Coming... Going...

The theme for today seems to be arrivals and departures. There's a few of note to readers of this blog. And there were some rather noteworthy departures in the real world during the past week, by now known to all but the most detached cave dwellers.

Going: In the famous celebrity column, the passing most widely reported was that of pop icon Michael Jackson, who died last Thursday at the age of 50. I had started writing a highly elaborate entry about Jackson last week, with the working title of "Thirty-two short stories about Michael Jackson." It was one of those rambling epic articles that would never be finished. Quite frankly, it was destined to be ridiculously long, not overly entertaining, and in some instances, was somewhat mean-spirited (I've never had a soft spot for weird, self-destructive child abusers). Plus, it just didn't make sense for this blog. I felt it better shelved.

A side note: From time-to-time, I have conjured updifferent blog entry ideas that tend to be a bit off-topic. They tend to get rather elaborate, but many times get tossed aside if I just can't make it work. For example, I had an idea for one about philandering right-wingers (called "Young Republicans in love"), which dealt with the promiscuous exploits of Sen. Bob Ensign, South Carolina's disappearing Governor Mark Sanford, and a lesser-known figure, conservative writer, pundit and former radio talker Jessica McBride, who shagged Milwaukee's police chief a few months following a glowing puff piece for a magazine. Ahh, family values. Nonetheless, I had a ton of ideas but really nowhere to go with them. Hence, it, along with many others, suffered the fate of the Beach Boys' legendary Smile LP, an unfinished epic that will never see the light of day in it's originally-intended form (aside from Brian Wilson's update a few years ago and a few Beach Boys recycling projects from the 1960s). And in keeping with that, some of these epic entries do not go wasted. I have been known to return to them and recycle bits and pieces when appropriate.

And yes, many off-topic epic entries actually do see the light of day, such as the recent tribute to the history of television (in honor of DTV Day). Although it was a bit long, it turned out to be so damned funny that I had to share it. I haven't heard from many of you about it, but I do hope you liked it.

We also saw the passing of Farrah Fawcett earlier just a few short hours before Jackson's demise. For children of my generation, she is probably best remembered for The Poster. You know the one, red one-piece swimsuit, flowing blond hair and blinding smile. That poster seemed to be in every auto shop and suburban boy's bedroom. It was one of the most iconic images of the 1970s. It was certainly hard to miss.

Finally, there is perhaps the strangest celebrity death of the past few weeks. Television commercial pitchman Billy Mays suffered a fatal heart attack following a bizarre circumstance. And yet, Kevin Trudeau still walks the earth. Go figure.

Coming: Now, back to the main gist this blog. Air America dropped a line about a new show, “The Inside Story with Ana Marie Cox.” It will air Saturdays at 9A ET and Sundays at 12P ET on Air America affiliates nationwide.

You may be quite familiar with Cox. She is currently Air America’s Washington, D.C. based national correspondent. She is perhaps best known as the founding editor of the political blog, Wonkette. After leaving in 2006, she was named Washington editor of Time.com. Prior to that, she served on the editorial staffs of Suck.com, Mother Jones and Radar. She is currently writing for The Daily Beast. Cox also published her first novel in 2006, “Dog Days.”

Going: I received tons of emails about this one. David Bender, host of Air America's "Politically Direct", did his final show this past weekend, airing some of his favorite interviews from the previous four years. He had announced his departure several weeks prior. Apparently, he will spend his upcoming free time traveling.

Going: Controversial San Francisco talker Karel Bouley, a.k.a. Karel, has lost his San Francisco affiliate, as otherwise dance hits-formatted KNGY dropped him from their lineup. Karel fans needn't worry, as he is still featured on another station, KRXA in Monterey. He is said to be looking for a new Bay Area station.

Karel had previously worked at KGO in San Francisco, but was dismissed last year following an accidental dropping of the F-bomb live on air.

Coming: Liberadio(!) with Mary Mancini and Freddie O'Connell a weekly show on Vanderbilt University's WRVU, is going daily.

Beginning Wednesday, July 1, the show expands to include an additional live hour every Tuesday through Friday from 9:00 to 10:00 am (CT) on BlogTalkRadio.

I don't like Mondays

Here it is, the start of the week, and the start of March. As I wake up this morning, it's 12 degrees above zero and snowing. Spring can't start soon enough.

Uh, Monday.

So here we go, an update of sorts. Enjoy.

Air America shuffle

Now that Thom Hartmann is hanging his shingle at Dial Global, he will no longer be part of the lineup at Air America, not even on the webstream. In his place, the network's journeyman David Bender will take the 12-3P ET time slot, with little fanfare and nary a simple announcement or press release.

Nonetheless, it could be worth tuning in for today's guest, notorious rock legend David Crosby. And if that isn't worth listening for (so long as he dishes more about his music and rather colorful rock star life as opposed to boring personal musings about government policy). In addition, he'll take calls, so perhaps that will help.

And there shouldn't be any changes at most (if not all) of his radio affiliates. For streaming, KPOJ in Portland seems to typically be the best bet.

The show listings in the center column of this page will be updated in the next few days.

Oh Cullen, where art thou?

Columnist Tom Taylor of Radio-Info is quoting that site's message board in floating a rumor about the possible on-air return of Pittsburgh's Lynn Cullen.

The station most likely to be her new stomping grounds is WAMO (860). Cullen was laid off last year when WPTT (1360) switched from general talk to an all-business talk format. Station management told her at the time that if he had a few more saleable shows like hers, they wouldn't have dropped the talk format.

You know you miss him

Another tidbit floated by Taylor concerns the infamous Jerry Springer. The television personality, who once did a radio show with Air America, could be coming back to the AM airwaves, albeit temporarily.

The venerable talk station WGN in Chicago has been using fill-ins for the vacant midafternoon shift, vacated when John Williams moved to mornings. The station has already tapped local radio veteran Garry Meier and a rumor floated by the Chicago Sun-Times claims that Springer could even be enlisted for fill-in duties.

According to the paper's Lewis Lazare, "Meier has the advantage of being a known quantity in Chicago radio, but some broadcasting execs wonder if he can carry a daily radio talk show by himself. Springer, on the other hand, could simply be too wild to fit the bill at WGN. Then again, it may take someone like a Springer to spark a buzz and perhaps attract a few more younger listeners."

Springer? Wild? Obviously Lazare has never heard his Air America show.

More Nova (M)ayhem

Things are obviously chugging along at the former Nova M Radio (now On Second Thought). They haven't been in the news lately, so that must mean things are fairly hunky dory.

But that isn't stopping some former Nova M'ers from casting a few flies in the ointment. Former weekend host King Daevid MacKenzie offers another installment of his adventures at the former network (and he STOLE MY HEADLINE TOO!!!). Click here for his own "Nova Mess". Remember, as with many of the other tell-alls by former Nova M personnel, this is merely his take. I'm just linking to it.

Fat man talking

And finally, I include this, not just because it's from BuzzFlash, but because it's the best headline I've read all week. Here is editor Mark Karlin's take on the Rush Limbaugh lovefest that was the rather grim CPAC conference. The title? "Limbaugh at CPAC: It’s Not Over Until the Fat Man Rants."

Bender returns, replaces "Seder on Sunday"

According to a network press release, David Bender’s Politically Direct will return to Air America Radio, beginning Sunday, June 8. The show will broadcast on Sundays 4-7P ET, and will replace Sam Seder's departing Seder on Sunday.

The program previously aired weeknights on the network from 2005-2007 in a one hour format. Bender left the network during a large-scale scheduling shakeup and planned to write a book. He continued to appear on various Air America shows as both a contributor and fill-in host. The new version of Politically Direct will be a weekly three hour affair.

From the press release:

Continuing the tradition started by Seder on Sundays, Politically Direct with David Bender will offer callers the opportunity to react live and immediately to the Sunday network news programs, as well as to other late-breaking news and political events. Bender will also provide updates from the blogosphere, as well as other new media sources such as GoLeft.tv.

David Bender has been the senior political correspondent at Air America , and recently has been appearing daily as the "Political Guru" on The Rachel Maddow Show, as well as regularly with Mike Papantonio and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr." on Ring of Fire.

"In this important political year, we’re thrilled to be bringing back David Bender’s Politically Direct," said Mark Green, President of Air America Radio. “The program will once again provide Sunday listeners with commentary on the networks and the netroots and with David’s unique combination of savvy and humor."

Added Bender: "I'm tremendously excited that we're going to combine the two things I love the most about talk radio, long-form interviews with guests who shouldn't be reduced to sound bites and caller-driven segments from quick, funny listeners. Only on Air America , folks!"

No word thus far on his soon-to-be predecessor Seder's future plans at the network. Seder, who's on-air contract lapsed a few weeks ago, is still the chief editor of Air America's website, and also hosts online-only shows via his website. His last Sunday show will be this weekend, with the first two hours being prerecorded and final hour live.

Air America 2.0: But will it float?

Over the last week or so, there's been a lot of talk about the 'new and improved' Air America Radio. With a new web presence, new personalities and shows, and a new lineup, they obviously expect great thing to come of it.

Yesterday was a good start, as they launched the new website and logo with a press release, and even featured an in-studio chat between New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former rival Mark Green, now president of Air America. The meeting of the former political foes was packed with New York-area reporters, and will air sometime next week.

But the question lingers in the back of everyones' minds: Is this whole 2.0 thing really going to work?

Lionel was the first addition, and a very controversial one at that. After a fairly successful run at late night radio syndication via WOR Networks, he moved his show over to Air America and late mornings. The goal obviously was to help the network gain new affiliates, or even bump time slot rival Stephanie Miller from a few. Less than a week into it, the results have been disappointing. Not only has Lionel not gained many fresh affiliates, he lost roughly a half dozen that carried Seder on delay. The only station he seems to have been added to is WINZ in Miami, on delay from 6-9P ET. Lots of stations still list him on their website schedules for his former show, but it is unknown if they are still running his new Air America show in those time slots. And judging by the response on various blogs, message boards and even Air America's own site, listeners are very vocal about "The Lionel Show."

Of course, time will tell if the show will grow and expand, and its up to Scott Ellberg and David Bernstein to make this happen. Particularly since predecessor Sam Seder actually improved his ratings on flagship station WWRL in the most recent Arbitron book.

In regard to the other changes, so far the only one that seems to be working is the move of Jon Elliott to three hours later. This was one move that made sense on paper, since it carves out a new shift for the network (Midnight-3A), gets him out of the way of Mike Malloy's 9-Midnight show, and many of Elliott's affiliates delay him to a later time slot anyway. In essence, Elliott's new shift is nearly competition-free, since Lionel is now gone from late nights and FOX News Radio's Alan Colmes wraps up his show an hour into Elliott's.

As a result, Elliott's flagship station, KLSD in San Diego, will now carry his entire show live, immediately following Malloy's, which gets a full three hour clearance starting Monday. Elliott has also been picked up by KQKE in San Francisco, KKZN in Denver, KPHX in Phoenix (ironically), KPTK in Seattle, KPOJ in Portland, KRXA in Monterey/Santa Cruz (which carries the straight Air America feed in overnights anyway), and other stations.

"The Air Americans" is the other new show coming to Air America. Basically, the Mark Riley-anchored show is a hodge-podge of various hosts at the station, including correspondents Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Mike Papantonio, David Bender and Laura Flanders. The four hour show essentially replaces two cancelled ones: "Politically Direct" (who's host Bender stays with the new show) and "EcoTalk" (which was going to die anyway). Thus far, no affiliate has announced their intentions of picking up "The Air Americans" and rumor has it not many people in the building are optimistic about its chances. Furthermore, there's a chance that WWRL may not even carry it, which in effect would kill the show, given that Air America all too often seems to be a bit too New Yorkish. Buzz about "The Air Americans" is not good. Nonetheless, they will promote the hell out of it, and even have some strong guests lined up.

For the weekends, the network has said very little about the changes and new shows that will debut. The only one we've really heard anything about is Seder's new Sunday show, but that's due to obvious reasons.

So, will Air America 2.0 be a success, or will it be yet another bit of bad luck for the much-beleaguered network? Only time will tell. Should be an interesting few weeks, so stay tuned.

Big changes for Air America

Air America Radio today announced a few big changes both to its program roster and to its infrastructure, with some upcoming moves.

First, a revamp of the on-air schedule, effective May 21:

Mark Riley moves from 5-6A to 8p-Midnight ET, hosting "The Air Americans" with "Ring of Fire" hosts Robert Kennedy, Jr and Mike Papantonio, current "Politically Direct" host David Bender and "RadioNation" host Laura Flanders.

Jon Elliot gets bumped to the Midnight-3AM shift, giving the network a live presence in the early morning hours.

Randi Rhodes' replay will air 3-6A weekday mornings.

"EcoTalk" appears to be history

And of course, Lionel arrives for the 9-Noon shift starting May 14.

Rhodes, Thom Hartmann, Rachel Maddow and The Young Turks stay put.

On the weekends, there are also a few changes:

Mark Green gets his own show, "This Week In America", featuring panelists Ariana Huffington and Bob Kerrey. This 'week-in-review' show will air 6-7P ET Saturdays.

As reported yesterday, Marc Sussman's investment show will air 9-10A ET Saturday mornings.

"Clout," a new two hour show with Richard Greene, will air 8-10P ET on Saturdays

Sam Seder returns for a Sunday afternoon show

"RadioNation" with Laura Flanders gets a makeover and will be a one-hour show on Sunday afternoons.

"Ring of Fire" will now be a three hour show on Saturday afternoons, with a Sunday replay.

"Our line-up combines the best of proven radio stars like Randi Rhodes, Thom Hartmann, Rachel Maddow and The Young Turks along with new programming that broadens and deepens Air America's reach," claimed network president Mark Green. "When people ask what Air America 2.0 means, they'll hear the answer on May 21."

In addition, Air America announced a new advertising sales deal with Westwood One, which will replace a similar 3-year deal they had with Jones MediaAmerica, which terminates next month. Westwood One will oversee all of Air America's network and affiliate ad sales, in conjunction with the network's in-house affiliate relations department, effective June 1.

"Because WW1 is such a renowned network ad and affiliate sales firm," said Air America COO Scott Elberg, "it's obviously exciting that Westwood One will be a vital part of AAR 2.0. We appreciated Jones Media's past work and now look forward to a new effort behind the new Air America."

"We're pleased that the new ownership and management of Air America is looking to us to expand their audience and secure their success of being informative, entertaining talk programming," said WWI Executive VP/Chief Marketing Officer Roby Wiener.

You can read the official press release here.