No More Bowties…

From Broadcasting & Cable:

Tucker Out, David Gregory In at MSNBC
by: Alex Weprin

MSNBC canceled Tucker, its Monday-Friday 6 p.m. show, NBC confirmed. In its place, the cable network will debut Race for the White House with David Gregory, a daily look at the latest presidential-election news anchored by NBC News chief White House correspondent David Gregory.

Tucker Carlson — who has shifted time slots, shows and formats on a number of occasions since joining MSNBC — will remain with the network in an as-yet-unannounced capacity.

David Gregory won’t be the only NBC Newser making the jump to the network’s cable channel. Andrea Mitchell, NBC’s chief foreign-affairs correspondent, will anchor MSNBC daily from 1 p.m.-2 p.m.

Other programming changes include a change of format for Live with Dan Abrams, which will relaunch as Verdict with Dan Abrams and will now air every weekday from 9 p.m.-10 p.m.

Abrams’ new show will continue to look at the days’ news from a legal perspective. Perhaps taking a cue from its lead-in, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Abrams will choose winners and losers on topics ranging from politics to pop culture.

Countdown will also get a second showing in primetime, with a replay of the show airing at 10 p.m.

“Viewers are incredibly engaged this election season, with a real appetite for political news,” said Phil Griffin, senior vice president of NBC News and executive in charge of MSNBC, in announcing the programming shuffle. “As NBC News’ chief White House correspondent, David is the perfect person to lead this key hour of our election coverage. Tucker is one of the top political minds inside the Beltway, and we look forward to continuing to feature his insightful analysis.”

Adding Gregory and Mitchell to the daily MSNBC lineup marked the latest in a series of moves that have seen greater integration between MSNBC and NBC News.

Unlike rivals CNN and Fox News Channel, MSNBC can cull talent from its highly rated network-news team for analysis on the cable network — an opportunity it has been keen to take.

With the broadcast networks, including NBC, preferring to rely on entertainment programming during much of the presidential primary season, broadcast anchors Brian Williams, Tim Russert and Tom Brokaw have instead appeared on MSNBC’s primary coverage.

Williams, Mitchell and Gregory have all filled in as guest hosts on MSNBC in the past.

The Right Track – 3/10/2008

Great show today. Matt and Lydia entertained a few callers, and Chuck dissected this week’s Democratic Radio Address. Enjoy!

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The Right Track – 3/4/2008

Tonight we talked with Lydia Peele and Captain Redbeard, the two student body presidential candidates. We fielded calls and emails, and discussed different aspects of their campaigns.

Enjoy!

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The Right Track – 2/25/2008

Matt came in as usual and discussed the idea of K-State backing a city wide smoking ban…The SGA hasn’t made a decision yet; they’re waiting to get feedback from the student body. He had to take off a little early, so we welcomed our next guest, Jonah Goldberg, onto the show! Jonah discussed his new book, “Liberal Fascism,” which is the number two most selling book overall on amazon.com.

Next week: Open Forum with the two remaining KSU SGA Presidential candidates!

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Monday’s Show

Chuck is battling yet another throat illness, but it won’t keep him from the show. Matt Wagner will be on to discuss a smoking ban in Manhattan. And at 5:30pm, Chuck will be talking with Jonah Goldberg, author of “Liberal Fascism.” Get ready for an exciting show!

The Right Track – 2/18/2008

Today’s show was a lot of fun. We invited two members of the K-State PROUD Campaign into the studio to talk about fund raising. Matt discussed numerous topics, from presidential elections to text messaging. Chuck spent his time discussing the absurdity that is the talking heads’ hatred for John McCain. To wrap things up, Adam and Kevin came in like normal to talk all things sports.

Next week: JONAH GOLDBERG!

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Despicable

Have you heard about this? This comes from the most recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher.

BILL MAHER, HOST: Why is it, I was asking Amy this, why is it that the Republican establishment, I guess it is, have so much disdain, not just for McCain, but for the other guy who’s still in it…Huckabee? They don’t like either one of them.

P.J. O’ROURKE, WRITER: Well, I think a couple of things are going on. It’s the it’s the twilight of the radio loud-mouth, you know? I knew it from the moment the fat guy…

MAHER: …You mean Rush Limbaugh and Sean..?

O’ROURKE: …from the moment the fat guy refused to share his drugs (audience laughter). I was, you know…he never called, he never wrote. I’m ready to party, you know, come on! No, I think it’s kind of over for those people. So…

MAHER: Right, you mean the OxyContin that he was on?

O’ROURKE: Yeah, exactly. I mean, that stuff’s good!

MAHER: Why couldn’t, uh, why couldn’t have he croaked from it instead of Heath Ledger? (small audience groans)

O’ROURKE: Yeah, yeah.

Can you believe this? What would happen if Rush Limbaugh wished death upon someone who disagreed with him? We all saw what happened when he called someone a “phony soldier.” Can you imagine the uproar if he would have wished that “phony soldier” was dead?

The worst part about this is that this is not the first despicable outburst from Bill Maher’s show. Remember when John Kerry was on and talked about killing the “bird” in the White House? Or how about Maher’s Halloween costume where he dressed up as Steve Irwin with a sting ray stab wound?

This is an outrage! Bill Maher should be held responsible for his ridiculous claims and outrageous talk. But, sadly, he won’t be. Have you even heard about this? I only saw this on The Radio Equalizer. If it wasn’t for this blog, I would have no idea that this took place.

The great thing is that the right is always accused of being close-minded. Can you get much more close-minded than wishing death upon someone who doesn’t see eye to eye with you?

I don’t think so.

The Right Track – 2/11/2008

Matt joined us in the studio tonight sans Lydia, but we were graced with here presence via telephone for a little bit. We also had an outstanding interview with Dr. J. David Woodard, co-author of “Why We Whisper.” Then Adam and Kevin took the reigns of the beast and dove into sports.

Enjoy!

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Ah, the Caucus…

Tim Bagby, Chair of Riley County Republicans

Well, I just returned home from casting my ballot in the Kansas Republican Caucus. I proudly voted in the 2nd District at Cico Park in Manhattan, Kansas. Three candidates were represented, and to be honest, aside from McCain’s first speaker (Bob Strawn, City Commissioner for Manhattan), the speeches were like pulling teeth. But, all in all, there was good representation for McCain, Paul and Huckabee, and an outstanding showing of what appeared to be 600+ voters.

Who’d I vote for? Oh, now, that would spoil all of the fun!

Tune in on Monday for a great show with Dr. J. David Woodard, the author of “Why We Whisper.” He is a professor at Clemson University, and co-authored the book with US Senator Jim DeMint from South Carolina. Then, the following week, if all goes as planned, we will have Jonah Goldberg on the show discussing his latest book “Liberal Fascism.”

The Right Track – 2/4/2008

We talked with Matt and Lydia, and invited Tim Bagby into the studio. Tim Bagby is the chairman of the Riley County Republican Party, so he discussed the upcoming Republican caucus taking place this Saturday. For more info go to: www.ksgopcaucus.org. Chuck battled a cold, so he called it quits a little early. We’ll see you next week!

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