Doug Basham (radio personality)

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Doug Basham is a progressive radio talk show host from Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. He recently started broacasting a special Saturday morning show with the former star of the hit sit-com "Too Close For Comfort" Lydia Cornell, as his co-host.

Doug has spent the majority of his life as an entertainer. After earning his degree in classical piano while still in high school, (while teaching drums and percussion at the same time), Doug began his show business career as a singer/musician. “I seldom attended my own school dances because I was off playing at other schools,” he recalled. Before too long, he made the switch from musician to magician, and toured extensively as a magic-comedian. In that capacity, he was the opening act for some of the dates in Ricky Nelson’s ‘Garden Party Comeback Tour,’ and later opened for zany comedian Jim Carrey, when Carrey was still performing his impressionist act. In the late 1980’s, Basham was voted 'Variety Entertainer of the Year' in the 'Excellence in the Arts Awards.'

Doug now seems to have found a niche in the challenging world of progressive talk radio. Basham's first radio show was a video review show on AM 720 KDWN, Las Vegas called "Video Talk." That ultimately led to him becoming a political talk show host.

After a period of time at KDWN (in Las Vegas), and despite receiving the highest ratings of any other host on the station - nationally syndicated ones included - Basham was abrubtly fired in 2002 after station management deemed him too politically left leaning. They told him he "spent too much time bashing the president." Basham then moved his show to KLAV AM 1230 for the next year and a half, until he was approached for syndication. On May 2nd, 2005, Radio Lynx began syndicating the program, broadcasting weeknights from 10 p.m. - 1 a.m. Pacific Time.

Basham’s goal might best be summed up in this statement. He said, “My overall agenda is to demonstrate why America must never elect a republican administration again… ever.” Listening to Basham’s show, it doesn’t take long to conclude this remark was not made jokingly. Billing himself as the ‘Aggressive Progressive,’ Doug vociferously rejects the notion that any criticism of a republican President or administration (especially one that has failed as miserably as he contends this Bush administration has) is somehow ‘anti-American’ or ‘unpatriotic.’ On the contrary, Basham contends (and strongly) that if you truly love this country, you can not support this administration, no matter what the mainstream media repeaters - formerly reporters - tell you.

Basham says, “The mission statement of my show pertains to an oft heard phrase, ‘I want my country back.’ I counter that if people truly want to take their country back, they must take their media back first, because currently - like other entities in this country - it’s become a conservative, corporatized aberration, controlled by people with more of a ‘political agenda’ than a ‘news’ agenda. And this is where I come in.”

Basham's show boasts as stellar and impressive a guest line-up as any other radio show in the country, and because Doug cares enough about his guests (and by proxy, his audience), he conducts painstaking, in-depth research on every guest prior to their appearance. If a guest has written a book, Doug is one of the few interviewers who actually reads the entire book, staying up the night before the interview in order to complete it. The lack of sleep pays off however, as many guests have said their interview with Basham was the best they've ever conducted, including 4-time guest Pat Buchanan, (surprising perhaps, seeing as Doug and Pat are 180 degrees apart on political ideology). And of course, guests who are on the same political page as Doug feel even stronger than Mr. Buchanan does.

Some of Doug’s guests have included:

Lou Dobbs: Anchor of Lou Dobbs Tonight on CNN. (Doug appeared on Lou's "Radio Roundup" segment on Tuesday February 13, 2007.)
Terry McAuliffe: Former DNC Chair and Chairman of Hillary 2008 Campaign.
Gerry Spence: One of America's most renowned attorneys.
Democratic Senator, Byron Dorgan, author of the new book “Take This Job and Ship It.”
James Meigs, editor in chief of Popular Mechanics magazine, editor of the new book “Debunking 9-11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can’t Stand Up To The Facts.”
John Dean, former Nixon counsel, author of the new book “Conservatives Without Conscience.”
Jack Carter, son of President Jimmy Carter, running for the U.S. Senate in Nevada.
Pat Buchanan, author of the new book “State of Emergency.” This is Pat’s 4th appearance on Basham Radio.
Crystal Woodman-Miller, Columbine survivor, author of the book “Marked For Life.”
Retired Lt. General William Odom, whose recent column was titled “Cut and Run? You Bet?”