Radio Active
Radio Active with Union-Tribune editorial writer and blogger Chris Reed focuses on local and state politics, with a mix of analysis and (very) strong opinion. But Chris and his guests also discuss the media, pop culture and more, depending on what topics are in the news. Radio Active airs every Thursday at 11 a.m. on SignOnRadio.com.
Recent Shows
Councilman-elect DeMaio and more - Download
Chris talks to Carl DeMaio about the city's budget nightmare and introduces The Blitz, a new feature in which he covers five topics in quick succesion.
Published: December 4, 2008
Our Easily Hoaxed Media - Download
Chris talks with "Martin Eisenstadt," the Internet hoaxster who has snookered the L.A. Times, MSNBC, CBS News and a long, long list of major news outlets.
Published: November 20, 2008
State government in ruins - Download
Chris talks with Pepperdine professor and political blogger Mike Shires about the state government's turn from dysfunctional and incompetent to highly dysfunctional and utterly incompetent. He doesn't mention Mike Aguirre for the first time ever.
Published: November 13, 2008
Election fallout - Download
In the first segment, Chris talks about the surprisingly generous treatment Mike Aguirre has gotten from other city leaders after his landslide loss. In the second segments, Chargers' special counsel Mark Fabiani talks about the team's stadium hunt and whether Aguirre's pending exit will make staying in San Diego an option again.
Published: November 6, 2008
Local election forecast - Download
Chris and RedCounty blogger and local GOP activist Barry Jantz discuss the City Council races, whether congressman Brian Bilbray is at risk from the rising Obama tide, the La Mesa city sales tax proposal and more.
Published: October 23, 2008
Meet the next city attorney - Download
U-T editorial writer Chris Reed talks with Judge Jan Goldsmith about his candidacy for city attorney and his opponent, incumbent Mike "Landslide" Aguirre.
Published: October 16, 2008
Proposition 1A (high-speed rail) - Download
Reason Foundation senior fellow George Passantino joins host Chris Reed to discuss the off-the-charts awful Proposition 1A.
Published: October 9, 2008
Nicole Gelinas - Download
Nicole Gelinas, an economics and finance expert with the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal, talks with Chris Reed about the debacle of a bailout bill pending before Congress.
Published: October 2, 2008
State Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster - Download
State Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, discussed the state budget fight and Proposition 6, an anti-gang crime measure on the November ballot.
Published: September 25, 2008
Peter Schmidt - Download
Peter Schmidt, author of "Color and Money: How rich White Kids Are Winning the War Over College Affirmative Action."
Published: September 4, 2008
Jerry Sanders - Download
Chris talks with the mayor about the recent election, his non-"pal" Mike Aguirre, City Council politics, lie detectors and Donna Frye.
Published: August 8, 2008
Immigration expert - Download
Chris talks with with Steven Camarota, director or research at the Center for Immigration Studies, about his new study showing more than 1 million illegal immigrants have "self-deported" over the past year.
Published: August 7, 2008
FlashReport founder - Download
FlashReport founder and editor Jon Fleischman talks over state politics with Chris, including his disappointments with Arnold Schwarzenegger, his bafflement with how the Sacramento media establishment works and his view that it's awfully telling that so many journalists who cover state politics go to work for the state's most liberal politicians when their newspaper jobs are eliminated
Published: July 24, 2008
July 17, 2008 - Download
Chris talks with a spokeswoman for Californians for SAFE Food, which opposes Proposition 2, an animal rights November ballot initiative that could be a huge headache for egg producers.
He also talks with Morgan Crinklaw, communications director for the Assembly Republican Caucus, about the budget and about the baffling way the Sacramento media decide what is or isn't news.
Published: July 17, 2008
Assemblyman Martin Garrick - Download
Chris talks with the Carlsbad Republican about the baffling ways of the Sacramento media (yes, it's a favorite topic), about the state's spending problem, about Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and much more.
Published: July 10, 2008
Tony Quinn - Download
Veteran state politics analyst Tony Quinn, of "California Target Book" fame, discusses Arnold's ups and downs, how the media work, but most interestingly of all how the conventional wisdom about redistricting reform greatly oversells what it might accomplish.
Published: July 3, 2008
Charter schools - Download
Carpice Young, president and CEO of the California Charter Schools Association, takes a hard look at San Diego Unified's claims to have followed state law in providing charters with adequate resources.
Published: June 12, 2008
Barry Jantz - Download
Chris talks with the hospital executive-Republican insider-political blogger about San Diego politics -- whether the curse of Mike Aguirre will hang over the city four more years; how Steve Francis could have been a (2012) contender; and whether John McCain really has any chance at all to win California.
Published: June 5, 2008
Sacramento scandal - Download
Orange County Register journo Brian Joseph details his findings about an elaborate financial scandal involving the League of California Cities. It sounds a lot like the Iran-Contra scam, believe it or not.
Published: May 29, 2008
Jon Coupal - Download
Chris talks with the president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association about two dueling eminent domain ballot measures -- one of which is real, the other of which is an utter sham -- and about Arnold's descent from reformer to preserver of the status quo.
We also talk about the baffling Sacramento press corps.
Published: May 22, 2008
Gerry Braun! - Download
Chris talks with the U-T's popular metro columnist about the Enormous Specter Hanging Over San Diego. Gerry offers a defense of the Enormous Specter, a.k.a. Mike Aguirre. Chris tells Gerry that he makes a better case for Mike than Mike himself. Then they get into the whole Sunroad thing and end with a reading of the lyrics to "East Bound and Down" by Jerry Reed. OK, that last part isn't true.
Published: May 15, 2008
Richard Rider - Download
Chris talks with the local anti-tax activist about the folly of raising almost all public employees' pay and benefits given the lack of market demand for public employees. They get into a libertarian grouse-a-thon about all that's wrong with the modern world and speculate whether Milton Friedman would still be willing to live in the United States were he still alive.
OK, that last part is made up.
Published: May 8, 2008
Radley Balko - Download
Chris talks with Balko, a senior editor at Reason magazine and a civil liberties expert, about the institutional resistance to holding police responsible for misconduct. San Diego examples are addressed.
Published: May 1, 2008
Lance Izumi - Download
One of the state's leading education experts joins Chris in pounding away at the myth that school quality is a function of school spending. Lance also discusses his findings that show some San Diego County school districts in affluent areas are underperforming.
Published: April 24, 2008
Jay Posner - Download
Chris talks with U-T sports media columnist Jay Posner in what remains his favorite show ever, because Chris gets to rip on John Madden, Bill Walton and Dan Dierdorf. Posner is very funny and good on radio, better than lots of the people he writes about.
The conversation also includes a "Mayor of Poway" reference sure to be picked up on and appreciated by next to no one. The debate over Bill Werndl is so impassioned that it nearly leads to blows. OK, that last part is not true.
Published: April 17, 2008
State and national politics forum - Download
Insight Editor Robert J. Caldwell discusses Arnold Schwarzenegger in the first segment and the presidential campaign in the second segment.
Published: January 17, 2008
County Supervisor Greg Cox - Download
Guest host Beth Barber, a U-T editorial writer, discusses county issues with Greg Cox.
Published: January 10, 2008
State of the state - Download
Veteran California political analyst Tony Quinn takes a close look at the governor's problems and at the likelihood of a severe Democratic gerrymander of state political districts after the 2010 census.
Published: December 20, 2007
Syndicated columnist Paul Campos - Download
Syndicated columnist Paul Campos, a University of Colorado law professor, talks about the multilevel folly of the Bush administration's use of torture in interrogations.
Campos, author of the book "The Obesity Myth," discusses how the public health establishment has created a "moral panic" by exaggerating the health risks of being overweight.
Published: December 13, 2007
Irvine Assemblyman Chuck DeVore and Reason Foundation scholar George Passantino - Download
Irvine Assemblyman Chuck DeVore talks about the growing realization that nuclear power is a relatively easy way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and counteract global warming.
Reason Foundation scholar George Passantino discusses the scary ways the federal government is going to "help" address the subprime loan mess.
Published: December 6, 2007
Former state legislator Keith Richman and Orange County Register columnist Steven Greenhut - Download
Former state legislator Keith Richman makes the case that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, once a force for reform, has been co-opted by the irresonsible, free-spending special interests who dominate California politics.
Orange County Register columnist Steven Greenhut talks about the competiting eminent domain initiatives on the 2008 ballot and describes how one is a sham measure that would actually preserve abuses of the land-seizure process.
Published: November 29, 2007
First Amendment expert Peter Scheer and Pulitzer Prize-winning U-T cartoonist Steve Breen - Download
First Amendment expert Peter Scheer details how he persuaded City Attorney Mike Aguirre to stop bullying KPBS.
Pulitzer Prize-winning U-T cartoonist Steve Breen discusses how he comes up with ideas for cartoons and talks about the debate among cartoonists over how much they should be jokesters vs. how much they should try to make strong points.
Published: November 15, 2007
Budget blues - Download
State Sen. Tom McClintock details the depressing parallels between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's fiscal stewardship and predecessor Gray Davis'.
Published: November 8, 2007
Whither the Chargers? - Download
Team consultant Mark Fabiani talks about the team's stadium hunt, his low opinion of Mike Aguirre and his disappointment in Jerry Sanders.
Published: October 18, 2007
