Television Star Turns Ear To Radio

By: Alyson Ward

Janine Turner has declared her new radio show “the no-blame-game zone.”

Turner, a Texan – and yes, the actress who played Maggie O’Connell in “Northern Exposure” – has spent the past few years mastering politics and American history. Monday, she makes her Houston radio debut with a two-hour talk show.

“The Janine Turner Radio Show” premieres on KPRC-AM (950). The two-hour program will air live, 5-7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. KPRC is the first AM station to carry the new show, which also can be heard on Sirius XM Radio (channel 166) and through iHeartRadio online.

No doubt about it: This is conservative talk radio. But Turner, despite her political leanings, doesn’t want to just preach to the choir. Heck, she’d love it if some Democrats tuned in – or even called in.

“What I’m concerned about is Americans almost flat-out don’t want to speak to each other anymore,” Turner, 50, said in a phone interview last week. “All these prejudices just pop up. We’re forgetting we’re American.”

Turner’s show will follow the tried-and-true talk radio formula: She’ll start with a monologue, interview guests and then take calls from listeners. Bill O’Reilly of Fox News will be one of her first guests. Also lined up for this week are Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, Larry Kudlow of CNBC’s “The Kudlow Report” and George P. Bush, who has just announced he’s running for Texas land commissioner.

That’s a decidedly conservative line up, but Turner envisions her show as more positive and productive than other talk radio. She doesn’t want to condemn one party or one politician for all the nation’s woes.

“We have to stop blaming,” Turner said. “We can still be opinionated, but I want to be the solution and not the problem.”

Turner’s show had humble beginnings. A couple of years ago, she started recording podcasts from her bedroom using an iPhone. She distributed the podcasts through social media, and a few months later an AM station in Dallas gave her a two-hour time slot on Saturday nights. The weekly Dallas Observer called it the best radio talk show in town.

Read the rest of the article at The Houston Chronicle