Posted on 09/03/2006 8:37:46 AM PDT by WestTexasWend
AUSTIN (AP) - Conservative radio host Dan Patrick got noticed three years ago, when he fired up his Houston-area listeners with impassioned tirades against ever-rising property taxes.
Soon those listeners began lighting up the Capitol switchboards at an astounding rate - so incessant at one point that they rendered phone lines unusable for days in the office of Richardson Republican Rep. Fred Hill. His staff fled to a temporary office to avoid the flood of citizens' calls.
Patrick's laser focus on conservative issues and the ensuing bedlam his broadcasts can ignite have since become known around the Capitol as the "Dan Patrick Effect."
Now Patrick hopes to set up shop in the Capitol himself - not only to continue beating up on politicians in his radio broadcasts, but as a state senator himself, representing northwest Houston. Patrick coasted to victory in the GOP primary and is heavily favored in the Nov. 7 general election.
He plans to continue broadcasting as often as possible from a studio near the Capitol.
"For whatever reason, I have been given a position of influence," Patrick said. "I think it's important for people who have that opportunity to use it for good."
He is also launching a radio station in Dallas, and once he's on air there, his message of limited government and low taxes will be available to more than half of Texas' 22 million residents.
That's got to have some Republican colleagues a bit worried as they ready themselves for Patrick's term as a state senator, said Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
"If you have a large audience and can get them really focused on a policy issue, it can really catch the legislators off guard," he said. "They're not accustomed to seeing a groundswell of opposition. It does give a lot of power to one person who can marshal political opinion on one policy issue."
Programming like Patrick's is useful in "firing up the base," Wilson said.
The conservative talk show audience "tends to be an angry, disgruntled audience," Wilson said.
Patrick is back on the air after taking a break for the months leading up to the March primary to comply with FCC rules requiring equal air time for all candidates. After the primary, his challenger, Democrat Michael Kubosh, signed a waiver that would allow Patrick to continue broadcasting through the election.
Kubosh, a former Republican, also is one of 12 investors who helped Patrick buy Dallas radio station KKDL.
"God brings you the people he wants you to meet, or defeat sometimes," Patrick said of Kubosh.
Kubosh said he decided to run as a Democrat because he was disenchanted with the state's GOP leaders. But he soon discovered that Patrick's views were very similar to his own.
He helped Patrick go back on the air to "give the governor a hard time."
"He's doing exactly what I wanted to do," Kubosh said.
The Dallas station, scheduled to begin broadcasting Sept. 18, will be known as KVCE, or "The Voice." His 35,000-watt signal will reach from Dallas north toward the Oklahoma border.
"Things don't happen over night, it will take us several years to build an audience in Dallas," Patrick predicted. "It may not be the biggest audience in town but it will be an audience that cares about their community."
Typical leftist academia perception.
No, that's Pat Gray.
Here is more info on Dan Patrick;
KSEV is a talk station at 700 on the AM radio dial and is available throughout the Houston, Texas area. It broadcasts an eclectic mix of programming on topics including health, financial matters, local politics, and several syndicated talk radio programs. Most of the editorial positions held by the shows and their hosts are conservative in nature.
The station has been at odds with Houston's primary daily newspaper, The Houston Chronicle, over allegations of liberal bias on several topics. The reaction by the station was to launch a weblog called "Chronically Biased" that provided editorial rebuttals and watchdog monitoring of the newspaper. The weblog eventually evolved into an opinion blog on politics called "Lone Star Times". Once "published" by Dan Patrick, the weblog is not formally affiliated with the talk show host, although it remains loosely affiliated with KSEV.
Ratings-wise, the station's primary competitors are two well established AM stations (KPRC, KTRH). KSEV occasionally scores a ratings victory in select hours and select demographics.
The station carries national syndications of Michael Reagan and Laura Ingraham. Its local hosts include Edd Hendee and Dan Patrick; the latter is currently campaigning for office in Texas Senate, District 7. (He won this race)
KSEV's success has been mostly due to Dan Patrick's unabashed moral and conservative principles and his landing of Rush Limbaugh during his stint managing rival KPRC. Dan Patrick's KSEV also has been at the forefront of fund raising for troops, wounded veterans and the Be An Angel Charity program. More recently, Mr. Patrick, KSEV and its hosts led by Edd Hendee have strongly clashed with Texas Governor Rick Perry over the state's adjusted franchise tax. Patrick, Hendee and Harris County conservatives have repeatedly admonished the state legislature and administration for enacting a wider franchise tax that now includes LLC's (Which includes Patrick's KSEV and several of his hosts as well).
The governor of Texas has pointed out without directly naming Patrick and Hendee that organizations reclassified themselves as LLC as to avoid any state taxes while doing millions of dollars worth of business in Texas. The Governor also noted the state has lowered its budget, assumed more responsibility for funding schools and lowered property taxes a record 6 billion.
KSEV, Mr, Patrick and hosts are disputing the results of this Texas sized tax fight that is still going on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KSEV
You are thinking of Pat Gray, a long time friend of Glenn Beck and the morning host of talk radio station KPRC AM 950 in Houston.
Dan Patrick's KSEV AM 700 in Houston and the new KVCE AM 1160 coming Sept. 18 to Dallas are focused on serious, thoughtful political activism, commentary and discussion. Dan Patrick and KSEV/KVCE are the real deal for social and fiscal conservatives in Texas. I'm not affiliated with either station other than as a frequent listener of KSEV.
Is this Dan Patrick the same Dan Patrick who was a sportscaster on a Houston station years ago? If he is the same guy I think he used to be on Channel 11.
I'm not familiar with the earlier days of his career, but Dan Patrick's bio mentions that he was once a television sportscaster in Houston. It must be the same person you remember.
He started in sports. KSEV was one of the first radio stations in America to carry Rush Limbaugh.
OK, thanks for the info. His sportscasting style was "unusual" or maybe just different. That's why he got canned. He never did anything radical, just unusual.
When a Houston Astro would get a home run, for example, on the replay during the sportscast and right when the bat would make contact with the ball he would shout, "BOOM!" and there would be a big "BOOM" graphic that would show up on the screen a la the Batman TV series or like a comic book if you aren't familiar with the TV series. He did other things like that.
The other thing he did is call a spade a spade with the Houston sports teams, coaches, owners, players, etc.....kinda like he does now with politicians.
I listened to and enjoyed his program when I lived in Houston briefly, in '97.
Dan started in Houston as a sportscaster on TV. In those days I regarded him as just another silly TV personality. During the 1980's he opened a sports bar that failed. Down on his luck like a lot of other people in those troubled times, he did some soul-searching and became a Christian. I'll say that he matured a lot over the years. Dan had a talk program on KPRC in Houston for years, but was laid off, probably for political differences with the management. He found a little AM station in Tomball, north of Houston, called KSEV and has done very well since. It is the main radio station that I turn to.
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