I hope this isn’t a violation of Boo/Scoop etiquette, but I am reposting a diary I wrote at that other blog earlier today – pretty much verbatim. Flame me if I need to learn a lesson. Anyway… here we go…
I don’t often blog about my calls to the “second teir” players on talk radio – usually I limit myself to telling you about the calls I make to O’Falafel, Shammity and the King of all Addicts…
But…
Well, that might change.
flip – I promise I’ll get to today’s call…
I’m finally going to take the plunge and try to make a job out of this. You see, I love talk radio – I love the mental agility it requires, the satisfaction I get from besting the blowhards when they have all the advantages (except having the truth on their side), and (I say this sheepishly and with some embarrassment), I love the idea that there are people out there that love listening to and hearing about the calls that I make.
So, after 36 years of toiling at “bread-winning” jobs (computer programmer, technology executive, landlord) that I didn’t get that much enjoyment out of at all, at this juncture of my life, I find myself at home raising a daughter while my wife completes her psychiatry residency. She’s pulling down a little less than 40K/year, which, along with our meager rental income, allows us to pay the bills and feed ourselves. I don’t want to sound like a dick, because I know there are millions of people out there less fortunate – I mean, we have her benefits and a really bright future to look forward to… but…
I want to work too. So I’m striking out on my own…
So anyway…
I want to call talk radio full time – as a job. I want to be part of Kos’ new left wing echo chamber… kind of…
Only instead of being a part of a “think tank” or “policy apparatus”, I want to do my fighting behind enemy lines – attacking them where they are strongest – on talk radio.
I’m fucking good at it. I may not be perfect, but generally speaking, you know that if I’m calling a show that I’m prepared and that you are going to hear some fireworks that you might not have heard before.
Case in point: today’s call to Tony Snow. He went to break saying that 2006 might be a tough year for some republicans – that he’d tell us why when he returned. Of course I knew he was going to come back to talk about Abramoff, so I called.
He came back from the break, mentioned a little bit about Abramoff and then took my call. I have to paraphrase, but this is the gist of what was said:
Tony Snow: We go now to one of my favorite regular callers out of Albany, NY… Mike, How are you?
Me: Happy New Year Tony… You know, Doolittle, Ney, Delay, Conrad Burns – these aren’t just republicans – these are republican leaders – scores of them – and when you count the staffers that are caught up in this – well, this is the true “Nuclear option” that’s gonna blow up congress…
Tony Snow: Oh, well, I think Delay will be OK, but you are right… except to say that there will be a few democrats caught up in this also… I mean, you will always have guys in politics caught lining their pockets
Me: Lining their pockets? You think that’s waht this is? Watch out Tony – the extent of this thing is incredible – I mean, Ney for example… Abramoff is mobbed up and has a guy whacked down in Florida over a business deal and Ney is doing him favors in Congress to help him out on the same business deal…
Tony Snow: Oh, c’mon Mike… let’s not get caught up in the black helicoptor stuff – I mean, you used to have people running around Washington talking about how Clinton was connected to 84 murders…
Me: But that wasn’t reported in the Washington Post… But you know the part that I think is really outrageous? All of these guys, Doolittle, Ney, Delay – even Abramoff – they all hide behind the altar claiming to be very moral, deeply religious people… but when you look at the favors they did for Abramoff, when you look at what Abramoff was lobbying for… well, it’s stuff like sweatshop labor in the Marianis Islands and gambling at Indian casinos…
Tony: Well, Mike, that kind of lobbying is just done in Washington… if I’m a Congressman and someone calls me about the some obscure isalnds, I know he’s getting paid for that and I’m gonna take it with a grain of salt… but thank you for your call, I’m sure we’ll be talking more about this as the year goes on…
So yeah… this is the deal… check out my previous talk radio diaries – I’ve provided links to all of them below. In the last diary I did, I made an appeal for some cash – I want to purchase the Radio Shark – a device that will allow me to record and distribute the calls in mp3 format, and I want to subscribe to Vonage – $25/mos for all the calls I can make from home (I also use my cell when on the road – and since most of the shows are on during peak hours, well, that gets costly sometimes also)…
So anyway, yeah… I’m looking down the barrel of a gun here… My wife says that I’ve got to go get a job, and I don’t blame her. I mean, staying home with the baby girl is a job in itself, but it doesn’t pay the bills. And when I’m racking up calling minutes with the blowhards, well, that’s an expense we just can’t afford right now…
unless… unless I was to turn it into something resembling a part time job.
So this is what I want to do: subscribe to satellite radio… buy the radio shark. Successfully call several shows a week. Record them, podcast them and send them out as MP3’s to those who sign up for my email list.
So – what do I need from y’all? Well, after my last appeal, which didn’t get a lot of attention, one generous contributor sent me a check for $50. It felt good – awesome… but that isn’t enough to sustain the operation… lol…
So what I’m asking is this: for those of you that can afford to contribute, do it through paypal – the email address to use is mayin617~at~yaho0.com. Alternatively, email me at stark~dot~m~at~gmail~dot~com for my snail mail address.
More importantly though – I want to reach out to those of you that might be connected to some progressive funding operations. I am not looking for a big payday, but if there are any benefactors out there that might be willing to finance the phone and satellite radio bills and the purchase of the radio shark, well, that’d be enough to keep my wife from insisting that I stop the calls…
I know I’m in a weird spot here. i’m asking y’all to help me make my hobby a job that pays me. But I guess it isn’t much different than bloggers who ask you to visit their sponsors from time to time – their hobby became an income…
I dunno… I like what I do, it’s gotten to the point where it has become less affordable, and I’d love for that to change. Anyway, here’s a convenient list of all my previous DailyKos talk radio calls… Remember, i’ve only blogged about half of the calls I’ve made – I’ve made scores of calls that I haven’t gotten around to blogging or that have been to second teir or local stations… If I do get interest, I’ll blog all of my calls – and… I’ll go one further…
I’ll start compiling a list of local radio stations across the country and listening in over the internet. I’ll call local stations so that I can be sure I have somehting to deliver five days a week… that way, I can get on several shows a day…
Think about it this way… In Kos’ interview with Newsweek, he made a great point: he mentioned that while the MSM hasn’t really made the war a liability for Bush, when kids die in Iraq, their deaths end up in the local papers… that the cumulative effect of those deaths is starting to have an effect on the country’s gestalt with regards to war sentiments… well, an extra call or two to different radio markets every single day… I guess it is just more message dissemination. More echo chamber.
It’s something I love doing and it’s something y’all love to hear and if I can pull it off, it’d be like having a Kossack with his own radio show (the cumulative calls could have me on the air for an hour a day if everything works out right).
Any questions? lemme know…
Today’s O’Falafel Call (and a request)
Today’s O’Falafel Radio Factor call
O’Falafel Threatens to Come To My House!
Media Matters Picked Up My calls to Hannity, O’Reilly
Todays talk radio calls (poor Hannity)
Today’s calls to O’Falafel, Snow…
Just got off call w/O’Falafel. Now holding 4 Hannity
A phone call to Bill O’Falafel
Talked to Hannity yesterday, denied at Rush today
On Hannity: Lib blog fundraising vs wingers; O’Reilly – “what, me worry?” president
On O’Reilly – the “What, me worry?” presidency
Real world results from a talk radio call
Talk to Alan Keys RIGHT NOW: ask if he still hates his daughter
[Update] Trifecta: O’Reilly, Limbaugh and now Hannity
I Was Just on Rush Limbaugh Again
Limbaugh Call [Updated w/transcript]
I told O’Reilly to SHUT UP!!! today…
Update [2006-1-2 16:34:53 by Mike Stark]: I just checked my PayPal account for the first time in a few days. Another contributor has also given as a result of my last diary. Thank you to all!
Latest Update [2006-1-2 20:24:53 by Mike Stark]:So far I’ve raised a grand total of $135 from four contributors. That’s awesome (and will allow me to buy the Radio Shark), but I still think I might need some institutional help – from webspace to podcast/RSS help to a benefactor to pay the satellite radio/phone bills – if anyone knows of any lefty financiers (is George Soros’ purse string holder reading?), lemme know…