Midweek Politics - History

History

David Pakman was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and at the age of 5, moved to the United States. He started the radio program at age 21 on Pacifica radio affiliate WXOJ while an undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, during his time as an intern at the Media Education Foundation. Public radio syndication began in 2006 on the Pacifica Radio Network through Vivid Edge Media Group. Initially, a handful of non-commercial talk radio stations broadcast the show with syndication.

The show expanded in 2007 to more public radio stations. The same year, Louis Motamedi, a childhood friend of Pakman's, was added as radio producer.

In 2009, TDPS achieved its first commercial radio affiliates, starting with Green 1640 in Atlanta, Georgia and WHMP Northampton, Massachusetts. On September 2nd, Midweek Politics, a simultaneously-produced television show, was launched, originally offered to public-access television stations across the country as well as published on the show's YouTube Channel. The number of television affiliates grew and Pakman attributed this to expanding from radio to a visual medium.

In 2010, TDPS launched a paid membership program maintaining the podcast at no charge, but offering subscribers extra show segments, behind-the-scenes interviews, and access to show archives. In July of that year, the show obtained national television distribution through Free Speech TV. The show's first international affiliate, Öppna Kanalen Skövde in Skövde, Sweden, announced in September that it would be airing the program. At the same time, the show was moved from WXOJ to its own studio in Northampton, Massachusetts, for both the radio and television versions. The name was changed to The David Pakman Show (TDPS), expanding from a weekly program to two episodes per week, broadcast live on Mondays and Thursdays at 3pm Eastern Standard Time.

In January 2011, public access station Medford Community Cablevision, Inc., known for its controversial programming, announced that TDPS would be added to its 2011-2012 schedule.

On March 12, 2012, TDPS announced an expansion to four episodes per week, Monday-Thursday, and a move to an earlier live broadcast time, 2pm EST. The same year, the show joined Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian on The Young Turks YouTube streaming channel. New content and video versions of existing radio programming were produced, including Liberal Oasis Radio Show hosted by blogger Bill Scher, Take Action News with David Shuster, television journalist, and World View with Denis Campbell, Editor-in-Chief of UK Progressive Magazine.