Edward
Andrew "Ed" Schultz Biography
( 1954– 2018)
Edward
Andrew "Ed" Schultz (born January 27, 1954) is an American
television and radio host and a liberal political commentator . 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
lifeSchultz 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.
[edit]
Broadcasting career[edit] Sports cast 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.
In
1988, Schultz was involved in the "Whiskey Bottle Incident",
which he describes as one of his most "ignominious moments":
...
I was doing radio play-by-play for North Dakota State University in
Fargo. The Bison were playing Northern Michigan. There was something
in the air that September day. There was lots of drinking and rowdy
behavior in the stands. By the fourth quarter, the crowd in front
of the broadcast booth was getting ugly. Suddenly, a whiskey bottle
came hurtling through the glass and struck my co-announcer, Gary Barta,
in the belly. Glass rained down on us — all over me. It could
have taken out my eye, and the close call enraged me. We were live
on the air, but to this day I don't know exactly what I said [...]
All I know is that I threw down my headphones and waded into the crowd
looking for the person who threw the bottle. I almost got in a fight
[...] My bad behavior made it onto Paul Harvey, and it got me suspended.
It's a day I'd like to forget. But the truth of the matter is, my
actions were fairly typical for someone out here in the heartland.
We settle things face to face — and nobody wants to take any
crap from anyone.
Schultz was married to his WDAY news co-anchor and producer Maureen
Zimmerman during much of his time with the station. The two divorced
in 1993. In mid-June 1998, Schultz married Wendy Schultz, who is an
active member of "Team Fargo," the group of people who produce,
direct, publicize and book guests for the Ed Schultz Show.
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.[citation needed]
Schultz left as UND play-by-play man in 2003 to focus on his national
radio show.
In
a 2003 Sports Illustrated article on North Dakota, Schultz, who was
viewed as too loud and opinionated, was tied for second with George
Steinbrenner as an "Enemy of the State" with 5% of the vote.
Brett Favre was first with 39%.
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.[citation needed]
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.
It 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 directly compete
with Rush Limbaugh , whose show is also broadcast in that time slot.
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.
[edit]
Television show On April 1, 2009, MSNBC announced the launch of The
Ed Show, anchored by Schultz. The program replaced the 6 pm show 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue with David Shuster, who moved to the 3pm to 5pm
slot. The Ed Show debuted at 6 pm on Monday, April 6, 2009.
After
Keith Olbermann left MSNBC, The Ed Show moved to the 10 PM ET time
slot on January 24, 2011.
In
August 2011, Schultz apologized for an edited video of a speech from
Governor Rick Perry that implied that he made racially insensitive
remarks.
[edit]
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.
Schultz is also personally against same-sex marriage but believes
it should be legal. 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." Thus, Schultz is pro-choice but does not support
partial birth abortion.
[edit]
Change of political views In the late 1990s, Schultz claims a series
of events changed his political views from the far right to the far
left. 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. 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. It's been noted
by some that he has remained silent over President Obama's past comments
touting the turnaround in the U.S. economy. (Vowell 2004) 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.
Causes Schultz has championed the plight of the 99ers, laid-off United
States workers who have exhausted their unemployment benefits (video).
On
August 4, 2010, Schultz hosted the announcement of Senator Debbie
Stabenow's (D-MI) The Americans Want to Work Act (S. 3706), which
would extend unemployment benefits to 99ers and provide employer incentives
to hire the long-term unemployed. (video).
The
Ed Show works with the National Association of Free Clinics to help
people without health insurance get basic care. The next one will
be held in New Orleans on August 29th, the anniversary of Katrina.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Schultz
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