Politics:
'Midweek Politics' airs nationally
BY MARY CAREY
You know you're doing well as the host of a radio
program when people start contacting you about appearing on the
show, instead of the other way around.
David Pakman, host of "Midweek Politics" on Valley
Free Radio 103.3 FM, and Louis Motamedi, his producer, have already
turned that corner.
Michael Shea, of California, the director of the
film "Red State," contacted the pair and was on the show a couple of
weeks ago. Bill Scher, the author of "Wait! Don't Move to Canada!"
and Northampton resident, gave them a call and is coming on next
week.
They've interviewed Deval Patrick and Clare
Higgins. "She was able to talk about anything political, which is
just great," Pakman said of the Northampton mayor.
They've interviewed Medea Benjamin, of Code Pink,
famous for protesting and getting kicked out of Washington political
events, and Walid Shoebat, who Pakman describes as a "reformed
Palestinian terrorist."
The show with Benjamin and Shoebat was his
favorite, Pakman said. "After that show, three new affiliates came
onboard, so we were thrilled."
The two 22-year-olds have been producing the show
since August 2005. It airs every other Wednesday at 7 p.m. locally,
and every week on about 10 other Pacifica Radio stations nationwide.
"Radio Free Moscow," in Moscow, Idaho, was the first Pacifica
station beyond Northampton to pick up "Midweek Politics." It's on
Saturdays at 5 a.m. in the Gem State.
Pakman, who came up with the idea for the show,
hadn't even graduated yet from the University of Massachusetts
before its debut.
He was an intern at the Media Education Foundation
when he saw a flier seeking people to host their own radio shows on
Valley Free Radio and submitted a proposal.
"They called me back and said, 'Everybody can have
a show, just come to training.' I thought this is a great idea,"
Pakman recalled.
The first show was "just me talking for an hour,
basically reading information," he said.
Soon, he started bringing in clips from the news
and conducting interviews at the station at the Florence Community
Center or by phone.
Pakman graduated from UMass in May 2006 and is now
studying for an MBA at Bentley College. He is a native of Argentina,
who moved to Northampton with his family 16 years ago. Motamedi, who
recently graduated from film school, was one of the first people he
met here.
Pakman also designs Web sites, including the Web
site for the show, MidweekPolitics.com.
After they produce the show on Wednesdays, the men
start combing the Internet for interesting news to report on for the
next show. Pakman said some of his favorite sites are
mediamatters.org, hotair.com and crooksandliars.com.
The pair also likes YouTube and has joined both
the liberal and conservative video groups at the site.
Usually if he sees something on television that he
thinks is interesting, someone already has uploaded it to YouTube,
Pakman said.
Of course, Pakman has also seen "Borat: Cultural
Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of
Kazakhstan." He's been a fan of Sasha Baron Cohen, the British
comedian who pretends he's Borat, a television journalist from the
former Soviet country.
The thing Pakman thought was unusual was that
Cohen, who has stayed in character as Borat in all of the talk show
interviews, already more or less has performed many of the movie's
skits in public. "When I saw the movie, there was 25 to 30 percent
that I had already heard on another show," Pakman said.
Mary Carey
writes about politics and government.
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