Donaldson talk show debuts in Vegas today

Monday, Dec. 17, 2001 | 8:30 a.m.

The career of broadcast journalist Sam Donaldson has, in a manner of speaking, come full circle. "I was doing radio when I was a 17-year-old high school student in El Paso (Texas)," the former disc jockey said during a telephone interview last week from his office in Washington, D.C.

Donaldson eventually became one of the most distinguished reporters on network television, noted for his persistent style and his forceful questioning of some of the world's most powerful figures.

On Sept. 24 the 67-year-old Donaldson re-ignited his radio career with the syndicated talk show "Sam Donaldson Live In America."

The program was launched as a response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, much as the hostage crises in Iran in 1979 was the impetus for the creation of ABC television's "Nightline" with Ted Koppel.

Donaldson's two-hour program debuted locally this morning on news radio station KNUU 970-AM. The program airs live on the East Coast Monday through Friday, but local listeners will hear the show on tape-delay from 9 a.m.-11 a.m.

KNUU Program Director Andy Vierra said he hopes the show will air live in Las Vegas at some point, "but it's a relatively new show, and they are working out the kinks."

Vierra said Donaldson is a veteran newsman who is a perfect fit for KNUU, which is an affiliate of ABC.

"The world has changed since 9/11," Vierra said. "People are clamoring for information from folks that Donaldson talks to every day."

Donaldson, never one to back down from a challenge, said the fact that there are so many talk shows on the radio doesn't bother him.

"There are talk shows all over the country and I get to hear many of them," he said. "From the standpoint of volume, hell no, we don't need another one. But I think what I've got to say and what I do is different from so many of the others."

The problem with many of the shows on the air, Donaldson says, is hosts tend to provoke listeners for the sake of ratings.

"Talk shows seem to reward the most inflammatory, rude individuals who can grab a mike," Donaldson said.

He said there is "no cursing, no dirty jokes or innuendo. We don't take the Lord's name in vein. I'm not really a goody-two-shoes, but this is not the show for those who want to listen to the extreme thing.

"Howard Stern does the extreme thing. The (politically) hard right does the extreme thing." The excitement on Donaldson's program, he said, comes from open discussions about important current topics that people feel strongly about.

"What we do, I will throw out a topic often giving my view, which may be strongly felt and then I open the phone lines and let you tell me what you think," Donaldson said. "I won't be rude. I may argue with you, but I won't put you down. Many times I'll say, You've got a point. I'm going to rethink my position.'"

Donaldson says he is not dogmatically on either end of the political spectrum, but neither is he neutral about every topic.

"I said from the very beginning that Osama bin Laden was guilty," Donaldson said. "None of us is neutral on that. I can't be objective. I want us to get him. I think he's a murderer, a cruel person."

Attacking bin Laden is easy, but Donaldson isn't one to take cheap shots.

"I hear some of the talk-show hosts using inflammatory language about him," Donaldson said. "I'm not going to do that."

Donaldson will continue to co-anchor the ABC News Sunday morning television program, "This Week With Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts."

Donaldson's radio program is not quite the same as his TV show. While there may be news on Donaldson's radio show, he said it is not a true news program.

"We start with whatever's hot at the moment, such as the Osama tapes," Donaldson said.

On Thursday he read the transcripts on the air and discussed the tapes with a number of Washington insiders, including Robert Oakley, former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan.

Donaldson said the tapes provoked a strong response from listeners.

While war on terrorism has been a major topic of discussion, Donaldson said it has not been the only one and as time goes on the variety of topics will become even broader.

"We have, on occasion, gotten off the war and eventually -- if this succeeds and we don't have a daily war on terrorism -- we will do other subjects," he said.

"Yesterday the war wasn't hot so we talked about this poor woman in Iowa who left her child in the car while she went to work last June and the child died. The mother was charged with negligent homicide and abandonment and the judge (recently) found her not guilty.

"The judge said (the mother) forgot, and that everybody sometimes forgets. I thought this was extreme ... If I were the judge I would have convicted her on at least one count, but not have sent her to jail. She has to be accountable for her actions. Saying 'I forgot' is not an excuse."

Donaldson has been a reporter for ABC News for 34 years. During that time he was a White House correspondent from 1977-89 and 1998-99, covering Presidents Carter, Reagan and Clinton.

He said he met George W. Bush in the 1980s in Washington and then again when Bush ran for governor of Texas.

Donaldson said Bush was wrongly labeled by some people as being dumb.

"I said they were wrong," Donaldson said. "You may not agree with his policies, and he doesn't have as much (international) experience as his father, but he is not dumb."