DUers, At What Age Did You Become Politically Minded and Why?

[no_hypocrisy]

20. 41.

I started with being an activist for abortion rights and legalization of marijuana.

I was more of political skimmer when I listened to Lynn Samuels on WABC. While I found her entertaining, I didn't really get new information.

But I truly became politically aware in 1998 when I tuned into a NYC radio station called WEVD. The drivetime host in the afternoon was Jay Diamond, replaced by Sam Greenfield. They both explained the news of the day, pointed out the characters behind the scenes, explained the significance of House votes, the upcoming impeaching of Bill Clinton. It was like finally someone was speaking in terms I could understand.

And one more thing: the station encouraged senior citizens in NYC to call in. They were maybe the most well informed demographic of listeners and they were energized.

I was hooked.

I soon became devoted to other shows like Bill Mazer in the morning. (He had great interviews with journalists and Mickey Carroll who did polls.) And Alan Colmes later at night.

When ABC Corporation bought WEVD from the Jewish Forward, it went off the air two weeks before 9/11 when our community really needed to hear from the hosts and from each other. And since 2001, there hasn't been another radio station for older New Yorkers. (NPR doesn't do the trick.)