Maron's back - with podcast

From Marc Maron's most recent email:

Hello, Comrades-

The first episode of WTF with Marc Maron is up at Itunes. If you want some, get some, here:

Subscribe via iTunes

Download (without iTunes)

Follow the show on Twitter

The show will be me talking shit in the way I do. Interviews. Comedy.

Maron also encourages fans to follow him on his regular http://twitter.com/marcmaron and http://www.facebook.com/mmaron pages.

He will also be in Chicago at the Lakeshore Theater doing Scorching the Earth Sept. 24, 25, 26 if you are in the area.

The working vacation (can't afford the ranch)

Yeah, I know you're hating me right about now. I admit it, I've been slacking. Hey, like I said last week, it's summertime. Hey, our last President used to take the whole month of August off, and the only thing he missed was a memo claiming that terrorists were looking to hijack passenger jets and fly them into buildings. That's not all bad, is it?

Truth is, the real world has been keeping me busy. I find myself in the interesting position of looking for a new job (as the current one is going absolutely nowhere but backward). So, I've been pounding the pavement (and the web - neat how I can save the gas and just spread my resume with a few moves of the mouse). Should have something happening by next week. Wish me luck. Hopefully the economy will cooperate.

But you've been screaming for it, so here I am, back from the ranch and my 'working vacation'.

Here's the happs:

Maron keeping busy

Air America's "Break Room Live" webcast may have been cancelled, but co-host Marc Maron isn't picking at his wounds. As always, his standup comedy career is keeping him busy. In addition, fans will be happy to know that he will launch his own podcast in the near future.

Here's what he says in his most recent e-newsletter:

Thanks for the outpouring of email and support after the third firing from Air America. I knew it was coming. I was grateful for the gig. We did a lot of great stuff in the Breakroom. You can still see it all for as long as they keep the site up. www.breakroomlive.com.

I'm sad they canceled the internet show. As hard as it was to be part of Air America's long slow spiral into irrelevance after the show cancellation I offered to do a radio show and they wouldn't have it. The place had such promise and vision once. I really thought it might be coming back. I guess we'll see. I wish them the best of luck.

Things are much better out here in the world of real show biz. I feel lighter, more free and fucking funnier. These feelings should last right up until the money runs out. Then I'll get really REALLY fucking funny. Just got back from Montreal Just for Laughs Comedy Festival. It was great.

I'm in talks with a producer to run Scorching the Earth Off Broadway for an extended run. The show is tight now and packs punch to the soul.

Soon I will have a podcast up on a regular basis. I am putting together the ideas and figuring out the best way to do it so stay tuned for that.

Jacksonville libtalk shuffles... again

Keeping up with Radio Free Jacksonville and their endless frequency dances is akin to the U.S. government trying to track the movements of Osama Bin Laden. It can be quite confusing. Or maybe I'm just not looking hard enough.

Nonetheless, Andy Johnson has done some frequency shuffling once again. As it stands now, Johnson's liberal talk programming can now be found on WJSJ (105.3FM), minus the leased-time sports programming, which will continue airing on WJXL (1010XL) and now on WFJO, which formerly carried Johnson's programming, north of Jacksonville.

Radio Free Jacksonville also formerly simulcast on WSJF in St. Augustine Beach and WHJX Baldwin.

WZAA to carry the Ravens

Air America's Washington, DC outlet WZAA (1050AM) has inked a deal with the Baltimore Ravens to be the exclusive D.C. affiliate for the team's broadcasts.

"I’m thrilled to enter into this partnership with one of the area’s most successful sports franchises. This is a terrific opportunity to reach Ravens’ fans in the D.C. area,” said Marty Sheehan, WZAA station manager. “To be able to partner with one of the premiere brands in the NFL is exciting for our listeners, advertisers and talent.”

Granted, D.C. is not the Raven's home turf. And the local Redskins pretty much rule the roost there (owner Dan Snyder is the owner of the former progressive talker in town, WWRC, and airs his team via his local stations). But with Baltimore so close, there are no doubt a few Ravens fans in the area.

Rose to be simulcast on radio

If you're a radio listener seeking out some newsy non-wingnut fare, you now have another option. Bloomberg Radio will air the audio of Charlie Rose's nightly PBS interview show as part of a new multi-platform deal between the network and the show. Bloomberg Television has acquired the rights to air the show in a "next-day international edition" with additional material the day following its initial airing on PBS, and Bloomberg Radio will also air the audio portion of the show weeknights. The deal also includes web and mobile aspects. The show is produced at PBS affiliate WNET-TV in New York.

"For the past 18 years, our program has been dedicated to the idea of good conversation across the spectrum of human curiosity. We now make it a true global conversation. Along the way, Thirteen/WNET, PBS, Charlierose.com, Bloomberg, supportive underwriters and a dedicated staff have enabled us to reach for a true global dialogue that defines who we are and where we are. This new partnership with Bloomberg Television is a unique and powerful opportunity to introduce to a new audience the ideas, actions and people that shape our destiny. I could not be more appreciative and excited," said Rose.

"Charlie Rose is a rare fellow in the television business. He is a remarkable interviewer and tremendous journalist, and his show is 'a must see' for thought leaders and the most influential audience in the U.S.," said Bloomberg CEO of Multimedia Andy Lack. "Now Charlie's nightly program is destined to become a worldwide brand."

Again, it's not a liberal show by any means, but if you like solid interviews and thoughtful conversation, Rose is a good bet.

Easter eggs (the digest version)

Nothing fancy for the day after Easter. A few articles you may (or may not) enjoy.

First, we hear from Air America's newest host, Montel Williams, who has a firm idea of what he wants with his new show. And he told the New York Daily News' David Hinckley what he has in mind:

"My beliefs include both left and right," says the 52-year-old Williams, looking fit in casual blue jeans and, of course, his signature shaved scalp. "That's the way it should be. Don't just pick a side. Look at each issue."

(snip)

"What media put out, most people follow," he says. "We are lemmings. That's why it's a concern that 80% of radio talk is conservative. That's why it's a problem to see the same six or seven people on talk shows every day. There are plenty of people with different views who are just as informed. Let's bring them in."

(snip)

"There's so much anger behind it," he says. "It brings the discussion down to a playground level, when what we need to do is lift the discussion up.

"I don't call people names. There's nothing in the world I'm afraid to discuss, but let's argue using facts."

And in the "Uh oh, here we go again" department, Williams says that he is considering a career in politics, though not in the short term. He's looking about a decade or so down the road.

Moving right along, here's a pretty good blurb about another recently introduced Air America offering, the online-only "BreakRoom Live with Maron & Seder":

Remember Air America Radio? Remember radio? Well after video killed the radio stars Air America Media buried some bodies and sat Marc Maron and Sam Seder in their break room and started breaking new ground. The show mostly consists of Marc and Sam comically battling and boiling down hot topics and politics, bouncing subjects off guests like Janeane Garofalo, and batting out the occasional sketch or rant. All followed by the post show chat with the online audience.

Marc and Sam have a wealth of experience that helps make a live broadcast look easy... These guys are sharp and witty and it shows. Producers Carl Ginsburg and Brendan McDonald have given the show the appropriate polish that keeps it feeling real while delivering comedy on par with The Daily Show and Colbert Report.

(snip)

While this show is live, there is a wealth of comedy to be mined out of the archives. You can find Maron product testing electric cigarettes or ranting about his ex-wife in the reoccurring segment, The Angry Chef. Sam delivers his own laughs with his regular segment, Survival Sam.

Next, Bill Mann provides his own take on Rachel Maddow, who has achieved what Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura Schlessinger - a so-far successful career in television, and she's only been doing it for five months.

From the HuffPo article:

...Most evenings on her show, Maddow -- described by Keith Olbermann as MSNBC's "resident policy wonk," looks relaxed and highly informed. It's obvious that Maddow does a lot of show prep; she brings to light issues often ignored on cable-news outlets.

Paul Krugman, for example, would have been proud of Maddow's detailed, plain-English explanation of why economic stimulus is far better served by creating jobs than by the Feds just handing out tax cuts. That show in February deserves serious Peabody Award consideration.

MSNBC's other liberal hosts can provide the bombast and the passion. The thoughtful Maddow has established a lower-key approach with her "just the facts, ma'am" essays, and she's carved out an important niche for herself at MSNBC...

And we close with a piece on MSNBC's newest host, radio talker Ed Schultz. This one is yet another sneering screed from those masters of silly spin, nonsensical namecalling and manufactured outrage. Yes, I'm talking about the 'tighty righties' over at the Media Research Center's NewsBusters blog. And it seems they're getting so desperate, they're digging up stuff from five years ago and claiming it 'news'. This is essentially intended to be a hit-piece on Schultz (who recently got his own MSNBC show). Since they couldn't to task because (gasp!) they got financial help from well-known Democratic politicians. Oh, the horror!

Brian Maloney has tried in vain to make people think Schultz is crazy because he's never been shy about showing his hot temper. Keep in mind that Maloney says this while practically turning his blog into a kiss-ass shrine to high-strung head cases like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly, so consider the source.

I won't bother to paraphrase anything here. It's pretty stale stuff. But you can read the latest meme from MRC here.

Maybe we should take a look at how the MRC built up its own war chest. Hmmm...

Brent Bozell's bozos and the rest of their ilk failed miserably at trying to take down Maddow. Now they're trying again with Schultz. But it will likely fail, apart from becoming the typical standard conservoporn for (what's left of) their die-hard flock. After all, these guys couldn't find their asses with both hands, a flashlight and a head start.

More news for short-attention spans

As we mark the 12 day mark until the presidential election, here's some of the stuff I haven't covered yet.

Maddow in the New York Times

Catching up with some various tidbits over the past week, we start with yet another profile of Air America and MSNBC phenom Rachel Maddow, this one a New York Times piece published Monday. Here's an excerpt:

Rachel Maddow, a woman who does not own a television set, has done something that is virtually unheard of: she has doubled the audience for a cable news channel’s 9 p.m. hour in a matter of days.

More important for her bosses at MSNBC is that “The Rachel Maddow Show,” her left-leaning news and commentary program, has averaged a higher rating among 25- to 54-year-olds than “Larry King Live” on CNN for 13 of the 25 nights she has been host. While the average total audience of her program remains slightly smaller than that of Mr. King’s, Ms. Maddow, 35, has made MSNBC competitive in that time slot for the first time in a decade. The channel at that hour has an average viewership of 1.7 million since she started on Sept. 8, compared with 800,000 before.

Given that advertising dollars — and the reputations of networks — rise and fall on prime-time ratings, Ms. Maddow’s rise has been closely watched by media executives.

“I’m pinching myself,” said Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, who used to caution that it “takes two or three years for a show to find its audience.” That was certainly true for Keith Olbermann, whose five-year-old “Countdown” program at 8 p.m. (which leads into Ms. Maddow’s program) now beats CNN in the 25-to-54-year-old demographic segment every evening.

Air America announces video contest

Air America Media has announced a video contest, asking people to create an original “Obama for President” commercial. Through Sunday, 10/26, contestants can post their entry to Air America’s You Tube site. The top ten most viewed entries will become finalists, and featured on Air America’s Web site on Monday, 10/27, where final voting will occur through 10/31. The winning video will be awarded $500, streamed on Air America’s Web site and promoted on-air.
You can find out more on Air America’s You Tube page, and on airamerica.com.

Marc Maron – the comic

And here's an interview with another Air America host, one not named Rachel Maddow. The Comic's Comic, a comedy-oriented blog, has a profile of on-again, off-again, and now on-again host Marc Maron. He's doing the online video show with Sam Seder, and is also on the road working for both Air America and London newspaper The Guardian commenting on the upcoming election:

"Everything's pretty good, man. The road trip has been good in a lot of ways, like I needed to get out. I just moved back to New York City from Los Angeles, everything has been up in the air, and the past couple of years for me personally have been miserable. So nothing is better than running away!" Maron tells me. "If given the opportunity, it's always fun to run."

It's not as if the satirical stand-up comedian hasn't criss-crossed the country before, either for road work or with friends. But this time feels very different.

"It's interesting to do it for a reason," he says. "We're interviewing people. Shooting video. And right now we're checking out the meteor crater. I've never seen my producer get so excited for something. I guess it's interesting to see what could happen that's entirely out of our control." He looks out at the massive 4,000-foot wide, 550-foot deep Meteor Crater east of Flagstaff and finds perspective. "There's no reason that can't happen again. So it just makes everything seem small and insignificant," he says.

Comedian gets death threat after mocking Bush

While on the subject of comedians, here's proof positive that some people out there still hate you for your freedom. British comedian Russell Brand received a death threat after ridiculing President George W. Bush as host of last month's MTV Video Music Awards.

Brand evidently ruffled a few right-wing feathers when he called Bush a "retard" during the ceremony.

He let news of the threat slip while appearing on Britain's Radio 1, "(Hosting the awards) was a lot of fun, especially the death threat.

He joked, "If you are going to kill someone, don't give them advance notice, that gives you a chance to prepare.

"How can you, while watching the telly, think 'Oh, I don't enjoy this. No, I'm not enjoying this at all. Right, I'm going to kill him'. That's a huge jump."

Is that their idea of 'freedom?'

Good news/bad news

Speaking of thin-skinned Republicans, I’ve got both good news and bad news.

Here’s the good: Bill O’Reilly is ditching his radio show. Boo hoo.

“I can’t work 60 hours a day”, he said. Besides, his radio show, launched in 2002, around the time Rush Limbaugh blew out his eardrums with Oxycontin, has never really caught on – he’s mostly on weaker stations and was just dropped in the Washington, DC market.

The bad news? O’Reilly just signed a big contract with FOX Noise, for roughly $10 million a year.

As P.T. Barnum once said…

The one after Black Monday (updates updates updates)

I thought about suspending my blog until the resolution of our current fiscal crisis, but I figured I'd probably be even less useful than that decrepit, so-called grandstanding 'maverick' douchebag who foolishly thinks he can single-handedly save our country. Yeah, only 35 days until the "Straight Talk Express" drives off the cliff.

So, I will continue onward doing what I do. Here are a few things to talk about as our entire financial system crumbles around us...

Maron V. Seder to debut October 1

There's been vague mention of this for the past month or so, and the information is still, well, vague, but at least we now have a date for when all this vagueness will begin.

"Maron V. Seder," the new collaborative effort between Air America exiles Marc Maron and Sam Seder, will debut as an online video show on October 1 at 3P. Air America will also have a hand in producing and promoting the show, but so far, it looks like an online-only project.

So, what's it all about? Tune in tomorrow at 3P ET and find out.

Air America names digital chief

Shelly at Air America's PR department sends word that Michael Bassik has been hired by the network as their chief digital officer, effective November 6. The press release claims Bassik "is well known for crafting new, creative ways to use technology to reach new audiences. Most recently, Bassik helped build the nation’s largest online political marketing firm at MSHC Partners, where he served as the Vice President of Interactive Marketing. In this newly created position, Bassik will focus on Air America Media and its digital strategy, building AirAmerica.com into a leading source for independent news, commentary and community."

“Michael’s background is ideal to lead Air America ’s digital growth,” said Bennett Zier, Air America ’s chief executive officer. “As the nation’s leading online political marketing expert, he will have a significant influence on making Air America ’s online presence a superior, user-friendly, interactive experience for our viewers, readers, listeners and advertisers.”

Bassik directed political advertising strategy at AOL during the 2000 and 2002 election cycles, and previously held positions at The New York Times, The White House and City Hall in New York .

Scrambled signals

Okay, I've gotten a few emails from readers who claim that this blog is looking kinda funny. Namely, the outside columns are there, but there is no 'blog' to this blog. What the hell happened to the middle of this?

This has been an occasional problem with three column layouts on Blogger since I started using them. It was a bigger problem before I switched this thing to Blogger's new XML layout standard and the main web browsers out there (Internet Explorer and Firefox) updated to their current versions. The problem seemed to be more frequent with IE, but now some Firefox users are reporting issues with it. I do know that older versions of IE don't show this thing right.

Rest assured, all the content should be on the page. In some instances, the center column may be pushed down the page (not sure why it's still doing this). I played with the layout parameters and temporarily got rid of a few features, in the hopes that it will improve the situation. And I advise all of you to make sure your web browsers are updated to the most current versions.

I ask all of you reading this to do me a favor and post a comment below. In it, tell me what browser you are using (including version, such as IE7.xx or Firefox 3.xx). If possible, perhaps your screen resolution and whatever other information you feel is relevant. This will help in me figuring out how to fix this situation, which may go so far as to shift back to a two-column setup.

I have made few layout changes in recent weeks, but it is pretty irritating when computer code seems to suddenly make up its own mind about how to best show this thing. But

Seder vs. Maron: The comeback?

It sounds like an idea so obviously stupid-proof that it almost couldn't possibly have come from the executive office at Air America Media.

Exiled hosts Marc Maron and Sam Seder re-launched their video podcast program last Friday, and to celebrate, offered up a big announcement. The two will be posting a new show every day between now and the November 4 election, as well as from this week's Democratic National Convention in Denver. And both hosts also stated that they have also been offered a new show on Air America - working as a team.

According to Rebecca O'Malley at The Resilient Rabbit, Maron claimed that the new show, which will supposedly begin in September, will included a number of creative humor elements as well as straight political commentary. Maron may even bring back some of his classic team from his old Morning Sedition show.

So far, that is all that is known about Seder vs. Maron. No time slot has been disclosed, though the most obvious shift would be morning drive, 6-9A ET, which is currently airing previous day replays of other Air America programming.

Maron, Sparks tapped for "Afternoon"

For those keeping track at home, the American Afternoon host wheel keeps spinning, as Air America has tapped former morning host Marc Maron and actor, comedian, musician and television personality Hal Sparks to hold down the fort for the next couple weeks.

Maron, no stranger to Air America listeners, will host the 3-6P ET afternoon shift next week. Sparks will hold down the fort the following week.

Sparks is best known as a pundit for various VH1 shows, as well as former host of Talk Soup on the E! network. Acting roles include "Dude, Where's My Car?" and the Showtime series Queer As Folk. He also plays guitar for rock band Zero1. He will host the week of June 2.

Seder, Maron take over the "Afternoon" next week

While Air America Radio ponders how to fill space in the post-Randi Rhodes era, they have announced guest hosts for the coming weeks.

Marc Maron, who at one time vowed never to work for the network again, is back in the host's chair next week, as he fills in on Tuesday (5/6) and Thursday (5/8). The ever-faithful Sam Seder hosts next Monday (5/5) and Wednesday (5/7), and the two will team up for a joint show next Friday (5/9) and occasionally for an online-only "SammYCam" show.

The following week (5/12-16) will see Ron Reagan, son of the former president and onetime host at KIRO in Seattle in the shift. Ron Kuby, formerly of WABC, takes over for the week afterward (5/19).

Previous hosts of "American Afternoon" have included Richard Belzer, Joy Behar and this week, Roseanne Barr and Johnny Argent. The show has been heavy with guest appearances, including Cynthia McKinney, Phil Donahue, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Sarah Silverman, Martin Short, “Sopranos” creator David Chase, Lewis Black, financial advisor Suze Orman, filmmaker Michael Moore, and former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers.

Meanwhile, confirming last week's rumors, Randi Rhodes' show on Nova M Radio will air on XM's "Air America" channel starting next Monday, displacing "American Afternoon."

Thanks to Shelley Kapitulik at Air America for the heads-up, as well as the pics of Belzer and Barr (as seen in the previous entry).

Maron's through with Air America

After a couple canceled weekday shows, after all the ups and downs of the network, after the unfulfilled offers of a new show and various fill-in gigs, and after a long period of stringing him along, Marc Maron has made the decision for them.

He's done with Air America.

In an email to fans this morning, Maron explains that it was he who came to the decision:

Well, Friends-

Here some sad news out of the gate. I will not be returning to Air America Radio. Today will be the last time I call in on Sam Seder's show. I will not be guest hosting any Air America shows in the future. This is all my choice. No conspiracy here. I'm just done with that company. My relationship with AAR is officially over. Thank you all for your support over the last couple of years. I've got to let go and move on.

There are some things percolating at HBO. I have no real news about what or when or if but there is percolation.

In the meantime, Maron will concentrate mostly on his burgeoning standup comedy career.

Those damned Sam Seder rumors

NOTE: This one will likely be updated a lot.

Dan, a reader in Atlanta, sent me an email over the weekend. He went to see Marc Maron do his standup routine at a local comedy club last week. And something that Maron said shocked quite a few of his fans.

In the email, he stated:

I am a longtime Morning Sedition and Air America fan from Atlanta. I now stream, but only occaisionally, mostly to Sam Seder, at first because he has Maron on every Friday. I saw Marc Maron perform the other night at the punchline and at one point in the show, he started talking about Air America because a fan was talking to him about it before he went on or something and Maron said that Air America wanted to hire him to replace Sam Seder and that it was awkward. I'll say. Marc said he turned them down but that Seder was going to be fired.

In a nutshell, Air America told Maron that his friend Seder was being dropped and that they wanted to hire him as a replacement. Maron felt a bit uncomfortable being put in that kind of situation and said no.

I hesitated to report on this, since this was rather vague, no time frame was mentioned (did this offer to Maron happen months ago? Weeks ago?), and nobody's saying anything else about it. It's really just hearsay. So, I decided to wait and see on this one.

Well, a few people picked up on the rumor, most notably Michael Hood at BlatherWatch. He got a few emails too. Still, the rumor was pretty vague, and I make it a policy to only report rumors that have at least some credibility, preferring to leave the fiction and bullshit to the bottom feeders who lack the self-confidence to actually deal in truth. But since many come to the World's Greatest Liberal Talk Radio Blog to find out the 411, and many of Seder's fans have been visiting here as of late, thanks to a link on Seder's site, I felt it necessary to at least make mention of this whole deal.

A possible contradiction of this rumor could pertain to the recent management changes at Air America. David Bernstein was hired last week by new Air America president Mark Green to oversee programming, and in an interview with the New York Daily News, published today, he stated that he wasn't prepared as of yet to overhaul the on-air roster. "...As a product, it's too early to say if we're going in the right direction," said Bernstein. "It may be that in the end, we're already giving people exactly what they want. That's what I'll be looking at." New program directors often don't make radical changes this early in the job, and it's likely that the network would like to avoid a listener-alienating controversy such as the one that ensued with the Mike Malloy debacle.

UPDATE: And BlatherWatch has posted Maron's side of the story, and not surprisingly, it sounds like it was a bit of a misunderstanding. "They [Air America] made me an offer. Initially it was unclear what time slot I would fill," he said. Initial plans were to put Maron in Seder's slot and move Seder back to evenings. Being close friends, Maron turned it down and told him what had transpired. As far as Maron knows, Seder has not been fired.

So there you have it. It's a pretty weak rumor, and extremely vague on top of that. No, it doesn't look like Sam Seder is getting the axe. It's all just a misunderstanding. If anything changes, you can find out the real story at LTR.

Maron returning to radio?

LuminoMagazine, a Chicago entertainment site, recently published a profile of Marc Maron, who's in town doing a stand-up comedy gig. In it, he talks about his comedy career, life in L.A., Myspace, politics and of course, Air America Radio.

In fact, he discloses that he's still talking with Air America (he still does on-air appearances and fill-ins). He's already done two shows for the network, and rumors still abound that there could be a third.

"I don’t know if that’s going to happen yet," Maron said. "They’re trying to get me to go back, but when you’ve been in a difficult relationship it’s hard to keep going back. We’ll see what happens but I certainly miss doing that. I miss getting up in the morning and doing all kinds of funny stuff and breaking news and yelling…I miss doing the morning show... I’ve done two shows for them. I’ve done an evening show and a morning show and they want me to come back and I’m still talking to them about it. I just got back from the Aspen Comedy Festival in Colorado and I’ve enjoyed not being a cave dweller. When you do radio you’re up in the middle of the night and you’re in a box for three hours a day. I kind of like being back on the stage and talking to people face to face. [In radio] you develop a little crew and no one’s really up at your hours and it’s a very intense job and I enjoyed doing it, but it’s nice sleeping like a normal person...maybe if I do another radio show I could do it out of my garage and I’d never have to leave my house."

You can read more at LuminoMagazine.com.

The continuing adventures of Marc Maron

Though he's no longer working full-time for Air America Radio, Marc Maron is still keeping busy with his successful comedy career. But he hasn't given up on radio.

This week will find him in New York. As Al Franken wraps up his radio show this Wednesday, Maron will host this week's remaining two shows, on Thursday and Friday. Starting next Monday, Thom Hartmann will slide over from the network's secondary feed to occupy the shift.

In addition to the radio fill-in, he'll be appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien this Wednesday night.

Here it is in Maron's words:

Wednesday night, Feb. 14, I will be appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Check your local listings.

Thursday and Friday, Feb. 15 and 16, I will be hosting what was the Al Franken Show on Air America Radio. It tapes at 12PM ET. Check your local listings. This is not a permenant gig, folks, but I am looking forward to it. I'll try to wrangle up a few of the old gang if I can. If I can't, you're stuck with me.

Check www.myspace.com/marcmaron OR www.marcmaron.com to see what and where I've got coming up.

Love,

Maron

Could this lead to a return to radio? Who knows? But Maron fans can enjoy him on both radio and TV this week.

Air America close to sealing the deal

UPDATED 1/23/07

Air America Radio’s parent company may have found a new owner, and will likely make an announcement soon, according to Reuters and the Wall Street Journal.

The consortium of investors will be led by the Richard French family of Westchester County, NY, which owns New York City-area television concern WRNN. The group is close to signing a deal to purchase the assets of Piquant LLC, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York in October, according to people familiar with the situation. Though the sides are in negotiations, there is no guarantee those talks will result in a deal, a source close to the talks said. Any agreement would need to be approved by the bankruptcy court. If the deal doesn’t go through, it increases the likelihood that Piquant could face imminent liquidation.

If the acquisition does go through, it could lead to several programming changes at the liberal talk-radio network. Richard French III, son of WRNN's owner, will likely get his own show in prime time on Air America. Richard French, formerly a New York State Democratic Party official, already has a nightly show on WRNN, “Richard French Live,” where he has hosted guests including Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). Another on-air addition could include the return of former Air America morning host Marc Maron, who has been in talks with the French family.

More updates will follow. Keep checking back.

Maron/Cox to team up for a raunchy "Meet The Press" concept

Pitched as "Meet the Press" but with nudity and graphic language, "The Gaggle" is a new concept being tested out by HBO.

For hosts, the network grabbed former Wonkette blogger Ana Marie Cox, currently the Washington editor of Time.com, and former Air America Radio talker Marc Maron. "The Gaggle" will have its debut at the U.S. Comedy Festival next month. So far, it's being conceived as a one-off panel just for the HBO-sponsored fest, but this event serves as a sort of live development slate for the network. Radar Online reports that HBO is testing the waters for a Sunday morning alternative to NBC's "Meet the Press" and ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" that would feature Cox, Maron, and two rotating panelists grilling whatever political figures they can convince to appear.

The festival's press release pitches it as a "smart, funny, provocative" attempt to bring the "freewheeling approach of ESPN-style sports talk to politics and pop culture."

An HBO source said that "everything at the comedy fest is a potential development idea for HBO," but played down the notion of a new entrant to the Sunday morning field. "Maybe someone had that thought, but I don't think it came from the network."

The show sounds like it would be an ideal fit with other HBO news/comedy fare such as "Real Time with Bill Maher." HBO parent Time Warner also produces "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" for sister cable outlet Comedy Central.

Speaking of "The Colbert Report," host Stephen Colbert will be the recipient of the festival's inaugural Person of the Year Award. Speaking by press release, Colbert said, "I am humbled to be part of the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival's tireless efforts to bring joy to the wealthy."

The 13th annual USCAF is set for Feb. 28 through March 4.

Springer to end radio show

The writing was on the wall.

As part of an on-going shift in the liberal talk radio landscape, and three months after a schedule alignment at Air America Radio that saw him scuttled off to the secondary syndicated feed, mid-morning host Jerry Springer announced on his show today that, due to a heavy schedule of outside commitments, he is leaving his radio show effective Friday December 8.

Springer has offers of a movie role and a possible Super Bowl commercial, partly thanks to his exposure on Dancing With The Stars. "These things are not going to come around again, particularly at my age, so I might as well take advantage of them," said Springer, 62.

He's filming a Bud Light commercial next week, which may air during the Super Bowl. And he recently taped a guest shot on ABC’s George Lopez sitcom, as a boyfriend for Lopez’s mother, and was asked to become a recurring character, he says. In February, he’ll play a rabbi in a feature film called God Only Knows. With all of that, a daily radio show, and a still-popular daily TV show, fitting everything into his schedule proved difficult.

"Radio is a full-time job, and I just couldn’t do it," Springer said.

He will be live on the air through at least Wednesday, but scheduling conflicts may result in best-of shows on Thursday and Friday.

Springer's departure was rumored last week, as one of his few remaining affiliates, WCPT in Chicago, announced that they were dropping his show, effective December 8. No word on what his other high-profile affiliate, WSAI in Cincinnati, will slot in his place, though an announcement regarding the station's future will be made later on this week. Recently, the website for his radio show was taken down, and now redirects to AAR's official site.

Springer, the former Cincinnati mayor most known for his outrageous, trashy TV talk show, made his radio debut on January 17, 2005 on WCKY in Cincinnati (eventually moving to WSAI), with the intent of taking "Springer on the Radio" into national syndication. A month later, he was on WDTW in Detroit, and a couple more stations followed, most notably WTAM in Cleveland, which airs mostly conservative talk. By April 1, Air America took over syndication of his show, and added him to their daily schedule, replacing Unfiltered.

Things went well for Springer. Though his lack of radio talk experience was initially noticeable, he added more affiliates, particularly stations that were airing the straight AAR feed. But there was a new presense to be dealt with, namely the rapidly-rising Stephanie Miller, whose breezy, humorous take on the liberal talk genre was quickly winning her affiliates, listeners and ratings in the same time slot. Springer's show hardly stood a chance.

As time went on, more and more affiliates began replacing the morning AAR programming with Miller's increasingly successful show. And AAR was looking to make even more changes. Following a turbulent August 2006, which saw the firing of night host Mike Malloy, the departure of evening co-host Janeane Garofalo (due to outside demands of her own) and rumors of a pending bankruptcy, AAR announced a revamp of their on-air roster, which saw Garofalo's co-host Sam Seder moving to the network's mid-morning shift. Springer, rumored to be dropped by the network, was shuffled over to and buried in a secondary syndicated feed, available to any affiliate that opted to carry the show. As a result, many of Springer's affiliates were gone, leaving WCPT, WSAI and perhaps a few other stations still carrying his show. The outcome of this was that Springer seemed to rebel against his syndicator, enlisting exiled hosts like Malloy and Mark Maron as vacation fill-ins. But with the loss of his affiliates, and the conflicts with his other gigs, the demise of Springer on the Radio was inevitable

Radio was certainly not Springer's main job. Initially, he fit in the radio gig with tapings of the TV show on Mondays and Tuesdays in his home base of Chicago, and commuted back and forth between there and Cincinnati. In recent months, he was in Cincinnati only once, due to his hectic schedule. "I did one show in three months from Cincinnati. That’s absurd. That’s not fair," said Springer.

He also recently appeared in Season Three of the hit ABC show Dancing With The Stars, which he took on in part so he could learn how to dance for his daughter's upcoming wedding.

Springer's name was practically a household word due to his long-running television show (provided, of course, that the household in question was either a single or double-wide). And he was an actual former politician. While a mere two years in radio is hardly enough time to create a legacy, Springer did manage to accomplish a few key things. First, he helped bring a more mainstream, commercial feel to the genre, as his show was produced by Clear Channel and syndicated in partnership with AAR. Predominantly conservative talk stations like WTAM briefly picked up his show, then unheard of for AAR. Fill-in hosts consisted of unpredictable choices like longtime Cleveland radio morning host/recovering Republican John Lanigan and Clear Channel-Cleveland exec Kevin Metheny (a.k.a. the venemous boss "Pig Vomit" of Howard Stern's book and film "Private Parts"), who was, surprisingly, not bad (though I kinda expected him to sound like Paul Giamatti). He also sought to prove that the 'ringmaster' of trash TV was indeed capable of serious thought.

The Jerry Springer of radio was considerably different than the Jerry Springer of shlock TV. And believe it or not, he was more outspoken on his much more toned-down radio show. Keep in mind that on his TV show, Springer often just steps back and lets the chairs and fists fly. He doesn't really inject a whole lot of opinion during the course of an hour. In the radio studio, it was all him, talking about the liberal and Democratic issues he was concerned with, and speaking his mind freely. His goal was to distance himself somewhat from his rather silly TV show and prove that he does, in fact, have something to say. And he did.

Springer: Talking a new game

The right end of Cincinnati's AM radio dial starts leaning to the left Monday.

The city's first liberal radio talk format debuts at 9 a.m. Monday with Jerry Springer's new serious talk show, "Springer on the Radio."

The Clear Channel station, which will revert to its original WCKY-AM (1530) call letters Monday, also gives its 50,000-watt voice to syndicated hosts comedian-author Al Franken, Ed Schultz and Randi Rhodes.

(snip)

"Cincinnati is clearly ready for this. Talk radio now is all (conservatives) Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. It does not make sense to only have the same (conservative) point of view," says Springer, 60, who wants to syndicate his show nationally, starting with Detroit next month. He will continue to host his syndicated TV show from Chicago.

From this article, here is WCKY's new schedule:

5-6 AM: Wall Street Journal Report
6-9 AM: (debuts Tuesday): "Morning Sedition" with Mark Riley and Marc Maron
9 AM-N: "Springer on the Radio," with Jerry Springer, Jene Galvin and Megan Hils.
N-3 PM: Al Franken
3-6 PM: Ed Schultz
6-10 PM: Randi Rhodes
10 PM-M: Lionel
M-5 AM: Paid religious broadcasts on the half-hour.