Post Radio To Debut in Station Shuffle

Radio broadcaster Bonneville International Corp. shook up Washington’s airwaves yesterday by moving its all-news station WTOP and classical outlet WGMS-FM to new frequencies, eliminating pop music station Z-104 and announcing plans for a news-and-talk station it will program with The Washington Post.

The moves involve three local stations that occupy six slices of the AM and FM bands. By reshuffling its station lineup, Bonneville is attempting to place its most popular and lucrative programming — news — on the frequencies that have the strongest broadcast signals.

On March 30, two of WTOP’s frequencies (1500 AM and 107.7 FM) will switch to Washington Post Radio, news and talk programming that Bonneville will produce with The Post, which owned WTOP from 1949 to 1978.

Would you listen to Post Radio?

State Probes ‘Kid’ Loan To Lefty Radio

State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer yesterday opened an investigation into the Bronx social-services agency that made $875,000 in bizarre loans to Air America radio.

The highly unusual loans to the left-wing radio network were made by the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club — which was visited by one of Spitzer’s investigators yesterday, officials said.

Dopp said Spitzer’s probe is examining “the conduct of the board of [the] charitable not-for-profit organization. The question is: Was their action appropriate?” Spitzer has jurisdiction because his office oversees charities in the state.

The first payment of $50,000 was made yesterday, and it was deposited into an escrow account controlled by Air America’s lawyer.

That unsettled city investigators, who had recommended that the entire $875,000 be placed into an escrow account that no one could touch without their approval.

Judge Considering When to Open Limbaugh Medical Records

Rush Limbaugh’s attorney urged a judge Tuesday to limit the medical records that prosecutors can review for their investigation into whether the conservative commentator illegally purchased painkillers.
Attorney Roy Black said the records, which were seized in 2003, should be reviewed by a judge before they are opened to prosecutors.

“We’re talking about privacy matters and privileged matters,” Black told the judge. “The remedy is them not seeing the various procedures and medical things that have nothing do to with the items that they are investigating.”

Assistant State Attorney James Martz said investigators have agreed not to publicly disclose the personal details contained in the medical records. He urged Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jeffrey A. Winikoff to act quickly because the investigation already has been stalled more than 18 months by appeals.

Al Franken buys townhouse in Minneapolis

By year’s end, comedian Al Franken will be a Minnesotan again, taking a big step toward possibly running for the U. S. Senate seat held by Norm Coleman.

“It’s one of the things I need to do if I decide to make a run,” Franken said from his current home in New York. “I haven’t made the decision yet, but if I do, I’ll have to have been living in Minnesota a while.”

Franken, 53, said he and his wife, Frannie, bought a townhouse in a new development on the edge of downtown Minneapolis late last month.

He plans to shuttle between his two homes between now and the beginning of 2006, when he also plans to relocate his daily three-hour radio show broadcast on the liberal Air America network to Minnesota.

Franken, who grew up in St. Louis Park, has not lived in Minnesota since he was 22.

Air America “Shoots ” Off An Apology

All-liberal Air America and talker Randi Rhodes apologized yesterday for a “bad taste” comedy bit in which President Bush was shot.

Rhodes opened her Monday afternoon radio show with an announcer blasting the president for his Social Security plan:

“A spoiled child [Bush] is telling us our Social Security isn’t safe anymore, so he’s gonna fix it for us. Well, here’s your answer, you ungrateful whelp: [sound of three shotgun blasts].

“The AAARP — the American Association of Armed Retired People [sound of rifle being cocked]. Just try it, you little bastard.”

Having been told the bit was in poor taste Air America responded with an apology and even one from Rhodes that went like this:

“It was a bit. It was bad. I apologize a thousand times. I’m not in charge of the bits.”

Air America’s Year of Decline

The latest radio ratings are in, and they show continued bad news for Air America, the liberal talk-radio network featuring Al Franken, Randi Rhodes, Janeane Garofolo and others.

While it is difficult to pinpoint Air America’s ratings nationally — it is on the air in about 50 stations across the country, and has been on some of them for just the last few months — it is possible to measure the network’s performance in the nation’s number-one market, New York City.

The new Arbitron ratings for Winter 2005, which covers January, February, and March, show that WLIB, the station which carries Air America in New York, won a 1.2-percent share of all listeners 12 years and older. That is down one tenth of one point from the station’s 1.3 percent share in Winter 2004, the last period when it aired its old format of Caribbean music and talk.

Tony Snow will soon be returning to talk radio.

On Monday April 25th he will return to his daily talk show and said he is feeling great. He was on hiatus for cancer treatments, but said all is well and he hasn’t felt this great in a long time.

Welcome back, Tony!

Taliban launches pirate radio station in Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban has launched a clandestine pirate radio station.

The station broadcasts anti-US and anti-government propaganda as well as Islamic hymns from a mobile transmitter.

Called “Shariat Shagh”, or Voice of Shariat, after the station the Taliban ran while in power between 1996 and 2001, the broadcast can be heard in five southern provinces, including the former regime’s old power base of Kandahar.

I wonder if their listening auidence is larger than that of Air America. OK, so that was bad - - but sometimes I just can’t help myself.

On a more serious note - - couldn’t they be tracked even if they are mobile?

Radio Hypocrisy

The move is on to vilify those who support President Bush’s Social Security reform package. The New York Times recently demonized the group USA Next as Republican operatives — with, gasp, ties to some of the same lobbyists as the Swift Boat Vets. Last week, Lizz Winsted and Rachel Maddow, hosts of Air America radio’s Unfiltered morning program, followed the same template. However, what they omitted said as much about Air America as their demagogic attack.

Like the NYT, the leftist hosts tied USA Next to the Swift Boaters (the Left’s worst nightmare). According to them, there is a plethora of evil Republican and corporate interests involved with USA Next. They said CEO Charlie Jarvis is linked to the Republican Party and that USA Next is using the same advertising and PR consultants used by the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth.

Springer joins liberal foray into talk radio

Liberal talk radio shows are beginning to find a place in American broadcasting after years of dominance by Rush Limbaugh and his conservative cohorts.

Despite the fresh infusion of high-profile names into market - including Jerry Springer, whose program started last week on WCKY-AM - no liberal talk show host can yet claim the clout of Limbaugh, whose show is heard on nearly 600 stations and reaches an audience of about 20 million each week.

Because station formats change so frequently and some stations offer both liberal and conservative commentators, industry officials aren’t sure how many all-conservative or all-liberal talk stations there are.

Perhaps liberal radio would grow if they tried to get better hosts.

FCC Member Urges Armstrong Williams Probe

A member of the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday the agency should investigate whether conservative commentator Armstrong Williams broke the law by failing to disclose that the Bush administration paid him $240,000 to plug its education policies.

Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat, said the agency has received about a dozen complaints against Williams.

“I certainly hope the FCC will take action and fully investigate whether any laws have been broken,” Adelstein said at the commission’s regular monthly meeting.

Williams, a nationally syndicated radio, print and television personality, was paid by the Education Department to promote the No Child Left Behind Act.

No matter how hard Adelstein is going to push this issue the FCC would have looked into the situation to decide if Williams violated federal telecommunication law. I think Adelson is just pushing so hard because the name Bush is involved.

….. and the winner is

Media Matters for America announced that it has awarded its first annual “Misinformer of the Year” title to Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly — who beat out Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Britt Hume and Bob Novak for “top honors.”

“Our staff analyzed more than 1,000 instances of conservative misinformation captured on our website and tallied the number of times members of the media espoused lies, distortions, or mischaracterizations of fact in order to further the conservative agenda,” said David Brock, founder of Media Matters for America.

“In the end, Mr. O’Reilly stood out from all the rest.”

Must be the day for award announcements.

I’m sure Bill O’Reilly will take this with a grain of salt and will most likely laugh about it - - I wonder how Dan will take his…..

Air America lands funding

Liberal broadcaster Air America Radio said Wednesday it has raised $13 million from investors and renewed the contracts of two of its more popular radio hosts and signed RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser on as its chairman.

Air America said humorist Al Franken would remain on the roster for at least two more years, while Randi Rhodes has signed on for three. The company would not say how much it is paying its talent.

They signed two and three year contracts - - talk about optimism. As for not revealing what they are paying the “talent” - - I won’t even comment on that because it is just way to easy.

Radio Host Calls Rice ‘Aunt Jemima’

A radio talk show host drew criticism Thursday after calling Condoleezza Rice an “Aunt Jemima” and saying she isn’t competent to be secretary of state.

John Sylvester, the program director and morning personality on WTDY-AM in Madison, said in a phone interview Thursday that he used the term on Wednesday’s show to describe Rice and other blacks as having only a subservient role in the Bush administration.

As for Rice, “they’re using her for an illusion of inclusion,” he said, adding that he feels her history as national security adviser showed a lack of competence.

Aunt Jemima?
Subservient role in the Bush administration?
Lacks competence?

Does he know absolutely nothing about Condi - - let alone what a national security adviser does or secretary of state

Spreading To Another Town

Churchill Communications LLC, the broadcast company that went live last Thursday with the region’s first 24/7 Hispanic radio format, will score another milestone come Wednesday morning: the Eugene-Springfield premier of liberal-leaning Air America Radio, led by satirist and writer Al Franken.

In a bastion of liberalism where media consolidation by broadcast giants Cumulus Media and Clear Channel has left listeners with only conservative talk shows in the morning and afternoon, Air America will provide a counterbalance to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and Lars Larson.

Franken, a former “Saturday Night Live” cast member and writer, last Friday displayed his acerbic on-air wit by playing backwards portions of President Bush’s victory speech to “prove” Bush was in league with Satan.

After playing an excerpt where Bush says, ” … With that trust comes a duty to serve all Americans, and I will do my best to fulfill that duty every day as your president,” the tape is then rewound.

Court: Limbaugh Records Properly Seized

A Florida appeals court ruled Wednesday that prosecutors did not violate Rush Limbaugh’s privacy rights when they paid a surprise visit to his doctors and seized his medical records for an investigation into his use of painkillers.

Investigators raided the doctors’ offices last November to see if the conservative radio commentator had engaged in “doctor shopping,” or illegally visiting several doctors to receive duplicate prescriptions.

Limbaugh has not been charged with a crime and the investigation had been at a standstill pending a decision on the medical records, which prosecutors have not yet been allowed to examine.

The 4th District Court of Appeal rejected Limbaugh’s claim that his privacy rights trumped investigators’ power to seize his records, and also said prosecutors did not have to notify him of their search warrants or give him an opportunity to challenge them.

Rush Limbaugh’s Statement

Live Today at 2PM ET Rush Will Interview President George W. Bush

–==Update==–
Rush’s site has updated the time to 1:45 PM EST.

–==UPDATE==–

Time has change again - - Bush is on now! 1:35 EST

Splitting Hairs In Spinning Motion

I got a call from comedian-activist-liberal icon-radio guy Al Franken on Monday. It was regarding a column I’d written dissing his new radio network, Air America. I’d say he was just this side of mad.

Call him . . . piqued. Civil. Inclined to chat. But piqued. And seeking corrections for alleged errors.

Now, the policy for this and any other respectable American newspaper when presented with a request to correct an error is simply and immediately to correct it.

Let’s do that: In my column on Sunday, I wrote that billionaire Bush-hater George Soros contributed $5 million to the start-up of liberal radio network Air America. He did not. He contributed $5 million to MoveOn.org, one of the murky funnels for liberal campaign funds. But not to Air America.

I thank Mr. Franken for bringing this to my attention. If only he had quit when he was ahead.

Al Franken to run in 2008

As Al Franken considers challenging Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., for re-election in 2008, the comedian and liberal radio host is looking to his hometown senator for advice: Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“I asked Hillary, ‘Can you give me some suggestions about running for Senate in a state you haven’t lived for in a while, or in your case, ever?’ ” Franken recalled, laughing heartily. “And she said, ‘This will be a long conversation,’ so we agreed to have a long conversation about it.”

Franken put the odds of running against Coleman at better than 50-50.

Coleman declined to comment and Minnesota Republican Party chairman Ron Eibensteiner asked, “This is a joke, right?”

I would like to think Ron Eibensteiner was on to something with this being a joke - - but Franken running for senate wouldn’t be all that surprising after the books he has published, speeches he has given and now the radio thing.

Liberal talk radio must find new Los Angeles, Chicago stations

Air America must seek new homes in the nation’s second and third-largest markets less than three weeks into its short life.

Heartbreaking as hell, ain’t it?