Cleaning out the closet Part 2: Planet of the apes

Looking at the calendar, we can now see that it is indeed April, a month unofficially known as 'Green Month." April 22 marks Earth Day. And last saturday, we saw the "Earth Hour," in which entire cities turned off the lights for one evening hour across the globe and dined in candlelight. The continuing celebration of all things 'green' is evident in the radio industry.

Yates Communications received approval this week from the FCC to purchase radio station KAND (1340AM) in Corsicana, TX (south of Dallas) and announced that they will use the platform to create what they call the nation's first true "green" radio station.

"We've produced weekend syndicated earth-friendly radio content for some time. The programming ran locally in Texas' largest cities, including Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston/Galveston," says company president David Yates. "We wanted to expand our reach, but were not able find a station interested in weekday programming that encourages listeners to live a more healthy life, save money, and save the planet. We decided to do it on our own."

Veteran Dallas/Ft. Worth broadcaster Kevin McCarthy will host a show from 10A-Noon weekdays. "In Boy Scouts they taught us to always leave the campsite in better condition than we found it. I'm really excited about doing this new form of 'radio' with a great group of talented people who believe in working to make the world a better place and having fun doing it!" exclaimed McCarthy.

"Green Radio" is looking at a June 1 launch, and will displace KAND's current classic country format.

Yates Communications' new venture may create the first full-time 'green' radio station, but other stations are also flashing the green. There is, of course, progressive talker KKGN (960AM) in San Francisco, which heavily promotes the enviro-friendly lifestyle in promotions and a daily talk show hosted by Angie Coiro. Down the coast, 'hot talker' KLSX (97.1FM) says that it's going "green" for the month of April, dedicating the period as "Earth Month" and offering "green" promotions, programming, and information. Events will include a screening of the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" with director Chris Paine on April 23rd.

VP/GM Bob Moore said that he is "excited that we have the opportunity to provide information to our listeners on ways they can help our planet. Everyone wants to do something to help, we just want to make it easier for our listeners by giving them ideas that are simple and painless."

And green programming is spreading to other ventures. Cary Harrison, who's late, lamented show on KTLK in Los Angeles, "Harrison On The Edge," was utterly brilliant, is back with "Think Green Radio with Harrison," which launches in over 30 markets throughout the U.S., including Boston, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Denver, Indianapolis, Raleigh, Norfolk and New Orleans. Welcome back, Harrison.

And then there's the other side. Of course, right-wingers, who seek to create nonsensical black-and-white political issues out of everything, poo-poo anything connected to environmental awareness, since so-called 'tree-huggers' make such convenient targets for ridicule (as anal retentive fundie gasbags like the Falwell/Robertson crowd do for us). In celebration of last Saturday's Earth Hour, wingnut talk radio outlet KQTH (104.1 The Truth) in Tuscon and their morning man Jon Justice (obviously not his real name) reacted to the whole concept by going live on Saturday night during the appointed hour, for an "Hour of Power" that encouraged listeners to use more energy. Callers, who evidently dialed the station up with the same knuckles they drag across the ground as they walk, said they were turning on every appliance and light in their houses to protest the environmentalists' message for Earth Hour. Oh, those wacky wingnuts...

Of course, leave it to the holier-than-thou hide-behind-the-flag crowd to constantly fly in the face of tact and good taste. At least everyone's favorite facist MILF Melanie Morgan, the queen of bullshit bluster, got her comeuppance as the media monster environment that initially created her was the same one to kill her radio career. For fourteen years, Morgan tortured the airwaves of San Francisco with her over-the-top histrionics and blatant attention whoring. She even issued her own personal fatal fatwas against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and New York Times editor Bill Keller. She also claimed that billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros of “cheerfully and willingly went to work for the Nazis... in order to further his own career (insert ironic punchline here).“ Pot, meet kettle. Last month, in an example of sheer irony, Morgan got the axe by Citadel Communications, owner of KSFO, due to budget cuts. In the real world, we call that karma.

And finally, the recent cutbacks in the radio industry have likely left a void of talent (if you could consider right-wing talkers to be 'talent'). But have no fear - there's new programming on the way. That is, if you could call 20 year-old Presidential speeches 'new.' Somewhere in radioland, somebody got the bright idea to recycle snippets of old Ronald Reagan speeches into new programming content for conservotalk stations, whose listeners crave decades-old ideas. But Reagan Radio? Hey, why not get it straight from the source, right?

I guess this fits into the whole 'green' concept of recycling, as these hoary old radio addresses have been regurgitated into a series of 30 two-minute radio commentaries. The segments are being produced by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. The non-political segments, airing under the title "Ronald Reagan Speaks For Himself," features Reagan speaking on issues such as the economy, immigration, abortion, terrorism, taxes and more, though somehow, I don't think it will sound like this. Nonetheless, I'm sure you all can't wait for this.

Harrison back on the air - for 5 minutes

The good news: Former KTLK/Los Angeles nighttime guy Cary Harrison is back on the air.

The bad news: You'll only get him in five minute bursts.

But hey, that's still not bad.

The former "Harrison on the Edge" host can now be heard on Pacifica's KPFK in Los Angeles, starting this evening (March 27) at 6:25P (PT). He'll provide five minute commentaries for the "KPFK Evening News". Hey, five minutes is better than none, right?

In addition, he's still doing his weekly one-hour podcast, and recently did a fill-in as host of Air America Radio's "Politically Direct." Also, KPFK, like other Pacifica stations, does an amazing job of archiving shows, and you'll be able to catch "KPFK Evening News" via their show feed or Harrison's site.

Harrison lives!

After being dropped from KTLK in Los Angeles a few weeks ago as the station did a drastic overhaul of their on-air roster, Cary Harrison of "Harrison On The Edge" has certainly not gone away.

Harrison and company, with help from sponosor Aveda, have put together a new one-hour podcast to fill the gap inbetween radio gigs. And they promise a major announcement very soon that will likely please fans of the show.

Earlier, KTLK management had said that they are considering bringing back Harrison for weekends.

In the meantime, Harrison will back on the radio Tuesday night, as he guest-hosts Air America Radio's "Politically Direct", subbing for regular host David Bender.

KTLK: Harrison out, "Mr. KTLK" in

Los Angeles' KTLK shakes up its lineup starting next week as the station hires Marc Germain, the talker formerly known in previous incarnations as Mr. KABC and Mr. KFI. As a result of this, Cary Harrison's brilliant local evening show "Harrison on the Edge" has been dropped.

In addition, a few other changes have been made, including the arrival of Bill Press and Alan Colmes, the departure of Lionel, The Young Turks and Mark Riley, and delayed broadcasts of Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow. While some media outlets, including LARadio.com claim that the station is shedding its Air America Radio branding, the station will still carry Thom Hartmann and Randi Rhodes live, in addition to Maddow. Furthermore, KTLK, like many of Air America's other affiliates, hasn't really relied heavily on the network's name for quite a while.

The new lineup will look like this:

Stephanie Miller 6-9AM live
Thom Hartmann 9-Noon live
Randi Rhodes Noon-3PM live
Marc "Mr K" Germain 3-7PM live
Ed Schultz 7-10PM
Rachel Maddow 10-Midnight
Alan Colmes Midnight - 3AM
Bill Press 3-6AM live

So far, no word on whether Germain, who in the past has used his station's call letters as his radio moniker, will adopt the 'Mr. KTLK' personna. As of now, he's just 'Mr. K', but that could change. He recently left his previous employer, KABC, when the station buckled under pressure from their corporate parent to clear more space for Mark Levin's ABC Radio-syndicated show. As a result, Mr. KABC would be banished to the post-midnight hours. Seeing as this would take valuable time away from his family, and feeling that this is a crummy way to treat a highly-rated local show, Germain decided to resign from the station and seek a new radio home. With the move to KTLK, he will be in the same building as his former station, co-owned KFI.

Germain, who describes himself as a moderate-to-liberal Democrat, takes a rather light approach toward his radio show, which consists heavily of random questions from callers. His motto is "no guests, no topics, no screeners," though he does occasionally welcome guests, mostly from the entertainment industry. This approach has helped Germain obtain very good ratings, often winning his time slot since he entered Los Angeles talk radio in the early 1990s at KFI.

As for Harrison, up until now the station's only locally-oriented weekday host (though Miller does her show from KTLK's studios), he and his crew were informed of the show's cancellation yesterday. No word on any future opportunities, but we here at LTR, being big fans of "Harrison on the Edge" will keep you posted on his whereabouts. It is likely that Clear Channel felt that it would be easier to preempt syndicated hosts such as Schultz with sports programming (KTLK is the flagship for the NHL's Los Angeles Kings) than it would be to bump a local show. According to AllAccess, Harrison is currently soliciting fill-in and fulltime gigs covering politics and pop culture.

The station's heavy weekend slate of local programming remains the same.

UPDATE 3/8: According to L.A. CityBeat, we may not have heard the last of Harrison. KTLK's program director may bring him back for weekends at some point. The article also points out a few complaints from listenters who want Harrison back, which is not surprising. Obvously, the wingnut bloggers are making serious hay and claiming that listeners are doing everything short of burning down the station. Most of the reaction I've seen has been positive, aside from Harrison's departure. They understand that Germain is a pretty big acquisition for the station, and seem cool with it.

The rise, fall and comeback of left-leaning radio

Just stumbled across a very good article in the new L.A. City Beat, which talks about how Air America Radio is still alive (despite what the moronic wingnut bloggers are saying), how the liberal talk format is growing, and even some background on Cary Harrison, aka the one-named host known as 'Harrison,' the excellent local evening host on L.A.'s KTLK. The article is pretty blunt and fair, without kissing ass. And it discusses the many troubles and hurdles of Air America's three year history. This is recommended reading for anyone interested in the format (and if you aren't, then why are you reading this blog?). Nonetheless, here are a few highlights:

• Harrison, host of the nightly Harrison on the Edge, is a self-described 'openly gay son of a neo-nazi' who sprinkles his show with news, activism, gossip, offbeat news stories, activism, education and interviews. A typical show featured a pre-recorded interview with Howard Zinn, the delivering of a rap song mocking a CNN reporter who asks gangbangers how they 'roll,' the regular 'Activism A-Go-Go' segment, and Oakland-based journalist Sarah Olson, who successfully resisted a subpoena to testify in the court martial of Iraq war critic and active soldier Lt. Ehren Watada. “You gotta have fun in life. Many of us liberals are so beaten-down, and so depressed, and so emasculated," says Harrison.
  
  
• The story also runs through Air America Radio's brief history, from the beginning when they discovered that two of the biggest so-called 'investors, Mark Walsh and Evan Cohen, are concealing the fact that they, in fact, have no money. City Beat also interviewed former CEO Danny Goldberg, who felt the whole operation was severely underfunded, making his job nearly impossible. Goldberg also pointed out that too much was made of Air America buying its way into larger markets. He says that, out of 80-plus affiliates, the network only paid its way into New York and L.A. during his tenure. The majority of stations carrying Air America did it on their own terms, particularly after the early success of Franken and Rhodes in the ratings. Many station owners were looking for distinct formats for some of their struggling stations. "The vast majority did it because they were persuaded to it [by ratings], and not because of any money changing hands."
  


• Well-known media consultant Sean Ross thinks the format can work, if properly supported and marketed. "It’s good enough that a good sales manager should be able to make it sell,” says Ross. The ratings in many major markets are very competitive, he confirms. Air America hosts Franken and Randi Rhodes do very well in a lot of towns. But it still takes skill to sell the ad space. “Whether it’s urban radio, whether it’s Spanish-language radio, whether it’s liberal talk – having the numbers and having somebody who can sell them effectively is not always the same thing." Adds fellow consultant Larry Rosin, "People sometimes confused the business problems that Air America is having, or has had, and fail to distinguish that from relatively good ratings in many cities."
  
  
• Air America certainly had its critics on the left. Marc Cooper, who was involved in the production of "Radio Nation" prior to it moving to the network, has repeatedly referred to the network as a money hole, and repeatedly assailed it via his blog. He claims that that same money could have been used to support deserving political candidates, magazine start-ups or even a serious daily newspaper.
  
  
• Goldberg points out that there are a lot of ideological media ventures in this country that lose money. He points out The New York Post, FOX 'News' and other News Corp. operations that have lost millions of dollars.
  
  
• “We had (former Dead Kennedys singer and spoken word artist) Jello Biafra on, and he said, ‘Good god, man, you’ve hijacked the AM band!’” says Harrison.

All in all, a pretty good article, especially since many in the print media tend to be rather inaccurate when it comes to the radio industry in general. Check it out.