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Whats the story with "Free Talk Radio"?

What is the story behind Free Talk Radio Midnight on Saturday/Sunday on WRKO?

Where does it come from and who is behind it?

Is there some kind of philosophy behind the programming?
 
Just not weekends, also 10-1 weeknights now that RKO has dumped Mike Siegal's show.
 
A Libertarian from Keene NH. Ian Bernard who changed his on air surname to Freeman. "It is a chiefly libertarian anarchist political talk show and topics range from current events to philosophy, from politics to personal issues." --Wikipedia

Genesis Communications,supposedly on 160 stations.Associated with Free State Project in which Libertarians were advised to move to New Hampshire.

Siegel had been WRKO's replacement for Howie Carr in Nov of 2014. Howie went to WMEX to launch his network.By the following March, he was back on RKO.
 
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I have a comment and a question. For the last three Saturday nites RKO has failed to air Gun Talk from 6-8 and Cigar Dave from 8-10. Last nite, not only did they fail to air those two programs but, they also failed to air Free Talk Live which airs from 10-1. I sent RKO an email and they claim they are having technical difficulties getting these programs on the air and that their engineers are working on resolving the issue....my question is this...it's been three weeks, how long does it take to resolve this issue and/or can they only resolve it on the nite and time when the program is trying to air?
 
My question is this: What did they air in place of all those shows at that time?

Retreads of kooooona the drama queen, howie cha ching, cha ching buy my books and the clown "in the middle".....I shut the radio off, I don't want to listen to politics on the weekend!
 
Retreads of kooooona the drama queen, howie cha ching, cha ching buy my books and the clown "in the middle".....I shut the radio off, I don't want to listen to politics on the weekend!

Translating for non-Bostonian BigA: Jeff Kuhner, far-right talker with appropriate movie-villain German accent, and Howie Carr, native Bostonian cynic of all things political in Massachusetts.
 
Retreads of kooooona the drama queen, howie cha ching, cha ching buy my books and the clown "in the middle".....I shut the radio off, I don't want to listen to politics on the weekend!

Sounds like their system to download outside shows isn't set up properly. It's not recording the shows, so when the operator goes to play them, they're not there, and he has to run the back-up. Lots of possible reasons why it hasn't been fixed.

Translating for non-Bostonian BigA

That's OK by now I'm familiar with the routine. I even know who the clown is.
 
What is the story behind Free Talk Radio Midnight on Saturday/Sunday on WRKO?

Where does it come from and who is behind it?

Is there some kind of philosophy behind the programming?

Well it gets a bit complicated Ian Freeman ( born Ian Bernard) was one of those folk who migrated to NH in order to form a "free state" utopia.

Google NH Free State Project.

Now they tend to be very libertarian," like I'll go to jail before I do anything the government tells me I have to do " Libertarian... registering cars, drivers licenses, etc are a violation of their liberty.

Poke around in here for a while : https://forum.freestateproject.org/

Well Ian pushed the limits of Liberty, when he started suggesting that the age of consent for sexual acts between an adult and a minor was something he had a differing opinion on, and the FSP actually booted him out and cut off all association with him.

Has He made some valid points on issues? Yes he has. Is he a royal PITA to the town of Keene NH... probably he and his band of merry pranksters are notorious for screwing with government . Here is but one example: https://www.wmur.com/article/nh-supreme-court-rules-on-parking-meter-robin-hooders/5200953

IMHO he is just a little too far out there for my tastes, and I consider myself to be a Libertarian leaning Republican.
 
One of his merry pranksters in Keene,NH was white supremacist Christopher Cantwel , a leader of the 2017 violent protest
in Charlottesville, VA
 
and the FSP actually booted him out and cut off all association with him.

But he still does the show?

Is the show now only a production of his own making? Self-syndicated?

Does the free state movement have any connection with the show?

Where do they broadcast from?

The description of Ian and his gang sounds like a rag-tag bunch...but the show/feed seems to sounds professional enough.

Do they have a decent studio somewhere.

How did this bunch manage to get clearance on so many stations? Does he buy the time?
 
Seems to me he used to post here at one time. At the time he was based at WBAI in NYC. I imagine he's a bit busier now.
 
Is the show now only a production of his own making? Self-syndicated?

Originally, the show was self-syndicated but it appears to now be handled by Genesis Communications.

Does the free state movement have any connection with the show?
Not any longer. They were a sponsor of the program for several years.

Where do they broadcast from? Do they have a decent studio somewhere.
Keene, New Hampshire. They have a video feed from their studio during their live hours (i.e. right now) if you want to see what it looks like.

How did this bunch manage to get clearance on so many stations? Does he buy the time?
No, it is not purchased time. One thing they have done to increase their afffiliate roster is produce new editions 7 days a week. Quite a lot of their affiliates only take the weekend shows. If you're a PD looking for syndicated live content on Saturday or Sunday night, FTL is very close to the only game in town.

Many of their affiliates who do air the show Monday to Friday are second-tier talk stations, who couldn't get Mark Levin or Aliens Nightly with George Noory. For example, 680 in Kansas City runs FTL on delay at 1am. Not exactly a prime clearance on a station that rim-shots the market. WRKO is probably the biggest clearance the show has.
 
Have seen his posts here as by FTL_Ian.
Article he wrote about graphic sex content on a Keene pirate

https://freekeene.com/2010/06/21/when-pirate-radio-operators-are-offended-theres-a-problem/

>>To provide a plug-and-play programming source for pirate/community radio operators around the world, so as to help introduce new minds to liberty. Recently we have seen growth in this area with more stations like 99.5 in Savannah, GA, 106.9 in Terre Haute, IN, and Keene’s own 107.5 coming on the air

There have been some NOUOs issued for some Keene pirates, possibly Libertarians..may have tried to get an LPFM license there or elsewhere
 
Translating for non-Bostonian BigA: Jeff Kuhner, far-right talker with appropriate movie-villain German accent, and Howie Carr, native Bostonian cynic of all things political in Massachusetts.

LOL but I would characterize Crazy Kuhner's accent as a Gypsy accent rather than German.
 
Sounds like their system to download outside shows isn't set up properly. It's not recording the shows, so when the operator goes to play them, they're not there, and he has to run the back-up. Lots of possible reasons why it hasn't been fixed.


Ok, so here's my question....the show hosts say that the show airs live week nites from 7 to 10pm on the East Coast, but, it doesn't actually air on RKO til 10pm which means their system does download the outside show properly during the week yes?, sooooooo.....why can't it do it properly on Saturday??? OR is RKO just wanting to promote their week day shows by airing retreads on Saturday nite?
 
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