The Karel comeback

Several months after getting KO'ed from KGO, the outspoken San Francisco talker known as Karel is looking to make a comeback.

Brad Kava at the San Francisco Examiner has gotten word that the prickly talk show host, otherwise known as Charles Karel Bouley, is roughly a week away from getting back on the air.

If and when he does, it will be a self-syndicated effort, airing 9P-12A Monday through Thursday, originating from KNGY (92.7FM), a dance club music station across the bay in Oakland. The show would also likely air on KRXA (540AM) in Monterey.

Last November, Karel was fired by KGO after unleashing an accidental tirade complete with some rather naughty FCC-unfriendly language. He blamed the incident on an engineer who should have turned his mic off during the break.

I'm told you'll soon be able to hear him on KNGY-FM (92.7) M-Th 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. and on Monterey's KRXA-AM (540) M-Wed 9p.m. to 12 a.m. and Thursday 11p.m. to 12a.m.
His Website, however, says he is eight days away from returning to radio.

According to Kava, Karel told him he is self-syndicating his show, and looking for affiliates. One station he'd like to be on is KKGN (Green 960).

Christine Craft rumored to be buying Santa Cruz station

Now here's an interesting rumor worth keeping an eye on.

KSCO (1080AM) in Santa Cruz, which has been on the selling block for a few months, could possibly wind up in the hands of talk radio personality Christine Craft. Yes, that Christine Craft.

Station owner Michael Zwerling, who has owned the station with his mother since 1991, discussed the idea with listeners last Saturday on his two-hour talk show, with Craft as a studio guest. Many of the show's callers liked the idea.

But will it happen? As documented here many times before, the oft-colorful and never dull Zwerlings live for spectacle, and their antics in the past have been widely reported in the media. One would think this is just another publicity stunt. And Craft herself was quoted by a San Jose columnist as saying she doesn’t have the money to buy a radio station, particularly one like the widely-known KSCO.

Craft is a former resident of the area, and currently has her options open since leaving KSAC in Sacramento a few months ago when her contract wasn't renewed and she was told to seek sponsors for her afternoon show in order to keep it.

She is probably best known for suing Metromedia-owned TV station KMBC in Kansas City, after being fired from her from her news anchor job in 1983 because she was "too old, too unattractive and wouldn’t defer to men." Since then, she wrote a book about the experience and went on to do radio, including KGO in San Francisco and KSAC.

KSCO has long had a reputation as a bizarre right-wing radio outlet, suiting the views of the Zwerlings, through off-the-wall commentaries, grandstanding antics, off-the-wall drama and some rather disturbing occurrences. They were picketed by striking station employees for not paying them. They dropped liberal talker Peter Werbe for saying bad things about George W. Bush. They had an anthrax scare. And one former employee died under strange circumstances, though that is likely not related whatsoever to KSCO. They did commit one unfathomable crime against humanity by foisting the Radio Tranquilizer on the masses. Yeah, this is the station where Baloney got his start. For the most part, the station's on-air lineup consists of Rush Limbaugh, a few brokered local talk shows and lots and lots of infomercials. Still, I have to admit I kinda like the Zwerlings. In a world of homogenized Clear Channels, the industry needs a few eccentric characters.

In addition, the Zwerlings also own sister station KOMY, which was an Air America Radio affiliate until they flipped to oldies earlier this year after a ridiculously long drawn-out drama.

So, what would a Craft-owned radio station sound like? Craft said her opinions are more varied than strictly liberal, and said she’d keep the station’s content focused on locally based talk. Don't look for a dedicated liberal talk format here, particularly with rival KRXA already handling that department. The programming would likely run the gamut politically.

Zwerling seems to be more interested in selling to the right person than in getting top dollar. “This radio station,” he told his listeners, “will go for a lot less than houses go for in Santa Cruz.”

Both she and Zwerling repeatedly said the acquisition was “a possibility, not a done deal,” though a proposed contract reportedly does exist.

There has been no further comment from either party.

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.

Ratings Roundup Winter 2007: Part 2

Earlier, I gave you part one of the Winter 2007 Arbitron reports for various markets across the fruited plain. Today, you get a few more.

Just a quick note to add, these ratings are the overall ones, ages 12+ in all measurable dayparts. Demographic and daypart breakdowns are not publicly released by Arbitron, and are rather rare to come by, unless one pays the money to subscribe. Advertisers don't really rely on overall numbers to place buys, but at least these numbers give a glimpse of how stations are doing. So without further ado...

KQKE in San Francisco is still shaking the bay almost as much as that MacArthur Maze chaos currently jamming up local traffic. This time, they move from 1.1 to 1.3. They beat sister conservotalker KNEW by a tenth of a point and high-powered CBS Free FM outlet KIFR, which gets a 0.8. KGO, which some expected to lose it's #1 perch, stays on top with a significant lead at 5.5, almost a full point ahead of its nearest rival, adult contemporary-formatted KOIT. Oh, and ultra-right wing KSFO edges up slightly. In San Jose (#35), KQKE is down from 1.1 to 0.6. And KGO is at the top of the heap.

Down the road in the Monterey/Salinas/Santa Cruz market (#80), KRXA makes a spectacular leap, from 0.6 to 1.1. They are only a fifth of a point behind local conservotalker KSCO. The most recent trend report actually had KRXA tied with them. KGO is the #2 station in this market, and other area conservotalkers, such as KSFO, Fresno's KMJ and the new local Clear Channel Hannity/Savage/Dr. Laura outlet KION all sit at the bottom of the ratings, in the 0.4-0.6 range. KOMY, the former Air America affiliate that recently switched to oldies, has dropped off the ratings list.

In Washington, DC (#8), WWRC, usually good for a half-share, is a no-show in the book this time around, but that's not surprising. Talk radio gets mediocre ratings in this market, save for all-news WTOP and, to a lesser extent, WMAL. Free FM'er WJFK has a 1.6 with their non-political shock jock format and the rest, including all-news WTWP, African-American talker WOL and Clear Channel conservotalker WTNT are below a one share. Given the demographic breakdown of this market and the abundance of news/talk stations, an AM station with a puny signal like WWRC has an uphill struggle ahead of it. Luckily, the station is run on the cheap, with no local programming (syndicated progressive talk programming, and most talk programming in general, is offered on a barter basis, with no upfront money necessary). There are quite a few other talk stations that are a no-show in the book, including WFED, which is directed heavily at Beltway political wonks; 50,000 watt WMET, which is basically Greaseman's right-wing morning show, various brokered talk shows, and Music Of Your Life filling in occasional gaps; and suburban talker WAGE. Not to mention noncommercial stations like NPR outlet WAMU, Pacifica's WPFW and C-Span radio on WCSP. That's a lot of talk! Thirteen stations, including WWRC, air news and/0r talk formats.

Coming later today, books will be released for Minneapolis, Denver, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Buffalo and a few others. You can see all the market ratings results at Radio and Records or Stationratings.com.

Ratings Roundup: Phase 2 Winter trend, part 1

The second of the Winter 2006 Arbitron ratings trend reports is being released over the next week or two. This rolling trend report survey period covers this past December, January and February. It is the run-up to the official Winter ratings books, which will be released starting later this month.

While there really isn't a whole lot earth-shattering to report progressive talk-wise, there are a few interesting tidbits. First off, WWRL in New York (#1) seems to be adjusting well to being the new Air America Radio flagship. They hold at 0.8 overall, which may not sound like much, but given the station's limited and interference-enhanced signal at 1600AM and the dearth of competition, they are pretty close to the numbers achieved by predecessor WLIB, whose ratings dropped in half following the departure of Air America and the switch to a black gospel music format. Even with the signal limitations, WWRL does make a small showing in the books for Long Island (#18), northeastern New Jersey (#39) and the Hamptons (#260).

In Chicago (#3), WCPT is making a strong showing, considering its own limited suburban signal. So, what's so significant about a 0.8 share? Well, considering the station only airs during the daytime hours, transmits from the northwest suburbs and has ratings equal to Salem's strong-signaled conservotalker WIND, I would consider that to be pretty damn remarkable. They are also close to equaling the 1.1 share of WCKG-FM, a CBS-owned talk station airing the company's Free FM format. Speaking of Free FM, in San Francisco (#4), KQKE beats KIFR, which broadcasts on one of the strongest FM signals in the Bay Area.

If Clear Channel was hoping to find better ratings by flipping WXKS and WKOX in Boston (#11) to a Spanish-language format, well, they didn't. Both stations are completely absent from the ratings survey. The long-awaited new tower and transmission facilities for WKOX are currently under construction, but it is doubtful that even this will save the stations.

And in another market that recently lost a liberal talk station, KRXA in Monterey/Salinas/Santa Cruz (#80) has shot up significantly in the most recent trend, jumping from a 0.8 to a 1.3 share, likely helped by Air America-affiliated KOMY's recent switch to oldies. In addition, KRXA is now tied with KOMY's sister station, conservotalker KSCO. Incidentally, a casual listen to either station shows that KRXA appears to sell a lot more advertising than KSCO. So congrats to the gang out in the Monterey Bay area.

More trend reports for other markets are on the way. If you want to see the overall (12+) numbers for yourself, you can check them out at Radio and Records or StationRatings.com.

Ratings Roundup Fall 2006: Part 2

In part one of this report, LTR analyzed how progressive talk radio stations did in in the recent Arbitron ratings book in the midwest. In this installment, you'll see how stations on the 'Left Coast' did.

KTLK in Los Angeles is still holding steady with a 0.8, up a tenth of a point from the Summer book. They are tied with Salem's conservotalk KRLA, ESPN's KSPN and KTNQ, a Spanish-language news/talk station. Los Angeles, like many other large markets, is a highly competitive market. The news/talk competition is very fierce, with even larger players such as CBS' Free FM affiliate KLSX and their two all-news stations (KCBS and KFWB) not very far ahead of KTLK. San Diego's KLSD is on the rise again after sliding a bit since last fall. In market #17, it moves up almost half a point to a 1.9 share.

Up the coast in Santa Barbara (market #211), KIST, which was recently sold to a local group, is doing very well, tied for 7th place overall with a 3.4 share. Further north, in San Luis Obispo (#172), KYNS, a well-run small market liberal talker that will soon add Mike Malloy to the lineup, holds steady tied for 16th place with a 1.7 share. KFPT in Fresno (#66), recently sold by CBS to local Peak Broadcasting, holds steady with a 1.0, no change since Summer, but more than double what they had last Fall. According to radio industry site AllAccess, KFPT could soon be sold again, with former general manager Chris Pacheco rumored as the buyer. Whether this sale will go through, or if this means a change in format remains to be seen (thanks for the tip, Jim).

In the Monterey Bay area (#80), a market whose sole dominant talk station is high-powered KGO, located roughly a hundred miles away in San Francisco, KRXA is relatively unchanged in the book, as it drops a tenth of a point to a 0.6. They are up a fifth of a point since last Fall. Low-powered KOMY, which carries a mash-up of several Air America Radio shows, infomercials, and whatever else, and recently switched to oldies, is a no-show in the book. Incidently, in response to my article from last week regarding KOMY and their format switch, I got an email from owner Michael Zwerling, which will be posted here shortly. Trust me, you don't want to miss this!

Speaking of the Bay Area, KGO maintains its two decade grip as the top overall station in the market with a rather centrist-leaning talk format. Liberal talker KQKE is tied at #26 overall in the San Francisco (#4) book, and holding at 1.1, which is just a tenth of a point lower than its conservative sister, KNEW. The Quake also has a 1.1 share in neighboring San Jose (#35). In the North Bay, the station has a very strong showing in the Santa Rosa (#119) book jumping all the way up to #12 overall, rising from a 1.0 in the Spring to a 2.5 for the Fall.

In the battle of the Sacramento (#27) liberal talk stations, KCTC, the Air America affiliate, drops slightly to a 0.8 share. KSAC, which airs a mostly liberal talk format, slides to the near bottom of the ranked stations with a 0.4.

The northwestern has been one of the strongest areas for the liberal talk format. Portland, OR (#23) is no exception. Since its debut almost three years ago, KPOJ has been one of the strongest stations in the format. Fall was especially good for them, as they rise all the way up to #5 with a gain of almost a full point, at a 3.7 share. In Seattle (#14), KPTK, a strong performer in some daypart breakdowns, holds at a 2.0 from the summer in this highly competitive talk market. They are down slightly in comparison to last fall. BlatherWatch, a Seattle talk radio blog, claims that conservotalk station KTTH got a huge boost in the recent book, thanks mostly to Rush Limbaugh, who doubled his local ratings from over a year ago (and I assume BlatherWatch's Michael Hood is using last fall as a comparison). Thom Hartmann, who had dominated the 9AM-Noon timeslot in comparison to all other area talk stations throughout the past year, dropped to #2 behind Limbaugh. Hartmann is still the most-listened to host on KPTK. Ed Schultz tied with Sean Hannity among all listeners in the recent Seattle book, though he did reportedly beat him in some demographic breakdowns. In general, conservotalk fared rather poorly in Seattle this past fall, with Limbaugh being the sole exception.

On the other side of the state, KPTQ in Spokane (#93) holds somewhat steady, rising from a 1.0 to a 1.3 share. In Eugene, OR (#150), KOPT continues its rollercoaster ride, from a 2.4 last fall to 3.4 this past spring and back down to a 1.9 for this past fall. Whether this has to do with the erratic nature of twice-yearly Arbitron ratings reports in small markets (in Duluth, MN, KQDS jumped from 0.9 to 2.1) is unknown.

In Anchorage, AK (#172), KUDO, which is owned and backed by IBEW Local 1547, comes in with a 1.3 share. KUMU in Honolulu (#63), which carries a hodgepodge of mostly delayed talk programming including Air America, Stephanie Miller, Schultz, and various non-political talk shows, rises slightly to grab a 0.7 share.

Coming soon, we'll give you the lowdown on other parts of the country. As always, stay tuned!

KOMY finally pulls the plug

After nearly two years of threatening to pull Air America Radio off their Santa Cruz radio station, the Zwerling family has finally done just that.

On Thursday, KOMY in Santa Cruz finally dropped liberal talk. Taking Air America's place is golden oldies, — from the likes of Roy Orbison, Patsy Cline, and Chuck Berry, spun by real live and local disc jockeys, or so they claim.

This finally caps a long, drawn-out drama in which the owner, Michael Zwerling, has endlessly complained about never being able to sell advertising to support the format. Which of course makes sense when you have hardly anybody in the station to sell advertising.

KOMY is owned by Zwerling, along with his mother Kay. The two also own conservotalker KSCO, which seems to be their pride and joy, though it gets horrible ratings. KOMY was perhaps one of the weakest of Air America's affiliates (and that's saying a lot), in that the station was hardly promoted, the schedule was cluttered with infomericials, the ultra-conservative owners obviously hated the programming, and they constantly complained about a lack of advertisers, even though the station appears to have a barebones sales department. The two-station cluster is a mom-and-pop operation (actually, a mother-and-son operation - shades of the Bates Motel?) in every sense of the word, and often, it seems the programming of the two stations have always taken a backseat to the strange antics of their eccentric owners.

Air America Radio made its debut on KOMY in July 2005. When Zwerling announced his intention to put Michael Savage's show on in the evening, Air America execs scoffed. Finally, the station gave in to Air America's demands, and cleared three of their shows: Al Franken, Randi Rhodes and "The Majority Report". And since they couldn't mix Savage in with the liberal talk programming, they made sure to slot in 'owner editorials', which were nonsensical at best, fire-breathing reactionary at worst.

And then came the drama. A couple months later, Michael Zwerling went to his friends in the local media, complaining that area liberals weren't beating down the door to buy advertising time on KOMY. In protest, the Zwerlings yanked "Majority Report" and started airing infomercials in its place, in essence holding the format hostage.

After receiving some not-so-nice letters from listeners, Zwerling went on the air (the Zwerlings are fond of their ridiculous on-air 'editorials') and blasted the listeners who sent the "vicious hate mail", as if they felt insulting their listeners would improve the station's performance. Zwerling didn't appreciate the complaints about the Kay Zwerling editorials, and demanded that “hypocritical Air America listeners” better send in money or they would yank the programming off the station. Yes, he did indeed issue that threat.

The Zwerlings have always detested Air America. They also claim local advertisers think likewise. "It's an angry, nasty, pissing and moaning format where the only thing they say is 'Bush stinks' or 'Bush is bad'," he said. "No commercial advertiser wants to be associated with that."

"We didn't sell a single ad in a year and a half," Zwerling said Thursday. "I thought liberal radio would work as a viable advertising business in the most liberal town in America. I was wrong"

Zwerling did admit that some advertisers were turned off by the ultra-conservative reputation of KOMY and the Zwerlings.

Perhaps it could have been that the Zwerlings didn't have much of a sales department. The Zwerlings don’t even pay their own talk show hosts on KSCO, instead demanding they go out and find their own sponsors! Which of course, explains how Brian "Screech" Maloney got his start. It appears that the Zwerlings seem most concerned about selling ads for Rush Limbaugh's show on KSCO, which they have constantly boasted about being "sold out."

Zwerling finally announced back in October that he was pulling the plug on KOMY's liberal talk format, effective October 25, and everyone hoped that that would be the end of it. Since then, the Zwerlings realized that they really didn't have anything to replace Air America, so the station became an unpredictable hodge-podge of Air America, infomercials, replays of KSCO shows and Alan Colmes (whom they refer to as "a reasonable liberal"). At times, they ran the straight Air America feed, and even aired promos for Mike Malloy's show, though it had been dropped from Air America months earlier. In the meantime, they finally put up a website for KOMY. Perhaps they were giving it a second third chance. Finally, on Thursday, the Zwerlings ended the insanity and flipped to oldies.

As much as the local newspaper seems to suck up to the Zwerlings (the articles in the Santa Cruz Sentinel are always sympathetic and a bit thin on facts), the Zwerlings are not the martyrs that they make themselves out to be. Listeners avoid their stations, people in the industry mock them, and many former employees detest them (except for Screech, I guess). How inept are the Zwerlings? Their main station, KSCO, which carries a mix of local shows and syndicated fare from the likes of Limbaugh and O'Reilly, gets terrible ratings. In the most recent Arbitron book, listenership dropped nearly in half, down from a 2.3 last summer to a 1.2 in the fall. KOMY only occasionally made a showing in the ratings books. Granted, the Monterey Bay area is not a strong market for talk radio (the only truly successful talk station here is KGO, broadcasting from San Francisco, roughly a hundred miles north of Santa Cruz), but similar stations to KSCO in other markets do much, much better. For the market's flagship news/talk station to do that poorly is embarassing.

Meanwhile, across the bay in Monterey, KRXA, which began airing liberal talk at the same time as KOMY, is plugging along with their own non-Air America talk format. Owners Hal Ginsberg and Peter B. Collins are very dedicated to the format, and seem to have few problems attracting advertisers, as quite a few local businesses can be heard on their airwaves. Ratings aren't great, but they've been steady. And the owners and staff do indeed have a passion for what they do. So, the question deserves to be asked, how do Ginsberg and Collins succeed where the Zwerlings have failed? More effort and less whining, I guess.

To their credit, the Zwerlings did make one more programming move recently. Earlier this month, KSCO dropped Michael Savage. However, this was only because the cost to air the show became too expensive.

See also this thread from October, or all threads regarding KOMY.

UPDATE 1/27: It appears Air America has not left the Monterey Bay area. KRXA has picked up more programming from the network, including the overnight refeed of Al Franken and Randi Rhodes at 11PM, as well as the Mark Riley show live from 2-3AM. Rhodes also gets a best-of replay on Sunday afternoon and evening. Laura Flanders' RadioNation has been picked up for Saturday and Sunday nights. Previously, the station had already been carrying Ring of Fire. So, don't believe the wingnut blogs with all of ten readers. AAR is still on in the Santa Cruz area.

UPDATE 2/2/07: Michael Zwerling responds.

Subject: Are You The Author Of.....

http://ltradio.blogspot.com/2006/10/komysanta-cruz-to-finally-drop-air.html

If so, my compliments to the chef!

Seriously.

The story is mostly accurate and TOTALLY entertaining reading!

You (or the author) have (has) a true flair for writing.

This is screenplay material.

Best,

MZ

--
Michael L. Zwerling
Owner, KSCO NewsTalk AM 1080 and
KOMY Oldialites AM 1340
Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz

Monterey, CA attorney/radio journalist suffers mysterious death

Following the recent passing of both former President Gerald Ford and music icon James Brown is a death that will likely slide in under the radar. So far, only the local Monterey County Herald has reported on it. Granted, both Ford and Brown are more noteworthy individuals, but this one may be of interest to readers of LTR.

In what police describe as a "probable" suicide leap, a prominent Monterey Bay Area attorney fell at least nine floors to his death at the Embassy Suites Hotel Monterey Bay in Seaside the morning before Christmas.

Sunday morning, officers found the body of Paul Sanford, an attorney, journalist and local radio talk show host, in the west end of the hotel lobby, where he had landed on a large ventilation grate.

In addition to his work specializing mostly in DUI cases, Sanford was active in local organizations and causes, and made waves in the national arena. He appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2004 when he argued unsuccessfully that the words "under God" should be stricken from the Pledge of Allegiance. A passionate believer in "a dynamic Constitution," Sanford claimed that he "never leaves home" without a copy of the U.S. Constitution in his pocket. He was a vocal advocate of free speech, and for the rights of homeless people.

In recent years, he became a journalist. Almost immediately, he caused a stir after he joined the White House Press Corps in 2005, making waves as the first reporter to ask then-White House press secretary Scott McClellan whether the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's name might be considered an act of treason.

"There has been a lot of speculation concerning the meaning of the underlying statute and the grand jury investigation concerning Mr. Rove," Sanford asked. "The question is, have the legal counsel to the White House or White House staff reviewed the statute in sufficient specificity to determine whether a violation of that statute would, in effect, constitute treason?"

McClellan was apparently flustered by the question and replied that "those are matters for those overseeing the investigation to decide."

The White House incident sparked controversy after political bloggers incorrectly described Sanford as a reporter for the Air America radio network. At the time, he was associated with Watsonville radio station KOMY, an Air America affiliate, and Sanford told reporters he never claimed to work for Air America.

Sanford eventually filed suit against KOMY owner Michael Zwerling after Zwerling was reported as saying Sanford had not been authorized to represent the station as a reporter, a statement Sanford refuted. The case was scheduled to begin in Santa Cruz County Superior Court in February. The status of the case is unknown following Sanford's sudden death.

Although the dispute with Zwerling caused Sanford a great deal of stress at the time, his close friend, fellow Monterey attorney Shawn Mills, said his friend was feeling fine about it and believed he would soon be vindicated in court.

Sanford and Mills both co-hosted the "Paul and Shawn Show" on Saturdays at local progressive talk radio station KRXA, where they covered last fall's election.

Friends and associates expressed disbelief at the news of Sanford's death and that it was ruled a suicide, saying Sanford seemed happy and had made many plans for this week and in coming months. Mills said he and Sanford recently decided to open a shared law office to serve Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, something Sanford was looking forward to doing.

He and Sanford spoke on the phone "around four or five times a day," Mills said, and the two had just spoken on Thursday, "tweaking a marketing plan" for their new law practice before Mills went out of town for the Christmas holiday.

"I just don't know what happened since Thursday. There was nothing on the horizon there to know this was going to happen," Mills said. "We were going to get together this week."

Mills said he had spoken to Sanford's wife, Paula, and that she also was in shock. He said Sanford, a father of two, was a devoted family man.

"This is a horrible thing for his family. He would never have intentionally put his family through that trauma. Something's not right, it doesn't make sense."

Sanford recently purchased his mother's home in Pebble Beach, and Mills said his friend planned to retire there one day.

Police declined to state exactly why they ruled the case a suicide.

Mills said Sanford should be remembered for his volunteer work in the local community. "People don't like to work for free, and Paul worked for ideology. He didn't like the attention a lot. The attention he's going to get now would upset him."

KOMY/Santa Cruz to finally drop Air America, so will the Zwerlings finally just shut up?

The Zwerling/Air America Radio soap opera will soon be over. KOMY co-owner Michael Zwerling is vowing once again to drop AAR programming (or what little they actually have of it) by next month.

So, the question everyone, including the media wonks, seems to ask is, why isn’t Air America doing well in that liberal hotbed known as Santa Cruz? Well, if they had to listen to the programming on a station like KOMY, the answer would be obvious.

KOMY is owned by Zwerling, along with his mother Kay. The two also own conservo-talker KSCO, which seems to be their pride and joy. KOMY is perhaps the weakest of AAR's affiliates, in that the station is hardly promoted, the owners obviously hate the programming (they're staunch conservatives), and they constantly complain about lack of advertisers, even though the station appears to have no substantial sales department. The two-station cluster is a mom-and-pop operation (actually, a mom-and-son operation) in every sense of the word, and often, it seems the two stations take a backseat to the strange antics of the eccentric owners.

Some may remember a controversial dustup in October 2001, when Peter Werbe's then-syndicated show aired on KOMY in the mornings. The Zwerlings were appalled by Werbe's controversial attacks on the Bush Administration, and Michael Zwerling went on the air during Werbe's show and denounced the show and its host, 'apologizing' to the people of Santa Cruz for having him on "his" airwaves. On Oct. 18, Zwerling, called Peter an "asshole," because the station was allegedly receiving so many complaints. Local residents were taken aback by the owner's on-air language, a violation of FCC standards.

If that wasn't enough, Mom went on the air with her own editorial, and bashed Werbe for being such a meanie.

Fast-forward three years later. KOMY and the Zwerlings give it another go. They affiliate with Air America after some tough negotiations (the Zwerlings wanted to put Michael Savage's show on the same station, and AAR would not allow it). Finally, KOMY cleared three shows from AAR - Franken, Rhodes and the Majority Report. But this was not the end of it. A couple months later, Michael Zwerling went on a whinefest to the local media, complaining that area liberals weren't beating down the door to buy advertising time on KOMY. In protest, they even pulled "Majority Report" and started airing infomercials in its place. After receiving some not-so-nice letters from listeners, Zwerling even went on the air again (the Zwerlings are fond of on-air editorials) and blasted the listeners who sent them. They aired another announcement that they had received “vicious hate mail” critizing the Kay Zwerling editorials, and saying that they want “hypocritical Air America listeners” to send in money or they would yank the AAR programming off the station.

Of course, the conventional wisdom was that they amped up the drama a bit in 'playing the victim', and it was likely that the Zwerlings' over the top editorializing was turning off listeners.

And the most likely possibility is that the Zwerlings are rather inept at running radio stations. They don’t seem to have much of a sales department, and if they do, they’re certainly not doing their job. Heck, the Zwerlings don’t even pay their on-air talent, instead demanding they go out and find their own sponsors!

Of course, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. And a combination of only two Air America shows, surrounded by unpaid local hosts and lots and lots of infomercials does not a successful station make. Obviously, the Zwerlings misunderstood the message of “Field Of Dreams”, because, quite frankly, they didn’t build much, and as a result, nobody came to listen. KOMY doesn’t even have its own website. Rather, there are a few mentions of the station on KSCO’s site, along with their own webstream. Otherwise, one would never even know that KOMY existed, or what they put on the air.

One really wonders what the Zwerlings hope to accomplish by dropping Air America. They only carry Al Franken and Randi Rhodes, last time I checked. And those shows are offered on a barter basis, meaning that they cost nothing to carry. Are they going to put on more unpaid local hsots? Infomercials? And they wonder why nobody is listening. Why would they? It all seems like a lot of grandstanding to me.

Meanwhile, across the Monterey Bay, another independently-owned AM station is also airing a liberal talk format. While KOMY airs only two or so Air America shows, surrounded by a ton of infomercials and whatnot, KRXA is fully devoted to the format. The station is owned by Washington, DC lawyer Hal Ginsberg and Bay Area radio legend Peter B. Collins. Ginsburg and Collins purchased the station and signed on their talk format shortly after KOMY. Since KOMY had the rights to the regular Air America programming, KRXA worked around it, signing a whole slate of non-Air America talk talent, including Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz, and Thom Hartmann from Air America’s secondary syndication arm. The experienced and talented Collins himself hosts an afternoon show on the station, which is currently in syndication. They also do other local shows, and as far as I know, employees are being paid. So yes, to answer the questions everyone seems to ask, liberal talk can and does work in the Monterey/Santa Cruz area.

In the battle of the two stations, KRXA’s full-time liberal talk format easily beat KOMY’s half-hearted on-air train wreck. Collins is serious about the format, and the on-air presentation of KRXA proves this. While the station is not a massive success yet, local advertisers do seem to be buying time on the station. And the station is slowly rising up the ratings chart.

So, let this be a lesson to radio owners. As the saying goes, you get out what you put into it. The Zwerlings are running their stations on the cheap, and it shows (the ratings of their main station, KSCO, are pretty poor compared to what they should be doing). Air America should be happy that this melodrama will soon be behind them. Now the Zwerlings can go off and simmer in their own self-pity without being an obnoxious distraction.

And for listeners, fret not, since there happens to be a very good station on the air in the Bay Area. One that is dedicated to the format. That is KRXA, and they can be found at 540 on the AM dial. Give them a listen, and be sure to support their sponsors, and tell them why you do.