Ed Schultz

This article is about commentator Ed Schultz. For his national radio show, see The Ed Schultz Show. For his radio show on KFGO, see News and Views.

Ed Schultz
Schultz in January 2007
Born	Edward Andrew Schultz (1954-01-27) January 27, 1954 Norfolk, Virginia
Alma mater	Minnesota State University Moorhead
Occupation(s)	talk radio and television host, political commentator, author
Years active	30 years in broadcasting
Notable credit(s)	The Ed Schultz Show, The Ed Show
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Maureen Zimmerman (div. 1993) Wendy Schultz (m. 1998)
Children	Six
Relatives	Dave Schultz, professional golfer
Awards	three Eric Sevareid Awards, and as leader of a broadcast team - two Marconis and one Peabody Award
Website	The Ed Show (TV) The Ed Schultz Show (Radio)

Edward Andrew "Ed" Schultz (born January 27, 1954) Is an American television and radio host, a liberal political commentator, and a former sports broadcaster. He is the host of The Ed Show, a daily news talk program on MSNBC, and The Ed Schultz Show, a talk radio show, nationally syndicated by Dial Global, promising "straight talk."

Early life

Schultz was born in Norfolk, Virginia, and grew up in the Larchmont area near Old Dominion University, the son of George (an engineer) and Mary (an English teacher). He graduated in 1972 from Maury High School in Norfolk. He moved to Minnesota to play football on a scholarship from Minnesota State University Moorhead. He made All-American and became the NAIA passing leader in 1977 and signed as a free agent with the Oakland Raiders. In 1979, Schultz tried out for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, a Canadian Football League team.

Broadcasting career

Sportscasting

After his football career ended, he worked as a sportscaster in Fargo, North Dakota, for 15 years for two local stations, KTHI-TV (now KVLY-TV) and WDAY-TV. Schultz anchored nightly sports broadcasts and became well known across the state for his high-energy radio and TV play-by-play of North Dakota State University (NDSU) football and basketball games.

Schultz, who was touted as the "Voice of the Bison" for many years at WDAY, left in 1996 and began broadcasting for KFGO in Fargo, doing play-by-play work on University of North Dakota (UND) Fighting Sioux football broadcasts beginning in 1998. Schultz incurred the ire of NDSU fans when he began to disparage the Bison during rival Sioux broadcasts after his many years of NDSU announcing. Schultz left as UND play-by-play man in 2003 to focus on his national radio show.

Schultz was a finalist for the Minnesota Vikings radio play-by-play broadcast job in 2001, a job that eventually went to Terry Stembridge, Jr.

Talk radio

Schultz's News and Views radio show was very similar to his WDAY Viewpoint program and quickly grew into a regional broadcast dominating the North Dakota airwaves, with additional listeners in South Dakota, western Minnesota, Montana, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Schultz's political views leaned towards the right during the early years, and Schultz told the Los Angeles Times that he "lined up with the Republicans because they were anti-tax, and I wanted to make a lot of money...." Schultz pondered a run as a Republican for the U.S. House of Representatives against Democratic Rep. Earl Pomeroy in 1994, but decided against it after visiting with state Republican leaders.

The Ed Schultz Show was broadcast from the Fargo, North Dakota, studios of KFGO via the Jones Radio Network to over 100 radio stations (as of October 2005). The show is presently syndicated by Dial Global., and can currently be heard nationwide on Sirius Satellite Radio's "Sirius Left" channel, and XM Radio's America Left channel. The program can also be heard on Armed Forces Radio. Schultz's radio show moved to New York City in May 2009, a relocation brought on by his new television show at MSNBC (see below).

Schultz continued to experience audience growth throughout 2005 and into 2006. According to a 2008 survey done by Talkers magazine, he ranked #17 nationally, with a weekly audience of more than 3 million listeners.

On November 30, 2006, Schultz announced he was moving to the "prime real estate" time slot from noon to 3 p.m. ET, to compete directly with Rush Limbaugh , whose show is broadcast in that time slot also.

During his show on May 24, 2011, Schultz called Laura Ingraham both a "right-wing slut" and a "talk slut". Feminist organizations including the Women's Media Center called for his suspension. The following day he stated on his show "I just want to make sure that if there are any ladies out there who were offended that I used that term, I do apologize. I didn't mean to offend you." Schultz further stated he had again embarrassed his family and reached once again "the lowest of the low" for himself. Ingraham accepted his apology, saying "Ed Schultz said something about me on his show that was not all that nice, to say the least. It was pretty crude. He apologized, and I accept his apology. It seemed heartfelt, it seemed like he really wished he hadn’t said it and I accept that apology”. MSNBC issued a statement saying that it had accepted Schultz's offer to take one week of unpaid leave.

Television show

On April 1, 2009, MSNBC announced the launch of The Ed Show, anchored by Schultz. The program replaced the 6 p.m. show 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with David Shuster, who moved to the 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. slot. The Ed Show debuted at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 6, 2009.

After Keith Olbermann left MSNBC, The Ed Show moved to the 10 p.m. ET time slot on January 24, 2011.

On October 19, 2011, NBC announced that beginning October 24, 2011, The Ed Show would be moving to the 8 p.m. Eastern slot, with The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell returning to the 10 p.m. slot.

On August 15, 2011, Schultz used an edited video clip of Texas Governor Rick Perry at a rally talking about the national debt crisis. Governor Perry said this “Getting America back to work is the most important issue that faces this country, being able to pay off $14.5 trillion or $16 trillion worth of debt. That big black cloud that hangs over America, that debt that is so monstrous.” The audio of the clip was cut off after “America”, so Schultz’s audience did not hear “that debt that is so monstrous.” Governor Perry refers to the debt before and after the “big black cloud” statement. Ed said, “That black cloud Perry is talking about is President Barack Obama.” The following day on his TV show Schultz apologized for taking Governor Perry out of context. “We did not present the full context of those statements and we should have,” Schultz said “No doubt about it, it was a mistake and we regret the error … we should not have included it in our coverage.”

Political views

Schultz has declared himself a "lefty" and is pro-union and centers a large portion of his radio show on the "plight of working Americans." Schultz has stated that he and his sons are gun-owners, although he supports reasonable gun control. Regarding his position on abortion, Schultz is quoted as stating: "Now, as far as abortion is concerned, in my heart I'm a Christian. I'm against it. But we're livin' in a country where the majority rule and I'm not, as a talk show host, overturning Roe v Wade."

Change of political views

In the late 1990s, Schultz claims a series of events changed his political views from the far right to left of center. One event was his mother's battle with Alzheimer's Disease which began a long, slow decline of her mental health. Schultz found it frustrating trying to get her the services that she needed using government funds and/or without contributing to the medical care with his wealth. Another was that he met a psychiatric nurse named Wendy who ran a homeless shelter in Fargo. He attributed much of his political change to her, and although he had criticized the homeless on his show, he said in his book that she helped to humanize them. To his surprise, he found that some of the people he had insulted were veterans, and many were unable to get the psychiatric or medical services that might help them. He says that was the moment he began to look at poverty differently.

He became a Democrat in 2000, marking the formal turn in his politics from conservative to liberal. He went out to do radio promotions in rural North Dakota, and told reporters about how he met farmers who were suffering and hard-working people who were going hungry, even though Republicans said the economy was doing fine. He began to hold benefits to raise money for people in the heartland who were going through tough times. In addition, he began questioning some of the assertions of George W. Bush; although he supported several Republican candidates in the 2000 election, he was becoming critical of other Republicans. Schultz considered running for the Democratic-NPL party nomination for governor against incumbent Republican John Hoeven in 2004, but decided to continue his career in radio.

Bibliography

• Straight Talk from the Heartland : Tough Talk, Common Sense, and Hope from a Former Conservative (2004) ISBN 0060784571
• Killer Politics: How Big Money and Bad Politics Are Destroying the Great American Middle Class (2010) ISBN 1401323782

See also

• The Ed Schultz Show (radio show)
• The Ed Show (television show)

Further reading

• Darman, Jonathan (February 14, 2005). "Straight out of Fargo: A Red State radio talker tries to center the Democrats". Newsweek.
• Kolpack, Dave (October 26, 2003). "Schultz planning national talk show". Bismark Tribune (North Dakota).
• Kolpack, Dave (January 6, 2004). "Fargo broadcaster Ed Schultz begins national talk show". Bismarck Tribune (North Dakota). p. 1A.
• Kurtz, Howard (January 10, 2005). "A Voice From Above, And to the Left; North Dakota Talker Ed Schultz Is Set to Blanket Washington". Washington Post. p. C1.

External links

• Official site
• The Ed Schultz Show on the Jones Radio Network
• Ed Schultz at IMDb
• Ed Schultz on Larry King Live Transcripts: March 31, 2006, May 12, 2006, May 9, 2008.