Radio

“The @bpshow Restroom For Narcissists. Perfect for me.” — Mediaite‘s White House Correspondent Tommy Christopher snaps a picture and jokes about the bathroom he encountered during an early morning appearance on Current TV Bill Press‘s radio/TV program.

This is the bathroom for the entire third floor. A little birdy whose name starts with p and ends with r tells us he stole the “n” from the door. Clearly an act of juvenile delinquency.

Special memo to Tim Graham from NewsBusters: In case you are confused, Peter Ogburn, an FBDC writer, is also the producer for The Bill Press Show. Graham was recently riled when we pointed out his confusion between the words “flatulent” and “highfalutin.” Despite me being the writer, his only point of contention was why didn’t we “disclose” that Ogburn works for Bill Press, a fact we have stated repeatedly on the site. Graham wrote that Press had called Ann Romney‘s  ugly, pricey fish shirt “flatulent” as opposed to what Press really said, which was “highfalutin.” No, Graham, Romney’s shirt did not pass gas.

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

In the latest episode of mediabistroTV’s “My First Big Break,” we hear from radio personality, author, former Fox News host and GBTV founder Glenn Beck. While he has found tremendous success across many different forms of media, did you know that he almost left the business to go to cooking school? If it wasn’t for a heart-to-heart conversation with his father, he may never have found his professional voice.

For more videos, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

When we heard that Julie Mason was leaving her post as White House Reporter for Politico to begin a radio show on SiriusXM’s P.O.T.U.S. channel, we were intrigued. While many reporters love to hear themselves talk, not everyone can hold an audience for three full hours. Not only is she hosting her own radio show, she’s also keeping extra busy this time of year as Secretary for the White House Correspondents’ Association. Mason is known for her bawdy personality and sharp wit, so our preconceived notion was that radio could fit her like a glove.

We caught up with her last week to see just how natural a transition it has been to go from print to radio. Upon entering the impressive SiriusXM complex in the NoMa neighborhood, we were greeted by Patrick Ferrise, Mason’s producer. Immediately we can see the perks of working here. It’s constantly stocked with snacks, drinks and goodies for visiting guests. Ferrise sips a can of seltzer and says he never really drank soda until he started working there.

As we enter the nerve center of the P.O.T.U.S. studios, Mason is deep into prep for her show, “The Press Pool.” In the next room, Tim Farley, the Program Director of the POTUS channel is wrapping up his own show, “The Morning Briefing.” While she continues to prepare, Julie says that she is enjoying the adjustment to radio. However, there was a learning curve. Her bosses told her that she was going to need to learn how to run a soundboard, which is something many talk radio hosts don’t even do anymore. When we’re talking about the soundboard, think of the control center of the Starship Enterprise. A large console of glowing lights and buttons that, for most people, might as well be part of a space shuttle. Mason says, “My employers have been so patient with me as I learn my way around the board (Limbaugh doesn’t run his own board!) and all about radio.”

As Farley wrapped up his show, Mason assumed her position behind the console and kicked off the show. She started by talking to Stephen Dinan, National Politics Correspondent for TWT about the now-dead Buffett rule. And then things started to shake up a bit. POTUS (The President, not the radio station) began talking about increasing oversight on manipulation in the oil market. This is what makes P.O.T.U.S. different from almost any other radio station. They carry it live, uninterrupted. They also carry Jay Carney’s press briefing uninterrupted each day. It’s a task that has given Mason many headaches considering Carney is rarely on time. We asked if this was a constant source of frustration. “Killing that time before the briefing is a radio skill I am learning, along with making a smooth transition when he finally comes to the podium,” she says. “It’s not frustrating, it’s challenging! Which I am sure is Jay’s intention. We are the only news organization that still runs every briefing, which I do think is pretty cool, for all my grumping about it on the air.” After POTUS wraps up, Mason checks in with their in-house Washington Correspondent, Jared Rizzi. It’s time for the briefing.

While the briefing is carried live, Mason gets to step away to decompress. The night before, Bill O’Reilly had called Mason a “loon” because she suggested that he and Glenn Beck may have damaged the Fox News brand. Tim Farley enters to make sure that Mason has seen an email he sent to her suggesting a new logo for her show: A picture of a loon. Mason takes the ribbing in good stride and says she realizes things are different now that she’s in radio. If someone had called her a partisan loon while she was still working in print, she might have gotten in trouble. Now that she’s in radio, her bosses could not have been happier.

The whole time that Mason and I are chatting… Read more

Earlier this month, SiriusXM P.O.T.U.S.’ Tim Farley sat down with former President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton at the fifth annual Clinton Global Initiative University.  CGI U convenes approximately 1,000 students from all over the world with nonprofit leaders, entrepreneurs, and celebrities engaged in efforts to create positive change.

Clinton spoke on the Internet age. At no point does he confirm that his V.P. Al Gore created it. He said he sent two emails while in office (which is probably a good thing all things considered?):

“When I took office the average cell phone weighed five pounds, and there were 50 sites on the entire internet—50! More than that has gotten added since this interview started. And the emails were being subpoenaed by Congress so I sent a grand total of two. Keep in mind that in the beginning, there were no emails in the way that we came to think of them during the 90s. They were inter-office communication, and the first emails were sent over the internet so research physicists and national defense related technologies could share their findings immediately. And to answer to your question is…young people can have a disproportionate role in this space because they are more tech-savvy.”

Details: Farley’s one-on-one interviews with the Clintons will be featured on “Politics Aside: A Conversation with the Clintons,” debuting April 20 at 6 pm ET on SiriusXM P.O.T.U.S. (ch.124). Encore presentations will air on April 21 at 7 am, 1 pm and 7 pm; on April 22 at 1 am and 2 pm; and on April 23 at 3 am.

Farley asks Chelsea the funniest question ever — “Are you enjoying making a difference?” What’s she going to say? ‘Well,  as a matter-of-fact, no, Tim. I hate making a difference.” She replies, “I am, deeply.” At least she kept that monstrosity brief. See Chelsea’s infinitely drier answer… Read more

Ever since FNC’s Greta Van Susteren helped get Louis C.K. scrapped from the Radio & TV Congressional Correspondents’ Dinner, people have been wondering who will replace him. The comedian dropped out last month saying that he “just didn’t want to do it anymore.” Among other things, Van Susteren had called him a “pig” for using “filthy” language about women in his routines.  She cited the C-word.

The new host is Wayne Brady. We noticed that CNN’s Peter Hamby reported it on Twitter this morning.

Brady is known for improvisational comedy. He can also sing, so this ought to be interesting. Of course, not as intriguing as Louis C.K. would have been.

“Fresh off three nights of sold out shows at The Kennedy Center, we are thrilled that Wayne Brady will return to DC as the featured speaker for this year’s RTCA Dinner” commented Jay McMichael of CNN in a subsequent release we received. McMichael is the first photojournalist to chair the black tie event. “This is an evening you’ll want to experience. We’re shaking things up, showcasing the unexpected, and delivering lots of laughs.”

Current TV’s newest star doesn’t swear much, but when he does, “shit” is at the top of his profanity repertoire. The word came flying out of his mouth this morning as he spilled Greek yogurt on his desk during a commercial break. Somehow he let me into his freezing Capitol Hill radio den for three and a half hours to observe.

“Oh shit, oh God,” he said.

Lucky for Bill Press, his new employer, Current TV, which is now simulcasting his morning radio show, has an eight-second delay if it ever happens while on air. This morning the network ran his radio program for the first time. The upshot: More exposure for his show with a budding network; brand new viewers who call in from around the nation from places like York, Pa. and Hollywood, Calif. The downside: “MSNBC hasn’t called in three weeks,” said Press, noting that the network that most frequently invited him on as a guest won’t likely call again anytime soon, nor will Fox News. Press doesn’t seem to mind. “The word [Current TV President] David Bohrman kept using was voyeuristic,” he tells me in an interview after the show, explaining the premise behind airing his radio show on TV. “I’m now the morning show on Current TV and happy as a clam.”

The cursing came during a commercial break as Press gulped down yogurt and sipped on coffee out of a plastic black and white Current TV thermos.

To be clear, the network ought to be more fearful of Press’s longtime producer Peter Ogburn, who also happens to be a FishbowlDC Contributor. He may glare me down while I write this, but anyone who knows Ogburn even a little knows that his language is riddled with profanity so intense that we’re not going to be able to repeat it here lest his small children read FishbowlDC this afternoon, which they have been prone to do with their milk and cookies. Needless to say, with him “shit” is the least of Current TV’s worries.

The Bill Press team, which consists of Ogburn and Dan Henning, starts obscenely early. They’re in well before 6 a.m. when everything kicks off. Airing Press’s radio program on TV doesn’t require many changes — the biggest is powder. Each of the men must don powder because, says the Current TV publicist on hand, who wants to see shiny heads?

Press was a little more orange-hued than he may have originally intended this morning. A viewer wrote on Twitter, “Just turned Current TV on — it’s a giant orange BP head. Looks like he just left the tanning booth.” WaPo national political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson, a guest in studio this morning, also noticed Press’s sun-kissed face and said he looked like Soul Man. The powder might explain things. The one he used was called “Sandy.” Ogburn begrudgingly “schmeared” the gunk on at about 5:40 a.m., saying, “I’m going to look like Divine when this is over.” He thought better of it. “I’m going to look like the world’s cheapest prostitute.”

Henning returns from powdering himself and strangely looks to Ogburn for approval. “Peter, does my makeup look alright? I don’t look like a cheap whore do I?” Ogburn replies, “Well, Dan….” his voice trails off in a non-response.

Ogburn doesn’t necessarily like having the cameras peer down on him during the show, but he’s learning to accept what it feels like to be a Kardashian. “That shit is always on me,” he says with a glance toward the corner camera. “It’s terrifying.”

In segment two, Press dons a dark Trayvon Martin-inspired hoodie (as pictured above), which apparently went over swimmingly in the Los Angeles control room… Read more

There’s a lot of abrasive chatter on “The War on Women” these days. Democrats claim Republicans are attacking women through their stance on reproductive rights. Republicans hurl guilty around, too. They say Democrats are attacking women by allowing HBO talk show host and comedian Bill Maher to call female public figures nasty names while they accept his whopping contribution to President Obama‘s re-election efforts.

Amid the back and forth, Anita Finlay uses Maher’s comments as a launching pad to look at the War on Women for The New Agenda, a blog created by some 30 women nationwide in 2008 that focuses on an anti-misogynistic message. In her story, Finlay says it’s a two-way street when it comes to calling women names. She notes that Maher has famously trashed both conservative and liberal women.

Meanwhile, the standard bearer for conservative opinion-based entertainment, Rush Limbaugh, is still fighting the backlash of calling  Sandra Fluke a “slut.” You’d be hard pressed to find a time when Limbaugh went after a conservative woman the way he did Fluke. We could go back and forth about this all afternoon, but the piece brought to mind some interesting points.

First of all, any man that calls a woman a “slut”, as Limbaugh called Fluke or a “dumb twat” or a “cunt”, the way Maher called ex-V.P. hopeful Sarah Palin, should expect an outcry from both sides of the aisle. Maher took heat for his comments at the time, though it’s obvious that he hasn’t had to pay the price that Limbaugh is paying.

Defenders of Maher call him a comedian who is a modern day George Carlin. In her piece, Finlay says, ” I would suggest he neither possesses the genius with language nor the ability to formulate sophisticated social commentary the way Carlin did.”

It’s important to point out that Carlin never backed down from using bad words. Including his bit about the Seven Dirty Words, which include the dreaded “C” word.

Finlay says it’s a double standard when it comes to the sex of the commentator. She asks, “What if a female comedian used the “N” word to describe a male politician, or offered a demeaning slur to a gay man – would she still be on the air?

Has she ever heard of Lisa Lampanelli?

Read more

David Shuster is a regular Renaissance Man. Not only does he report for Current TV, he also hosts a radio show on 1480AM in the D.C. area. Shuster announced via Twitter yesterday afternoon that his audience is about to get bigger.

He says, “Thrilled to announce my @TakeActionNews show @weactradio DC/1480am will be carried in Chicago each Saturday from 4pm – 7pm @wcptradio.”

WCPT, a progressive talk station in Chicago, has picked up Shuster’s show. It will begin this Saturday. Go D.!

So this is fishy.

WMAL’s Mary Katharine Ham has dropped off the airwaves. According to a letter she posted on her personal blog dated today, she’s elated not to have to wake up so obscenely early. She delicately explains why she and the station are parting ways:

“If you’re a regular listener, you may have noticed I wasn’t on the radio this morning on 105.9 FM WMAL, where I’m wont to be from 5-9 a.m. Alas, I won’t be there anymore, which means I didn’t have to get up at 3 a.m. today (Yay!), but also that I will miss the WMAL crew and my buddies Bryan and Brian who will carry on the morning show without me.

“The folks at the company had a vision for a different, independent role for me at the station, but we just weren’t able to come to an agreement that would make it work, so I’m off to do my other jobs. I’m constantly thankful I have the freedom to make decisions like that, and realize it’s a tremendous blessing to have such options.”

Ham will be on a plethora of Fox News programs this week including on The O’Reilly Factor tonight as well as Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld.

Current TV’s David Shuster is filling in for lefty radio host Bill Press this week. He had Politico‘s Executive Editor Jim VandeHei on the program this morning to discuss CNN John King giving what some believe was an easy out to Presidential contender Mitt Romney in last night’s debate. Romney said King gets to ask the questions, but he gets to answer them any way he pleases. King replied, “Fair enough.”

Shuster: “Fair enough, do you agree?” he asked incredulously?

VandeHei: “Not fair enough,” said a chuckling VandeHei. “I mean, the prob for John King after that last debate I think he only had so much wiggle room with these guys and to force them to answer questions they didn’t want to answer. …It doesn’t really serve voters’ purpose…I think what voters would like to know… can we trust you, are you really conservative, are you a fraud? …It would have been nice if John King could have pressed him on that. I do think his hands were a little bit tied based on that previous debate.”

Shuster: “Fair to say, I think that a Jim VandeHei would not have said ‘fair enough’ in response to Romney’s answer.”

VandeHei: (Again, laughing) “I’m a big believer that these debates should be more pugilistic than they are.”