By OB Rag Staffer / May 19, 2009
If you were a fan of Progressive Talk Radio, you are probably still lamenting the loss of San Diego’s KLSD 1360. You may remember the show “This is America” with Jon Elliot. Well, here’s some good news. Jon Elliot is back on the air in San Diego. “This is America” with Jon Elliot is now airing on AM 1700 from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM weekdays starting Monday, May 18.
Jon Elliot’s calm, thoughtful analysis of political and social issues from a progressive perspective is a far cry from the typical rude, loud-mouthed, ill-informed radio talk show host. His show is thought provoking and easy on the ears.
According to Jon Elliot’s bio on his website:
“In the Fall of 2002, frustrated and angered with the direction of the country under the leadership of President Bush, he decided to apply his determination to making a change. Jon decided to become a liberal talk show host.”
“Passionate about the principles for all Americans espoused by the Democratic Party, he reasoned radio would give him the platform to provide an alternative message to the American people who were being exposed only to an overflow of conservative news and viewpoints.”
Jon Elliot is trying a new approach to funding his radio show, a combination of advertising and listener contributions. He is asking his listeners to subscribe for $10 a month, which gives them access to podcasts, advertiser discounts, special events and “Knowing you are making a difference to help build a community of listeners in San Diego and beyond by expanding the conversation and bringing balance to the airwaves.” Of course, anyone can tune in and listen to his show on the radio.
Jon Elliot’s website can be found at this link: http://www.jontalk.com/
About the station:
AM 1700, “The Talk of San Diego” is owned by “The Broadcast Company of the Americas”, a San Diego company that also owns XX Sports 1090 and FM 105.7 “The Walrus”, all transmitting from Mexico. (Old timers remember 1090 as Wolfman Jack’s XERB.) AM 1700’s 10,000-Watt signal is strong and clear throughout most of San Diego.
The station’s website can be seen at: http://www.sandiego1700.com/
There is one catch. AM 1700 is in the “extended” AM band that some older radios can’t tune in. For many years, the AM frequencies only went up to 1600 kHz. In 1993, it was extended to 1700 kHz to allow room for more stations. Those newer stations are at a disadvantage with older radios that can’t tune that far up the dial.
San Diego’s former Progressive Talk Radio station was KLSD 1360. It featured progressive talk shows from Air America, Nova-M and Jones Radio Networks, as well as local hosts Jon Elliot and Stacy Taylor. The station’s owners, Clear Channel, changed it to a sports talk format on November 12, 2007. KLSD 1360 transmits from a single tower in Oak Park, and can be hard to hear in some distant parts of the county. (Old timers remember 1360 as “Boss Radio 136/KGB”.)
By contrast, Clear Channel’s flagship station in San Diego, KOGO 600, features right-wingers like Rush Limbaugh and Roger Hedgecock. KOGO’s powerful signal from its twin towers south of the 94 freeway can be heard to Santa Barbara and beyond.
More information about KLSD and the fight for progressive talk radio can be found at: http://www.saveklsd.com/
We should applaud the owners of AM 1700 for allowing Progressive Talk Radio back on the air in San Diego, and hope they will expand the format to include more progressive talk shows.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks Mike!
Sometimes we forget to search the dial to look for something new and instead stick with what we know. As a huge sports fan I do still listen to 1360, though I’m not a fan of Clear Channel or KOGO’s format by any stretch of the imagination.
I remember Boss Radio with their “Boss Jocks” on 136 KGB too, we also had other Pop/Rock stations back then on AM like KDEO, KCBQ and KSEA. Then FM came along with XHIS & XHERS, KPRI and KGB FM…anyone else remember that XHIS had the OB Ranger? XD
…keep up the great work man!
Very cool to hear 1700 has some liberal talk back on it. I’m still bummed they axed Stacy, he was one of my favorites on 1360 and I was stoked with his brief appearance on 1700…though at times it felt like me and this one old-time stoner from El Cajon were the only ones listening.
Come to dkos.com tomorrow (thurs 5/21),when Jon Elliott (formerly of Air America, now of this new station) will be joining Jill Richardson to blog on dKos on Thursday, at 11am, Pacific and answering questions. He will sign in under the Jill Richardson account.
Of course if liberals were no like herding cats we would have our own Rush Limbaugh making 16 million a year. But then liberal talk show people just ain’t lucky enough to have millions of the dumbest humans on the face of the earth follow them like the do Jesus. There are no liberal DITTO heads.
lol
looking back, hermit daves comment is one of the funniest things ive ever read on this blog.
mike, the radio is still our best media outlet. i dont care how much influence tv and internet will have, hearing someones voice is more heartfelt.
I agree, Old Hermit Dave hit the nail on the head. Liberals tend to think for themselves, while conservatives tend to do what they’re told. And people who do what they’re told are putty in the hands of corporate advertisers. That’s why Rush Limbaugh is on the big high-power stations, while progressive talk is usually on little, low-power local stations.
In OB with a good AM radio and antenna, you can hear liberal talk radio on KTLK AM 1150 from LA and KIST AM 1340 from Santa Barbara. Both are weak and only heard during the day, they fade out at night. Then there is always KPFK FM 90.7.
I was just searching the on the web to find any pbs or npr radio stations in Phoenix, AZ for my mother (KJZZ FM 91.5). I then went to look at “talk” radio stations with great disappointment found the huge conservative and sports bias until I found KPHX AM1480 which is part of NOVA M Radio network thanks to Anita and Sheldon Drobny who purchased this station and began NOVA M Radio!
I will tell you why I am relating all of this to you-
I used to be an avid listener to all the shows on KLSD AM1360 San Diego, CA. When it fell apart I was in such a terrible rage (the non-violent kind) with all the hypocracy in the “democracy” of our San Diego political arena. Of course that is what is expected since San Diego has been a center for corporate greed for quite a few years! Anyway I GAVE UP TALK RADIO except for KPBS FM 89.5 (97.7 Calexico) and KGB FM 101.5 had interesting conversation in between music…until that was also taken over by Clear Channel… with disk jockeys that are a bunch of half-wits! The only other station that I can enjoy with people who seem genuine enough is JAZZ KSDS FM 88.3 a member funded station (as is KPBS fm 89.5).
So in this search I followed a Jon Elliott and “liberal talk” link back to “The Talk of SD” AM 1700!
Ahhhhhh! MAYBE THERE IS STILL HOPE FOR SAN DIEGO! I thank all you with the gumption to take on the corporate tyranny once again!
I believe in whatever it takes (short of any kind of violence) to shake the masses out of their electric kool-aid intoxication!
Thank you,
Michael/natureguy