Age: 84
Bill Press
Age: 84
William H. "Bill" Press (born April 8, 1940) is an American talk radio host, liberal political commentator and author. He was chairman of the California Democratic Party from 1993 to 1996.
Career
Born in Wilmington, Delaware and raised in Delaware City, Delaware, Press graduated from Salesianum School in 1958 and received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Niagara University and Bachelor of Sacred Theology from the University of Fribourg. He started his broadcasting career in Los Angeles for TV stations KABC-TV and KCOP-TV. He has worked as a political commentator for CNN and MSNBC. He is best known for co-hosting CNN's Spin Room opposite Tucker Carlson, and Crossfire and MSNBC's Buchanan and Press.
Since May 2005 he has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post. Press also contributes blogs to the online version of Washington, D.C.'s nonpartisan newspaper, The Hill. In January 2012, Press filled in for Keith Olbermann on Current TV's coverage of the Florida GOP primary elections.
In politics
Press was the chair of the California Democratic Party from 1993 to 1996. He has previously served in different appointed positions such as a chief of staff to Republican California State Senator Peter Behr from 1971 to 1973, and as director of the California Office of Planning and Research under Democratic Governor Jerry Brown from 1975 to 1979. On February 22, 1996, Press resigned from the California Democratic Party and was succeeded by former Assembly member Arthur Torres.
Radio talk show
Since September 2005, Press has been hosting a daily liberal talk radio program which is broadcast on terrestrial radio affiliates in the United States live from 6-9 AM ET. Originally syndicated by Jones Radio, the radio show is now syndicated by Dial Global. It is also heard on satellite radio and streamed live from the show's website. On March 5, 2012, his radio show was announced to be simulcast on Current TV alongside The Stephanie Miller Show as part of morning programming As a result of Current TV becoming Al Jazeera America, The Bill Press Show moved to Free Speech TV.
Since 2013, full videos of the show are uploaded to YouTube. Free Speech TV now airs the first two hours of The Bill Press Show from 6am to 8am ET Monday-Friday and the third hour from 5pm-6pm ET Monday through Friday. In the 2012 list published by Talkers magazine, Press was listed as No. 77 on the list of most important talk radio hosts in the United States.
Religion
Press was steeped in Catholicism from an early age. He was an altar boy and took vows of obedience, poverty and chastity. He describes his young self as a "soldier in God's army".
Works
- Eyewitness : A California Perspective, 1988. ISBN 0-939061-01-5
- Spin This: All the Ways We Don't Tell the Truth, with a foreword by Bill Maher, 2002. ISBN 0-7434-4267-9
- Bush Must Go!- The Top Ten Reasons Why George Bush Doesn't Deserve a Second Term, 2004. ISBN 0-525-94840-6
- How The Republicans Stole Christmas: The Republican Party's Declared Monopoly on Religion and What Democrats Can Do to Take it Back, 2005. ISBN 0-385-51605-3
- How The Republicans Stole Christmas: Why the Religious Right is Wrong about Faith & Politics and What We Can Do to Make it Right, Doubleday, 2005. ISBN 978-0-385-51605-1
- Trainwreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too Soon), Wiley, 2008. ISBN 978-0-470-18240-6
- Toxic Talk: How the Radical Right Has Poisoned America's Airwaves. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. 2010. ISBN 978-0-312-60629-9.
- The Obama Hate Machine. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. 2012. ISBN 978-0-312-64164-1.
- Buyer's Remorse: How Obama Let Progressives Down. New York: Threshold Editions. 2016. ISBN 9781476792613. OCLC 913336872.