For a while, Schultz continued his News and Views broadcasts, though by February 2005 it was announced that Joel Heitkamp, a North Dakota state senator, was taking over that show.
After growing to approximately 95 affiliates, Democracy Radio sold its majority stake in The Ed Schultz Show to Product First in June 2005, a company started by Randy Michaels and Stu Krane, who had previously been involved with launching Rush Limbaugh's radio show.
In 2009, Talkers magazine rated Ed Schultz as the 18th most important talk show host in the United States.
Reliably holding Schultz's high ratings, Goldman now produces his own nationally heard talk show[9] during the 3-6 PM West Coast time slot.
Like other popular polemic, political radio shows, Schultz used humorous, often somewhat derogatory nicknames for a number of public figures.
These included "Slant Head" for conservative commentator Sean Hannity, "the Druggie" or "the Drugster" for Rush Limbaugh, "Shooter" for Vice President Dick Cheney, "Rotten Rudy" for former Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, "The Mittster" for Mitt Romney, and "the pizza man" for Herman Cain.