Mike Malloy fired from Air America

This is more or less confirmed by Malloy's wife/producer Kathy Bay Malloy here and here.

This is Kathy Bay Malloy and we just got news that as of this minute we've been terminated by Air America Radio.

We don't have all the details yet, but got a tip from someone who'd seen the new network lineup that we weren't included after all. We just had that confirmed by one of the suits a few minutes ago. We're told that its a financial decision.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support and we'll keep you updated as we receive more information.

Kathy Bay Malloy

Seder moving to mid-morning slot on AAR

Earlier, I posted a rumor from Robert Feder in the Chicago Sun-Times concerning Jerry Springer's radio show on Air America. Now, according to a profile of "Majority Report" host Sam Seder in The Boston Globe, it looks like Seder will move to Springer's weekday morning slot (9AM-12PM).

Most listeners had never heard of Seder, whose ``Majority Report" was promoted this week to the midmorning slot -- 9 a.m. to noon -- on more than 70 stations across the country, including New York and Los Angeles.


This still leaves morning drive (6AM-9AM) open, as well as 8PM-10PM. Rachel Maddow was recently slated to move to 6PM-8PM.

"The Progressive" interviews Stephanie Miller

Just wanted to share an exerpt from a pretty good interview with radio talk host Stephanie Miller. You can find the whole interview here.

Q: How many outlets do you have for the show now?

Miller: We’re adding every week. I’m not even sure. I think we’re up to fifty-sixty stations. There are only about seventy-five or eighty commercial progressive stations in the whole country, as opposed to the 600 Rush Limbaugh is on. We’re still a really new format. And for as much as Bill O’Reilly can go and scream, “Oh, liberal talk isn’t working,” someone should ask him why Clear Channel and other huge companies are flipping a different station every week to progressive talk. Because they’re making money. They’re taking stations that are at almost zero ratings and getting ratings.

And listen, everybody says, “Oh, the evil Clear Channel.” Let me tell you something: They will put anything on the air if it makes money. If someone pitched hippos farting for three hours, they would put it on the air if it makes money. That’s what it’s about. I keep trying to make that point: This is not a political movement, progressive talk. The minute we think it’s a political movement—about getting Democrats elected or whatever—we’re dead. It’s entertainment. We’ve got to get ratings.

Q: Do you think a lot of progressive talk has been too medicinal?

Miller: Oh, I don’t know. I’ll let the Republicans eat their own. I go out of my way to say good things about other liberal radio shows. But you know Rush Limbaugh, whether you hate him or not, he’s a great entertainer; he’s a great broadcaster. That’s what this takes. It’s a business. That’s what people have to understand.

Sometimes liberals get very, “Why don’t you talk about this? You should be doing this.” This is not some kind of a committee meeting; this is an entertainment show. And we’re not going to get our message out unless we can stay in business.

Springer's AAR show up in the air

From the Chicago Sun-Times' Robert Feder:

The status of Jerry Springer's Chicago-based radio talk show is up in the air, with changes coming to Air America Radio. Virtually every time slot is in flux at the liberal talk network. Air America Radio airs (in Chicago) on Newsweb Corp. progressive talk WCPT-AM (850).

With Rachel Maddow leaving mornings to take the 6-8PM ET shift, Mark Riley leaving the network and now Jerry Springer's status unknown, Air America has a lot of airtime to fill.

Guess Jerry shouldn't have agreed to do "Dancing With The Stars".

Stay tuned.

WDOD/Chattanooga drops liberal talk

No surprise, but WDOD (1310AM) has allegedly its liberal talk format, which consisted of Bill Press, Stephanie Miller and assorted Air America programming.

Of course, this station is so high profile that there is no announcement on the trade sites (Radio and Records, All Access, etc.). Therefore, I doubt anyone outside the Chattanooga area even knows what WDOD's new format is.

WDOD is probably best known here for the rather angry and humorous reaction they got from some area residents when they picked up the format:

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And, of course, there's this. Perhaps one of the most disgusting things I've ever read on the internet. At first, I thought this blog was a parody, but I'm convinced it's not. Even more appalling is that a woman (allegedly) runs this site. Talk about your 'compassionate conservatives'.

Air America ain't gonna help these losers.

Look for naysayers and internet crybabies like the still-unemployed failed radio talker Brian Baloney and the other loser who runs this lame-ass site to start doing backflips because some station in Market #106 dropped Air America. Can these two morons even find Chattanooga on a map?

So, bye-bye WDOD. Funny, without even a website, P.R. or even something resembling a local presence, I don't even know if they ever carried the format. No wonder why their ratings sucked.

More here.

UPDATE 8/23: WDOD now has a format, as they revert back to adult standards. As to the reason for the talk format's failure, the station's program director claimed a lack of adequate advertiser support. The full article about the change to the new "Ruby 1310" can be found here.

MLM Liberal:The state of progressive talk radio

Just wanted to share this link with you. It comes from MLM Liberal's blog, and it has a pretty good analysis on liberal/progressive talk station ratings and the format's overall popularity. Also has some good ratings information (which I have not had the time to fully compile).

Definitely worth checking out. Here's the link.

Highlights:

* Stephanie Miller affiliates are doing well. WTPG (Progressive Talk 1230) in Columbus, OH struggled with many unsuccessful formats over the years, and has shot up in the overall ratings since adopting their current format. WXXM (92.1 FM) in Madison is a format success story, as is KUDO in Anchorage, AK. Her flagship station, KTLK in Los Angeles, has been doing very well with her morning show.

* Liberal talk is doing reasonably well in the red states. WPEK, a longtime ratings loser, is ranked #9 in the market currently. KTRC in Santa Fe, NM is also showing up in the ratings after years of anonymity. KJFK in Reno, NV more than tripled its audience between Fall 2004 and Spring 2006, with its share going from 0.7 to 2.3.

* "Red cities" are doing well too. This includes WROC in Rochester, KFPT in Fresno, and KLSD in San Diego (which MLM didn't mention).

* Left-leaning markets are tuning in as well. Portland, OR's KPOJ is in the top 10 in local ratings. Tiny WLBY in Ann Arbor, MI is finally showing up in the ratings after years of obscurity. I already mentioned WXXM in Madison. KOPT is getting very good ratings after picking up the format.

Very good reading there. Check it out.

Schedule shakeup at Air America

On her early morning show on Air America Radio, Rachel Maddow announced that she will be moving to a new 6PM - 8PM time slot soon.

Mark Riley reportedly will no longer be with the network, as he will remain with WLIB in New York once AAR leaves the station for WWRL on September 1.

The effect of this will be a shortening of Randi Rhodes' show from four to three hours (this has been rumored). No word on Sam Seder, who's show currently runs from 7PM-10PM weeknights. His show could possibly be scaled back an hour to 8PM-10PM. This scenario would be much easier for their affiliates to handle.

That would leave morning drive open. Currently, AAR runs live from 5AM-9AM ET. If AAR continues to offer a morning show, it could scale back to 6-9 (as they originally did). No word yet on how they will fill the time slot.

Democratic Underground currently has a thread related to this.

Developing...

WLBY/Ann Arbor among stations to be dealt by Clear Channel

Thanks to Ohio Media Watch:

Background: As it's being reported now,, Clear Channel will trade their radio stations in Ann Arbor and Battle Creek, MI to Cumulus in exchange for WRQK in Canton, OH.

One of these stations is WLBY (1290AM), a low-power station that is also an affiliate of Air America Radio.

So far, it is not known as to the fate of the station, since it will take awhile for the trade to be consumated and approved by the FCC.

This also ties in with another Clear Channel-owned progressive talker - the newly christened WWWW (1310AM) in Detroit. Until last month, the station was WDTW, but the call letters of the soon-to-be-dealt FM country station in Ann Arbor were parked at 1310AM (temporarily?) in anticipation of the deal, as Clear Channel wanted to keep them. The station still identifies itself as "1310 WDTW".

WWWW-AM reaches into Ann Arbor during the day, but not well at night. WLBY also reaches into the southwest part of the Detroit area, so both stations act as somewhat of a simulcast. Both stations run an identical weekday schedule, though their weekend schedules differ.

If Cumulus, a rapidly growing owner in the radio industry, decides to keep WLBY as-is, it will mark their first foray into the format. They could opt to change the format, so as not to duplicate WWWW. What format would work there is unknown.

WLBY's ratings have ranged between under 1.0 all the way up to 2.2 overall since its debut, but Ann Arbor only publishes one ratings book per year.

Stay tuned.

Air America fan hopes to launch liberal talk station in Central Wisconsin

Local radio listeners who long to hear to Air America could be in luck if the community can collaborate to raise and invest enough money to purchase a radio station to host the liberal and progressive talk network.

A new Web site has been established by Joe Roppe, who has been working on finding ways to bring Air America to central Wisconsin, in conjunction with Nova M Radio, a company that has been created to purchase, own and operate radio stations in small- and medium-sized markets.

The Web site acts as a virtual billboard where individuals, companies or organizations can buy 10-by-10 blocks of pixels, put an image in them and link to a Web site or blog.

The online billboard concept that has been set up for Stevens Point is based on a successful fund drive that was done after Air America Phoenix was taken off the air after the station was bought by a different company.

more here

Here's the site:

http://www.progressivetalkstevenspoint.com/

NOTE: This is just one of several grassroots efforts to bring the liberal/progressive talk format to their markets. A reader just sent me a link to an effort underway in Atlanta, GA.

I have added a new section devoted to grassroots drives to bring the format to their town. You can find that on the right-hand column under "Affiliates". If you know of other ones that I missed, let me know.

BTW: I updated the station listings. I just found out that KXIC (800AM) in Iowa City recently dropped Rush Limbaugh and is currently airing Randi Rhodes and Thom Hartmann (there was a petition drive here). Baby steps, but congratulations!

Programming shift in Burlington-Plattsburgh, NY

If you happen to live in or near Burlington-Plattsburgh, on the New York/Vermont border, be aware that there are some changes on the dial.

WVAA (1390AM) has switched to sports, picking up ESPN programming and local sports talk shows and play-by-play events (which can be very lucrative for radio stations). New call letters will be WCAT. As a result, WVAA's former format, progressive talk, can now be found on sister station WTWK (1070AM).

WTWK is a daytime-only station, meaning that they sign off the air from sunset to sunrise.

Ed Schultz Rips Cincy Affiliate

From Ohio Media Watch:

It's not often when a syndicated talk radio show host takes one of his own affiliates to task on his show, live, but that's what Jones Radio liberal talk host Ed Schultz has been doing this afternoon.

"Big Eddie" launched right into Cincinnati affiliate WSAI/1360 "The Revolution of Talk Radio", the Clear Channel liberal talker which recently swapped positions with sports WCKY/1530. We missed his first litany of complaints, but just heard Schultz take his Cincinnati station to task again.

"You can't develop revenue and ratings with dead air, double programming, programming playing on top of each other," said Schultz, apparently in response to listener complaints about how WSAI has been operating.

And bridging the radio and political worlds in his rant, Schultz said: "I just want to know if there's as much dead air over on the conservative station. I just want to know if there's someone who can answer that question."

Schultz says Clear Channel AM operations director Darryl Parks responded to his earlier comments via E-Mail, denying the complaints alleged by listeners.

The Fargo ND-based host also complained that the station hadn't been marketed properly even in its earlier incarnation on 1530 AM, and noted that he "hadn't been asked to cut liners for 9 months".

(more at link)

Comment: I've listened when the station was on the more powerful 1530 frequency. As far as I'm concerned, it's a complete joke!

WCKY is a 'latchkey' operation run by automation software. The automation program would do all kinds of crazy things, such as air two programs at a time, broadcast satellite-delivered news or actuality feeds as they came in (over whatever was currently on the air). Liners would air for several minutes back-to-back. Shows abruptly cut off. The wrong shows aired (I recently heard the live feed of "Majority Report" instead of the scheduled tape-delayed Randi Rhodes one evening). Anything that could possibly go wrong has gone wrong with WSAI/WCKY. And Clear Channel-Cincinnati wonders why ratings have been somewhat weak compared to other affiliates.

I'm sure nothing's changed since they moved programming to the lesser-powered WSAI.

For a company like Clear Channel in a big market where they own so many stations, they should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen. Somebody should send in a computer tech to see what's going on.

FOX News tells us what we all ready know

Air America's new flagship: WWRL-AM in NYC

A long-rumored change becomes reality as the liberal Talk network will make a move from its current home at WLIB/New York to crosstown Access.1 Communications-owned Urban Talk WWRL beginning on September 1. Air America Radio says the change represents a new strategic alliance between the two companies that will provide a long-term flagship in New York City for AAR's network programs.

"We are thrilled about our new partnership with Air America,” said Access.1 President/COO Chesley Maddox-Dorsey about the just announced deal. "It is important that we partner in offering the nation's largest radio market a strong, progressive voice."

No word yet on the fate of WWRL's current line-up of programs, including the nationally syndicated shows, Doug Stephan's Good Day, ABC Radio Network's Larry Elder, and Fox News Radio's Alan Colmes, along with local shows hosted by Sam Greenfield and Armstrong Williams.