Randi Rhodes

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For the rock guitarist, see Randy Rhoads.

Randi Rhodes (born Randi Buten on January 28, 1959 in Brooklyn, New York), is an American progressive talk radio personality and featured on Air America Radio where her eponymous program, The Randi Rhodes Show, airs Monday through Friday from 3 pm to 6 pm Eastern Time, with many Air America Radio affiliates recording the show for broadcast later in the evening. Her married name is Randi Robertson; Rhodes is a stage name chosen to honor Ozzy Osbourne's guitar player Randy Rhoads, whom Rhodes describes as "a consummate professional ... who lived to be the best." [1]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Rhodes was brought up in a Jewish household, but does not discuss her religious views publicly. Her father Norman was a mechanical engineer and World War II veteran and her mother Loretta worked in a dress shop. She had one sister. She grew up in Brooklyn and Queens, but her parents divorced when she was 15, and she and her father moved to Oxnard California.

[edit] Military experience

Rhodes enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1977 and worked stateside at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey as a mechanic, achieving the rank of Airman First Class. She left the Air Force early and relocated to Ohio, where she participated in a program called Palace Chase to release her to the reserves and honorably discharge her. Although she left active duty before her contract was up, she still received an honorable discharge after completing the program. [2]

[edit] Early work in radio

Rhodes' radio career began in Seminole, Texas at a country music station, where she supplemented her income as a waitress in a Mexican restaurant as her radio career developed. Like many radio personalities, Rhodes led the nomadic life of a rock music disc jockey for over 10 years. Some of the jobs she held were in smaller markets like Mobile AL, but others were in large markets, such as in the early 80s, when she was hired in New York by WAPP-FM ("103.5, The Apple"). It was while working for The Apple that she took the name "Randi Rhodes," having previously used "Randi St. John." (Elinor J. Brecher. "Left Leaning Radio Hostess Carves Out an Audience", Miami Herald, 9 November 2004; see also [1] Another large market in which she worked in the mid-80s was Dallas TX at KTKS-FM. By her own admission, she got fired from WAPP-FM for problems she developed with cocaine, and the problem persisted when she moved to Dallas. But while working at KTKS-FM in 1986, she decided to enter rehab and was able to stop using. (see previous two sources) Then, while teaming with host Perry Stone at Milwaukee's WQFM, Rhodes was suspended in 1987 when their program offended the homosexual community and led several businesses to cancel ads.[3]

In late September 1992, Rhodes started on WIOD in Miami, emulating and occasionally substituting for her colleague, morning show d.j. Neil Rogers.[4] The Miami Herald described her as "a chain-smoking bottle blond,...part Joan Rivers, part shock jock Howard Stern and part Saturday Night Live's 'Coffee Talk' lady. But mostly, she's her rude, crude, loud, brazen, gleeful self." Rhodes' schtick was well demonstrated when she retorted to a caller, "God, you're making me look so damn crappy! I'll never forgive you for this as long as I live! Not in a milliontrilliontwohundredthousand-eighthundredfortysevenyears!" Rhodes was one of the first women shock jocks doing a Howard Stern style of program. She had previously deejayed in the 1980s on WSHE in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. By all accounts, she was a sensation at WIOD, even acquiring the nickname "The Goddess." (Sumpter, 1995) She got excellent ratings in her target demographics and attracted lots of media attention. But she was never given equal pay, no matter how good her ratings were. "Neil was making half a million. Something like that. Rick Riley was making $325,000. I was making $42,000 a year. And I was #1. Men 25-54. At WIOD." (Talkers Magazine interview with Randi Rhodes, December 2005/January 2006, p. 16) So she quit, and waited for the right offer. It came along quickly. In September 1994, Rhodes started at WJNO (1230/1330 AM) in West Palm Beach, Florida, replacing syndicated host G. Gordon Liddy, whom she likes to call either "Mr. Giddy" or "The Felon". She contributed commentary on the O.J. Simpson trial in 1994, catapulting her to fame and higher Arbitron ratings. During the 2000 U.S. Presidential election, the West Palm Beach location of Rhodes show allowed her to provide commentary as an alternative to the mainstream media coverage on the local proceedings, as Palm Beach was a major Florida county disputed in the election.

Rhodes gained national attention soon after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States by being particularly critical of President Bush, and by closely monitoring questions surrounding the destruction of the World Trade Center, damage to The Pentagon, and related issues. She has always been highly critical of those she deems right-wingers, conservatives or neoconservatives, as well as Christian, Islamic and Jewish religious fundamentalists.

In 2004, she appeared on the cover of The New Republic in an article entitled Talking Back: The Coming Rise of Liberal Talk Radio. She had been one of the two finalists to do a liberal radio talk show to be marketed by a Democratic group called Democracy Radio, but they chose Ed Schultz instead, and concentrated on marketing his show. However, Randi was soon able to find work as a liberal talk show host after all.

[edit] Air America Radio

In 2004, Rhodes joined Air America Radio, bringing The Randi Rhodes Show to its largest audience to date. Rhodes' show consists principally of monologue with comedic content and listener calls. Only occasionally does she do interviews. The show is punctuated with musical interludes, including the show's unofficial theme song, Pain by Stereomud. On Fridays, Rhodes opens the show with the song Bounce Your Boobies by Rusty Warren. With her distinctive Brooklyn-Queens accent, she takes calls spanning the political spectrum, aggressively promoting her views.

[edit] Journalistic standards

Main articles: Journalism and Journalism ethics and standards

Rhodes regularly asserts that she is not a journalist, but does analyze and comment on news reports with a journalistic eye. She proclaims herself to be a stickler for facts, and also claims to hold to many of the basic tenets of journalism ethics and standards such as corroboration, attribution and truthfulness. She offers citations to a wide array of newspapers, magazines, websites, government documents and Radio/Television reports. Rhodes takes on the roles of editorialist, satirist, comedian and news analyst. She is a leading activist for accountability and standards in the media, and has spoken at congressional hearings about creating a framework of national standards for what can be labelled news. She frequently tells her listeners to never trust anyone they hear on the radio, not even herself. She tells her listeners to do their own research after hearing supposed facts on the air.

Rhodes and the Air America parent company, Piquant LLC were sued by a military contractor, CACI International, for defamation in the amounts of $1 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages. The suit stemmed from comments Rhodes made Aug. 25-26, 2005 on her radio show. CACI complained that Rhodes had accused CACI employees of raping and murdering Iraqi civilians at Abu Ghraib prison, claims CACI said were "false and defamatory." Rhodes maintained that her comments were based in fact and solid journalistic research, and in 2007, after dozens of hours of legal testimony, a U.S. District Court dismissed the case, which is currently on appeal.[5]

[edit] Comedic style

Rhodes uses humor in her discussion of news and events and makes frequent use of sound effects and sound bites including the voices of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Some of her trademark sound effects are the cherry pop for first-time callers, the bong bubbles, the Howard Dean scream, and various bells and buzzers for indications of how she feels about any particular subject. Music relevant to her current topic of discussion is also featured as she goes to, and comes back from commercial breaks. Bounce Your Boobies, by famous cabaret singer Rusty Warren, is played following the show's opening on Fridays, with some commentary and sound bites during the song. Her show features comedians such as Barry Crimmins and Randy Credico, as well as comedy produced by the Air America staff.

[edit] Criticism

The Anti-Defamation League sent Rhodes a letter censuring her for comments relating to the evacuation of victims from Hurricane Katrina. Rhodes compared the bungled evacuation to the intentional mass murder of Jews at Auschwitz. The ADL believed these comments showed great insensitivity to the victims of the Holocaust. [6]

[edit] Family

In 1994 Rhodes married Jim Robertson, an independent television producer and cameraman. They had been together for ten years prior to marrying, but the marriage didn't work out. Rhodes and Robertson divorced in April 2004 but have remained friends. Rhodes took the name Robertson when she married, but continued to use her professionally known name, Randi Rhodes, on the air.

In 1998, Rhodes' sister Ellen died of breast cancer at age 44. Rhodes and Robertson raised Ellen's daughter Jessica as their own. [7][8]

[edit] Injury

On October 14, 2007, Rhodes sustained injuries that kept her off the air for several days. Air America host Jon Elliott claimed on his October 15 show that Rhodes had been the victim of a savage mugging. Elliott went on to speculate that this was perhaps not just a random event, and that it may have been politically motivated by conservative right wing factions.[9] Elliott based his comment on an email Rhodes sent to Air America stating that: "I wrote a two sentence e-mail to the company that I was mugged."[10] Left wing blogs and websites like DemocraticUnderground.com posted the information, speculating it was a deliberate attack by right wing extremists.[11] Randi stated on her radio show she was drinking in an Irish Pub right before the injury and does not remember what happened to her.[12]

[edit] References

  • Interview with Randi Rhodes. (Cover story) Talkers magazine, December 2005/January 2006, pp. 16, 34, 40, 44.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Q & A
  2. ^ Q & A
  3. ^ "Front", Miami Herald, September 30, 1987. 
  4. ^ Elinor J. Brecher. "Talk Radio's Brassy 'Goddess of Gab'", Miami Herald, January 31, 1993. 
  5. ^ "CACI sues Air America Radio and Randi Rhodes", BusinessWeek, January 2, 2006
  6. ^ http://www.adl.org/media_watch/radio/20050926-Air%20America.htm
  7. ^ http://www.univox.com/radio/randi95.html
  8. ^ LISTSERV 15.5 - Archives - Error
  9. ^ "Randi Rhodes is the Victim of a Violent Attack", "Talking Radio" blog, October 16, 2007.
  10. ^ YouTube - Randi Rhodes Explains Her 'Accident'
  11. ^ Randy Rhodes Mugged, democraticunderground.com, October 16, 2007.
  12. ^ YouTube - Randi Rhodes Explains Her 'Accident'

[edit] External links

[edit] Press

[edit] Rhodes' fans

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