Chuck Harder- For The People

[DougD]

Anyone remember listening to the show? In its heyday, it had like 200 affiliates as an afternoon talk show.

I think moving LARRY KING to afternoons hurt Chuck Harder.

I also think a business deal that went bad between Chuck and the United Autoworkers also hurt him. Either Chuck didn't know what he was doing or didn't read the fine print that kept him off of the air when the organizations merged or partnered during the late 1990s.

 

[smedge2006]

Undercapitalization, a brittle paranoia (he once tried to sic the FCC on a host who called him "Suck Harder"),
a tenency toward litigiousness, and a political philosophy that didn't fit well on either side of the left-right divide also caused problems. Rush's expansion to three hours in the early 90s also cut into Harder's affiliate base, as his show started at 2 p.m. EST. I don't think King had much impact because most of King's affiliates dropped him when he went to daytime. Harder also had a tendency to brag about reaching an older, small town and rural demographic with his opposition to free trade and support for the folks in the rust belt. (He never found another home in the NYC market after WMCA changed formats in 1989.) His magazine cover showed a family huddled around a radio, 1930s style. I'm sure this didn't endear him to demo-conscious PDs.

 

[Ultimajock]

...what killed Harder's show was the Oklahoma City bombing. NBC reported that Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh listened to Harder regularly (mainly because of his Michigan Militia and Montana Militia programs), and then, all of a sudden, Harder started claiming he'd only had one program featuring the Militias. I was a board op for his Oshkosh affiliate, and I had to listen to consecutive days of that crap on Harder's show. No bloody way did he do just one. He also gave Lyndon LaRouche a weekend show on his network, and *that* should have been a red flag to programmers right there...

 

[jh]

Harder was probably at his peak when he was a sort of "blue collar" version of Bruce Williams, answering people's consumer questions. But then he veered off into various conspiracy theories. And the Peoples Radio Network never quite seemed to have enough money... you could always tell when things were slow when Chuck loaded up his show with authors plugging books available from Chuck's order center.

Now he's on the Talkstar Radio Network, which can't have too many affiliates. He went off shortwave some time ago due to a lack of funds, but I think he may now be back on shortwave. The last few times I've heard his show, during the past two years, I don't think he even took calls from listeners, just interviewing a different guest every half hour.

I don't know how many shows Harder had on the Michigan militia, but his show was extremely tame compared to a lot of other shortwave conspiracy shows during that period.

 

[del_griffith]

I think Harder brokered his networks. One was the Sun radio network before he sold it to the Liberty Lobby (or through his own stupidity leveraged himself out of it) and his Peoples Radio Network. Some of the shows were a tad more populist than others. But IMHO a couple of things did him in.

One was OKC. While he didn't carry the actual Mich militia guy, he did have some nutsy folks on his show and brokering time. Eustace Mullins comes to mind.

Another was consolidation. A lot of small stations were either bought by the media giants and had their formats changed or were killed of as unprofitable or to allow for another station to enlarge its signal.

Chuck's show became depressing. We started referring to him as Hard Luck Charlie. If it could go wrong it happened to him.

Finally and somewhat related to #2 is more and more listeners no longer seek out niche programming on poorly signaled AM stations.

There was a time when he was a blue colar consumer advocate that he seemed to thrive.

 

[del_griffith]

Oh, and I forgot. Y2K . He was a Y2K is the end of the world guy. Sold tons of Y2K survival merchandise. I remember listeneing to his show the first week or so out of the new year. His listeners were not a happy lot. They spent theri hard earned pennies on his survivialist stuff and he wasn't taking it back. That was the official end of the viability of the show.

 

[jh]

Yes, you're right... I had forgotten Chuck's endless "doom and gloom" shows about Y2K. According to Chuck, absolutely NOTHING was going to work once the clocked struck 2000... no power, no food, etc. He didn't have too much credibility when none of it came to pass.

He was selling solar power and wind power stuff, generators, etc. He seriously injured himself when working on one of those contraptions, pretty much losing the use of his legs. That and other health problems also contributed to the show's downfall.

 

[DougD]

Okay, he wasn't perfect. But Chuck was to radio what LOU DOBBS is to CNN- a champion for American jobs.

http://www.talkstarradio.com/hosts/chuckpage.htm

Mr. Harder wants to see JOB'S COME BACK to America. Chuck says, "We have lost 20 million good high- paying jobs as our government encourages factories to move offshore and fire the USA workers. Two government agencies; The Overseas Private Investment Corporations and the USA Agency For International Development actually help factories move. We must bring the factories back so we can have a "value-added" economy and be able to pay our international debts. We are now the world's largest debtor nation and it used to be the other way around before "Free Trade."

Mr. Harder concludes, "Our mission is to restore America and protect the working family. This is done by raising awareness of the issues affecting us and then in turn those in Washington will eventually hear our pleas.

Broadcasting needs more of THESE kind of activists. Not cheerleaders for a particular political party that read talking points.

 

[zaxxons1]

Just noticed this thread on Chuck Harder ...
Was wondering, what's going on with him?
He went off the air in early October - nearly two months ago - and came back on yesterday, where he didn't sound well at all.
I am aware of his health issues, and I am quite frankly mystified about his desire to stay on the air, as sick as he apparently is. I am also aware that he hasn't had call-ins in nearly two years, and has completely abandoned his consumer activism for his rather colorful politics.
Could be that he owns TalkStar Radio Network "lock, stock and transmitter," though that is pure speculation on my part; I really don't know. But if that's true, it would explain why he could continue to broadcast his program under admittedly very adverse conditions. He could do pretty well anything he wants, and not face a layoff or forced retirement. How does that old aphorism go - "Nice work if you can get it," or something like that?
BTW, calling or e-mailing the network to get updates on Chuck does no good - no one answers. And there's no mailing address on the network Web site.
I think I remember him saying several months ago that he was working on a book, and was trying to rebuild his satellite DVB-based network. But he hasn't mentioned either of these projects on his show (though I listen only very infrequently so again I'm not really sure).

 

[zaxxons1]

Was listening to Chuck Harder yesterday afternoon around 2:53 PM EST, and it sounded like he collapsed on the air.
Did anyone else hear this?

 

[zaxxons1]

Got curious about the Chuck Harder situation, so I tuned in Bill Madden, the morning host for TalkStar Radio Network, and he had Stephen Schochet (sp?) on - the "Hollywood Minute" guy - and I thought I heard something about a new Hollywood program on TSRN hosted by Mr. Schochet. I heard little else, except Mr. Madden's admonition not to "let too many cats out of bags" (or something like that).
Is Stephen Schochet replacing Chuck Harder on TSRN?
I think that's a legitimate question. If not, let Mr. Schochet put the kibosh to this.

 

[DougD]

Chuck had a good national show. I miss it.

I don't honestly recall him harping on the Y2K as much as others did back then.

Perhaps he wasn't carried as much then or I didn't have a local affiliate carrying him. I was unemployed much of that lousy year so I had a lot of time to listen to radio in my job search (non-broadcast jobs).

Chuck Harder, JimBo (Jim Bohanon) and Bruce Williams, along with Tom Snyder and others were among the best of that era. Too bad they're not widely heard in many big markets.

 

[zaxxons1]

Point taken ... but unfortunately I think Ultimajock is right about Chuck Harder. The guy was just too far out politically to be taken seriously, and be successful in talk radio.
Remember, CH cut his teeth in politics in the late 1980's with the help of the anti-Semitic (and gratifyingly defunct) Liberty Lobby, named by the Anti-Defamation League as the largest anti-Jewish organization in the U.S. The Liberty Lobby was the main propaganda arm of the Holocaust deniers from the mid-fifties to just before 9/11; also, it promoted Klansman David Duke (notice I didn't say "former") for President in 1988 and 1992.
I agree with Ultimajock: Having Lyndon LaRouche on your radio network just doesn't reflect very well. I remember that too - I think LaRouche was on CH's old People's Radio Network on Sunday afternoons, and hearing his whacked-out, feverish, delusional rants along with CH's anti-government PSA's was just too much to bear.
Before LL, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything on CH. I think he was just a local Tampa, FL consumer-activist type in those days, putting shady local businesses on the spot and getting FPL to lay off elderly customers on fixed incomes.
What was that LL satellite company that bought out CH in the late 1980's? Kayla, or something like that?
It's too bad ... had CH not gotten mixed up with LL, no telling where he'd be these days. Maybe at the same level as Bruce Williams or Clark Howard.
A real shame.

 

[zaxxons1]

This will be my last Chuck Harder posting (I can hear the pro-CH folks cheering!), and my last political posting on any Web site, blog, newsgroup, media outlet, etc.
In the past week, I've listened to every Chuck Harder broadcast, and I've noticed that he's been on just one hour per day (the second hour is a rerun).
If "For The People" continues in this fashion, that's OK with me. Yes, I think Chuck Harder stinks, but putting up with him for only an hour per day is a hell of a lot better than having to endure him for two hours (or three).
Before I go, let me say that Chuck Harder is not an individual of good moral standing. I don't think he's a criminal, but I think he's an ignoramus whose rather colorful views on race, religion and ethnicity were brought out into the open 20 years ago with his dubious dalliance with the Liberty Lobby (see previous post).
Such folks hate President Bush, for various reasons. So does Chuck Harder.
Indeed, CH's Bush Derangement Syndrome is rather breathtaking, in my opinion.
Dubya has declared "war on the American middle class"? Give me a friggin' break! You'd have to have strawberry jam for brains if you believe that!
No, Lou Dobbs does not think that Bush has declared war on America. But CH does.
So does David Duke.
I remember about 11 years ago when I happened to catch a CH broadcast, and he basically said that it's either him or DD. That says volumes about the kind of folks CH is going after, and what they (and he) really think.
I can't exactly recall how many "For The People" shows I've listened to - 50? 100? 200? - but this recent weeklong stretch is extremely unusual for me. And it shows why I've tried to avoid CH like the plague. I have no use for over-the-edge, government-hating, delusional BDS.
I don't have strawberry jam for brains.
I'll quote Edward R. Murrow: Goodbye and good luck.