James Golden (radio personality)

James Golden a.k.a. Bo Snerdley
Golden in 2020
Born	James Golden
Nationality	American
Alma mater	City University of New York-Queens College
Occupation	Radio host, author, producer, political commentator, consultant
Years active	1992–present
Political party	Republican
Website	https://www.jamesgolden.com

James Golden, also known by his pseudonym Bo Snerdley, (born c. 1955) is a talk radio producer, call screener, and radio host best-known for working 30 years with The Rush Limbaugh Show. Since 2001 he has been a producer/executive for Premiere Networks (formerly Premiere Radio Networks), the largest radio syndication company in the United States. He currently hosts an afternoon drive-time radio program on WABC, New York.

Biography[]

He attended City University of New York-Queens College from 1973 to 1976.^[1]

In his early twenties, Golden worked at radio station WWRL as a marketing and research director and later served as the radio station's first music research director.^[2] From 1992 to 1998, Golden co-hosted (with Joel Santisteban) a political call-in show, The James and Joel Show, on WABC radio in New York.^[3]

Golden was part of the production team on the Rush Limbaugh television program, which aired from 1992 through 1996^[1]

From 1998 to 2001, Golden served as vice-president for programming at Talkspot.com, where he also hosted two Internet radio programs. He occasionally contributes written political commentary online.^{[citation needed]}

Although Golden worked from a control booth off the air with Limbaugh, a 2008 New York Times Magazine profile of Limbaugh reported that during the show, Golden "banters with and occasionally badgers Limbaugh via an internal talk-back circuit" (an IFB).^[4] On occasion, Golden has been accorded airtime on the program. In February 2008, Golden, who is black, was assigned (as Snerdley) a satirical cameo role by Limbaugh as the show's Official Criticizer of Barack Obama (Snerdley has introduced himself as an "African-American-in-good-standing-and-certified-black-enough-to-criticize-Obama guy," and declared that he was speaking, "on behalf of our E.I.B. brothers and sisters in the hood."); the role became an occasionally recurring feature during Obama's presidency.^[5]

He is a senior partner of Golden Creative Communications, LLC.^[6]

After Limbaugh's death in February 2021, Golden was still credited as the show's producer for the replacement hosts, and is also involved in publication of Limbaugh's ongoing (as of June 2021) newsletter.^[7] In May 2021, he launched a podcast Rush Limbaugh: The Man Behind the Golden EIB Microphone on IHeart Radio.^[8] On August 23, 2021, Golden (under his Bo Snerdley alias) returned to WABC and sister station WLIR-FM to host a 4:00-5:00 afternoon show and Saturdays 8:00-10:00 am.^[9]

James is the author of the book, Rush On The Radio: A Tribute From His Sidekick of 30 Years, which will be published in November 2021.^[10]

Controversy[]

In May 2011, talk host Rob Redding got into a verbal altercation with talk icon Rush Limbaugh when he asked Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, about a skit in which a Limbaugh staffer Bo Snerdley "reintepreted" his criticism of President Obama's immigration speech in Ebonics. "I thought it was highly inappropriate," Steele told Redding. "It is stupid. It's not something that furthers the conversation." Limbaugh responded: "In what may be a first, we have a formal complaint lodged against the Official Obama Criticizer, Bo Snerdley. Bo Snerdley was recently utilized on this program last week as the Official Obama Criticizer, and it was as though it had happened for the first time. Now, we've been featuring the Official Obama Criticizer for close to a year, if not more on this program, but something about last week's version of the Official Obama Criticizer has rubbed ‘em wrong out there, particularly your translation for brothers and sisters in the hood. The complaint is that there aren't any of those listening to the program. Of course, the left and the media are on this kick now that there's racism everywhere, and really racism and race-baiting has its home on the left. But there's a show out there called Redding News Review. "It's some guy named Rob Redding and his program is syndicated. Whose isn't? And Rob Redding interviewed the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele. And Redding says, "Okay, Rush Limbaugh is widely thought to be a racist." No, accused, baselessly so by members of the left when they can't come up with anything better to criticize me for. But nevertheless, 'Rush Limbaugh is widely thought to be a racist, but is not."^{[11][citation needed]}

See also[]

• Black conservatism in the United States
• List of African-American Republicans

Sources[]

• "Late Period Limbaugh," New York Times Magazine, July 6, 2008, including descriptions of Limbaugh's studio interactions with Golden
• Transcript of Golden's on-air commentary (as "Bo Snerdley") in his satirical role as Official Criticizer of Barack Obama, August 26, 2008
• Transcript of Golden's on-air commentary (as "Bo Snerdley") on the controversy involving Limbaugh's involvement with a group seeking ownership of the St. Louis Rams professional football team, October 16, 2009
• "Radio Panel Gets Stuck in Rush Hour," New York Daily News, August 15, 1996
• "If You Can't Get Enough Talk, Tune Into New Internet Shows," New York Times, November 19, 1998
• "Rush Limbaugh's Right Hand Man is Black," David Love, The Grio, August 31, 2011

References[]

External links[]

• Official website