This is Hell!

Hey thisishell ! I really don't think that anyone could say better than you about him.

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home alarm systems

Solid, long interviews with SUBSTANCE. Great show! Moved to Ohio from Chicago and still listen every Saturday. The bonus is I get to sleep in an extra hour before it comes on thanks to the time change--enough time for a hangover cure! Hope you win this contest...if Terry Gross can fill up her interviews with fake laughter and silly questions, there's no doubt NPR could use you to elevate their programming a little.

Congrats to the winners, and good luck next round!!

*high five*
bee jellyfish
http://www.beejellyfish.com
http://www.myspace.com/beejellyfish

Title aside, I think you're doing fine.

One of the best political shows on the air. It is far and away better than anything NPR has on the air today in terms of intelligent, informed, incisive conversation about significant issues. The host, who is irreverent,and funny between guests, is one of the best informed and well-prepared radio hosts on air and asks incredibly insightful questions.
If NPR had any guts, it would immediately put his show on the air. Besides Chuck needs a job.

With Chuck's entry here, the show (and Chuck) sound ready for prime time. So perhaps a title change would tip the scale. Commercial radio wouldn't blink an eye, but there is still a mechanised infantry division of blue-hair fun police out there in NPR-Land that write angry letters whenever anybody says "drat" on the air. Endorsing a show with "hell" in the title just might be too much for the PR department to tolerate.

My two cents. The Chicago contingent needs to stick together. You got it all over me, my man. Will try to tune in Saturdays. Good luck Chuck!

--- SkimBo
http://www.publicradioquest.com/audio/user/2198
http://naughtwirthreeding.wordpress.com

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."

--- Winston Churchill

Once again today, I heard a guest complimenting the host for being so smart and well-read. You don't hear that very often. Been listening since 2001 and even download it when I'm out of state.

Chuck does a great job of attacking the right and its idiocy, but he doesn't let the left of the hook either. Highly informative with a superb sense of humor. Unfortunately, I can't pick it up if I have to travel south of the loop.

I live in California, but I will wakeup by 7am to listen to these guys! I know that I will hear information that I can not find anywhere else in the media. "This is Hell", does not pretend to understand. They are looking to understand what is going on with our government and our actions around the world. They don't just sing to the choir.

We need voices and minds like the gang at "This is Hell" if we are to have hope for the generation of Americans to come!

You're already in the game, baby! Why can't you let some of the other kids play?

No offense, but if you've been on the air since '98 and haven't been called up to the big show maybe you should be happy with where you're at. Hell ain't a bad place to be.

I love the show and I will be picking up your podcasts. However, there are many people in this contest who have the skills and the balls to play but can't get on the field.

We're not asking for a contract, just a chance to tryout.

(By the way, I have never used so many sports metaphors at one time in my life. Forgive me.)

DJ Barr
http://www.publicradioquest.com/user/3079

Well, up until this contest, I really wasn't aware of much in the internet media world...now, I'm going to check it out. Welcome to Hell. You sold me on it.

"If all the world's a stage, I want to operate the trap door." --Paul Beatty

http://www.publicradioquest.com/audio/7689
http://www.OurMissBrooks.blogspot.com

the best show about politics I've ever heard on the radio. makes NPR seem shallow. on top of it all it's entertainment! Chuck makes me laugh and smile while he's solving the worlds problems.

Hands down the best talk show on Chicagoland radio, maybe nationally. Chuck Mertz should be given a wider audience, given the liberal alternative, Air America, which is shrill and sounds like the Democratic Party's response to Rush Limbaugh, rather having OPEN discussions with scholars writers and experts.
In addition there is an irreverence that permeates the structure of the show that makes to it highly entertaining as well as informative.
I have been listening since 1999 and look forward to every Saturday morning

Good Luck TIH

Les R

You've already made the big time! Already been discovered! But certainly not a has been by any means.

http://www.publicradioquest.com/node/1153

After This is Hell, I can't listen to NPR news/commentary! Chuck is sooo much better! His variety of topics are very broad yet within each topic he boldly plunges the anoxic hairball-filled depths of politics and social criticism. He is all the rage here in Gran Colombia!
Hey, Chuck, you're from Chicago: let us know how we can cast extra votes on TalentQUEST webpage.
-Androoool
www.dna.ac

I've listened to this show for years and I am always impressed with how much I learn from this show compared to other news sources. I hear things on this show weeks before regular news outlets deem the stories worth of being news, and then those news outlets barely scratch the surface of these stories. Sure, I don't always agree with everything the interviewees say, but I come away feeling more informed about all sides of an issue.

Got any hangover cures for me after listening to Rebecca Watson's entry over at http://www.publicradioquest.com/node/1750?

Yes, Chuck's path to a wider audience could & should pass through Public Radio. When I listen on Saturdays, I feel like a kid at the beach finding a big piece of blue sea glass poking up through the soggy wet sand, or like I did on at midnight on the new moon , camping in Canada, after the fire died down enough to see a large flourescent glowing mushroom nearby.
But unlike the fool I was to think I could take this mushroom with me back to Chicago, only to watch it shrivel, darken and die, I pray that moving Chuck & his team out of their forest and onto public radio does not diminish the magical glow of This is Hell Radio!

These guys define themselves as leftists, and they may well be. However, if you move out of the left v. right paradigm, and move into the thinking v. reactionary paradigm, you'll find these quite conscious gentlemen to be truly stimulating and thought provoking.

You know what I mean? There are people on the left and the right who are incapable of doing much more than react to propaganda or project stereotypes onto people they disagree with, and there are people on the left and right who actually have their own thoughts, are capable of expressing them, and are capable of having useful and challenging discussions in the open air with self-respect rather than flinging dung around between the caves they love so much.

These guys have had guests on their show which span the political spectrum, and have always remained composed and forthright, simultaneously.

And there is really nothing like having a sense of humor, and being able to recognize one when you hear it, and these guys have one.

I am a progressive guy with a conservative streak, and due to my respect for the constitution, I do not completely fall in line with the fringy left, or right for that matter, in the US. That being said, these guys suit me just fine. I happen to know that they are stand up guys with a lot of integrity, and the fact that they live in Chicago makes that a pretty difficult row to hoe. They deserve a shot at the bigs, and the Country needs to hear that there is something going on in Chicago besides corruption, brutality, disgusting duplicitous racial politics, and fat slobs.

Best interviews on the air. The kind of information needed so the public can solve problems like high gas prices...

Chuck Mertz is a hidden gem of talk radio. He brings in guests that challenge the conventional wisdom, and asks them questions that challenge their OWN assumptions. Essential listening.

Plus, if NPR picks up the show, you could have 'puzzle master' Will Shortz do a guest spot reading the national beer riddle.

Hands down my favorite and most anticipated pod cast of the week. Makes me laugh and I get to feel a little smarter after listening.

luv yer tone.
bee jellyfish
http://www.publicradioquest.com/audio/user/4181
http://www.beejellyfish.com
http://www.myspace.com/beejellyfish

A leftist with a sense of humor. Damn.

I'm a long-time listener. This show gets better and better. I always tell friends to check it out, especially if they like to think and inform themselves.

Even if you don't get a nationally syndicated show out of this deal, you've won me as a listener. Great show.

elizabeth
news director
morning host/producer
kisu 91.1 fm pocatello, idaho

This Is Hell gives both sides of the story then looks at the logic and brings on guest to talk about it. Other shows do this on occasion to keep the masses happy This is Hell does it every show through the whole show. I guess with the thought that we as Americans have brains and are able to use them. I expect chuck to be suicided at any moment by the the powers that control this empire.That is, if the show wins this contest.

Knowledgeable guests are given the time to explain their views.

You win on namechecks alone.