Alan Colmes
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| Alan Colmes | |
 Colmes in 2008
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| Born | September 24, 1950 New York City |
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | Hofstra University |
| Occupation | Television personality/host, Talk radio host & Author |
| Employer | Fox News Channel |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Religious beliefs | Judaism |
| Spouse(s) | Dr. Jocelyn Elise Crowley |
| Website Alan.com |
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Alan Colmes (born September 24, 1950) is an American radio/television host and political commentator. He is the host of The Alan Colmes Show, a nationally-syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Fox News Radio. From 1996 to 2009, Colmes served as the co-host of Hannity & Colmes, a nightly political-debate show on Fox News Channel.
In addition to broadcasting, Colmes has written one book: Red, White & Liberal: How Left is Right and Right is Wrong.
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[edit] Career
Colmes began his career in stand-up comedy.[1] He developed his radio career in the Northeast, eventually working at stations like WABC, WNBC, WHN and WEVD in New York, WNHC in New Haven, and WEZE and WZLX in Boston.
He is syndicated nationally, starting with his involvement with Daynet, a venture created by Colmes and other regional radio hosts. Daynet was sold to Major Networks, Inc., in 1994. Colmes kept his own show, which is now distributed by Fox News Radio.[2] His radio career took off when WABC hired him for the morning drive time slot, billed as, "W. Alan B. Colmes," as in the station's call sign. When WNBC let its staff go in 1988, Colmes was the final radio personality to sign off, doing so with the words: "I'm Alan Colmes. Thank you, God bless you, and for the last time, this is 66 WNBC." He was well-known in New York City when he was hired by Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, in 1996. He was the co-host of Hannity and Colmes, beginning with the Fox News Channel launch on October 6, 1996 and ending on January 9, 2009.
Colmes's book, Red, White & Liberal: How Left is Right and Right is Wrong (ISBN 0-06-056297-8), was published in October 2003.
On November 24, 2008, it was announced that Colmes would leave Hannity and Colmes at the end of 2008.[3] In response, Fox retired H&C; its replacement, Hannity, premiered on January 12, 2009. However, Colmes remains a commentator on Fox News, most often on the show preceding Hannity's, The O'Reilly Factor, where he regularly appears across his (right-leaning) sister-in-law, Monica Crowley.
[edit] Criticisms and satire
While Colmes describes himself as a liberal and his Fox News biography describes him as "a hard-hitting liberal," he has sometimes been referred to disparagingly as a "Fox News liberal"[4] and less telegenic than Sean Hannity.[5]
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., compared Hannity & Colmes to a Harlem Globetrotters game, where Colmes' "whole job is to lose every argument." Kennedy read a quote Colmes made after President George W. Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" in 2003: "Now that the war in Iraq is over, shouldn't the people in Hollywood who opposed the president admit they were wrong?" arguing that the scripted quote was right-wing propaganda and claiming that Colmes is not a liberal commentator.[6]
Bob Garfield, interviewing Colmes for On the Media in 2003, asked him if he was "the human straw man" and a "foil" rather than an equal of Hannity. Colmes replied that if the conservative members of the audience saw him that way, that was "their problem," and said "It's more fun for me to be in a situation like this than to preach to the choir."[7]
On January 5, 2009, the beginning of Colmes's last week on Hannity and Colmes, he was a guest on The Colbert Report in a spoof called "Colbert & Colmes," which parodied criticisms of H&C. In addition to being given a list of pre-approved responses to Stephen Colbert's opinions and forced to sit on a stool (making him appear shorter than his co-host), Colmes's face was covered by the on-air graphics while Colbert discussed issues of the day. Colbert "fired" Colmes by the end of the show for pointing out fallacies in his logic.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ LONG ISLAND JOURNAL; The 'Career Architect' for Stand-Up Comics - New York Times
- ^ Davis, Richard; Diana Owen (1998). New media and American politics. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 60. ISBN 0-19-512060-4.
- ^ ALAN'S ADIOS The Radio Equalizer. Retrieved on November 24, 2008.
- ^ An Aggressive Conservative vs. a Liberal to be Determined By Steve Rendall
- ^ Cohen, Jeff. Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media. 2006, page 54-5
- ^ YouTube - How the US news media fails us
- ^ No Liberal Limbaughs-onthemedia.org
[edit] External links
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