Chuck Harder

Chuck Harder is a former radio disk jockey turned talk show host from White Springs, Florida, USA.

Early radio career

Harder's radio career began during high school as a DJ at a local AM radio station in his hometown of Elgin, Illinois. He later became a talk show host at stations in Tampa, and then New York City where he gained a reputation as a consumer advocate. Feeling that he was being forbidden from discussing controversial topics on the air, Harder would return to Tampa in 1987 with the idea of forming a non-profit organization, The People's Radio Network, to syndicate his show called "For The People", which was carried primarily by commercial rural AM radio stations and shortwave radio. Originally broadcasting from the garage of his Tampa home, Harder and his wife Dianne later purchased the historic Telford Hotel in the town of White Springs to serve as studios. Harder's show uses an interpretation the folk song "Way Down Upon The Suwanee River" as its theme music.

Harder's political and economic beliefs

Harder is strongly opposed to free trade agreements such as NAFTA and GATT as well as international organizations such as the UN. He favors a moratorium on legal immigration and the deportation of all illegal immigrants. In addition to his economic views, Harder also frequently discussed conspiracy theories and extraterrestrial visitation, both of which were believed in by Harder. His populist political views comprised elements of both conservative and liberal ideologies, but he was neither a libertarian nor a religious conservative.

Harder rarely discussed foreign politics and advocated a Swiss-style neutrality on all foreign policy, especially as it related to the Middle East. He did, however, believe strongly that China was becoming increasingly powerful and posed an economic and military threat to the United States.

The For The People Catalog

Harder advocated buying only American-made products whenever possible. He distributed a catalog of made-in-the-USA products and a number of shortwave radio receivers as his show was being widely heard on the international broadcast bands despite being targeted exclusively towards a domestic audience. The PRN-1000 was made by R. L. Drake Company, and was basically a budget-version of their SW-1 shortwave receiver. Other lower-cost shortwave receivers sold by FTP were made in China by Sangean. Harder acknowledged and lamented this fact, but stated that no low-cost (under $100) receivers were being produced in the USA.

Also sold via FTP were antique pocket watchs – a favorite collectible of Harder's – especially those made by the Elgin Watch Company. Harder remembered (and often cited) how the company's factory in Harder's hometown closed down and shifted production of its timepieces overseas.

Network declines

In 1996, his co-host, Pat Choate would become H. Ross Perot's vice presidential nominee in his election campaign. After Choate's sudden departure, and a 2000 accident that left Harder's legs paralysed, the number of affiliates began declining until the show was being heard almost exclusively on shortwave radio station WHRI. This too would end, and For The People is now heard via satellite and the internet and a small number of AM radio stations.

Chuck Harder's website