BREAKING: Barber Cancels Ed Schultz’s Debut on Armed Forces Radio

Posted on 10/17/2005 by Al Swearengen

This is downright sleezy! I listen to Schultz, and his show is top notch. The only talking head I’ve ever seen take unscreened calls. He’ll talk with a Republican caller for minutes, not cut them off or dump them. It’s as honest as you can get when it comes to political talk radio in my opinion.

The military I remember so well – Burn the books. Control what kind of thinking Americans are allowed exposure to should they decide to join the military. So while the job requires a higher level of devotion to begin with, your time off the clock must not cross paths with Ed Schultz’s radio program.

Military’s Message to the Troops: “We made the Budweiser and Skoal affordable even though you’re living abroad, why would a soldier like yourself want to mess with the formula that’s worked so well for so long? Progressive talk radio…we’re trying to run a business here!”

Imagine Tony Soprano saying that last line.

Armed Forces Radio (AFR) is a station that broadcasts to American troops overseas through “over 1,000 outlets in more than 175 countries.” It currently features an hour of programming by right-wing host Rush Limbaugh. There is no comparable progressive program.

Today, that was supposed change. Ed Schultz – the host of the most popular progressive radio show in the country — was supposed to start broadcasting on Armed Forces radio. Jones Radio, the company that syndicates The Ed Shultz Show, received an email on September 29 from an Armed Forces Radio official confirming that one hour of Schultz’s program would begin airing today, October 17.

But this morning at 6AM, the producer of the Ed Schultz show, James Holm, received a call from Pentagon communications aide Allison Barber. She told Holm that she was calling so early to let Schultz know his show would not begin airing on AFR today. You’ll remember Barber as the aide caught coaching troops before a photo-op with President Bush last week.

Barber told Holm that the Ed Schultz show would not start on AFR today because her boss, Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita, was out of the country and couldn’t approve it. Barber also said she was going out of the country soon for a week-and-a-half. Holm asked Barber if the show would begin when DiRita and Barber returned. Barber said she couldn’t guarantee that.

Here’s the really interesting part. Barber told Holm she heard Ed announced that he would begin on AFR during his show Friday. Schultz’s show Friday began with audio outtakes of Barber sounding foolish as she rehearsed the troops “Q&A session” with Bush.

Source: Think Progress

UPDATE: Email Contradicts Pentagon Spin on Schultz Cancellation

I called the Pentagon this afternoon to get an explanation for why Ed Schultz’s debut on Armed Forces Radio was canceled. I eventually got a call back from Bryan Whitman, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. Mr. Whitman repeatedly told me that there was “no decision made with respect to expanding the programming.”

I asked him why, if no decision had been made, Barber called Schultz’s producer to cancel. Whitman said Barber was out of the country and he didn’t know why she called.

Whitman’s spin is also contradicted by this email, sent by the Armed Forces Radio to Schultz’s syndication company:

—–Original Message—–
From: Levy, Manny
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 9:42 PM
To: Donna Harrison
Cc: Crawford, Ric
Subject: Confirming Schultz; Moving C. Howard; C. Howard minutes

Donna: I wanted to confirm the conversation we had this morning. AFN Radio has squared away everything on our end to begin carrying the first hour of “The Ed Schultz Show” each day, beginning Monday, October 17, 2005 at noon PT/3 ET. Of course, this means shifting “The Clark Howard Show” to 1 PM PT/4 PM ET.

I also promised to find the best e-mail addresses to send the Clark Howard minutes. It’s: [email protected].

Thank you for all your help–dating back many months now–preparing the way to make all this happen. I’m sorry that there were so many panicked, “I need an answer soon” calls, false starts and unexpected delays on our end. An awful lot of people in the government had (or tried to have) a hand in program selection process that ended with the decision to add “The Ed Schultz Show.”

Manny Levy
Chief, Radio Division
American Forces Network Broadcast Center
23755 Z Street Riverside, CA 92518

Seems to me like they made a decision.

Wow. Those strategy wizards. Very smooth. The gifted minds of our nation’s defense department…

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3 Responses to BREAKING: Barber Cancels Ed Schultz’s Debut on Armed Forces Radio

  1. Ken Spitz says:
    10/19/2005 at 10:19 pm

    Ed Schultz worked harder to rally the Senate
    toward passage of Veteran’s Benefits than any
    other talk show host in America! And guess who
    voted the bill DOWN…the Republicans.

  2. Chris Austin says:
    10/20/2005 at 1:26 am

    Ken – Welcome! That’s when I got hooked, when the Murray ammendment got deficated on by the GOP. Right-winger talkers were doing the wrong thing around that time…something I posted back then about a vet calling the Rush Limbaugh show:

    February 8th, 2005
    What Happened to ‘Support the Troops’!?!
    I just heard a 78 year old WW2 veteran on Limbaugh’s program who said that his prescription cost through the VA during the 90s was $32 dollars a month. Under Bush it has gone up to over $90, and the new budget calls for this man to pay even more. Cuts to VA benefits are described in just about every article that’s been written on the President’s budget for next year. My question is, when is the press going to point this out and start asking how such a thing could ever be justified?

    I’m so sick and tired of blatant hypocracy going unchecked in this country. The other night before the super bowl we cheered veterans from past wars, and earlier in the season we celebrated the memory and sacrifice of Pat Tillman. There isn’t a single opportunity to shower our troops with praise that goes unused when it comes to our elected leaders and talking heads. They eat it up. The chance for a public figure to gush over what the troops have sacrificed for this country is a giant hot fudge sunday that none of them can resist, yet the lack of outrage over raising health care costs on these beloved political mealtickets tells me that it’s all a load of opportunistic crap and has been for decades in this country.

    Any public official or talking head who’s leveraged a ’support our troops’ spiel to promote themselves and hasn’t come out against VA budget cuts is a traitor to this country and everything it stands for. In the business world little people bear the burden when things don’t go right, but that’s life. We all have to wake up and go to work. Only a miniscule few of us volunteer to fight the war, and when one of these individuals perishes for our nation’s interests it’s a tragedy.

    This reality is pumped for all it’s worth when convenient. Newspapers run stories that act as tributes to the sacrifice and the tragedy of that sacrifice ending up in death all the time. Money is made off of the story of the soldier, whether they come back alive or not. For the media it’s an easy buck.

    What’s utterly dispicable though was the Limbaugh replacement host asking the question, “Aren’t you thankful the government subsidized your prescription costs for all these years?” After the caller hangs up he then tells us that he’s also against the cutting of VA benefits. He characterized this man’s complaint while he was on the line as if he should be grateful for getting anything, then only after the call ended did he concede that the veteran shouldn’t have to pay more for anything. He couldn’t even provide this veteran the courtesy of an honest conversation on the subject, yet once it’s over there’s no hesitation whatsoever before uses the very cuts the man was complaining about to express his support for the troops. I’ve had enough. There should be no more opportunity for people like this to have it both ways.

    It’s time all these folks who capitalize on our warfighters for profit give back. The media, our politicians and most notably President Bush, have been running up debt on the spilled blood of these heros for years now. As a former soldier, I’ve been calling for payments on this loan for quite a while. After this budget proposal, I’m sending it to a collection agency.

    http://deadissue.com/archives/2005/02/08/what-happened-to-support-the-troops/

  3. JOHN W. MITCHELL says:
    12/25/2005 at 11:24 pm

    Per letter dated Feb. 8th 2005 – ( Support our Troops) There hasn’t been any respect given to our soldiers in a long time. All that is said is nothing but political band-standing . I think it is a damn shame to use our young men to preserve our freedom and then forget them, which seems to be politically correct. I don’t like to whine, in fact I was a little sorry the Korean war monument was ever established. I was kind of proud to be a Veteran of the forgotten war. I have never expected a whole bunch and have found it wouldn’t have mattered if I had. The one simple thing that bothers me personally is that even entertainment stations on Sattalite radio removed the music many of us Vets feel was the only good memory of our Military time. You would think a station that has a least 60 types of music could possibly leave one channel for us folkes who they think are dead or should be. By the way, I am speaking of Siruis Sattalite Radio who felt nobody should enjoy Big Band Swing any
    longer . Thank you for your time.

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