Is Thom Hartmann the Progressive Answer to Conservative Dominance of Talk-Radio?

Thom Hartmann now hosts one of the most successful talk-shows — of any political stripe — in the United States.

For the fourth consecutive year, his internationally syndicated “The Thom Hartmann Show” is on the “Heavy Hundred” list in Talkers, a talk-radio industry publication. This year, though, it ranked eighth, which makes Hartmann the most influential progressive voice on the radio, ahead of such personalities as Stephanie Miller, Neal Boortz and Ed Schultz, who is now host of an MSNBC show.

No surprise, since Hartmann reaches close to three million listeners each week on radio alone. A TV version of his radio show reaches another 55 million homes worldwide. Not bad for a show that started at the Hartmanns’ dining room table in Montpelier, Vermont.

“We launched the show because we thought it was possible,” Hartmann told “Fair Game” recently, crediting his wife, Louise Hartmann, for the program’s success. The couple co-owns the show, which is a rarity in talk radio these days. Big-time talkers such as Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are hired guns for syndicated radio networks such as Premiere and Clear Channel. They don’t have to sell ads, or worry about the day-to-day finances; their sole job is to attract listeners.

“We boot-strapped the show from the start,” said Hartmann, adding that he and his wife spent $20,000 to buy satellite time in their first year, then tried to sell enough ads to cover their investment. “We lost money the first year,” Hartmann concedes, “and then, slowly, we started to make money, and, as we picked up more stations, we’ve been able to make a go of it.”

“The Thom Hartmann Show” airs Fridays from noon to 3 pm on WDEV-FM.

Hartmann’s growth on television is the result of a recent deal with Free Speech TV. He is now the channel’s number-one rated program — beating out the stalwart “Democracy Now,” a left-leaning show hosted by Amy Goodman. Hartmann’s show is also broadcast on satellite networks such as Dish and DirecTV.

Hartmann is a prolific author, too, with more than 30 books to his credit, on subjects ranging from attention-deficit disorder to the history of corporate personhood.

Hartmann is “a well-read and smart guy, and his interests go well beyond the usual BS of politics,” said Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News, a frequent guest on Vermont’s “Mark Johnson Show” on WDEV-FM. “When Air America started, a lot of my lefty friends … said, it’s unlistenable because it’s the same harangue that we get from the right — we want NPR with an edge, with a little bit of pizzazz,” Ratner said. “That’s what Thom offers — a thoughtful, nonprofit program with a for-profit edge.”

Ratner, whose office is adjacent to Hartmann’s in Washington, D.C., summed it up: “I think what makes Thom different from anyone else is that he is brilliant.”

One of the most popular features on Hartmann’s show is an hourlong segment called “Brunch with Bernie.”

Can you guess the guest? That’s right, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

The two met when Hartmann’s show was just beginning to gain national notoriety and Sanders was starring on his own weekly radio program — “The Bernie Sanders Show” — on WDEV-FM.

WDEV station owner Ken Squier suggested that Sanders and Hartmann get in touch and talk about their common interest in radio. And so they did. Hartmann had the senator on as a guest, and they’ve been doing it every week since. “It fit my definition of local, because it was Bernie,” says Squier, a Republican. “But the thing took off.”