Even though Thom Hartmann has been on the air nearly 20 years, to me, he seems an anomaly when it comes to a prototypical radio show host. Unquestionably a man of letters, an intellectual, Hartmann just doesn’t seem to fit the mold of a radio talk show host. When you can do so much, possess so much brainpower, why radio?
“I’ve always loved radio, ever since I was seven-years-old,” Hartmann explained. “My father got me an old crystal radio kit, and I listened all the time. I wanted to be a DJ and at 15, I got the chance at a small country and western station. I did that for a couple of years, then I did news for seven years.”
The early Hartmann years were full of curiosity, but all of those brain molecules needed somewhere to take root. After the Russians launched Sputnik in October in 1957, the Eisenhower administration figured they’d better invest in bright kids in…
