The Top 10 wherabouts of former progressive talk stations

The holidays are over, we're sobering up and playing with our new toys, and we finally throw down our arms in fighting the mythical and nonsensical War On Christmas. So now, it's time to take a look back on 2007.

In this installment, we'll take a look at the corpses left behind during the year. The stations that gave up and flipped from progressive talk to other, often less-successful formats. This isn't a complete list, as I tried to keep it down to ten. But it does show that perhaps the owners of some of these stations were a bit hasty in their programming decisions.

The year 2007 marked the big liberal purge from quite a few AM stations owned by Clear Channel Communications, Entercom and others. So far, none of the successor formats have done anything in the ratings. Check this out:

1. Cincinnati - WSAI dropped progressive talk in late 2006, going with some kind of advice-talk format. Well, that format blew dog, and it lasted a mere six months or so before becoming a dumping ground for leftover programming from sister sports station WCKY. To their credit, at least the station is getting ratings now, though nowhere near what they got with their half-assed and underpromoted approach to progressive talk.

2. Columbus - After WTPG also dropped progressive talk last December, it's replacement, right-wing babbler WYTS turned out to be a complete joke. Unlike its prececessor, which actually got the best ratings the signal had in years, WYTS has dropped off the chart. Not even Michael Savage can save them. Now, with progressive talk back on WVKO, perhaps we'll get proof that Clear Channel screwed the pooch when they hastily dropped the format.

3. Santa Cruz - KOMY ditched the Air America feed early this year. With their replacement oldies format, the station has not shown up in the ratings at all. At least liberal talk showed up on occasion. KOMY and their sister station are currently on the market.

4. Duluth - KQDS dropped from 2.1 to 0.8 overall after switching to an automated oldies satellite feed in February.

5. Fresno - KFPT was forced to switch to sports when they were sold by Peak Broadcasting to Fat Dawgs 7 in February (there was a no-compete clause in the sale papers to protect Peak's talk station, KMJ). A station that quite often floated around a one share completely dropped off the list.

6. Burlington, VT - WTWK thought the'd have more luck with estrogen, dropping progressive talk and picking up programming from Greenstone Media back in March. They were thrown a curveball when Greenstone closed up shop, and had to scramble to refill their schedule. They also brought back Stephanie Miller. So far, no ratings.

7. Sacramento - After sponsoring a Christmas season contest on their sister station in which they actually killed one of their listeners in public, Entercom killed progressive talk on KCTC in February. It was replaced by a sports format that has all but killed the 1320 AM signal in Sacramento. Locally-owned rival KSAC picked up some of the abandoned programming from KCTC and experienced a 300% jump in the ratings.

8. Akron - The axing of WARF ("Radio Free Ohio") in March completed Clear Channel's "Ohio Trifecta," where they effectively killed progressive talk on all three stations in the state programming the format. The replacement format was (surprise!) sports, and their ratings are currently (surprise!) nonexistent. They are currently getting their asses kicked by an independently-owned sports station out of Cleveland.

9. Memphis - WSMB was a joke when they did progressive talk. The station suffered from horrible promotion, poor sales efforts and serious neglect. No local presence whatsoever. An amateurish-looking website with an ugly station logo. A real shame, since the signal really kicks ass. But Entercom has never been adept at running progressive talk formats (as seen in New Orleans, Sacramento and other places). The result was a signal that was horribly neglected. So the flip to FOX Sports in early September likely came as no surprise to anyone.

10. San Diego - And now we save the most notable for last. Perhaps the most drawn-out format flip in radio history, Clear Channel in San Diego made few friends when word got out that they were about to flip KLSD to sports, going up against two other station in the area already doing the same. Time will tell if it will succeed, but Clear Channel screwed up royally when they ditched a format that was getting decent ratings and reportedly pulling in $2.5 million a year in revenue. Low-powered AM stations are not known for doing that in this day and age.

NOTE: In attempt to save space, stations such as WKOX in Boston, KDXE in Little Rock, WAVZ in New Haven, WLVP in Portland, ME, KOKE in Austin, KHRO in El Paso, and perhaps one or two others were left off the list. Of those, the new formats of WKOX and WAVZ are ratings dogs, some of the others are too early to tell, and only KHRO went up in the ratings, thanks to actually doing a locally-oriented liberal talk lineup after dropping the straight Air America feed.

Well, that was a big success

A mere six months after the beginning of Clear Channel's purge of liberal talk from their Ohio stations, it looks like the move has more or less backfired.

And in Cincinnati, the much-ballyhooed replacement for progressive talk is already out the door.

WSAI, which dumped liberal talk in December for what appeared to be a rather half-assed 'advice talk' format, evidently realized that the move was a spectacular failure. In essence, nobody really gave a shit about the new format, especially advertisers. What's next? Come Monday, say hello to ESPN1360. Yes, you read that right. WSAI, which actually found a little stability, though far from spectacular ratings with progressive talk, will now shift to the 'AM radio band-aid,' namely sports off the satellite. They've already got WCKY ("The Homer"), which has a mostly local presentation, lots of play-by-play and overnight brokered religious shows. And they had to steal the ESPN affiliation from a little AM station outside Cincy. The new ESPN1360 gives WCKY a complimentary signal and gives would-be competitors less of a reason to compete with their own sports formats (after all, cluster-based radio ownership has more or less evolved into some sort of chess game).

The outgoing format, dubbed "The Source" was a disaster in the making. After Clark Howard, Dr. Laura, Dr. Joy Brown and a few local gardening/car repair shows, there just wasn't enough stuff to put on the air. The solution? Rerun Clark Howard's show the next day. In morning drive. Ugh. And add that famed how-to guy Neal Boortz at night. Needless to say, there were likely more birds hovering around the tower than there were listeners hearing this boring train wreck. Needless to say, The Source was a dud.

Up I-71 in Columbus, the replacement for the old WTPG was third-tier conservotalk as WYTS. After progressive talk actually put the 1230 frequency on the map for the first time since their Top 40 heyday as WCOL and got somewhat decent ratings (relatively speaking), WYTS is languishing at the bottom of the ratings heap. That is, when it actually does show up on the list.

WARF in Akron was the third Ohio Clear Channel to ditch the format. Overall ratings are down by half, but it's too soon to really tell what's going on there. Besides, sports talk is one of those formats that are ratings-proof, since they superserve a narrow demographic. Which makes it attractive to near-invisible AM stations. They don't have to show up in the ratings.

Perhaps they should all just turn off their transmitters and save the electricity.

Ratings Roundup Winter 2007: Part 1

Well, it's that time again. Over the next week or so, Arbitron ratings survey reports for this past winter will be released. And the results for some of the biggest markets have already come out.

In New York (#1), WWRL is holding steady, dropping from a 0.8 to a 0.7 (yes, I would consider this 'holding steady,' given the usual margin of error). This is similar to where the station has been since becoming the flagship for Air America Radio last September, and is not bad considering the signal drop-off after sunset, which comes much earlier in the winter months. In the Long Island (#18) market, this early sunset seems to be a factor, as they slide from a 0.7 to a 0.5. In Middlesex, NJ (#39) they dip a tenth of a point from 0.5 to 0.4.

The verdict is still out on whether the recent changes at KTLK in Los Angeles (#2) will result in stronger ratings. The station dips a fifth, from 0.8 to 0.6. In mid-March, KTLK completely overhauled their schedule with the addition of popular local talker Marc Germain. It's too soon to tell what effect these moves will have.

WCPT in Chicago (#3) rises a tenth of a point, from 0.7 to 0.8, only a fifth of a point behind CBS-owned FM talker WCKG (which this week dropped the "Free FM" moniker from their on-air branding). Salem's strong-signalled conservotalker WIND falls a fifth of a point from 1.2 to 0.7, virtually half their audience, dropping it behind WCPT. Hoffmania points out that conservotalk, so far, has taken a beating in the recently released ratings books, with even WLS, dropping almost a full point in the last year. It should be noted that WCPT carries no local programming. Incidentally, WCPT, with a suburban daytime-only signal, again beats their FM sister station, Nine FM, which covers almost all of the Chicago market via three suburban frequencies. Which begs the question, why not WCPT-FM?

WDTW in Detroit (#10) has been showing signs of life as of late, and this past winter, has risen from a 0.5 to 0.7. In the last year, their audience has almost doubled. Like WCPT, the station does not carry any local shows.

In Boston (#11), the duo of WXKS and WKOX have completely dropped off the ratings chart following their switch from progressive talk to "Rhumba." Ironically, Arbitron survey methods tend to be rather favorable to Spanish-language stations. Obviously, in the case of these two stations, it hasn't.

KLSD in San Diego (#17) has consistenly been one of the more successful progressive talk stations, thanks partly to a larger local presence. The station jumps from 1.9 to 2.2 as every conservotalker in the market drops considerably.

And in Akron (#73), WARF rises slightly, from 0.6 to 0.8 for its final book as a progressive talk station.

You can catch up on market ratings at Radio and Records or at Stationratings.com. New markets are added daily at around 5P ET. Stay tuned here as well for updates.

Doin' the Akron two-step

As Akron listeners know by now, Radio Free Ohio is history.

On Friday morning, the station made the switch back to sports, and put up its new website. So, goodbye Bill Press, hello Tony Bruno.

But this might not be the end of it.

Ohio Media Watch, which follows the state's radio scene like nobody else and initially broke the news about WARF, reports that liberal talk might not be gone for long in the Rubber City. Remember WJMP? For those of you who have followed all of this for the past few years, WJMP (1520AM), a 1000 watt daytimer in nearby Kent, was the first to carry the format in the market, picking up the Air America Radio feed a whole month before WARF made the switch. When WARF signed on its non-Air America progressive talk lineup and dropped FOX Sports, WJMP moved a month later to pick up the available sports programming, leaving WARF as the sole progressive talker in the market. Now, with liberal talk gone from local airwaves, and a serious glut of sports talk competition, they might possibly bring back progressive talk.

Confused?

Now, these are just rumors, but for WJMP, which as a weak daytime-only station has had a hard time distinguishing itself in the market, it may not be a bad move. The east side station covers most of the Akron market all the way up to Cleveland, though obviously not as well as WARF does. Why the switch? Well, WARF did have some pretty dedicated advertisers, who I'm sure would make the move to any station willing to pick up the format. And with owner Media Com airing a mostly middle-of-the-road, mostly local talk format on highly-rated FM talk institution WNIR, this would not be a bad pairing of stations. And I'm sure disenfranchised liberal talk fans will be pleased at the quick return of the format to the Akron airwaves.

Of course this is all in rumor stage, and nobody knows what a potential WJMP liberal talk lineup would consist of, whether it be JRN offerings like Bill Press, Stephanie Miller or Ed Schultz, or a return to the Air America lineup. As always, we'll keep an eye on it, so stay tuned.

And there have also been rumblings about a progressive talk comeback in another Ohio market. Since this is all very early stage stuff, and nobody's even come close to putting ink to paper, that's about as much as you'll get right now. We shall see...

The end of Radio Free Ohio?

NOTE: The following article has been updated on March 29. Toward the end, I even take apart Clear Channel's spin on the whole matter.

Ohio Media Watch is reporting that WARF in Akron, aka "Radio Free Ohio" is about to flip to the new AM radio format du jour, sports. And station management has confirmed it.

Clear Channel has already reserved the domain SportsRadio1350.com, and the flip will occur Friday morning.

Since there is already a glut of sports stations in the market, by way of ESPN-affiliated WKNR in Cleveland and low-powered FOX Sports-affiliated WJMP in nearby Kent, the only option left open for the station is Sporting News Radio. That will be combined with Westwood One live sports programming, including the NFL, NCAA basketball and whatever else. They also carry local lower-tiered sports teams.

Why the flip? As I mentioned, all-sports is the format du jour. And it's highly concentrated male demographic is highly desirable to advertisers who want to target male listeners. And sports talk doesn't even need substantial ratings to do this, which fits perfectly with the many neglected AM stations that dot the landscape. In the past year or two, radio station owners have come to realize this, hence the sports radio boom.

WARF is notable in that they served as Bill Press' very first affiliate. The station also carried other Jones Radio Networks offerings, such as Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz, sprinkled with a little bit of Air America Radio.

The station never became a ratings powerhouse in its almost two-year run, but they did have a devoted following, and ratings for the progressive talk format even eclipsed the station's previous incarnation as a FOX Sports-affiliated sports talker. Station management claims that ratings were higher prior to switching to progressive talk, but as I wrote in May 2005, sports-formatted WTOU consistently had mediocre showings in the Arbitron ratings From 2001 until the switch to progressive talk, overall ratings shares for the station were between 0.3 and 0.6. Following the switch, WARF launched with a 1.0 share for the summer 2005 book. Ratings for the station were often between 0.6 and 1.0, eclipsing the overall ratings for the previous sports format. In the most recent ratings book, the station dipped to a 0.6 share. It's doubtful the new 1350 will get those same ratings, but that's not why they're doing it.

Ratings Roundup Fall 2006: Part 1

As Air America Radio is going through growing pains, and conservative bloggers and radio flacks everywhere have been circling the liberal talk radio format like starving vultures, there is some encouraging news for the format in regard to Arbitron ratings for stations carrying the format.

This past fall was important for the format, as the national midterm elections heated up. And it seems that a few liberal talk stations enjoyed some pretty impressive success. Many others at least maintained their current level of listeners. Granted, the only ratings reports released to the general public are often only the overalls, which consist of all listeners ages 12+ in all dayparts from 6AM-midnight. These numbers, while not as important to advertisers as demographic and daypart breakdowns, do at least give a glimpse of how the format is doing.

In the first of several reports, Part 1 will cover the midwest region of the country. In future installments, LTR will take a look at other areas.

Last Friday, Ed Schultz lashed out at Sean Hannity for comments he made about the liberal talk format, which he claimed was dead. Schultz made it a point to openly remind Hannity that in the most recent ratings book, he actually beat him in several large markets, including Portland, Seattle, Denver, San Francisco, Miami and Albuquerque (mp3). The most notable win was in ranked market #16 - Minneapolis/St. Paul, where Hannity, as well as Rush Limbaugh, took quite a beating. Schultz beat, tied, or came close to clobbering Hannity throughout all the demographic breakdowns of the latest book. Schultz' affiliate, 1,000 watt independently-owned suburban liberal talker KTNF, finished with a virtual tie against Hannity's 100,000 watt FM affiliate, KTLK-FM, which has been heavily promoted over the past year via a $1 million advertising campaign by its owner, Clear Channel Communications. KTLK-FM also serves as the Twin Cities affiliate for Limbaugh's show, though he wasn't much help, since he finished virtually tied with KTNF's Al Franken in the midday shift. Schultz was eager to remind Hannity of the ass-whuppin', and to rub it in the face of his longtime nemesis, Clear Channel regional VP Mick Anselmo, who he blames for trying to stall his radio career.

KTNF more than doubled its overall share (all dayparts, ages 12+) from a 0.8 to a 1.7, for 15th place, finishing a mere fifth of a ratings point behind KTLK-FM. The station did well with its morning drive combo of Bill Press and Stephanie Miller, obtaining a 1.9 share, tied for 15th place and beating both local talk stalward KSTP, and more than doubling the ratings of KTLK-FM. KTNF was also the only talk station in the market to actually improve its ratings from the Summer ratings period. The Twin Cities market is saturated with news/talk stations, ranging from the mostly conservative KTLK-FM, full-service legend WCCO, locally-oriented KSTP, Salem conservotalker WWTC, female-oriented WFMP-FM and Minnesota Public Radio's KNOW. Considering the dearth of competition, a much smaller local presence and the limitations of its signal, KTNF has much to be proud of this time around. Congratulations.

Elsewhere in the midwest, WCPT in Chicago (market #3) has been somewhat of a success story. They're a suburban AM station that signs off the air during the nighttime hours, but they have been making a dent in the lower reaches of the local ratings. For the Fall book, the station is up a fifth of a point, to 0.7. Putting it in perspective, that's not too far behind CBS' Free FM station, WCKG. Across the state, WKBF, which was recently flipped to a Christian-based format by its new owner in December, was tied for tenth place in its final book with a 1.7 share, up from a 0.8 in the Spring book.

Ohio has been a bit rough for liberal talk as of late. The format was dropped on stations in both Cincinnati (#28) and Columbus (#37), both part of the same Clear Channel regional cluster. In Cincy, WSAI ends its progressive talk run with a 1.0 rating and a 19th place finish, while WTPG ends with a 0.8 share. In Akron, sister station WARF slides a bit, down from a 1.0 to a 0.6 share. The station, however, is still optimistic about the format, and recently tweaked the schedule in hopes of future success. The station also marks its first appearance in the ratings of neighboring Canton (#128), clustered with various Cleveland and Akron stations near the bottom of the book at a 0.4. Nothing earth-shattering here, but it is notable in that this is the station's first appearance in the Canton rankings.

In Detroit (#10), WDTW, hampered by a rather weak signal and heavy competition, holds at a 0.5, just a tenth of a point behind high-powered Canadian talker CKLW (the local George Noory/Art Bell affiliate). They're also a tenth of a point ahead of Salem's conservotalk WDTK. In nearby Ann Arbor (#147), WLBY comes in with a 1.5 share, in a six-way tie for 17th place, with local talker WAAM and several Detroit FM stations, including the local affiliate of CBS' struggling "Free FM" talk format.

UPDATE: In several late-arriving market reports, Duluth/Superior's KQDS, a tiny AM with no web presense and virtually no promotion whatsoever (like many other stations in the market), makes a rather impressive jump from a 0.9 in the Spring to a 2.1 share for the Fall. WXXM in Madison, recently saved by grassroots supporters, holds somewhat steady with a 3.4 share, down slightly from 3.7 in the ratings period that ended in mid-December. And in Grand Rapids, WTKG is still just under a share.

Note that ratings surveys do not take into account listeners to online streams. Also, the way ratings are reported will change considerably in the coming year, as Arbitron is moving toward doing away with the old 'pencil and paper' diaries and moving toward electronic means, such as online reporting and 'peoplemeters'. The hope is that this will give a more concise figure as to radio listenership. Arbitron also plans to include non-commercial stations, such as NPR affiliates, community and college stations, and non-commercial religious outlets in the overall rankings. Currently, the publicly-released figures include only commercial outlets, though they do track non-coms and include them in some breakdowns.

This is only the first in a series of pending ratings reports you'll see here at LTR, as there are so many stations to report, and not all markets have gotten their Fall '06 books yet. In future installments, you'll see how stations in other parts of the country fared.

Playing catch-up

Well, the chaos of the holiday season is now behind us, and it's time to get back to the everyday grind and start 2007 off right.

Nothing earth-shattering happened over the holidays, save for the New Years Eve stroke-of-twelve Saddam drop that happened a few days early, and the ensuing bloodlust that followed as Drudge and his ilk raced to spread the snuff film footage across the tubes. Oh, and we lost much better men in James Brown and Gerald Ford over the holidays. Our condolences to them.

Obviously, we can't forget the 3,000th U.S. casualty lost in Iraq, which is very sad. Let's hope this new Congress coming in Thursday can bring the rest of them home. In one piece. Oh, and was that a giant "IMPEACH" sign at the Rose Parade? NBC cut away from that one pretty quick, didn't it? Perhaps the fans of Michigan's football team want to impeach their coach after USC handed them what's left of their asses in the Rose Bowl.

So, enough chit-chat, time to bring you all up to speed. And we start off with the flurry of grassroots efforts taking place in Columbus, Boston and the longer-running effort in Dallas, by listeners who want their progressive talk back. All efforts have petitions up and running, and have also been very agressive in their efforts.

Perhaps the most aggressive of the groups is the one in Columbus, where they currently have a petition with 1,600 signatures so far. One WTPG fan even called the Ed Schultz show, guest hosted by Norman Goldman, to promote the group's efforts. This prompted Schultz himself to immediately call in from his vacation time to give his encouragement to the effort.

Of course, WTPG's owners aren't balking yet, and in Columbus, account execs at WTPG are turning down advertising. At least advertising from Ohio Majority, who attempted to purchase ten 30-second spots to promote their cause. Management said no way. And disenfranchised advertisers are proceeding to purchase time further up I-71 in Akron, advertising on the webstream of co-owned WARF. Currently, the group wants to negotiate with WTPG management to give the format at least one more month. They also are planning a rally, or 'intervention', as they call it.

Aldous Tyler, a major figure in the effort to save WXXM in Madison, debuted a new website, NonStop Radio.com, devoted to promoting grassroots efforts to save progressive talk formats in a variety of markets. He also debuted a podcast as well. Tyler also reports that two markets could lose their progressive talk formats in the coming months. In Baton Rouge, Clear Channel is selling WPYR, and the sale could be sealed by April. And in Little Rock, station and facility issues at KXDE will likely prompt Nova M Radio, which has been leasing the station, to pull out of that situation. No exact reason is known, but the station has been having some technical issues as of late. Nova M is no longer promoting KXDE on their website.

As various groups try to save or bring back progressive talk to their towns, another group is still plugging away trying to bring it to theirs. Air America Milwaukee sent out a newsletter, which talks about the efforts in nearby Madison (which they supported) and similar efforts in Phoenix earlier this year:

This turn of events is being hailed as a national precedent, and a high-water mark for progressive talk radio in America. It's a success that should inspire our campaign to bring progressive talk to Milwaukee.

But there's one key difference between Milwaukee, Madison, and Phoenix. The other two cities already had a base of loyal listeners and advertisers, and organizers were able to build upon that. For us, it's more of an uphill battle. The majority of Milwaukeeans have never heard Air America, Nova M, Democracy Now!, or any of the rest.

That means it's up to US to spread the word, to share progressive radio with others – whether via internet streaming, podcasting, or satellite radio – and, most importantly, by getting involved with the Milwaukee Air Force. We have a number of exciting plans for the New Year. We'll be beefing up our web presence, and we hope to offer original local progressive talk programming there. Ultimately, our goal is to get progressive talk on an over-the-air station in the Milwaukee metropolitan radio market.

A tall order. Which is why we need your help. We need you to get the word out about progressive talk radio to your friends, family, and acquaintances. Just send them to our site at http://AirAmericaMilwaukee.com. Urge them to listen to a few shows, and encourage them sign up for our email list. Then tell them to spread the word. We need to steadily grow our movement, so that a multitude of Milwaukeeans will demand a sane radio alternative to radical rightwing rubbish.

Our core group of organizers will be meeting just after the first of the year to work out the next steps. We will keep you in the loop along the way and let you know when specific help from you is needed. You can continue to check for updates at http://AirAmericaMilwaukee.com for now. But also watch for our brand new site, coming soon. And in the meantime, spread the word about progressive talk radio to everyone in the Milwaukee area who will listen.

And, on an unrelated note, Mike Malloy has picked up a new radio affiliate. Effective last night, he will now be on WINZ in Miami. The station also picks up Lionel's show for a delayed airing in the overnight hours.

Stephanie Miller gains a new affiliate, as KTRC in Santa Fe, NM picks her up, displacing Sam Seder. Thom Hartmann will do middays and the rest of the schedule is straight Air America.

Joe Finan (1927-2006)

Northeast Ohio Radio legend Joe Finan, most recently at WARF in Akron, has passed away at the age of 79.

Finan was a radio legend in Northeast Ohio, with an ample resume consisting of both radio and television since the mid 1950s. Until October, Finan was the midday host at Clear Channel liberal talk WARF "Radio Free Ohio". Prior to that, he had a 20 year stint in afternoon drive at talk WNIR (100.1FM) in neighboring Kent.

Joe was born July 6, 1927. He turned 79 this past summer.

Mr. Finan’s Family is planning a private burial service to be held this weekend. No Public services are planned at this time.

Air America negotiations go into overtime

So, I assume you were all waiting with nervous anticipation to find out the fate of Air America Radio, right? Today was supposed to be the day, with representatives of the network in a corporate pow-wow, followed by a court hearing this afternoon, supposedly to announce a deal to guarantee the fledgeling network's survival.

Well, we'll all have to wait.

According to All Access, Air America is deep in negotiations with a potential buyer and may have an announcement possibly by the middle of next week about plans to continue the network's operation.

The network has sent an e-mail to affiliates from VP/Public Relations Jaime Horn about a "plan to take us into a future beyond bankruptcy... we appreciate your patience and dedication to Air America through this difficult period, we know that we continue to exist because of your faith in our programming."

AAR had been given an extra week beyond the original court-imposed November 22 deadline to find a buyer, but the negotiations have gone into overtime and the network continues to receive financing while the deal is negotiated.

Meanwhile, in a few moves that will likely see Brian Maloney having triple orgasms (eeeewwwww!), his best friend Al Franken, who's future in radio has been the topic of many rumors, has been moved or altogether dropped by several stations, a couple likely due to Ed Schultz's move into direct competition with him effective December 11. Franken's weekday show has been dropped by WXKS/WKOX in Boston, as well as WARF in Akron, OH. At WCPT in Chicago, Franken and Schultz swap timeslots. The three stations are likely hedging their bets against Franken's rumored departure from his radio show. The move in Boston can be partly attributed to the recent success of timeslot competitor Thom Hartmann, whose show actually beats 800 lb. radio gorilla Rush Limbaugh head to head in Seattle.