A Farewell and Thanks to Ron Rosenbaum

Newtalk AM 1130's outgoing talker, Ron Rosenbaum.

If you blinked, you may have missed it. Saturday saw the final broadcast of Holding Court with Ron Rosenbaum on Newstalk AM 1130. For many listeners to the conservative talk station, the departure of Rosenbaum was a sudden answer to an oft expressed half-joking prayer. Frequently labeled a liberal, Rosenbaum has at the very least been a contrarian, relentlessly challenging boilerplate conservative arguments and turning over rhetoric in search of underlying truth.

He’s been called everything from an elitist to a blowhard, and worse off-air. However, Rosenbaum’s true nature was evident in the manner in which his show came to an end. A final broadcast presents a unique opportunity for self-aggrandizement. Yet, Saturday’s show came and went like any other, largely undistinguished aside from the surprise announcement at the end of the final hour that Holding Court would be no more. Right up to that last moment, Rosenbaum offered the same glib contrarian commentary that he always has, as if it were just another day on-air.

I was introduced to Ron by his colleague Sue Jeffers at a “cocktails and conversations” event hosted by his station in the midst of the 2010 election season. Offered up to him as a Tea Partier, I became a captive of his abrasive curiosity. His manner in that first encounter was, aside from a peppering of colorful metaphors, no different from his manner on-air. His questions were thoughtful and aggressive, respectful but challenging, and always intent upon arriving at a better understanding of the subject at hand.

I remember Ron asking me, during that first off-air conversation, whether I listened to his show. I told him the truth, that I didn’t catch it often. What I didn’t tell him was that I was nonetheless a long-time listener who had grown up on his legal analysis spanning a career across multiple stations.

Ron is among a breed of local talk radio hosts who, like the pantheons of myth, have morphed into different roles or faded into obscurity. Jason Lewis has gone national. Dave Thompson is now a state senator. Joe Souceray, once a pillar of the biggest talk station in town, is now all that remains of a lineup that was. T. D. Mischke has hopped around town, dangling his stream-of-consciousness in tow. Many others are simply gone. Nevertheless, these were my true educators in spite of the public school systems’ best effort. They made politics, business, history, and current events entertaining and relevant in a way textbooks and tests never could. They seeded an interest which bloomed into inquiry and, eventually, principle and activism. And they did it with a flavor and impact unique to local radio.

All things considered, that is what I will miss most in the wake of Ron’s departure. The new Saturday programming on AM 1130 will consist of yet more nationally syndicated faire. Gone will be another source of local perspective, another platform for local activists and causes. Particular to Ron, gone will be a skeptical inquisition which forced his guests and listeners to question both what they believed and – more importantly – why they believed it.

Thanks, Ron. Farewell in your future endeavors, and never stop asking tough questions.