Our Dec 18 show features Craig Aaron (FreePress and Save the Internet) and Melina (New College Student) as our guests with co-hosts Larry and Steeve.

EVERY SHOW ALSO FEATURES Special Audio provided to WSLR:
A Tannen Weekly humor column (exclusively provided to WSLR by Pete Tannen) and Media Matters Minute provided by Media Matters, a conservative media misinformation watchdog non- profit organization based in Wash. DC.
Every show also features plenty of Surreal News with under reported news items.

Free Press Basics

Free Press is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, quality journalism, and universal access to communications.

Free Press was launched in late 2002 by media scholar Robert W. McChesney, journalist John Nichols and Josh Silver, our executive director. Today, Free Press is the largest media reform organization in the United States, with nearly half-a-million activists and members and a full-time staff of more than 30 based in our offices in Washington, D.C., and Florence, Mass.

What Is LPFM?

Low Power FM – or LPFM -- stations are community-based, nonprofit radio stations that broadcast at the local level, to neighborhoods and small towns throughout the country.

Run by non-profits like colleges, churches, schools, labor unions and other community groups, LPFM stations provide local coverage, information and perspectives that are not available anywhere else. These non-commercial stations are uniquely positioned to meet local needs by:

* Giving a voice to local groups and people who otherwise lack access to the media.
* Offering a platform for discussing local issues.
* Providing news, information and viewpoints ignored by traditional media.
* Offering a training ground for students and others looking for a start in the radio business.
* Strengthening neighborhood and community identity.
* Issuing vital safety information during local emergencies.

LPFM stations may have a small broadcast range – they operate at 100 watts or less and have a broadcast reach of just a few miles – but their impact on local communities is immense. From the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts to Southwest Florida to the farming fields of the Pacific Northwest, LPFM stations are injecting a much-needed vibrancy into a radio dial gone stale from years of commercial consolidation.

Craig Aaron is senior program director of Free Press, the national media reform group (www.freepress.net), where he leads all program, public advocacy and communications work, including the SavetheInternet.com and SaveTheNews.org campaigns. He works in the Washington office and speaks often on media, Internet and journalism issues. His commentaries appear regularly in the Guardian and the Huffington Post. He recently edited and co-authored the book Changing Media: Public Interest Policies for the Digital Age. Before joining Free Press, he was an investigative reporter for Public Citizen's Congress Watch, where he helped create and launch WhiteHouseforSale.org. Craig was also managing editor of In These Times magazine and is the editor of the book Appeal to Reason: 25 Years In These Times.

Our Friday Dec 11 show features:
Eva Gray and Analeah Rosen (New College Students, members of SWER) and Cheryl Lesch (Nurse on National Nurses United Promoting Safer Care and RN Rights; RN-to-Patient Ratio in Florida) as our guests.
When: Friday, Dec 11 

SWER (Students Working for Equal Rights) is a student-led movement grounded on grassroots organizing that seeks to bring about equal rights and opportunities for all, including youth, immigrants, and the oppressed. We work for access to education, civic engagement, and leadership development for direct action on social issues. We unite under the premises of equality, human rights, and the conviction that no movement can succeed without youth power!

Each year about 5,000 undocumented students graduate from Florida high schools, but only 5% go on to college, compared with 75% of our high school classmates.

EVERY SHOW FEATURES:
TANNEN WEEKLY Pete Tannen is a writer whose humor columns have won awards from the National Press Club in Washington, the Florida Press Association, and the Long Island Press Club. You can get his columns, on the web, at www.TannenWeekly.com. He lives in Saraosta.

Media Matters Minute: Media Matters is a non-profit Convservative Media Misinformation watchdog organization out of Wash. DC which provides WSLR with audio for every show.
Media Matters For America

Co-hosts this week Steve and Steve.

FRIDAY: The Surreal News at the “Altar Of The Bottom Line” with singer-author Tom Juravich
& David Swanson from AfterDowningStreet.org, Daybreak on Obama Afgan Surge

December 3rd, 2009 by WSLR 96.5 LPFM

When: Friday, Dec 4, from 9 to 10 a.m. EST
Where: The Surreal News on WSLR 96.5 LP FM

The Surreal News welcomes singer-songwriter, author and labor activist Tom Juravich, who recently released a new roots-rocking musical CD and a book sharing the same name: “Altar of the Bottom Line.”
Using two different media mediums, Juravich paints intimate portraits of the everyday struggles and dreams of workers.

Tom Juravich began singing professionally about work and labor back in late early 1980s, in the middle of the first wave of plant closings in the U.S. His first album, “Rising Again” was sponsored by the United Auto Workers in 1981.
He went on to record “A World to Win,” of which Edward Clark, from the clothing workers’ union wrote: “Your songs smell to me like thread, cloth, factory machine oil, social justice and creative genius.”
His album “Out of Darkness: The Mine Workers Story,” became the soundtrack for a film about the coal-miners’ union.

Surreal News hosts Steve and Larry along with Author David Swanson will also take a look President Obama’s plans to escalate the war efforts in Afghanistan.

Each episode of The Surreal News features “A Tannen Weekly” by humorist Pete Tannen, a Media Matters Minute and plenty of under reported news items.

Our Latest Show: A “SURREAL” look at the Neurology of Spirituality

THE SURREAL NEWS:
Friday, Nov. 27

Guest hosts Ed Laake and Joe Hendricks team up with Surreal News host Steve Norris to discuss with the “Neurology of Spirituality” with Dr. Alan Grindal.

Is there a connection between one’s brainwaves, one’s soul and one’s capacity for spirituality?

Friday morning Dr. Grindal will share his expertise on this subject and other matters of a neurologic manner.

Dr. Grindal graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. and received his M.D. .from the University of Illinois. His neurology training was completed at the Medical College of Virginia where he later served as a faculty member. Dr.Grindal has been in private practice specializing in neurology in Sarasota Florida since 1978. He has been chosen by his peers to be among The Best Doctors in America and currently serves as a neurological consultant to the Memory Disorder Clinic at Sarasota Memorial Hospital and as a Clinical Assistant Professor at Florida State University.

EVERY SHOW FEATURES:
TANNEN WEEKLY Pete Tannen is a writer whose humor columns have won awards from the National Press Club in Washington, the Florida Press Association, and the Long Island Press Club. You can get his columns, on the web, at www.TannenWeekly.com. He lives in Saraosta.

Media Matters Minute: Media Matters is a non-profit Convservative Media Misinformation watchdog organization out of Wash. DC which provides WSLR with audio for every show.

Late Breaking Surreal News: Featured every show at the top of the hour with Local, State, National and International news items which are underreported in the main stream media.

WSLR 96.5 LP FM Sarasota's Community Radio Station News and Public Affairs welcomes
Jordan Buckley (Coalition of Immokolee Workers) and Coz Cozzi (Training Dogs for Agility) as our guest.
When: Friday, Nov 20 from 9 am to 10 am EST
Where: The Surreal News on WSLR 96.5 LP FM Sarasota, Florida. If you cannot get it then hear the show live via INTERNET STREAMING (on WSLR.org "Live Broadcasting"), or hear us podcast on demand on iTunes, on Pacifica Broadcast Network, or at the web site thesurrealnews.com.

If you have any questions for the guests e-mail them to dj@wslr.org.

EVERY SHOW ALSO FEATURES Special Audio provided to WSLR:
A Tannen Weekly humor column (exclusively provided to WSLR by Pete Tannen) and Media Matters Minute provided by Media Matters, a conservative media misinformation watchdog non- profit organization based in Wash. DC.
Every show also features plenty of Surreal News with under reported news items.

CIW information:
Consciousness + Commitment = Change: How and why we are organizing...

CIW WorkerThe CIW is a community-based organization of mainly Latino, Mayan Indian and Haitian immigrants working in low-wage jobs throughout the state of Florida.

We strive to build our strength as a community on a basis of reflection and analysis, constant attention to coalition-building across ethnic divisions, and an ongoing investment in leadership development to help our members continually develop their skills in community education and organization.

From this basis we fight for, among other things: a fair wage for the work we do, more respect on the part of our bosses and the industries where we work, better and cheaper housing, stronger laws and stronger enforcement against those who would violate workers' rights, the right to organize on our jobs without fear of retaliation, and an end to indentured servitude in the fields.

Coz Cozzi
He and his wife take rescue dogs and train them to compete in agility competitions. Tune in to find out more.

Surreal News Oct 2 features David Swanson, the author of the new book "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" Swanson holds a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including press secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as communications coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson is Co-Founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, creator of ConvictBushCheney.org and Washington Director of Democrats.com, a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, the Backbone Campaign, and Voters for Peace. Also featured a TannenWeekly and Media Matters Minute with Larry and Steve.

This Show features David Rossini (Green Corps) & Marianne Cufone (Director of FISHCampaign) as our guests. Plus under reported Surreal News items with Larry and David.

DAVID ROSSINI will co-host the Surreal News and discuss Green Corps, and the status of the Climate Bill that is working its way through Congress. In his role as Organizing Director of Green Corps. David oversees its trainees and field programs. He has led teams of organizers to pass an open space ballot measure in Maryland; to turn out more that 5000 citizens for Arctic Refuge Action Day in Washington DC, and to convince Bowater, the largest paper company operating in the Cumberland Plateau to stop destroying native forests. He has provided field assistance to the Sierra Club, Environment America, Alaska Coalition, ForestEthics, Dogwood Alliance, Minnesota Environmental Partnership and the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters. David joined Green Corps after graduating from Vassar College in 2003. The mission of Green Corps is to train organizers, provide field support for critical environmental campaigns, and develop activists with the skills, temperament, and commitment to win environmental protections and public health initiatives.

Marianne Cufone is Food & Water Watch's FishCampaign Director. She has been involved in natural resources management, and specifically fisheries management for the past 15 years. Before coming to Food & Water Watch, she was the Managing Partner of Environment Matters, a private environmental consulting firm in Tampa, Florida. Previously, Ms. Cufone was a Program Manager for a national conservation organization. She has worked with law firms, educational facilities, government entities and organizations throughout the United States on a wide range of issues including: fisheries, pollution, impacts mitigation, stewardship and outreach. She also teaches courses and guest lectures at assorted academic institutions. She currently maintains positions on assorted natural resource advisory boards for Hillsborough County, the State of Florida and the federal government and sits on several non-profit Boards of Directors. Ms. Cufone received her J.D., Cum Laude from the University of Miami School of Law through a joint Masters program in Marine Science and Policy at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami. She received her BA, from Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

Bill Smith Vice President for Public Policy, Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) discusses teen pregnancy and HIV prevention also Alain and Xavier Menard on Ozone and Colonic therapy plus a Tannen Weekly with all the Rebublican ideas on Health Care Reform, a Media Matters Minute plus Surreal News items with Larry and Steve.

Our first guest is former CIA analyst Mel Goodman. Then Tim Karr (FreePress Campaign Director) discusses the internet. And as always a Tannen Weekly and Media Matters Minute with Larry and Steve.

The ideological partnership between the Washington Post and the Central Intelligence Agency is becoming despicable. For the past several weeks, the Post has carried a series of editorial and op-eds that were designed to prevent the release of the Justice Department memoranda that permitted the use of CIA torture and abuse and to prevent any rigorous examination of these practices that went beyond the permitted guidelines.

Melvin A. Goodman, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and adjunct professor of government at Johns Hopkins University, is The Public Record’s National Security and Intelligence columnist. He spent 42 years with the CIA, the National War College, and the U.S. Army. His latest book is Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA.

A new Net Neutrality bill was just introduced in Congress.
President Obama has repeatedly called for Net Neutrality. A pro-Net Neutrality chairman is now heading the FCC. Public support has never been greater.
The time has come to make Net Neutrality the law once and for all. Congress introduced the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009 (H.R. 3458) to give you control over the future of the Internet.

Campaign Director Timothy Karr oversees all Free Press campaigns and online outreach efforts, including SavetheInternet.com and our work on public broadcasting, propaganda, and journalism. Before joining Free Press, Tim served as executive director of MediaChannel.org and vice president of Globalvision New Media and the Globalvision News Network. He has also worked extensively as an editor, reporter and photojournalist for the Associated Press, Time Inc., New York Times and Australia Consolidated Press. Tim critiques, analyzes and reports on media and media policy for the Huffington Post and on his personal blog, MediaCitizen.

Harvey Gochberg (Secretary Florida Veterans for Common Sense), Devon Jarrett (Jewish Family and Children's Services) and award winning film producer Len Gumley (Absence of Angels) discusses challenges for returning veterans and homeless issues. Then a Tannen Weekly (Pete Tannen, President of Sarasota ACLU) on Would Jesus Twitter?, a Media Matters Minute then Ron Burke (Director of the Union of Concerned Scientists Midwest office and Midwest climate campaign director) on Energy/ Climate Bill with Steve and returning co-host Alan.

Barry Damiano (Flight Director/ Meteorologist NOAA) discusses Hurricaines and preparation then Emily Doskow (Sharing Solutions) on her ultimate guide to sharing book plus plenty of surreal news with Ed and Steve.

Matt Rothschild (Editor Progressive Magazine) discusses new book "Democracy in Print" The Best of The Progressive Magazine 1909-2009, then Leah Durant (Executive Director Progressives for Immigration Reform on overpopulation with Larry and Steve.

Kathryn Dungy (Prof History New College) w/ Cultural Arts Heritage Fesival, Author Russ Baker with "Family of Secrets", Larry and Steve

Vince Nunez on State Farm Insurance Problems then Gerald LaMelle (Executive Director of Africa Action) with Larry and Steve

Laurence Shatkin, author of "Best Jobs in the Presidents Stimulus Plan" then Dan McCrea, President and co-founder of Florida Voters with Steve and Larry.

Bob Edgar (Common Cause, 6 term congressman) on 2010 Election then Philip Howard (Life Without Lawyers) with Larry and Steve.

Bill Walker discusses his book Skywalker- Close encounters on the appalatian trail then Wendy BiddleCombe reports of homeless then David Culp (Quaker Nuclear Disarmament Program) on Aiming for Nuclear Weapons- Free World: Obama's Nuclear Policies with Larry and Steve.

Evelyn Tenenbaum (Albany Law School) Johnathan Cohen discuss Elderly Driving with Larry and Steve

Just Linda on Surreal News. Linda Gustitus – President. Linda is the past board chair of the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation and lives in Washington, DC. She is the founder of the Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture and is an attorney

Pat Friedberg author and MaryAnne Amato illustrator of "Dear Jake" wrote a book describing a letter from a grandfather to a grandson of parents going through divorce. Then Media Matters Karl Frish discusses conservative media misinformation. Then Kindra Muntz discusses the Congression task force about missing votes in Sarasota.

Jan Spenser from SuburbanPermaculture then Karl Frisch from Media matters joins Larry and Steve.

What is Cryogenics, is it legal, ethical, will it work? The show features Evelyn Tenenbaum, William Meachum and Brian Reese from Albany Law School with Larry and Steve.

Mary Anne Servian and PJ Brooks from First step on impact of drug abuse on Families.

Just Greg Palast author of Armed Madhouse.

Just Aidan Delgado consciencious objector

Ian is a student and poet. He shares his views on current surreal news items and reads great original poetry.

Dick Smothers from the Smothers Brothers joins the Surreal News Show to discuss "Smothered: A tale of Censorship" a DVD describing how he got kicked off the air.
Poet Linda Ohlson Graham also joins Dick in the Studio with wonderful insights and poetry.