'Filter Free Amerika' podcast spawns radio spin-off

Joey Vincent (left) and Robert Baril (right) are out to expose corruption and injustice, disrupt the illusions of the two-party system, and make fun of it all along the way on 'Pardon the Dissent.'

Last month, Twin Cities comedian Joey Vincent rebranded the 'Filter Free Amerika' website and announced a new project: He and fellow comic Robert Baril are developing a radio talk show for AM950. 'Pardon the Dissent' is a talk radio show that will employ cutting humor, sarcasm and satire to analyze and opine on politics, current events and all the social issues of the day, according to Vincent.

"I'm political party free and don't agree with everything that progressive radio says," he says. "I'm sure I'll get some flack from the AM950 general audience on some of my positions." Still, he notes that the station is the one he listens to, and he finds common ground with much of the programming.

"Also, I'll be following the 'Mike Malloy Show.' He is a Democrat black sheep, and my show will cross over to his audience very well."

'Pardon the Dissent' will play as a sort of radio-clean version of the 'Filter Free Amerika' podcast, which Baril regularly co-hosts with Vincent. The podcast boasts listenership in fifty states and thirty-five countries, but has had some ups and downs during its run, which Vincent attributes to consistency issues.

"I had a change of production teams that cost us consistent flow of content," he says, "and also a major website issue that prevented people from getting to the content for almost three months. That hurt our numbers, but even with those issues we have always had steady growth in listenership."

Their growth rate spiked in August 2014 when they signal-boosted the story of Twin Cities hip hop artist Chris Lollie's arrest in downtown Saint Paul. Lollie was followed by police before being tased, arrested and charged with trespassing as he was trying to leave an area of the Saint Paul skyway near his children's school. He was a guest on the show's first and only video episode. The video received nearly ten thousand views, and garnered greater ongoing attention for Lollie's case from the local and national news media.

"The Chris Lollie interview was our biggest hit," says Vincent, noting the intentional pun. "It definitely brought a lot of new listeners to the podcast."

"That was the first and only time we did film a FFA episode," says Vincent. "I did that mostly because I wanted people to have the ability to look into his eyes. One of the issues I'm most passionate about is police brutality and corruption, and in studying it, one thing I find is there are people who will defend abusive police to the bitter end. They will also attack the victim and immediately assume he or she is lying. I wanted those people to look in Lollie's eyes and see him tell his story, and to know that we was giving a truthful account. I doubt it convinced all, but I wanted to make every effort."

The website forcasts a launch date at the end of February, which Vincent says is dependent on securing advertisers. "We are already fifty percent sponsored for our first six months, so it looks good for an end of February or First of March start, but who knows; I might find some great sponsors quickly and will be on air sooner than later."

"That said," adds Vincent, "I'm not one to just sell out, and I want to work with people and companies that have a social conscience and care about the world we all share together. Sorry, BP."

"When we do go live, it will be Monday nights from 11 pm to 12 am. Our goal from there is to take the show to five nights a week as soon as we can."

Fans outside of AM 950's broadcast radius will have access to the show on the station's live stream, and they can download archived episodes as one of the station's podcasts.

[Images: Provided]