The Ed Schultz Show

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ed Schultz Show, hosted by Ed Schultz, is broadcast from Fargo, North Dakota on a network of over 100 stations (as of October 2005), including seven of the 10 largest radio markets. He is also on XM and Sirius satellite radio; his show is often carried as part of a lineup that includes one or more Air America Radio shows.

Schultz launched The Ed Schultz Show on January 5, 2004, distributed by Jones Radio Network, with financial backing from Democracy Radio. The show started in two markets (Needles, California and Langdon, North Dakota), quickly signing another dozen stations in smaller, mostly upper Midwest markets. 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. The Ed Schultz Show's shares owned by Democracy Radio were purchased by Product First in June of 2005, a company started by Randy Michaels and Stu Krane, who had previously been involved with launching Rush Limbaugh's radio show.

Schultz's flagship KFGO dropped The Ed Schultz Show between January 2006 and February 2007 due to an apparent conflict with the station's management which new ownership cleared up. Fargo's KQWB-AM aired the program in the interim.

Despite assertions by some conservative critics that progressive talk cannot succeed, Schultz has carved out a national niche. According to the most recent survey by Talkers Magazine, Ed Schultz is the 5th most important talk show host in the United States [1], with 2.5 million listeners a week, and the most listened to liberal talk show host in the country.