December 28, 1996 - January 3, 1997 This week Ken welcomes NPR TV critic, musician and author of the great book Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation, Eric Deggans to the show. Ken and Eric discuss Eric's smooth radio voice, growing up in Gary Indiana, being a touring musician, becoming a TV critic in 1996 in Florida, getting sick of pop music, how hard jobs were to get as a teenager, Letterman, watching TV late night, being a fan of weirdo comedy, SCTV, Ernie Kovacs, being signed to Motown, making sure you always have an HBO Subscription, touring Japan, getting a VCR, the importance of phone trees when black people would be on TV, the paranoia of Dark Skies, the importance of criticism, Siskel and Ebert, Cybill, committing mail fraud with Columbia House to exponentially increase you record collection, experiencing White Rock Music, Quincy Jones, The original Bill Cosby Show, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Saturday Night Live, Eddie Murphy, jamming, In Concert, The Midnight Special, Meet The Press, all the people we've lost, Tim Russert, Regis, Steve Harvey, stand up sitcoms, Robert Townsend, how wrong The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer was, Larry Wilmore, difficult stars, Bernie Mac, NYPD Blue, anti-heroes, re-examining shows you liked, Ellen, good and bad network notes, lack of diverse casts, suspension of disbelief, and the absolute greatness of Homicide Life on the Street.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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