In the United States, the format has included syndicated and independent personalities such as Arnie Arnesen, Michael Brooks, Alan Colmes, Jon Favreau, Al Franken, Brad Friedman, John Fugelsang, Norman Goldman, Amy Goodman, Thom Hartmann, Kyle Kulinski, Jon Lovett, Rachel Maddow, Mike Malloy, Stephanie Miller, Michael Moore, David Pakman, Mike Papantonio, Dan Pfeiffer, Bill Press, Randi Rhodes, Ed Schultz, Sam Seder (The Majority Report with Sam Seder), Hal Sparks, and Tommy Vietor.
The Chicago Federation of Labor (via WCFL) and Socialist Party of America (via WEVD in New York City) each launched radio stations in the 1920s as organs for progressive political activism.
[2][3] Politically oriented talk radio stations often featured liberal hosts such as Alan Berg and Alex Bennett sharing the schedule with more conservative personalities.
One of the most notable liberal talk-show hosts was Michael Jackson, who had a show for 35 years at KABC in Los Angeles, often commenting on both political and national issues.
Two developments in the late 1980s – the struggle of AM radio music formats against FM, and the repeal of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) "fairness doctrine"[4] – set the stage for the growth of more political talk programming.
Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh became one of the early success stories of this new radio environment, helped by a syndication arrangement that was financially appealing to local stations.
The UAW-owned network i.e. America had over 30 affiliates, including Sirius Satellite Radio, and a lineup of Doug Stephan, Nancy Skinner, Thom Hartmann, Peter Werbe, Mike Malloy, and The Young Turks.
Their concept was to develop and incubate liberal oriented talk talent and enlist radio networks to market their programs to stations around the country.
Democracy Radio developed and produced talk shows that launched the national careers of Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller, among others.
[5] That article interested Sheldon and Anita Drobney, venture capitalists from Chicago, who brought Hartmann on as a consultant and hired Jon Sinton to form what would become Air America.
More than 20 of their stations switched to liberal talk within the following year, which included major markets such as Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Seattle, and Miami.
Air America's highest-rated host, Al Franken, left in February 2007 to run for Senate and was replaced on the network by Thom Hartmann live in the noon-3 PM ET.
As money dried up, and after other national hosts were offered such as Al Sharpton, his brokered time on WWZN shrank to his own show, and then that was cut loose in the fall of 2012 as the station went to all sports.
National and local advertising revenues have fallen drastically, causing many media companies nationwide to fold or seek bankruptcy protection.
Arianna Huffington and other women in radio and television have had a significant history[16] and are key players in the growth of the talk genre (see also Oprah Winfrey).
Democracy Radio contributed to the creation of the progressive genre, and it had lasting impact with the ongoing success of Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller.
Following these losses,[18] several of the remaining progressive talk hosts discontinued their shows, including Randi Rhodes and Ed Schultz.
[19][20] Independently owned stations such as WCPT in Chicago (2015) persistently maintain years of popularity and retain a full line-up of progressive hosts, including Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez on Democracy Now!, Zero Hour with Richard Eskow plus Thom Hartmann, Norman Goldman, Stephanie Miller, Bill Press, and previous former co-host of Hannity and Colmes, the late Alan Colmes.
Goldman's national talk show focuses on callers and news, with regular guest interviews with award-winning LA Times contributor and president of Consumer Watchdog, Jamie Court - as well as Alex Seitz-Wald, political reporter for MSNBC.
By January 2017, the migration of progressive talk to off-air and noncommercial radio left a severe shortage of programming for commercial radio stations; by one estimate, fewer than ten progressive talk stations remained in the United States, many of which were forced to change to other formats (examples including WXXM-Madison, Wisconsin and WNYY-Ithaca, New York) despite their relative popularity in their cities in order to maintain full 24-hour schedules.
[30] By the early 2020s progressive talk began to resurge in the Upper Midwest returning to the Madison and Milwaukee radio markets with former syndicated WXXM host Michael Crute owned WTTN and WAUK offering primarily locally programmed shows.
The region also continues to be served by Chicago's WCPT and KTNF in the Twin Cities which have proven to be two of the more resilient progressive talk stations.
Contemporary talk, music, sports and newscasts are significantly branching out to the internet and Smartphone App choices such as TuneIn Radio.
[32] Many independent and liberal talk show hosts offer podcast (digital audio Play-On-Demand recordings, see also iPod) subscriptions in order to support their on-going broadcasts.
Various television shows feature talk radio guests such as Stephanie Miller on CNN,[43] Thom Hartmann on "Real Time with Bill Maher.
Liberal/independent talk show hosts have their own sources for relevant topics, and often derive research from websites and news organizations such as The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Media Matters, Mother Jones, AlterNet, Common Dreams, Truthout, Harper's, Talking Points Memo, Salon.com, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Democrats.com,[45] Democratic Underground, Public Citizen, MoveOn.org, Politico, ProPublica and many more.
Not uncommon with the varied responses to many forms of media, critics have long accused NPR of having a liberal bias, though the network as well as parties on both sides of the political spectrum state that it reflects a diversity of views.