- Alan Colmes
-
Alan Colmes 
Colmes in July 2009Born September 24, 1950
New York CityNationality American Education Hofstra University Occupation Television personality/host, Talk radio host, political commentator, Author & blogger Employer Fox News Channel Political party Democratic Religion Judaism (Reform) Spouse Dr. Jocelyn Crowley Website Alan Colmes' Liberaland Alan Samuel Colmes (born September 24, 1950) is an American radio/television host, liberal political commentator for the Fox News Channel, and blogger. He is the host of The Alan Colmes Show, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show distributed by Fox News Radio that also airs throughout the United States on Fox News Talk on Sirius and XM. 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 runs the popular Liberaland blog and contributes to AOL News. He wrote Red, White & Liberal: How Left Is Right and Right Is Wrong (2003).
Contents
Early life and education
Alan Colmes was born in New York City. He attended local public schools and went to Hofstra University, where he graduated in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts degree from its School of Communications.[1] While at Hofstra, he worked at its radio station WRHU.[2]
Career
Colmes began his career in stand-up comedy.[3] He developed his radio career in the Northeast, eventually working at stations such as WABC, WNBC, WHN, WMCA and WEVD in New York, WNHC in New Haven, and WEZE and WZLX in Boston.
His radio career took off when WABC hired him for the morning drive time slot. He was billed as "W. Alan B. Colmes," as in the station's call sign. He moved to WNBC in 1987, but his tenure there would be short when, in 1988, NBC announced it would close its radio division. When WNBC went off the air for the last time on October 7, 1988, Colmes' was the last voice heard. He has been 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 distributed by Fox News Radio.[4] 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. He also appeared live on Shovio.com's innovative new broadcasting technology, TalkBackTV.
Colmes's book, Red, White & Liberal: How Left is Right and Right is Wrong (ISBN 0-06-056297-8), was published in October 2003.
Colmes left Hannity and Colmes at the end of 2008.[5] Fox replaced it with Hannity, premiering in January 2009. Colmes has continued as a commentator on Fox News, most often on The O'Reilly Factor, which precedes Hannity. He frequently appears with his sister-in-law, Monica Crowley. He is a frequent guest-panelist on Fox News' late-night satire program Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld.
Post-Hannity and Colmes, Colmes has also been a frequent panelist on the news analysis program Fox News Watch alongside Cal Thomas, Judith Miller, and other pundits. On a June 26, 2011 show, Thomas remarked that he sensed a "disturbance in the liberal force" and then referred to Colmes as Jabba the Hutt (afterward Colmes burst out laughing).[6]
Criticism and satire
While Colmes describes himself as a liberal and his Fox News biography touts him as "a hard-hitting liberal," he has sometimes been referred to disparagingly as a "token liberal" or a "Fox News liberal."[7] Colmes told USA Today that he is "quite moderate."[8]
During his run on Hannity and Colmes, Colmes was criticized for being less charismatic and telegenic than Sean Hannity, and just a "seat-filler" for the liberal side.[9] Some newspapers reported him as being Hannity's "sidekick".[10] Democratic Senator Al Franken criticized Colmes in his book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, saying he refused to ask tough questions during debates and neglected to challenge erroneous claims made by Hannity or his guests.[10] Franken claimed that Colmes did not speak as much as Hannity during the show. Some critics questioned whether or not both hosts receive equal time to interview guests.[10] Some of Colmes's liberal critics, notably commentators at Media Matters for America, praised him toward the end of the show's run. He began to cite their reports in interviews with some conservative guests on the program.[11][12]
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."[13]
On January 5, 2009, the beginning of his last week on Hannity and Colmes, Colmes 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.[14] Colbert "fired" Colmes by the end of the show for pointing out fallacies in his logic.
Following Colmes' announcement that he was leaving H&C, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart also paid tribute to him with a guest appearance by legendary rock duo Hall & Oates, who in a parody version of their hit "She's Gone," lamented that Colmes was "the only non-douchebag on that show," and dubbed him "Tango to his (Hannity's) Cash" and "Laurel to his Hardy."[15]
Personal life
Colmes is married to Dr. Jocelyn Elise Crowley, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University. Her sister is Monica Crowley, the conservative radio and television commentator.[16]
References
- ^ "Alan Colmes". HCLAS: Faces of Success. Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. http://www.hofstra.edu/Academics/Colleges/HCLAS/Faces/faces_colmes.html. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
- ^ "Alumni". WRHU. Hofstra University. http://www.hofstra.edu/Academics/colleges/SOC/WRHU/wrhu_alumni.html. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
- ^ Fischler, Marcelle S. (June 12, 2005). "Long Island Journal; The 'Career Architect' for Stand-Up Comics". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03E1DE1038F931A25755C0A9639C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
- ^ 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.
- ^ http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-news-watch-on-obama-when-will-media-admit-we-were-wrong-about-this-guy/
- ^ An Aggressive Conservative vs. a Liberal to be Determined By Steve Rendall
- ^ Robin, DeRosa (1995-02-01). Tuning in to high-wattage talk show hosts. Gannett Company, Inc.. p. LIFE; Pg. 7D. Alan Colmes. "I think I'm quite moderate ... I follow Limbaugh on about 100 stations and I precede other conservatives, so I may be the only person giving a different point of view. Alan has long been a devout fan of the guitarist Eric Clapton."
- ^ Cohen, Jeff. Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media. 2006, pp. 54-5
- ^ a b c An Aggressive Conservative vs. a "Liberal to be Determined" by Steve Rendall, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, November/December 2003
- ^ "Colmes noted missed opportunities to eliminate Zarqawi prior to war that went unreported by media after the terrorist's death", Media Matters for America
- ^ "Colmes confronted Williams with inconsistent statements on No Child Left Behind", Media Matters for America
- ^ No Liberal Limbaughs-onthemedia.org
- ^ Huffington Post: Colbert & Colmes: Alan Colmes Joins Colbert Report For One Night
- ^ Huffington Post: Daily Show, Hall And Oates Pay Tribute To Alan Colmes
- ^ "Monica Crowley, Sister Of Alan Colmes' Wife Jocelyn". Huffington Post. November 12, 2008. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/12/monica-crowley-sister-of_n_143462.html. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
External links
- "Alan Colmes' Liberaland" – Official site and blog
- Official website of The Alan Colmes Show
- Alan Colmes at the Internet Movie Database
Categories:- Living people
- 1950 births
- American bloggers
- American broadcast news analysts
- American comedians
- American Jews
- American political pundits
- American political writers
- American talk radio hosts
- Fox News Channel people
- Hofstra University alumni
- New York Democrats
- People from New York City
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