Industry honors don’t get bigger than this. Every year at their convention in New York City, talk radio’s premiere industry publication, TALKERS Magazine awards the “Gene Burns Memorial Award for Freedom of Speech”, which prior to Burns’ death in 2013 was called the “Freedom of Speech Award”. Burns was the award’s first recipient in 1988 and I’m extremely honored to be its recipient this year of 2022.
TALKERS has stated their prestigious award is given to broadcasters who “have demonstrated through their words, deeds and courage the First Amendment in action, its purpose and how it operates.” Past recipients include Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, Sean Hannity, Thom Hartmann, G. Gordon Liddy, Al Franken, Glenn Beck, Matt Drudge, and more. There’s no doubt that the hosts of Free Talk Live, the country’s only syndicated libertarian radio show, are dedicated to freedom, especially the freedom of speech. While I am the founder of the show, all of our co-hosts share the same philosophy. I’m super grateful to the people at TALKERS for this award.
In any normal year, I’d be attending the TALKERS convention in NYC to accept the award in person. This year however, I’m currently on highly restrictive bail conditions as I await trial in the Crypto Six case. Unless I can get the prosecution to agree to let me attend, I’m stuck at home. Thankfully, Mark Edge will be there to accept the award in my stead. Would I have been able to speak, I’d have said something like this:
I’m grateful to Michael, Kevin, and the rest of TALKERS Magazine’s staff for presenting me with the Freedom of Speech Award. Every year we gather here in New York City and gratitude is often expressed that as an industry, we are free to share our opinions on the radio. However, is it really true that we have free speech? Or, is it simply that most talk radio hosts have opinions that are within an acceptable range? (more…)
Big news from our Matrix chat server! Finally, we have gotten direct audio and video calling working. These calls are supposedly client-to-client and do not use our server as a midpoint, so they should be as fast and as high quality as the calling parties’ internet connections and devices allow. Note, this only works on direct conversations with two people. If you have a chat room with more than two, you’ll still need to use the Jitsi conference option that has always been available. Enjoy!
If you’re not yet part of our Matrix server, you can visit this page to get step-by-step instructions on how to join. Matrix is a self-hosted, open source, federated chat system where you can join existing channels or create and admin your own, public or private!
Radio industry publication TALKERS Magazine’s “Heavy Hundred” is their list of the “most important radio talk show hosts in America” and we’ve moved from from #25 to #24 on the 2022 edition! It is an honor to continue to be included and moved up year after year. Thank you to the great people at TALKERS. If you missed TALKERS publisher Michael Harrison interviewing me recently, you can find that here.
Thanks to Bonnie for creating the new FTL TikTok account! She’s uploading clips from the show and they have hundreds of views already, though we don’t have many followers. While we’ll surely be booted off their platform at some point, if you are a TikTok user, please give our account a follow and do share your favorite clips. Thank you!
The ridiculous and unconstitutional bail restrictions placed on Free Talk Live co-host Nobody after the Crypto Six arrests in 2021 have been loosened a little and now he is finally able to return to the airwaves!
After wrongfully refusing to grant him bail and holding him in a cage for six months, Nobody was released in September on bail conditions that prevented him from speaking publicly as well as a prohibition on speaking with a bunch of our friends, a prohibition on using cryptocurrency, drug testing, and other restrictions. Now, several months later, the prosecution has agreed to allow Nobody to return to the air on Free Talk Live and he’s allowed to speak with Aria and me.
Curiously, this is the very same prosecution who previously argued that were Nobody to be allowed on the radio that he would somehow foment a violent revolution, despite the fact that this has never happened and he has historically been opposed in any violent on-air rhetoric by peaceful co-hosts who advocate non-violent means. We have no explanation from the federal prosecutors as to why they’ve reversed course, but perhaps it has to do with the fact that it’s clearly a violation of Nobody’s rights to prohibit him from speaking prior to being convicted on any charges.
Regardless, as of Friday night, Nobody is back on-the-air on Free Talk Live! You’ll be hearing him often and if you missed Friday’s show, here is his triumphant return:
What’s on your mind? Unlike those right-wing or left-liberal extremist shows, Free Talk Live is libertarian talk radio that ANYONE can take control of. Yes, even you. Free Talk Live is the next generation of issues-oriented talk. What is the meaning of freedom? This show is about Liberty with a capital L.
Industry honors don’t get bigger than this. Every year at their convention in New York City, talk radio’s premiere industry publication, TALKERS Magazine awards the “Gene Burns Memorial Award for Freedom of Speech”, which prior to Burns’ death in 2013 was called the “Freedom of Speech Award”. Burns was the award’s first recipient in 1988 and I’m extremely honored to be its recipient this year of 2022.
