Uptight (everything's alright)

Last week, Stabenow was on Bill Press' show, and told him that she thought there needs to be more balance in broadcasting, also suggesting there would be hearings in the Senate during this Congress on possibly reinstating the right-wing's favorite bogeyman, the Fairness Doctrine. This followed discussion about the demise of WWRC.

Not surprisingly, they're shitting bricks over in the conservative blogosphere. Some are even crying 'foul', since Stabenow's husband, Tom Athans, has been a player in progressive talk radio, due to his efforts in launching the Ed Schultz Show and his later stint at Air America. But you know the crybaby conservative brigade has to whine and complain about something, right?

Now, I've really got nothing to add about the Fairness Doctrine that I haven't already said. So I'll let the others do the talking. And boy, are they ever talking!

First, the Pillsbury Dough Boy weighs in, with typical sneering demeanor and personal attacks galore. Brent Bozell's site is eating it all up too, with extra sauce.

Then we have this asshole, who thinks Athans should just simply off himself. He even mentions the word 'suicide'. Compassionate conservatism, I guess.

A bit more mild take from the Toledo Blade.

All in all, conservatives are a funny lot to watch nowadays, with their movement, mostly responsible for the mess this country's currently in, standing on the sidelines like an unwanted dog. And while I have been quite vocal about my opposition to a new Fairness Doctrine (you can't put the shit back in the horse), I do wholeheartedly support our politicians scaring the crap out of the tighty-righties by bringing it up as often as they see fit.

A not-so-balanced take from the Delaware County Daily Times, with Reagan worship and Clinton blow job references galore.

Now, as many readers here know, I have been a bit skeptical of a return to the Fairness Doctrine. I prefer to just watch conservative radio hang itself with its own rope, as their narrow-minded and naive listeners die off or find some other meaningless distraction to replace it. As a firm believer in karma, I do feel that conservative radio will die as people just get sick and tired of the crudeness, nastiness and desire to create drastic partisan divisions. They'll all get theirs in the end.

Suffice it to say, all the Fairness Doctrine does in micromanage radio programming. However, I do feel that the Obama-era FCC should definitely look into ownership and local content rules. That could be a better solution.

Nonetheless, while I really don't feel the Fairness Doctrine from the old days should be reinstated, I do heartily encourage our politicians to use it to scare the living crap out of uptight right-wing goofballs. They deserve the torment.

Cleaning out the closet Part 3: Floozies, flips, leftovers and the dearly departed

Here it is, part 3 of my recap of all things LTR. In this one, I'll talk about all the stuff that didn't fit in the previous two installments. And I'll start with a little breaking news:

As of right now, right-wing bloggers across the tubes are getting hard-ons about yet another political prostitute scandal, so quick on the heels of the whole Eliot Spitzer mess. This one concerns LTR fan Tom Athans, husband of Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), the former boss of Democracy Radio (where he introduced us to Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller), a former VP at Air America Radio, and current CEO of upstart syndicator Talk USA Radio, which syndicates Leslie Marshall's show and Washington Monthly On The Air. I'm not sticking up for him, and I'm certainly not spinning. But I say let Athans and his wife sort it out, since there's really no hypocrisy involved in this case, unlike the Spitzer ordeal and others like it. Since Athans isn't an elected politician, and merely a businessman who's married to one, does it really matter? Simply put, I can't really pass judgement here.

Better yet, why, on the finger-pointing blogs, does a search for disgraced whorehound Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), congressional page molester Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) or toe-tapping closeted cruiser Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) yield few to no results? Or why do these holier-than-thou conservative types drool like rabid dogs in heat at the mere mention of hanky-panky? Or, why do so-called 'compassionate conservatives' love so much to wallow in human misery? Hmmm... interesting. Nonetheless, I'll keep an eye on this one.

Before I was so rudely interrupted by that tawdry business, a follow-up on something that piqued my curiosity yesterday. I mentioned that Thom Hartmann had picked up four new affiliates for his show. I was familiar with the stations in Miami and Jacksonville. The Bellingham, WA station is fairly new, but I have it listed. But there is the question of WNWF (1120AM) in Destin, FL. Never heard of this one. The best my sleuthing could come up with is that it is a recent convert to progressive talk. Currently, their lineup consists of Bill Press, Stephanie Miller, Hartmann and Ed Schultz. The station is a little 1,000 watt daytimer located on the Florida Panhandle and serves the Destin/Walton Beach area. They also feature an audio stream, which you can find at this link. WNWF, which is owned by Andala Enterprises, formerly aired programming from FOX News Radio.

In another follow-up to the same entry, this one on main affiliate WWRL (1600AM) in New York, which underwent substantial on-air changes, reportedly due to the end of Air America's time lease on the station. Tom Taylor at Radio-Info had this to say about Air America and the developments at WWRL:

New controlling owner Charlie Kireker certainly wants to get former WABC personality Lionel plugged back into the market, and ditto for Thom Hartmann. He’d no doubt love being on a more competitive signal than WWRL. So the Daily News reports the ongoing quest for a new affiliate, and also the launch of a “vastly expanded” website at AirAmericaRadio.com. Massachusetts-born and Vermont-based Kireker took over control of Air America from the Green family and so far the’ve been no reports of cash-flow problems. Air America started out with enormous hype and expectations that were pegged way too high. Its subsequent financial troubles and management changes kept it in the headlines. Now things seem to have stabilized – but its place in the progressive talk universe during a big election year seems to be usurped by bloggers and sites like Daily Kaos and Huffington Post. Making its website more of a competitor to those way-stations for liberals would surely help out its radio operation.

Taylor also relays this item:

T-R-I reader and Media Syndication Services president Woodhull emails to say “I’m sorry that Mike Malloy [per Malloy’s quote to the Sacramento Bee] and Randi Rhodes have difficulty attracting advertisers, but I want to make sure your readers know” that shows like Bill Press, Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller “attract premium advertisers.” And he happily lists the national advertisers just on the Bill Press show for the first three months of 2008. They range from Ace Hardware and Advance Auto Parts to Bayer/Alka Seltzer, Geico, Johnson & Johnson and Scott’s Miracle Gro. The three shows Woodhull mentions are syndicated by Jones and repped by Jones MediaAmerica.

KCCT (1150AM) in Corpus Christi, which last year dropped it's Air America-fueled talk format for a Regional Mexican music format, switches back to talk. No Air America this time around, but Stephanie Miller will be on 10A-1P. Otherwise, you get right-wing puker Mancow Muller, fourth-tier rightie talker Jerry Doyle, the neutered Phil Hendrie and the always entertaining sports commentary of Dan Patrick.

KTNF (950AM) in Minneapolis is no longer Air America Minnesota. Not to worry, though. The programming remains mostly unchanged, but now they call themselves 'The Voice Of Minnesota.' Makes sense, since much of the stations' programming comes from other networks.

And finally, a few passings to note. First, Chicago radio legend Wally Phillips, who hosted mornings on WGN from 1965 through 1986, and then moved to afternoons until 1998. The station reported that PHILLIPS passed away last week after a five-year battle with Alzheimer's disease at 82.

Top 40 radio legend Jack Armstrong also passed away last week at the age of 63. Armstrong had a long career, with stops in Cleveland, New York, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Miami, Los Angeles and others on his itinerary. Some of the famed stations included WNBC, WWKB, KFRC, KTNQ and many others.

And here's a real shocker. Darian O'Toole, well-known to listeners in San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York died suddenly of an longtime undisclosed illness yesterday. The witty Canadian redhead first came to fame as the morning hostess at KSAN in San Francisco, and went on to a variety of stations since. In recent years, she's been working the CBS "Free FM" circuit (KIFR in San Francisco), and was at one time rumored to have perished during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which of course was found to be untrue. No further word on how or why she died.

Leslie Marshall makes a comeback - in syndication

Only a mere few weeks following her departure from WWKB in Buffalo, Leslie Marshall is back, and will be offered for syndication, according to AllAccess.

Envision Radio Networks and Tom Athans' TalkUSA Radio are set to launch their first weekday offering, as they sign Marshall to a syndication deal. Her revived radio show air live in the 3-6PM ET slot, putting it up against Air America Radio's Randi Rhodes.

Marshall has a long history in broadcasting and media, as she had a brief stint replacing the former Tom Snyder radio show for ABC Radio Networks in 1992. She has also worked at WGR in Buffalo, WLS in Chicago, and KLAC in Los Angeles, among many others. She is also a frequent presence on cable news channels, and occasionally sits in as guest host for Alan Colmes' radio show. In addition, she has many television acting credits to her name, according to her website biography.

"Leslie is nothing short of an amazing talent. She’s got the perfect balance of charisma and experience that makes her incredibly compelling to listen to," said Athans. "What’s particularly special about Leslie is that she’s equally effective on television as she is on radio. She’ll have great crossover appeal as a frequent pundit on the news shows."

Talk USA update/correction

While I was away for the past week, I have gotten quite a few emails from readers. One that I particularly want to publish is from Tom Athans, formerly of Democracy Radio, Air America and his latest endeavor, Talk USA Radio. In a previous entry, Talk USA was described as a 'network'. That is not the case, and LTR regrets the misunderstanding, and would also like to thank Tom for checking in.

Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006
From: "Tom Athans"
Subject: Thank You
To: ltradiomail@yahoo.com

Just a short note to thank you for the recent mention in your blog regarding the launch of Talk USA. I should be announcing some new developments in the next few weeks that might interest you.

There were a few points that weren't quite accurate in your article. First, Talk USA is not a "liberal network." It is a "programming company" that develops and launches talk radio programming into national syndication. As I have been one of the principle founders of progressive talk radio, I believe in its commercial viability. Which means Talk USA will definitely produce progressive talk programs, but not exclusively. Other programs will be developed (with the obvious exception of conservative talk).

(snip)

You're doing a great job with the blog.

Regards,

Tom Athans
President
Talk USA

And from today's All Access:

Envision Radio Networks has partnered with Talk USA Radio to syndicate newly developed talk radio programming.

"Talk USA Radio will provide a new generation of entertaining talk show hosts for radio stations to offer their listeners," says ERN Pres./CEO Danno Wolkoff. "We look forward to working with [Tom] Athans, who has a proven track record of identifying great talk talent."

Added Athans, "Our mission is simple, to create great talk radio. With the market being overwhelmingly saturated with the same style of general talkers, we hope to develop shows that offer entertaining and compelling alternatives to what is currently available to listeners. Danno and his team know what it takes to make radio programs succeed. So there’s no question that Envision will be a great strategic partner to Talk USA."

Athans, most recently with Air America Radio, founded liberal talk programming developer Democracy Radio and is the husband of Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

Ready for another liberal talk network? Introducing... Talk USA Radio

In the wake of the recent announcement by Air America Radio (AAR) that the network would file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, former AAR executive vice president Tom Athans has launched Talk USA Radio, a new radio program supplier that he says will "develop new progressive talk shows in an effort to broaden the format and provide more options to listeners across the nation."

Prior to joining Air America, Athans was the founder and CEO of Democracy Radio where he was involved in the development and launch of progressive talker Ed Schultz - whose program is now syndicated by Randy Michaels-owned Product First - and WYD Media's "Stephanie Miller Show," which is distributed by Jones Radio Networks.

Athans reports that Talk USA Radio has several new programs in development and said, "We’re

Democracy Radio folds, CEO Athans joins Air America

NOTE: The demise of Democracy Radio does not affect the status of Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller or Nancy Skinner. Their shows will carry on as before.

From the site:

Dear Friends and Supporters,

As you know, for the past three years Democracy Radio has been at the forefront of the effort to change the talk radio airwaves that have been so overwhelmingly one-sided in America. For nearly two decades Americans only heard one political perspective on their airwaves - the conservative perspective. It had clearly reached a point where diversity of opinion was truly suffering and American democracy was being undermined because of a proliferation of only one political perspective being broadcast. I'm so very proud to say that with your help and support, that's no longer the case.

Through your unyielding support, Progressive Talk Radio is now a reality. I'm proud to report that Democracy Radio's first program, The Ed Schultz Show, is now heard on more than 100 stations nationwide. The Stephanie Miller Show is heard on more than 40 stations. Combined, both shows reach nine of the top ten markets in the United States and have played an impactful role in the astounding success of Progressive Talk Radio.

Great credit, however, also belongs to Air America. Air America has been an integral part of the successful birth and growth of Progressive Talk as a legitimate radio format. Because Air America offered a full day of programming, radio stations were able to completely reformat to a progressive talk lineup. Clear Channel alone reformatted 28 of its stations to a 24/7 Progressive Talk format in major cities throughout the U.S.

Without question, as two separate entities, Democracy Radio and Air America have made a significant impact on the talk radio landscape. Democracy Radio has achieved what it set out to do - it changed the face of talk radio in America. Through all our efforts, Progressive Talk is now a commercially viable format which it was not just 2 years ago. I am very proud of that. However, I believe that now is the time to move this important cause forward in as one unified effort.

Therefore, I am pleased to let you know that I have decided to join the management team at Air America. This will mean the end of Democracy Radio as an organization, but certainly not its work and purpose which I will carry on at Air America. There's no question that unified as one, we will achieve so much more than we ever could as competitors.

As you may know, Air America had a few struggles during its first year. However, in recent months the company has been reorganized, its business model and strategy has been revised, and a dynamic new management team has been assembled with music industry titan Danny Goldberg leading the company as CEO. Air America is poised to expand and grow Progressive Talk like never before imagined - and they will need your continued support. To learn more about how you can support Air America, go to www.airamericaradio.com.

Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your tremendous support of Democracy Radio. Your support created the success of Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller and made Progressive Talk Radio a reality for all Americans. I encourage you to stay engaged in the effort. There's still much to do and with your support we will achieve the diversity of opinion on our airwaves that is reflective of all of America.

Best wishes,

Tom Athans
CEO, Democracy Radio

Air America Taps Tom Athans as Exec. VP

To help build its newly formed syndication division, Air America Radio announced Tuesday that Tom Athans has joined the Progressive Talk network as Executive VP.

As the co-founder and former CEO for Democracy Radio, Athans was responsible for developing and producing two of Progressive Talk’s most popular shows, The Ed Schultz Show, currently syndicated by P1 Productions on more than 100 stations and The Stephanie Miller Show, developed in association with WYD Media.

In his new position, Athans will head up Air America’s new syndication division and develop new programming to expand AAR’s lineup. He will also head AAR’s Washington, D.C. office.

“Athans comes to us with a proven record of success as one of the pioneers of the format and we are certain that he will make a strong addition to our team,” said Danny Goldberg, CEO for AAR.

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