Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • 84

THE WAY WE LIVE DETROIT FREE PRESS WWW.FREEP.COM "Where you get the Max" for your Green pr 1 'r -Tr 1 NBA Famous 'N -1 CSSSs Outerwear a maker i i I 1 i UNOA SPIU-ERSSpeclal to tht Free Preu a I Detroit. Michigan 48202 inml II Tom Athans in the Democracy Radio office. The group ran a successful conference that brought together politicians and radio hosts and is planning another. His blunt approach makes man a talker Have you ever seen a nebulizer this small? MicroAirJthe world's smallest most advanced portable nebulizer. efl S' i A iii nrAi side Now you can breath easier at home or on the go.

Lincare will deliver the respiratory equipment you need and teach you how to use it in your home. Lincare and Lincare's Reliant Pharmacy Service will include: Patient education and instruction. Patient follow-up and compliance monitoring. A wide variety of pre-mixed respiratory medications. a DAVE KOLPACKAP Liberal North Dakota talk radio host Ed Schultz is going national in January.

By JULIE HINDS tree Press staff writer Our professional staff is committed to providing you with high-quality products and prompt courteous service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call Lincare today for more details on the MicroAir. IW3 iiTitsw CEMS iSJjuJzljd -j I c3 Athans says he understands these criticisms and that's why he's searching for men and women who know how to entertain, who have an "undefinable gift of having an incredible presence on the air." CONSERVATIVES SCOIT at Democracy Radio's mission and say its premise is faulty. "The idea that liberals aren't on talk radio isn't the slightest bit true," says Tim Graham of the Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group. "Any market that has National Public Radio on it has a liberal talk show.

I'd say liberals have already got 700 affiliates of NPR to say what they want to say." Glenn Beck, a conservative talk radio host who's carried in Detroit on WXDX-AM (1310), says it's preposterous for liberals to think they can manufacture programs to advance their cause. "The idea of having people with varied ideas, boy, that's out-of-the-ballpark great. However, to force them on the air is anticapitalist," says Beck. "I can't imagine any station that is going to get into business with people who say, 'You know what I really want to do is make political points all day that are going to further this political But Athans says Democracy Radio is nonpar- tisan and not connected to the Democratic Party. ATHANS rOVNDED THE GROUP last fall with the help of Paul Fiddick, a former assistant agriculture secretary in the Clinton administration and a veteran radio executive.

Fiddick, who heads the board of Democracy Radio, describes Athans as energetic: "While he's good at multitasking, he can also be very focused and single-minded. I know he's spent most of his life in politics, but he could be a very successful business guy." Democracy Radio held its first big conference "A Progressive View of the State of the Union" in January in Washington, D.C. to build support for its cause and introduce talk radio hosts to politicians. Top Democratic legislators were there, including Ted Kennedy, Tom Daschle, John Conyers, Carl Levin and Sta-benow. "It was the event that put us on the map," says Athans, who plans to hold another conference next year.

"Second, it introduced us to talk radio personalities across the country Third, and most importantly, it gave these folks some direct communication to Senate and House members." Athans says Stabenow isn't directly involved nith Democracy Radio, but she is always "incredibly supportive" as a spouse. "She has been my constant source of strength," he says. athans met stabenow 18 years ago when she was serving in the Michigan House of Representatives and he was a legislative employee. He went on to spend six years on the Oxford Village Council in Oakland County. He was a staffer for U.S.

Rep. Dale Kildee. In 2000, he was a campaign aide for Stabenow's Senate race. Last fall, he began seeing Stabenow socially, which led to a February wedding. From Page 1J HOUMir MLB owned a restaurant and bar.

He worked in radio briefly as a young man, doing voice-overs for commercials. He still has a knack for impersonations. A lifelong Democrat and an Air Force veter an, he's worked in politics at the local, state and national levels. I HE'S also an avid radio listener, one who's been wondering for a while how to get more 7U OFF Miidi fMorel Hie I Wi ll viewpoints on the airwaves. There's been a lot of Entire 1 1 buzz about that topic lately, particularly about efforts to give liberals a stronger presence in television and radio.

Collection BRICKER-TUNIS Men's Women's Mink VJ 1 Sheared Mink Sheared Mink Fabulous Knitted Furs Reversibles Sable Chinchilla Shearlings Accessories ,1 Is Ed Schultz the liberal swer to Rush Limbaugh? v' "Don't hang that tire around my neck," says the blunt-speaking North Dakota talk radio host." He describes himself like this: "I'm a football jock. I'm a Democrat with a gun. I'm really scaring these conservatives. My style is very aggressive. We know1 the conservatives can dish it out.

Let's see if they can take it." Is he done yet? Not by a' long shot. In January, Schultz will launch a national talk-radio Radio, the nonprofit group that's trying to bring more progressive voices to theair-waves, helped develop it. Schultz say the time is ripe" for his kind of talk. "People ask me if this is going to work. Half the country voted for Al Gore.

You going to tell me those people listen to radio?" Currently, Schultz hosts a show for Fargo's KFGQ-AM called "News tfhd Views." Before plans began for him to go national, he was considering running as a Democrat against the Republican governor of North Dakota. His new show will be syndicated by Jones Radio Network. The goal is to have Schultz's program air on hundreds of stations. So far, five stations, none in metro Detroit, have signed up to carry it, says Amy Bolton, general manager of Jones Radio. Bolton says she's been swamped with phone calls from stations interested in Schultz.1 "That's what tells me it's a slam dunk," she says.

"I've been in talk radio for 20 years and i've never had a response like this before." The program also will be available on XM satellite radio. 4 Schultz says he's ready1 to prove himself. "The name of the game is ratings. I've got to get in some markets and I've got to knock down some ratings." He hopes one of those markets is metro Detroit, because he's certain it has his kind of listeners. "I want to represent the people who take a shower after work," he says.

News reports this fall said Al Gore and his backers are looking to buy Newsworld International, a small cable news network, from Vivendi Universal. They would position it as a liberal alternative in cable news. Names from Al Franken and Janeane Garo-falo to former Clinton press secretary Joe Lock-hart have been mentioned as liberal talk radio-contenders for a network debuting Jan. 5 in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Just how conservative is talk radio? According to Athans, out of 340 political talk shows, 300 are conservative in nature and 40 are liberal.

A vast right-wing conspiracy? More like a vast number of Rush Limbaugh copycats, say radio insiders. Limbaugh's ratings success sent the industry scrambling to find more versions of him. Commercial radio stations don't care what a show's political slant is as long as it draws listeners. "Politics doesn't drive radio," says Michael Harrison, editor and publisher of Talkers magazine, a leading trade publication. "It's revenues." Some liberals blame all the conservative talk on the media deregulation of the Reagan era and the elimination of the fairness doctrine, which called for giving airtime to opposing views on controversial issues.

Liberal attempts at talk radio haven't done well, even with prominent figures like Mario Cuomo as hosts. The perception is that liberals are too stuffy and earnest to master the catchy theatrics of the format. "Liberals need to be less mealy-mouth and more smash-mouth," says Matthew Felling, of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a non I Sizes 4 to 54 '1 fl N0W2ST I Rfg. $4,5" ur 'jMfH Mow Credit terms available! 1 Debbie and I are both very driven people, very focused people," he says. "Once we began to see each other romantically, I think we were struck by how attracted we were to each other," he says.

"I know I was smitten At our age, you recognize when you find someone special. You don't need much time to figure it out." It's a second marriage for both. He has a daughter, a senior at Michigan State University. Stabenow has two children. Like most working couples, Athans and Stabenow juggle busy schedules.

They try to eat dinner together every night and catch a movie or concert when there's time. They divide their time between Washington, D.C, and Lansing. Athans says he's enjoying his new role at Democracy Radio. But he's looking forward to the day when he works himself out of a job. "If we can produce entertaining and compelling radio programming throughout the U.S., we're certain the industry will react and the pendulum will move at least to the center," he says.

6335 Orchard Lake Road North of Maple Road West Bloomfield I partisan media research group. "Any form of liberal commentary has spoken a language you'd find in a classroom. If liberal radio is to get off the ground, they need to learn the language of the barroom." 1 1 WKJW. Contact JULIE HINDS at 313-222-6427 or hindsfreepress.com..