Progressive Hosts Vie For MSNBC's 10PM Slot

[a kennedy]

With MSNBC announcing that it was looking to fill its 10PM time slot with original broadcasting, two prominent self-avowed liberals are positioning themselves for the post.

Cenk Uygur, of the Young Turks Show, and Sam Seder, who headed a popular eponymous show on Air America, aren't taking the traditional route to the recently announced opening. Rather than rise through the cable news structure, they are using new media tools to organize their supporters and put pressure on MSNBC brass. In Uygur's case, the effort is billed as an election-year style campaign (think: Barack Obama meets "30 Rock.")

"We thought that it would be fun to run it like a political campaign and involve the online community as much as possible," said Uygur. "We're gonna use Facebook, bloggers, and friends in the online community ... In the end, there is only one real voter and in this case the voter is Phil Griffin. In reality, of course, there is a wider constituency there."

To that end, both Uygur and Seder have Facebook groups touting their rightness for the post, with 4,200 and 2,700 members respectively. The signatories are almost all of a progressive tilt. But they also represent the young, wealthy, tech-savvy demographic that leaves networks and advertisers salivating.

Both hosts know that this, in the end, is their trump card: the promise of transferring (and hopefully expanding) their following from radio and YouTube to a cable outlet. Uygur, for example, has roughly 300,000 viewers on a daily basis and recently passed 65 million views on his YouTube channel. Seder, meanwhile, was syndicated in more than 30 markets when he was doing his regular show, including New York City and Los Angeles. And he makes the case that his format would not only build off the audiences generated by current hosts Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow but -- because of its fusing of news and comedy -- serve as a "bridge" to Jon Stewart on Comedy Central.

full article: <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/17/progressive-hosts-vie-for_n_167564.html>

[AtomicKitten]

1. Hell yes, a three-hour liberal/progressive block! n/t

[quantass]

2. Cenk is Brilliant and deserves this...BIG TIME!

[camera obscura]

3. According to the NYT (I think), MSNBC is looking to groom in-house talent like they did w/Maddow

[FrenchieCat]

8. In house?

Who would that be?


I'm stumped!

[camera obscura]

9. I don't think they had anyone specifically in mind.

[RepublicanElephant]

4. sam! sam! sam!

seder house rules!

[Spazito]

5. Of the two, I prefer Sam....

but to see either of them get the slot would be great!

[Mist]

6. I'm a Sammy fan! I think he'd be great b/twn KO and Stewart. nt

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

7. Why not both?

Sam and Cenk have worked together before and had a good rapport (Same sat in for Ben on Young Turks a few times)

The main problems with the 10pm slot is that by the time that hour rolls around, all the news has been discussed to death. MSNBC would do well to hire two guys who can put a funny, yet still informative, spin on things to close out the night.

They'd be perfect.

[bunkerbuster1]

10. Can Cenk work as part of a comedy duo?

Because I've become accustomed to the rhythms of Seder and Maron, and I'm thinking those two ought to be on the TeeVee.

But what I've heard of Cenk, he'd be fine too.

I agree, a twosome would be the way to go, and that yet another single pundit going on about today's headlines would suck.

[Sebastian Doyle]

17. What would they call the show

"The Turk and the Jew"?? :rofl:

[democrattotheend]

11. Has MSNBC said it's going to be a progressive?

I'm all for another progressive but I'd be surprised if they gave another slot to a progressive, because they already have Keith and Rachel back to back and I'd think they'd want some semblance of balance.

[Lex]

14. Tweety and Joe Scarborough are balance already, I'd say.

nt

[Unsane]

12. I'd prefer Sam Seder.

[debbierlus]

13. I like Sam

[President Decider]

15. LET'S GO CENK! ..... C'MON, WE'VE GOT TO RALLY AROUND OUR BOY!

[jefferson_dem]

16. Based on the number of Facebook fans, Sam is smoking Cenk.

Sam group has 2983 members.

http://www.facebook.com/s.php?ref=search&init=q&q=Sam+Seder&sid=e835192f55d44825fee698dbdfb069bf#/group.php?sid=e835192f55d44825fee698dbdfb069bf&gid=61997817528


Cenk group has 408 members.

http://www.facebook.com/s.php?ref=search&init=q&q=Sam+Seder&sid=e835192f55d44825fee698dbdfb069bf#/group.php?sid=7fd5dc3851997093697103c8b13336dc&gid=83171870716

[wildflowergardener]

22. groups

If you follow the link in the article, Cenk has over 4000. There must be more than one group.

Personally I like the young turks show ok - but never really got too into it - I am not all that disappointed it's not on xm anymore. I'd prefer Sam.

[Edgewater_Joe]

18. I Think A Third Horse Entered The Race Tonight

If you saw COUNTDOWN, you couldn't help but notice Laura Flanders commenting on the Bristol Palin interview, and her byplay with Keith sure seemed polished and fast -- and she has a show on the Web as well.

So I think Laura Flanders may be in play, and it actually shows that progressives have a deeper bench than we realized. I'd be happy with any one of Seder, Uygur, or Flanders -- Hell, with Randi off the air maybe one of them will pick up her slot, too!

[BrklynLiberal]

25. She is excellent. She used to have a great show on AAR

[Ranec]

28. I hope so

I really liked Laura Flanders when she had a weekend show on AAR. However, I think the programming people would think she is too much in the vein of Rachel Maddow (How can we have two smart women on back-to-back? That's insane!)

[Hamlette]

19. I find Cenk unwatchable. I can't get through one of the clips here. Am I the only one? n/t

[Norrin Radd]

20. Sam and Marc Maron.

Or Eugene Robinson.

[BrklynLiberal]

26. THAT would be an incredible show with Sam and Marc as co-hosts!!!

I LOVED Marc Maron's early morning show on AAR. It was fantastic. I used to get up extra early to listen to it.
They used to be so funny and so imformative at the same time. Once a week they would do the show live from a coffehouse or restaurant...people would line up to get in.

[EffieBlack]

21. It's long past time MSNBC hired a black host

The guy you quote in your tagline, Joe Madison, would be a great choice.

It's not like there just aren't enough white guys on MSNBC . . .

For years, MSNBC has been trotting out and trying out all manner of white hosts, most of whom were mediocre at best. It is inexcusable that a network that gives a regular platform to the likes of Buchanan, Scarborough, Brzeznski, Smerconish, etc. can't seem to find one single black person they believe is fit to host a show.
If America is ready for a black president, the MSNBC audience is certainly ready for a black talk show host.

[Sebastian Doyle]

31. Yeah, but knowing MSNBC

They would probably hire Ron Christie (aka Crosseyed Mary) :puke:

[EffieBlack]

34. That would be ok

All black people don't think alike, any more than white people do. If MSNBC can give platforms to white folks from across the spectrum, they can do the same for blacks.

While I'm not dying to see any more conservatives on television and would much prefer to see this slot go to a black progressive, I don't see why it's any worse to have Ron Christie on than it would be to have.a Joe Scarborough or Pat Buchanan or any of the other white conservatives who are given free reign on MSNBC.

[1776Forever]

23. There is a 3rd Runner in this race: Is Ed Schultz The Next MSNBC Talk Star? / or will it be CNN?

Is Ed Schultz The Next MSNBC Talk Star?

ScottsBigMouth blog reported 2009.01.22 the following:

NYTimes.com is reporting tonight that there is "no leading contender" for the 10PM EST slot that will replace repeats of Countdown With Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, and follow Rachel Maddow's runaway hit program on the cable channel. Media pundits are all a Twitter (hehe) however about whether Ed Schultz may be the next Progressive talker to cross over to MSNBC from radio.

(snip)

Is MSNBC setting itself up to take over Progressive TV AND Talk Radio? Will this finally be the new answer to Larry King? Let's see, as Big Eddie also has a LOT of pull over at CNN, and the fight is likely a behind-the-scenes bidding war.


Full article here:

http://www.scottsbigmouth.com/main/2009/01/is-ed-schultz-the-next-msnbc-talk-star.html

.........

I am a big fan of Ed's and hope this is going to happen soon. He moved to Washington D.C. in the last couple of weeks and he has a very large group of listeners. I am not against Sam or Cenk getting their own show too however. The more the merrier!

[DAMANgoldberg]

27. Interesting...

I didn't know that Ed was in the TV sweeps and decided to get out of Fargo (good move)? Since Thom Hartmann is going to be syndicated by Jones/Dial Global, if Ed is on TV and/or moves to 6-9P ET, then Thom stays in his lunchtime slot. Randi goes to 3-6P, and we will have all of the bases covered!

[1776Forever]

35. Very good analogy - I think you could be on to something here!

Yes, Ed's move to D.C. was very interesting! I have listened to him for years now, for awhile on XM and then streaming after our Columbus Ohio progressive station was taken off by Catholic rhetoric!

If you are a talk radio junkie like me there is another player in the progressive ring now - it is Roots Up Radio -www.RootsUpRadio.com

I am a fan of Jeff Farias too - here is his site.

http://www.thejefffariasshow.com/

He is on from 6 pm to 9 pm est. I hate missing David Shuster when he is on at that time though. I try to catch them both with pod casts if I miss the one.

:hi:

[BrklynLiberal]

24. Either one of them would be acceptable to me.

But I am more familiar with Sam and think he is great.

[Phoonzang]

29. I like them both but I'm pulling for Cenk.... nt

[SoxFan]

30. Josh Marshall

No, he probably isn't in the running, but I like him a lot. He's less of a bomb-throwing partisan, but he is one hell of a good muckraker. I'd love to see him with a broader audience for his exposes on Beltway corruption.

[kma3346]

32. Sammy!

My vote goes to Sam!


:fistbump:

[quantass]

33. Logic and Corporate mindset says MSNBC will choose someone in-house and "safe" (more moderate) to

balance out Keith and Rachel...Cenk is ideal but you'll see that the law of things just wont let msnbc be so bold

[Love Bug]

36. How about Phil Donohue?

MSNBC would have to apologise to him first for cancelling him out of cowardice.

Maybe Phil wouldn't want to work for them again.