The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday in the noon hour.
QUESTION: Do you listen to talk radio? If so, what station do you mainly listen to, and what shows are your favorite?
Talk about it.
NPR Aside from sports stations, most everything else is garbage.
NPR? That’s not talk radio, it’s radical left wing indoctrination.
They’re as bad as the Bolshevik Broadcasting Company (BBC).
No NO! Total waste of time, energy and a good brain.
No. I used to many years ago when commuting into San Francisco by car. But, once started taking BART, stopped listening to it.
Armstrong & Getty! They’re on 650 6-10am but I now listen as a podcast because the commercials (during the show) are removed.
I listen to their podcasts now since I’m out of work and not getting to hear them when they’re on.
I listened to Bill Wattenberg late night before KGO made the changes. He was/is a down to earth engineer with no-frills attached.
Whatever happened to Bernie Ward? Going to look him up now…
he may be paroled by now
Yeah Bernie went down for some bad stuff…
I miss Bill Wattenberg. Had the best talk show!
Bernie was released in 2014 after serving six years in a federal prison. Federal prisons do not have a parole system. Wikipedia has more info on his crime, you can also find Bernie on the Megan’s Law website as a registered sex offender.
I guess NPR counts. Otherwise no.
Not as much as I used to. I’m retired now, but when I was working I always had on KGO. I would listen to Dr. Dean Edell, Ronn Owens, Pete Wilson, and my favorite was Jim Eason.
I didn’t like Ray Taliaferro, mostly because he was too arrogant and would always hang up on a caller if he couldn’t win an argument. Even though I didn’t like him, I felt a little sad when I heard he suffered from dementia and was found dead a few days after he was reported missing.
Sometimes I will listen to Rush Limbaugh when I’m in the car, and once in a blue moon I will listen to Michael Savage, but Savage is a little too full of himself for my taste.
KSFO, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin are my favorites.
Now that I’m retired, I don’t even listen to the news. But when I was working, I listened to KGO, Ronn Owens in the morning, and Jim Eason in the afternoons. It really saddened me when we lost Pete Wilson, because he was one of my favorites. Len Tillem was very entertaining.
I almost never listened at night, but I really liked listening to Duane Garrett. He had his demons, but he understood California politics better than anyone who wasn’t Willie Brown.
Gene Burns, John Rothmann was my favorites, kind of a tie. Then Pete Wilson and Ronn Owens also a tie. At least John still has a 3 hour show at night on KGO.
Nope. I can’t stand anything in the car but music. The day automated XM radio merged with live-DJ Sirius was a dark one. The second someone talks, I flip stations.
I’m like that now.
Shut up and play the music!
Not since the stations took all the good hosts off. I miss Michael Finny.
Yeah Michael Finney is great. You know who I miss the most? Dr. Dean Edell. Back when we had radio/tv doctors that weren’t quacks.
Michael Finney is on KGO Saturdays from 3 to 5 P.M.
Some of you probably don’t know this but years ago all you could get was liberal talk shows. Commuting was hell then. I could only take listening to music a day or so then I would turn talk radio back on and scream at the radio and then try music again. Finally some conservatives got on the radio and calmed me down.
Yes, 560 KSFO, Armstrong & Getty in the morning. Most of the others are too biased the wrong way for me.
KQED….. NPR and PBS. They have a wide variety of features, and they usually will show important events, debates, analyses, etc., in their entirety … plus (except during pledge week) they do not have commercials.
Yes. KSFO 560. Armstrong & Getty in the morning and Dave Ramsey on the way home.
Tom Sullivan is on at 12:00 noon (or 12:10…) on 1530 AM. I love the guy. He doesn’t like either political party and he’s very polite and well spoken. I liked Armstrong and Getty and listened when they were on 810, but they moved stations and now Nikki Medoro has the morning slot. I kinda have a crush on her so A&G are off the radar for now!
A&G & others via podcast…as Frank Costanza would say “broadcast radio is dead to me!”
Yes, i was listening to KSFO until they changed to armpit and sgetty. now I listen to sirus/xm radio
Patrick Madrid (6am–9am) and Drew Marioni (noon-2pm) on Relevant Radio (AM 1260 or 1610)
Listen to A&G also. KSTE 650 am. I can relate to the stupidity of today…
Rush Limbaugh since the 1980s and Mark Levin since the 1990s.
When Rush passes I hope James Woods takes his place.
Same ones I listen to plus Ben Shapiro.
These days as podcasts broadcasting them via FM to the kitchen radio so I hear them anywhere in the house. I listen to a wide range of talk radio with varying points of view. I think it is good to get all sides of the story.
BA BA BOOEEEEEYYYY………….
Hit ’em with the Hiiiiine!
Liberal radio? Can you imagine liberal radio spewing what they push? Release criminals into communities! Reduce down crimes to misdemeanors so criminals won’t have their careers hindered! Illegal aliens and giving them billions! How we once were the party of working class America, and how we couldn’t care less about them now! How we take your tax dollars and spend it on things other than what we promised we would spend it on, like gas taxes!… and so on and so..
Ah… you listen to NPR then 😉
Only while driving. In other words not much anymore. I’ll listen to NPR. Music on the radio is a real bust these days. I used to listen to KGO, whoever was on at the time was usually good enough, some were definately better than others. I only tuned in at home on occasion for Brian Copeland and Len Tillem.
I liked Brian Copeland, many did not. He always had a different take on issues, and because he has connections to many show biz people he did some interesting interviews. Ben Vereen, and the daughter of I think it was Grace Slick. Anyway, he has a weekly podcast, it is posted on KGO’s website.
Bill Wattenburg was amazing on KGO. I also liked listening to sports talk radio Jim Rome and Clay Travis.
Love me some Mark Levin!
The great one, love when someone calls on the liberal line.
Definitely not. Almost all garbage, and absolutely all of it is just blood-pressure-spiking.
I totally agree. Long winded, repetitive hosts and callers that are ticked off at the world. They’re unhappy with themselves and their life, and instead of making the necessary changes, they choose to blame others. Even if you agree with the host or caller, who needs the unnecessary noise?
I’m not always able to focus on talk radio, but I do sometimes enjoy it, mainly KGO Radio. My favorite is John Rothmann.
Music! Music is the easiest way to make driving more relaxing. Who wants negative news and traffic?
El Rushbo and occasionally Coast to Coast AM on the odd occasions when they are talking about something interesting (which is not UFOs, Bigfoot, Numerology or other such drivel).
‘ Can’t listen to 5 minutes of NPR without getting angry.
I agree with Champagne Kitty, John Rothmann is my favorite. Now that I have been furloughed I listen to him almost every night, He is fair, let callers on, he disagrees with and knows politics and presidential history. He and the late Gene Burns was always my favorites. I too like Tom Sullivan, he is more conservative than I am, but he is reasonable, and try to be fair, and will take callers that disagrees with him. I don’t mind a conservative host, but I don’t like the ones that are predictable and is always bashing liberal, and don’t tolerate another viewpoint. When Michael Medved was on 860 I would sometime listen to him. I also listen to Chip Franklin at times and Pat Thurston, although Pat is liberal and I like her, often I will choose Tom Sullivan. However, last summer when we had all the fires and problems with PG&E Pat was really on top of it and had some really good informative shows. Sometimes I listen to John Bachelor he is at 9 P.M. after John Rothmann, he is much more conservative than I am, but intelligent and he does some good show on what is going on internationally especially China and Israel. I like Dave Ramsey good sound financial advise, and a nice personality. Armstrong and Getty is a mixed bag, I like them when they are funny, they do decent interviews, but they can also be annoying.
Armstrong and Getty, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Tom Sullivan, Mark Steyn, Ken Mathews on stations 560 KSFO,650 KSTE, 1530 KFBK …. and that’s about it… some of those mentioned are guest hosts, not regular programming.
At home I watch CNN & MSNBC for awhile each day, just to get the pretzel brained, left wing skewed view of the news…. see how the sheep are being led.
Used to. But “talk radio” has so many commercials and useless “news” that it’s mainly just noise. I now listen to podcasts.
Independent thinkers don’t need someone telling them what to believe.
Not all hosts talks down to you. Listening to the different callers gives you an idea what others are thinking even if you don’t agree. I like to hear a good debate.
I drive a lot during the day. I listen to NPR most of the time in the car.
Isn’t it dangerous to listen to NPR while you drive?
You could fall asleep at the wheel.
I used to listen to Lee Rodgers on KSFO on my morning commute. Great insight – he was almost always correct. Not necessarily left or right, but correct. He passed away a few years ago, but you can read transcripts of his shows at radiorodgers.com. Interesting to see how things are turning out as time goes on.
I miss Lee Rodgers too (died in 2013) .
He and Melanie Morgan were a good team.
Lee actually lived in Clayton for a couple years.
KGO in the 70’s – 80’s. Discovered Rush, Savage and Laura in the 80’s and beyond. Added Levin, Ramsey. Bongino, Prager. I see A few mentioned I should try. I really like the callers. Some are so interesting with first hand information from a broad information base. I also added Judicial Watch and Imprimus from Hillsdale College.
I also enjoyed Lee Rogers and Officer Vic.
Officer Vic! Thank you!
He was fun!
Dave Ramsey has some sound financial advise, that everyone could benefit from, besides I like his compassion and personality. Dennis Prager I use to listen a little, really low energy, and he blames liberals or progressive for EVERYTHING, boring and predictable.
Good days, bad days, they all get tiresome. The surprise guests and callers can impart feet on the ground Americans, my favorite.
There was a migration of loyalties in the past few decades. It’s been quite the ride.
This adage and it’s variants have been used by many in history:
If you aren’t a liberal when you’re young, you have no heart. If you aren’t a middle aged conservative, you have no head.
Bill Wattenburg was my all time favorite. His views on the catastrophic fires that are the norm these days and nuclear energy were very informing. He didn’t suffer fools, especially elected fools. His accomplishments with his engineering background, against powerful companies, govt.agencies, elected officials.are legend. If you want to read about these stories they are all online. My favorites:
The Gold Mine
Blue Water (Copper) Contamination in Homes
BART-Bay Area Rapid Transit System
Magnetic Credit Cards
Blood Banks
Dial-A-Ride Carpooling
These stories are all GREAT Reads. You can find them online by doing a google search. Type “Bill Wattenburg’s Background:” followed by one of the titles listed above. Each story is thorough, funny, and it will bring back some good memories. Bill was a no nonsense problem solver locally and around the world, too many to say. He died a couple years ago of cancer. He is dearly missed.
I use to like John Rothman because he USED TO BE fair. He says he looks at things from both political perspectives but he doesn’t. He trashes Trump day in and day out. His outage is over the top. Jim Eason and Lee Rodgers were favorites too.