Alan Colmes | |
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 Colmes in 2014 | |
| Born | Alan Samuel Colmes (1950-09-24)September 24, 1950 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | February 23, 2017(2017-02-23) (aged 66) New York City, U.S. |
| Education | Hofstra University (BA) |
| Occupation(s) | Television and radio host, political commentator, writer, blogger |
| Employer | Fox News Channel |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Website | www |
Alan Samuel Colmes (September 24, 1950 – February 23, 2017) was an Americanradio and television host,liberal political commentator for theFox News Channel, and blogger.
From 1996 to 2009, Colmes served as the co-host, along withSean Hannity, ofHannity & Colmes, a nightly political debate show on Fox News Channel. He was the host ofThe Alan Colmes Show, anationally syndicatedtalk-radio show distributed byFox News Radio that was broadcast throughout the United States onFox News Talk onSirius andXM. Beginning in 2015, Colmes supplied the voice of The Liberal Panel on Fox News Channel'sThe Greg Gutfeld Show.
In addition to broadcasting, Colmes ran the Liberaland blog and contributed to AOL News. He was the author ofRed, White & Liberal: How Left Is Right and Right Is Wrong (2003) andThank the Liberals for Saving America (2012).
Colmes was born to aJewish family[1] inBrooklyn. He grew up inLynbrook, New York on Long Island, attended local public schools and went toHofstra University, where he graduated in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts degree from its School of Communications.[2] While at Hofstra, he worked at its radio station, WVHC, which later becameWRHU.[3]
Colmes began his career in comedy.[4] He developed his radio career in the Northeast, eventually working at stations such asWABC,WNBC,WHN,WMCA andWEVD in New York,WNHC inNew Haven, Connecticut, andWEZE andWZLX inBoston.[5]
His radio career took off when WABC hired him for the morningdrive time slot. He was billed as "W. Alan B. Colmes", as in the station'scall sign. He moved to WNBC in 1987, but his tenure there would be short whenNBC announced in 1988 it would close its radio division. When WNBC went off the air for the last time on October 7, 1988, Colmes' was the last voice heard.[6] He had beensyndicated nationally, starting with his involvement with Daynet, a venture created by Colmes and other regional radio hosts. Daynet was sold to Major Networks, Inc. in 1994.
Colmes was hired by Fox News chief executive officerRoger Ailes in 1996. He was the co-host ofHannity & Colmes, beginning with theFox News Channel launch on October 6, 1996, and ending on January 9, 2009.[7]
Colmes kept his radio show, which was distributed byFox News Radio.[8]
Colmes' debut non-fiction book,Red, White & Liberal: How Left is Right and Right is Wrong (ISBN 0-06-056297-8), was published in October 2003. It tackles issues such ascivil rights, thewar on terror, and the perceivedliberal media bias. Interspersed throughout are actual emails fromHannity & Colmes viewers, reprinted verbatim.[9]
Colmes leftHannity & Colmes, with Fox replacing it withHannity, in January 2009.[10] Colmes continued as a commentator on Fox News, most often onThe O'Reilly Factor where he frequently appeared with hisconservative sister-in-law,Monica Crowley.[11] He was also an occasional guest-panelist on Fox News' late-night satire programRed Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld.
AfterHannity & Colmes, Colmes was a frequent panelist on the news analysis programFox News Watch alongsideCal Thomas,Judith Miller, and other pundits.[12]
While Colmes described himself as a liberal and his Fox News biography touted him as "a hard-hitting liberal", he has sometimes been referred to disparagingly as a "token liberal" or a "Fox News liberal".[13] Colmes toldUSA Today in 1995 that he considered himself "quite moderate".[14] In an article he wrote in 2013, Colmes described himself as "very liberal".[15]
During his run onHannity & Colmes, Colmes was criticized for being less charismatic and telegenic thanSean Hannity, and just a "seat-filler" for the liberal side.[16] Some newspapers reported him as being Hannity's "sidekick".[17] Former Democratic SenatorAl Franken criticized Colmes in his bookLies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, saying he refused to ask tough questions during debates and neglected to challenge erroneous claims made by Hannity or his guests.[17] Franken used a smaller font in his book when he addressed "Colmes" by name[18] and claimed that Colmes did not speak as much as Hannity during the show. Some liberal critics questioned whether both hosts received equal time to interview guests.[17] Some of Colmes' liberal critics, notably commentators atMedia Matters for America, praised him toward the end of the show's run. He began to cite their reports in interviews with some conservative guests on the program.[19][20]
Bob Garfield, interviewing Colmes forOn the Media in 2003, asked him if he was "the humanstraw man" and a "foil" rather than an equal of Hannity. Colmes replied that if the conservative members of the audience saw him that way, that was "their problem", and said "It's more fun for me to be in a situation like this than to preach to the choir."[21]
On January 5, 2009, the beginning of his last week onHannity & Colmes, Colmes was a guest onThe Colbert Report in a spoof called "Colbert & Colmes", which parodied criticisms ofHannity & Colmes. In addition to being given a list of pre-approved responses toStephen Colbert's opinions and forced to sit on a stool (making him appear shorter than his co-host), Colmes' face was covered by the on-air graphics while Colbert discussed issues of the day.[22] Colbert "fired" Colmes by the end of the show for pointing out fallacies in his logic.
Following Colmes' announcement that he was leavingHannity & Colmes,The Daily Show with Jon Stewart also paid tribute to him with a guest appearance by rock duoHall & Oates, who in a parody version of their hit "She's Gone", dubbed him "Tango to his (Hannity's) Cash" and "Laurel to his Hardy".[23]
Colmes was married toJocelyn Elise Crowley, a professor of public policy atRutgers University, whose sister isMonica Crowley, the conservative radio commentator, pundit, television personality, and formerAssistant Secretary for Public Affairs for theU.S. Department of the Treasury.[24]
Colmes died oflymphoma at theMemorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center inManhattan on February 23, 2017, at the age of 66.[25]
I think I'm quite moderate ... I follow Limbaugh on about 100 stations and I precede other conservatives, so I may be the only person giving a different point of view. Colmes had long been a devout fan of the guitarist Eric Clapton.
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