Randi Rhodes

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Randi Rhodes

Randi Rhodes (born Randi Bueten on January 28, 1959 in Brooklyn, New York), is an American liberal talk radio personality featured on Air America Radio, where her eponymous program, The Randi Rhodes Show, airs Monday through Friday from 3 pm to 6 pm Eastern Time, with many Air America Radio affiliates recording the show for broadcast later in the evening. Her married name is Randi Robertson; Rhodes is a stage name chosen to honor Ozzy Osbourne's guitar player Randy Rhoads, whom Rhodes describes as "a consummate professional... who lived to be the best." [1]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Rhodes was brought up in a Jewish household, but refuses to discuss her religious views openly. Her father was a mechanical engineer and World War II veteran and her mother worked in a dress shop. She grew up in Brooklyn and Queens, but her parents divorced when she was 15, and her father moved to California.

[edit] Military career

Rhodes enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1977 and worked stateside as a mechanic in Texas, achieving the rank of Airman First Class. She left the Air Force early and relocated to Ohio, where she participated in a program called Palace Chase to release her to the reserves and honorably discharge her. Although she left active duty before her contract was up, she still received an honorable discharge after completing the program.[2].

[edit] Early work in radio

Rhodes' radio career began in Seminole, Texas, where she supplemented her income as a waitress in a Mexican restaurant as her radio career developed. Like many radio personalities, Rhodes worked at several radio stations in various American markets for over 10 years. While teaming with host Perry Stone at Milwaukee's WQFM, Rhodes was suspended in 1987 when their program offended the homosexual community and led several businesses to cancel ads. [1]

In September 1992, Randi started on WIOD in Miami, emulating and occasionally substituting for colleague Neil Rogers.[2] The Miami Herald described her as "a chain-smoking bottle blond,...part Joan Rivers, part shock jock Howard Stern and part Saturday Night Live's 'Coffee Talk' lady. But mostly, she's her rude, crude, loud, brazen, gleefully scatological self." Rhodes' schtick was well demonstrated when she retorted to a caller, "God, you're making me look so damn crappy! I'll never forgive you for this as long as I live! Not in a milliontrilliontwohundredthousand-eighthundredfortysevenyears!" She deejayed in the 1980s on WSHE in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. In 1994, Rhodes started at WJNO (1230/1330 AM) in West Palm Beach, Florida to replace syndicated host G. Gordon Liddy, whom she likes to call either "Mr. Giddy" or "The Felon". She contributed expert commentary on the O.J. Simpson trial in 1994, catapulting her to fame and higher Arbitron ratings. During the 2000 U.S. Presidential election, the West Palm Beach location of Rhodes show allowed her to provide commentary as an alternative to the mainstream media coverage on the local proceedings, as Palm Beach was a major Florida county disputed in the election.

Rhodes gained national attention soon after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States by being particularly critical of President Bush, and by closely monitoring questions surrounding the destruction of the World Trade Center, damage to The Pentagon and related issues. She has always been highly critical of those she deems right-wingers, conservatives or neoconservatives, as well as Christian, Islamic and Jewish religious fundamentalists.

In 2004, she appeared on the cover of The New Republic in an article entitled Talking Back: The Coming Rise of Liberal Talk Radio. NewsMax.com Magazine's "Top 25 Talk Radio Host" list selected Rhodes as the eighteenth most influential host in the nation.[3]

[edit] Rhodes joins Air America Radio, 2004

In 2004, Rhodes joined Air America Radio, bringing The Randi Rhodes Show to its largest audience to date. Rhodes' show consists principally of monologue with comedic content and listener calls. Only occasionally does she do interviews. The show is punctuated with musical interludes, including the show's unofficial theme song, Pain by Stereomud. On Fridays, Rhodes opens the show with the song Bounce Your Boobies by Rusty Warren. With her distinctive Brooklyn-Queens accent, she takes calls spanning the political spectrum, aggressively promoting her views.

[edit] Rhodes's journalistic standards

see main articles at journalism and journalism ethics and standards

Rhodes regularly asserts that she is not a journalist, but does analyze and comment on news reports with a journalistic eye. She proclaims herself to be a stickler for facts, and also claims to hold to many of the basic tenets of journalism ethics and standards such as corroboration, attribution and truthfulness. She offers citations to a wide array of newspapers, magazines, websites, government documents and Radio/Television reports. Rhodes takes on the roles of editorialist, satirist, comedian and news analyst. She is a leading activist for accountability and standards in the media, and has spoken at congressional hearings about creating a framework of national standards for what can be labelled news. She frequently tells her listeners to never trust anyone they hear on the radio, not even herself. She tells her audience to do their own research after hearing supposed facts on the air.

[edit] Rhodes's comedic style

Rhodes acts as a comedian and makes frequent use of sound effects, as do many on Air America Radio. Some of her trademark sounds are the cherry pop for first-time callers, the bong bubbles, the Howard Dean scream, and various bells and buzzers for indications of how she feels about any particular subject. Even explosions and gunfire are sometimes used with comedic intent. Her show features comedians such as Barry Crimmins and Randy Credico, as well as comedy produced by the Air America staff.

[edit] Criticism

Many consider Rhodes to have made comments which have gone beyond the pale. The Anti-Defamation League sent Ms. Rhodes a letter censuring her for comments relating to the evacuation of victims from Hurricane Katrina. Rhodes compared the bungled evacuation to the intentional mass murder of Jews at Auschwitz. The ADL believed that these comments showed great insensitivity to the victims of the Holocaust. [3]

[edit] Family

In 1994 Rhodes married Jim Robertson, an independent television producer and cameraman. Rhodes and Robertson divorced in April 2004 but have remained close friends. Rhodes took the name Robertson when she married, but continued to use her professionally known name, Randi Rhodes, on the air, a common practice amongst those in media and business.

In 1998, Rhodes's sister Ellen died of breast cancer at age 44. Rhodes and Robertson raised Ellen's daughter Jessica as their own. [4][5]

[edit] Trivia

  • In the mid-1980's Ms. Rhodes was unable to afford tuition for community college, so she informally audited classes for several years, including legal courses, to improve her knowledge.
  • Rhodes's Florida home was damaged in 2005 by Hurricane Wilma. However, Rhodes remained in New York to continue working on her show, as she felt that her program was more important than her house.
  • Rhodes won the American Women in Radio and Television award for Best Entertainment Programming.[6]
  • Rhodes claims her dog, Simon, barks at the TV when someone from the Bush administration appears.

[edit] Bibliography

The Big Encyclopedia of Republican Hypocrites, 2006, (ISBN 1-4013-5248-0) (to be released August 30). While the book was supposed to have been released by the end of August, Randi has stated on her show that she was unable to finish it due to all the findings making her sick to her stomach.

[edit] External links

[edit] Press

[edit] Rhodes' fans

[edit] Rhodes critics


[edit] References

  1. ^ "Front", Miami Herald, September 30, 1987.
  2. ^ Elinor J. Brecher. "Talk Radio's Brassy 'Goddess of Gab'", Miami Herald, January 31, 1993.
  3. ^ http://www.newsmax.com/talkradio


Air America Radio (List of affiliates)
Hosts (past & present): David Bender • Angie Coiro • Chuck D • Steve Earle • Jon Elliott • Laura Flanders • Al Franken • Gia'na Garel • Janeane Garofalo • Thom Hartmann • Kyle Jason • Marty Kaplan • Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. • Katherine Lanpher • Rachel Maddow • Ben Mankiewicz • Marc Maron • Mike Malloy • Mike Papantonio • Jill Pike • Randi Rhodes • Betsy Rosenberg • Mark Riley • Sam Seder • Jerry Springer • Cenk Uygur• Peter Werbe 

Programs (past & present): Air America Mornings • The Al Franken Show • EcoTalk • The Marc Maron Show • The Majority Report • The Mike Malloy Show • On The Real • Radio Nation • The Randi Rhodes Show • The Revolution Starts Now • Ring of Fire • Springer on the Radio • State of Belief  • The Young Turks

Related articles: Sheldon Drobny • Talk radio • Progressive Talk • Evan Montvel Cohen • Danny Goldberg • Air America-Gloria Wise loan controversy
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