Free Republic

Randi Rhodes, the leftist talk-radio host who found herself in hot water yesterday for airing a skit that warned President Bush with gunfire, has joked about assassinating the commander in chief before. Last May, Rhodes, who hosts a show on the struggling Air America network, imitated the sound of gunfire while saying somebody ought to take the president fishing and then shoot him. On May 12, New York Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin wrote a piece criticizing Air America, saying he had listened to the liberal radio network one day for 10 hours. "The queen of venom, Randi Rhodes, followed...

WASHINGTON - Talk-show host Tavis Smiley said Monday he will be leaving National Public Radio, which he said has tried hard but fallen short of reaching "a broad spectrum of Americans who would benefit from public radio." Smiley, 40, said Monday that Dec. 16 will be his last day as host of "The Tavis Smiley Show." Launched in January 2002, the show is a daily, one-hour program, a collaboration between NPR and public radio stations with predominantly black audiences. Smiley said he decided against renewing his contract, which is up at the end of the year. In a statement, he...

A media watchdog organization believes it is time for the U.S. Congress to re-evaluate the necessity of allocating 86 million taxpayer dollars to National Public Radio (NPR) in light of the tremendous private funding it receives. Recently, National Public Radio announced that it plans a $15 million expansion of its news operation. NPR is funding the expansion with just a fraction of the 200 million-dollar bequest the network received last fall from the late widow of McDonald's magnate Ray Kroc. Seeing how the public radio network appears to be living high on the hog, Tim Graham of the Media Research...

Air America Radio, the new leftwing syndicated radio network, is desperate for a cash infusion, Reuters reported Thursday evening. So desperate that sources close to the company say that "Democratic heavyweights as Sen. Hillary Clinton, her husband, former President Bill Clinton and billionaire investor George Soros have been appraised of the money-raising efforts." The network has been floundering almost from the get-go, with the business hemorrhaging cash and debts growing. Air America's woes became evident just weeks ago when CEO Evan Cohen was ousted. "This venture is not dead and it's not going to die," Mike Papantonio, a backer of...