Radar Online: "How an also-ran anchor (K.O.) became the caustic king of cable news"

[Anthony Soprano]

http://www.radaronline.com/features/2006/12/olbermann.php

Call it the influence of snarky blog culture or his admiration of opinionated broadcast pioneers such as Paul Harvey, Edward R. Murrow, and Lowell Thomas, but Keith Olbermann believes a story is best told with some perspective—especially when he's personally involved. Take the 47-year-old's coverage of the news about a deranged Ann Coulter-loving Michelle Malkin-ite who mailed white powder-filled hate letters to presumptive House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democratic New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, David Letterman, Viacom chief Sumner Redstone, The Daily Show's Jon Stewart—and Olbermann. He blasted the New York Post for making light of his cooperation with the FBI's investigation of the letters and told his side of the experience. Then there's his ongoing war with Bill O'Reilly—red meat for a growing army of Fox foes and pure YouTube gold. No one's an easier target than Bill-O (Olbermann's favorite nickname for him) for a newsman with a lefty sense of humor and right-wing sense of outrage.

His formula is working. Countdown with Keith Olbermann — weeknights at 8 p.m. EST, opposite O'Reilly — is the most watched show on MSNBC. Ratings are up 24 percent from last year among the key 25- to 54-year-old demographic (Olbermann's 744,000 total nightly viewership for November is still well behind O'Reilly's 2.1 million). Radar spoke to Olbermann on the eve of his contract negotiations with MSNBC (his current agreement is up in March) and just before he penned the evening's "special comment" on Bush and the lessons of Vietnam. We asked him about his methods, his surging popularity, and his ongoing struggles with demagoguery.

EXCERPT from the Radar interview:

Speaking of that polarization, one of the most entertaining features of your diametric opposition to Bill O'Reilly is the nicknames you've coined for him. Can you name them?

Well, Bill-O is the best one.

Where did that come from?

(Former ESPN colleague) Dan Patrick actually suggested that. "Bill-O" kind of represents a flag with one of its stems ripped off flapping in the wind. It's reminiscent of his style on the air. There's "Bill Orally," which was a complete typo. I was looking for something on a website and typed in "Bill O'Reilly" on a search engine, and it came back with no matches and asked: "Did you mean to search for Bill Orally?" And I thought, Well that's perfect. And there's "The Big Giant Head," a Third Rock From the Sun reference. And obviously, "Ted Baxter," because one day I was trying to do an impression of O'Reilly to read some quotes on the air and it came out as Ted Baxter, and I thought this would probably be very offensive to Ted Knight, but it's still appropriate. Those are the ones I remember off the top of my head.

[IWantAChange]

1. Caustic King or a journalist saying what others feel but are afraid to speak?

If there has been one significant 'benefit' of the Democratic victory at the polls in November it is that the American press has discovered that they weren't emasculated during their hiatus from real journalism since 9/11.

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