In a medium dominated by right-leaning conservative hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Michael Savage, Ed Schultz is an anomaly: Schultz is frequently billed as the leading progressive/liberal voice on talk radio. He was ranked the eighth most influential talk show host in America this year by the radio trade publication Talkers Magazine.

Although Schultz's nationally syndicated show isn't carried in the Pittsburgh market, it's heard on more than 100 stations, and on Sirius XM Radio's progressive talk channel. Schultz's Web site (www.wegoted.com) has links to stations where it can be streamed live online. Schultz is based in Fargo, N.D., and has been syndicated nationally for the past several years by Jones Radio Network.

He was in town yesterday for a stop on his "Voices of America Tour" -- a live broadcast of his daily noon to 3 p.m. show, followed by an evening town hall meeting/broadcast hosted by the United Steelworkers. The town hall show will be broadcast today.

The town hall meetings have been interesting, Schultz says. "When people sit in front of a microphone, they feel empowered. It's not like calling a talk show. We've found good old American radio street tape still works."

Mr. Schultz, 54, grew up in Norfolk, Va., and attended Minnesota State University Moorhead on a football scholarship. He remained in the Midwest after graduation to become a television sports anchor and football play-by-play radio commentator in Fargo, before creating a daily talk show.

Author of the book "Straight Talk From the Heartland," Mr. Schultz has advocated that liberal Democrats need to send a stronger, clearer message to offset conservative viewpoints over the airwaves.

In recent weeks, conservative talk hosts like Dr. James Dobson have raised concerns that a Democratic victory this election could bring back the Fairness Doctrine -- a now-defunct policy that required radio stations to present both sides of an issue. The requirement ended in 1987, paving the way for the rise of conservative pundits like Limbaugh and Hannity.

It also led to the kind of philosophical imbalance on the airwaves seen in this market, where many listeners still mourn the demise of liberal talk host Lynn Cullen, whose program ended in August because of a format change on former talk station WPTT-AM. The station also dropped syndicated Thom Hartmann, leaving the Pittsburgh market dominated by conservative talk shows.

Schultz says conservatives who rail against the Fairness Doctrine are just using it to manipulate listeners. "Every time the conservatives get in trouble, they start pounding on this ridiculous idea that the liberals want to take their microphones. They want to get Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity off the air. That is a straw man argument throw out by the conservative broadcasters who are so out of material they are going to fear-monger their listeners."

He doesn't see the Fairness Doctrine coming back to radio, and doesn't think it should. "I don't know how you start deciding 'OK this talk host over here is liberal, this one's centrist, this ones conservative, this one's libertarian, this one's far right.

"I'm conservative on some issues. I'm progressive on most."

On his show, opposing points of view are encouraged. "If we have a caller we think is going to disagree, we move them to the front of the line."

For the Democrats, he says, the real battleground in terms of media is not bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, but addressing issues created by the relaxing of media ownership rules, which created giant conglomerates like Clear Channel and CBS Radio.

"That's even more dangerous territory. The Democrats have an issue with one owner going into a market and owning the two TV stations, the newspaper, and six radio stations. They control so much of the advertising dollar. But they also control so much of the message, and there's no guarantee that the ideology of the owner won't bleed off into the multiple properties that are owned."

Schultz remains upbeat about the talk format, and the growing presence of liberal voices and listenership. "There has never been a better time for the spoken word format. People are engaged. The issues, the conversation has brought a lot of new people to talk radio.

"Now we have to make sure we keep them after the election."