Northern Alliance Radio Network

Word is finally leaking out to the wider world about a certain Saturday radio program being hosted by bloggers. And reviews so far are less than raving:

Oh, great. Just what we needed: Four hours of radio consisting of bloggers no one knows about yapping about blogs no one cares about.

Turning over four hours of peak radio time on a 50,000-watt powerhouse to this menagerie of free-lancers and hobbyists strikes me as a colossal waste of time.

I cry foul! You lie! Someone needs to get some gatekeepers on this guy. The Patriot isn't anywhere near 50K watts and 11AM - 3PM ain't exactly peak radio time, unless your core demographic is people in orange jumpsuits cleaning up garbage on the side of the highway. Plus they forgot to mention we're wearing our underwear and broadcasting from our mother's basements. Other than that ...

Actually, that's not a review of the award winning Northern Alliance Radio Network. It's an advance review of a new Saturday morning blogger-hosted show, starting this week on WGN in Chicago. According to reports, it will be hosted by a guy who used to work full time in radio and he'll be joined by a rotating cast of local bloggers. Their aim, to create "a crazy collision of experiences and perspectives.".

That all sounds suspiciously familiar. Even down to the number of bloggers who will be contributing - 126. That was the exact number of people we had in studio during our first show over five years ago.

I suppose imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. We accept this and we wish them well in Chicago. However, they don't have a half decade of hard lessons learned and experience to wring the mistakes and inefficiencies from the program. For example, I understand for their first show they are flying in the Atomizer to discuss the effect of marginal tax rate increases on long-term municipal bond yields and JB Doubtless and Scott Johnson to debate the significance of the 34th Anniversary of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes. That was our second show in 2004! Been there, done that, won't be doing that again.

If you want to hear free lancers and hobbyists yapping about blogs nobody cares about in its highest form, there is only one place to go: The Northern Alliance Radio Network. It all starts at 11AM central today with John Hinderaker and me talking all of today's hot news topics. Working on a high profile guest, but no confirmation yet, stay tuned. Guaranteed however are Loon of the Week, This Week in Gatekeeping, and much, much more.

Following us at 1 PM, Mitch Berg and Ed Morrissey. Also, don't forget at 9 AM, King Banaian over at KYRC (Business 1570) and David Strom on the Patriot.

Check it out locally on AM1280 the Patriot. Streaming LIVE worldwide at the web site. And you can always join the conversation at 651-289-4488. Don't you dare miss it!

UPDATE: Joining us at 12 noon, Andy McCarthy of National Review Online. He's a former federal prosecutor of terrorism suspects and he'll be bringing his impressive expertise to the case of KSM and his cohorts coming to NYC for trial.