We've always been of the opinion that you can judge a person's character based on whether or not they listen to NPR's This American Life. Never heard of it? We can't help you.

Anyway, TAL did a show about the credit crisis called The Giant Pool of Money, that is the most concise 'for dummies' break down of the current crisis we've heard, read or watched.

And the current episode (at least for those of us that podcast the show) is called The Enforcers, that goes further into this world wide credit snafu.

TAL producer Alex Blumberg is now doing a spin off of those shows for NPR called Planet Money, which is also informative. If informative means scary and maddening...which we are sure it does.

We had a little FBLA blogger meeting last night and one of the things that came up is that we really don't do enough items about radio in LA. So here goes:

KFI the conservative talk station with Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura share the same floor as KTLK - LA's Air America. The studios are in Burbank across the street from Dimples and next door to where Jay Leno films his show. The two polar opposite stations are right next to each other on the forth or fifth floor. Which could be a metaphor. Can we all co-exists in harmony? Or are both political parties pretty much the same?

Does this make us want to do a rendition of "Ebony and Ivory"? Not really.

The great thing is when you come off the elevators - KFI is on the left.

A reader wrote in to tell us that Warren Olney invited Amiri Baraka to speak on To The Point today about the whole Jesse Jackson/Barack Obama "balls brawl."

Olney never mentions that Baraka is a controversial figure regarded by many to be an anti-Semite -- an oversight that irks our reader. The reader, of course, blogged about it, and wrote Olney an e-mail, which prompted this response:

continued...

We just got word that Marc Maron is going to be on Pat Morrison's show on KPCC at 2pm talking about George Carlin.

We'd say it's NSFW...but it really depends on where you work.

Like if you work at Pacifica Radio - don't sweat it.

First of all - we don't want to offend drug addicts by lumping them in with...ahem - Lumpy Limbaugh - or as we like to call him, Jabba the Yutz. So we won't. But this is what he said about our Antonio Villaraigosa on his radio show:

I shook [Clinton's] hand, he left, comes back [with] the mayor of Los Angeles," he told listeners. "I thought it was a Secret Service agent, maybe a shoeshine guy. Turns out he gives me his card, I said, 'Oh, my gosh, it's the mayor of Los Angeles.'"

Then Villaraigosa looked at Limbaugh's card and said,"Oh my gosh, it's the ambassador to the 17th century."

Since Randi Rhodes quit - her old time slot will now be filled with rotating guest hosts.

Air America announced:

...Marc Maron and Sam Seder next week; followed by Ron Reagan and Ron Kuby as guest-hosts on subsequent weeks of "American Afternoon," airing 3-6pm ET.

We submit that Marc Maron can read the phone book and make it funny, informative and suddenly make a lot of sense. Not even the phone book. Any phone book. Like the one that comes with the iPhone. Serious. He's that good.

We have an anonymous tip that we must add. It reads,"I love Marc Maron...I have a man crush on him".

Indeed.

This clip from yesterday's Larry King Live, confirms what we have been reporting, that Air America was trying to get out of Randi Rhodes' contract and that's why the video of her calling Hillary Clinton 'a fucking whore' surfaced 10 days after the event.

We got an email:

Not sure if you care about this at all but here some info on the Rhodes situation...

She's going to be signing a deal with Nova M Radio in the next few hours for about the same money Air America was paying her. She will broadcast Monday afternoon on all Clear Channel affiliates and several other stations. The folks at Air America don't miss her one bit, in fact she's widely hated among everyone who has actually met her. She has moved from New York City to West Palm Beach, FL and she will broadcast from the WJNO studios.

If you have any need to use that or pass it along, go right ahead. Please withhold my name and info.

Thanks Deep Throat!

UPDATE: from another tip:

We should mention that when she used the term 'fucking whore' to refer to Hillary Clinton she was at an Obama event. Classy.

Air America had suspended Randi Rhodes after she called Hillary Clinton 'a fucking whore' in a stage appearance. And now she has resigned:

Air America Media was informed last night by Ms. Rhodes that she has chosen to terminate her employment with the company. We wish her well and thank her for past services to Air America.

So she's going to San Francisco:

UPDATE: John Scott, Program Director of Green960, speaks out:

"We have been very frustrated the past few days in our efforts to rectify the Randi Rhodes Situation (her suspension by her network, Air America Radio). It is our understanding that today (April 9th) she is no longer an employee of Air America. So we are bringing her back."

Our money was on her going to XM/Sirius where lunatic potty mouths are embraced...but ok.

See FBLA's exclusive with Rhodes' ex-writer comedian Barry Crimmins.