly gushing from every crack and cranny of the White House, Congress, the right wing media, and that swath of America that wallows in the rot of Pence-Trumpism.
Yeah, we listen to Crooked Media and The Professional Left too. We are your allies and what we offer to you is a bible of mistakes, errors, omissions, and failures. Learn from us. But don't repeat after us.
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Just a tiny point. The "Greatest Generation' would be people over 85yo or so. I think you mean Boomers, like me, who were born after WWII and are more likely your parents or if you are a 20 something maybe your grands.
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Insights and humor from Crooked Media are getting me through the surreal Trump administration. When I don’t know how to focus my anger and confusion, they give me concrete ways to do something.
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My 75 year old mother works full time and still somehow manages to listen to every show before I do. I guess we know who’s getting merch for Christmas. Pod Literally Will Save America.
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You have a very cool mum.
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Jon Favreau is a Massachusetts native, and I first heard about him when he became Obama's speechwriter. I have been listening to Pod Save America for several months, and I just love these guys! I especially love the interviews with politicians. Jon is always asking them: what can people do? It's very instructive for young people (I'm 64) and will help get out the vote in 2018.
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Absolutely love all of these pods and the serious, thoughtful, activist yet entertaining way that the pods are developed and delivered. Also applaud the expansion and new faces that have joined the Crooked Media team. I’ve been a listener since Keepin’ It 1600 days and aftet reading this article, I finally broke down and bought some Pod Save the People and Pod Save America merch.
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Some free tips for liberal media. Keep it simple. Focus on issues with broad, instinctive, emotional appeal (economy, big-E Environment, mainstream women's rights, food and consumer safety, net neutrality, etc). Ignore fringe issues e.g. identity politics. Hire reporters who speak like normal Americans with pronounceable names. Not sure when triple-hyphenated names, vocal fry, speech defects and quirky vocal style became a requirement for liberal broadcasters but it is the reason this liberal no longer listens to NPR or TAL.
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Ive almost entirely bailed on NPR in 2017 due to the cringe inducing vocal fry contributors and the naive, elite "liberal" cliches. It's relentlessly emotionally manipulative about race, gender, and immigration.
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@endofempire:
Rather shallow reasons to not listen to valuable content which could motivate people to literally save the planet from the reckless course the Right is inflicting daily.
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There are lots of "normal" Americans with names that challenge the english speaker. Or is one not American if one isn't named Smith? There are lots of "normal" Americans that don't have the midwestern white male voice that is the media standard. There are lots of "normal" Americans for whom identity politics is not a fringe issue - like entire swaths of the population concerned about civil rights and social justice. BTW women's rights ARE identity politics.
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As those who worked for and campaigned for President Obama find their voices and build their platforms, the man's legacy will only continue to grow. Sometimes the future chooses us, rather than the other way around.
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Thanks, Obama!!
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Very interesting. never heard the podcast yet and will try an episode. I hope they include Progressive voices. If its all "Centrist," or the Third Way type stuff it will be another "Blue voice" I'll ignore. Its one reason why I left the Democratic Party and became an Independent w/o anyone but Bernie to support.
Either they, the Democratic Party and this show decide they speak to the rest of us or a "wanna be GOP lite." if the latter, then good luck to them but I will not be part of their audience.
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A lot of opinions for someone who hasn’t even listened to The Pod....
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Unfortunately, it’s largely centrist. The hosts are extremely centrist. They have had Ellison on a couple of times, but they were huge cheerleaders for Perez to lead the DNC.
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And people like you are why I joined the Democratic party.
I am a dedicated listener. Perfect company on my daily run right after I listen to The Daily. My only complaint is that the podcasts aren’t longer, they end before my run ends. Keep them coming.
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I love Pod Save America. It has saved my sanity during the dark times of 2017. Thank God for them.
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"Pod Save America" sounds very promising and fresh. As long as its founders don't slip into a conventional cynicism or unsavory advertising practices, the young team should remain successful and creative even when the Democrats come back into power.
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Actually their ads are arguably the best part of their podcasts. They are practically reinventing the form.
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I live in a red district of a red state, my first podcast was Keepin' it 1600, and now the guys the emotional equivalent of my favorite cousins. The ones I would be meeting tomorrow night at the bar, to commiserate about our relatives. I can't quite believe that everyone else loves them too; thus they have turned me into a hipster, curse them. I love the dogs, Leo and Pundit; now Lucca. Also partly thanks to them I ran the canvassing campaign for the hopeless candidate for our state house seat. We didn't win, but we helped with the Blue Wave in Virginia!!!
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Thankfully, media platforms and delivery has changed drastically. When Current TV and Air America launched and operated, both were capitalized with eyedroppers (drastically underfunded and scrambling all the time) while Rupert Murdock simultaneously pumped 300 million over three years establishing Fox News on cable. Rush Limbaugh and his imitators on conservative talk radio had an almost 20-year headstart. Radio and television are very expensive to launch and operate. Virtually anyone can start a podcast on a shoestring budget. The barrier to entry is gone with internet media...but you have to be really, really entertaining to draw and maintain an audience.
And these guys are. Hope they can scale this and have the endurance to go the distance. Media companies look easy from the outside. It's the long game that counts. p.s.- helps to have a clown in the White House.
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The plutocrats spend more to screw up the Democratic Party than it can raise to straighten itself out.
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One of the things I think people fail to recognize about the Crooked Media guys is not just the audience but rather the participation in the political process they have activated. Lots of people listen to podcasts it’s quite another to get someone to go out and protest, call a Congress critter, canvas a neighborhood, and phone bank for a candidate out of state. That’s the real power not just to listen to what they are saying but take action. I don’t think it should be lost on anyone that the founders are 41, 37, 36, and 32 placing them late Gen X to firmly in millienial country - a demo that the Democratic Party needs to engage desperately and not just every 4 years. In that respect what Crooked is doing seems to be working.
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And what is it with all the women? I️ listened to the live shows and all the audience participants seemed to be women. I️ asked my 22 year old, and he said "it's because the women who organize." I️ wonder if the young women-participation rate on the live shows is a proxy for the political aftermath of the women's march. I️ know women my age (60) are writing postcards to Alabama Democrats....
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None of them give a rat’s patootie about anyone who isn’t in their district.
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