You might call it splitting the baby. Sort of.
Progressive radio will be allowed to remain on our public AM airwaves in San Francisco, though with major schedule shake-ups, the removal of its popular progressive branding and several bizarre additions to the line-up, including far Rightwing extremists such as former Fox “News” phenom Glenn Beck in the place of what had been one of Green960’s most popular morning shows.
The latest move in the strange back-and-forth saga follows on radio giant Clear Channel’s announcement just over two weeks ago, that Green960 — the only AM Progressive Talk Radio station on the dial in San Francisco, one of the nation’s most progressive cities — would be banished from the popular public airwaves and sent to the radio-ghetto of the little-known and even lesser-received HD2 band. Its progressive programming — featuring the likes of popular lefty-ish talkers such as Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes, Norman Goldman and Mike Malloy — would be replaced (with the exception of Rhodes, who is syndicated by Clear Channel’s Premiere Radio) by yet another so-called “conservative” talk station, featuring extremists such as Beck and other Fox “News” regulars.
The move by the media conglomerate, now owned by leading GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital, LLC, was to occur on January 3. The move would have left Rhodes as the only progressive voice on the entire AM dial in San Francisco, as of the first business day of the new Presidential Election year.
But a funny thing happened on the way to 2012 on Bay Area talk radio…
‘Uncanceled’
As The BRAD BLOG reported in our follow-up last week, plans to move programming from Clear Channel’s “Fox News Radio” KNEW 910 in San Francisco over to the 960 spot, where Green960 currently is, and to shuffle off the progressive 960 talkers into Radio Nowhere Land came to a quiet, if sudden pause last week.
CC, we were able to confirm, had decided to rethink its plans in the wake of the sudden sea change of programming at KGO, a long-time staple talk station in the San Fran market, featuring a well-loved mix of conservative, libertarians and moderate talkers. That change was announced just days after CC’s original announcement.
Overnight, Cumulus-owned KGO released virtually all of its talk show hosts — several of whom had been on the station for decades — to flip the station to a more inexpensive all-news format. The move resulted in a lot of angry KGO listeners (to add to the already-angry Green960 listeners) and put a whole bunch of Bay Area talk radio ratings and talk show hosts up for grabs in the major broadcast market.
The result led to reporting at industry outlet All Access that “several sources” had informed them that “several of the shows scheduled to be dropped” from 960 had suddenly been “uncanceled.”
Through our own reporting and information from insiders very familiar with Clear Channel’s plans, we were able to confirm that their previously previous intentions had come to a full stop as the move was being reconsidered.
Yesterday, CC finally announced its newest plan in a press release published by All Access.
According to the statement, virtually all of Green960’s current line-up will now be allowed to stay on the air in San Francisco, though the brand-name will still be changed and both Beck and Right-leaning financial talker Dave Ramsey will be added to the schedule in place of the current morning drive-time shows on Green960.
Beck is also syndicated by Clear Channel’s syndication arm Premiere, and Ramsey is, according to one insider (though we’ve not been able to confirm it with Clear Channel) is now paying to be on the air in that time slot.
The new “KNEW 960” will use the tag line “Opinions. Finance. Advice.”
Beck is scheduled to replace Stephanie Miller’s very popular morning program from 6a-9a PT, with her live show scheduled to be delayed for evening broadcast instead, from 7p-10p PT. Thom Hartmann, who currently airs live from 9a-Noon in San Francisco, will also be delayed, running late-night from 10p-1a, though he is not mentioned in the release at All Access. His live slot will be replaced with Ramsey.
Similarly not mentioned in their release is the fate of Mike Malloy, whose show is currently broadcast live from 6p-9p on Green960. We’re told that he will now be shuffled into the early morning hours of 1a-3a, with one hour of his three-hour broadcast lost to San Francisco entirely in the bargain. [FULL DISCLOSURE: I have been Malloy’s regular fill-in guest host for several years, and am currently scheduled to once again be on board for him this Friday night before Christmas, and the following Thursday and Friday as well.]
The Malloy move is a strange one for Clear Channel as well. In 2010, Green960’s then Program Director had told us that Malloy was his “best performer” on the station, presumably referencing the show’s standing against other stations during the 6p to 9p hours.
Most of the other progressive talkers on the current line-up, including Randi Rhodes from Noon-3p and Norman Goldman from 3p-6p, will be allowed to stay where they are now, in their live time slot.
‘Free Market, My Ass’
Though we sought comment on the new new news from the bulk of the current 960 progressive talkers, they all declined to respond on record, though Miller discussed the new changes on her show this morning.
The popular host and comedienne, whose radio side-kicks John Fugelsang and Hal Sparks have been touring the country with a sold-out “Sexy Liberal” comedy show for several months, leading to the release of a comedy album which debuted last week as the #1 comedy album in the nation, gently decried the Green960 changes and her replacement by Beck.
“They tried to take me off the air before in San Francisco,” Miller told listeners. “There was such a demand that we were back on in…about a week or two.” She went on to describe the moves in San Francisco, generously, while broadcasting from Los Angeles’ Clear Channel affiliate station, as both “a mixed-bag” and “a little puzzling.”
She encouraged listeners to express their thoughts to Clear Channel “respectfully,” explaining that at least her show was not removed entirely, and adding again that listener feedback has had an effect on the giant media corporation in both San Francisco and other markets in the past.
Miller cited Clear Channel’s plans to remove progressive talk from the public airwaves recently in liberal Madison, WI, a move they also changed their minds about. The station, The Mic 92.1FM, she says, is now the #1 talk station in the Madison market.
Stephanie Miller’s full comments on the Green960 shake-up today on her show [appx 6 mins, hat-tip “Shane-O” Farnan]…
The BRAD BLOG on the Air 12/21/2011Clear Channel Allows Progressives to Stay on Air in San Francisco, but Adds Glenn Beck to Line-Up | Green960, redubbed KNEW 960, to become 'home of misfit, or at least mismatched, toys', says one insider... · · · · · Clear Channel Allows Progressives to Stay on Air in San Francisco, but Adds Glenn Beck to Line-Up | Green960, redubbed KNEW 960, to become 'home of misfit, or at least mismatched, toys', says one insider...0:00 0:00
Miller also quoted a BRAD BLOG commenter who responded to our initial news about Green960’s cancellation by writing “‘Free market,’ my ass.”
The comment alludes to the long-time, well-supported charge from progressives — as detailed in our initial report on the Green960 shake-up — that they have been largely squeezed out of the corporate-controlled radio market, not based on a lack of interest in progressive programming, but by a lack of interest from the corporate entities that now control almost all of our public airwaves in the wake of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. There is, as we have long noted, no real free-market competition allowed anymore in talk radio, as major corporations such as Clear Channel often own both the “competing” Rightwing and Progressive radio stations in the same markets.
‘Mismatched Toys’
Previously, after CC had initially announced its now-aborted plans to strike virtually all of its progressive programming from the AM dial in San Francisco, Rhodes, the only progressive who was to have stayed in place on 960, found a bright side to the shake-up that would have otherwise silenced almost all non-Rightwing voices from the AM public airwaves.
“It does look like the beginning of the end of ‘conservative format purity’ has started,” she told The BRAD BLOG via email. “That’s a change in the industry that I’ve been fighting for for a long time and I’m happy to be part of it.”
The newly announced line-up at 960 also seems to signal the end of “progressive format purity,” at least in San Francisco for the time being, if Clear Channel sticks with their newest plans.
The seemingly bizarre additions will result in Beck, who has often said that he hates progressives, seeing his “hate radio” programmed side-by-side with many of those same progressives, a strategy questioned by an insider who will be directly affected by the changes.
“Apparently,” the insider observed via email, with an allusion to the Christmas season, “the new 960 KNEW is the home of misfit, or at least mismatched, toys.”
Whether those mismatched toys, or rather, their listeners, will be able to play nicely together on the same radio frequency is a question that remains to be seen.
Over on 910, the previous home of KNEW, which is now to be re-branded as “NewsTalk 910 KKSF,” Clear Channel has snatched up two of the layed-off KGO refugees, non-partisan “Radio Lawyer” Len Tillem and Gene Burns, a libertarian seen as leaning somewhat to the left. They will fill out a schedule which includes at least one former Fox “News” Radio host.
“Recent changes in the talk radio market gave us the opportunity to adjust our plans for 960 KNEW,” said CC’s San Francisco Director of Operations, Don Parker, according to All Access. “We are excited to broaden 960 KNEW’s position to appeal to a wider variety of Bay Area listeners.”
In his initial statement two weeks ago, announcing that Green960 was scheduled to be moved off the AM dial to the HD2 band and replaced with the hard-right leaning KNEW, Parker had touted the move as an “opportunity to expand our footprint in this crucial arena as we head into an election year [with] a population increasingly engaged in local, state, and national events and activism.”
It looks like what All Access had described as San Francisco talk radio’s “earthquake” may keep rumbling for quite a while in the Bay Area…
If you remove Stephanie Miller and Thom Hartman from the live line-up, I will watch Stephanie on Ustream and Thom on Free Speech TV. I will stream everyone else from their website. I will no longer listen to 960 AM. Clear Channel is not my only resource for progressive programing. Do you really think progressives are going to listen to Glenn Beck?
“You might call it splitting the baby. Sort of.”
Why Brad, its the Fairness Doctrine (although voluntarily, rather than via government mandate). Surely you recognize it!
This is sort of great news.
But while the official Clear Channel line may be that the KGO lineup change made all the difference, consider that December 12th, groups in eight cities all over the country “occupied” Clear Channel radio stations at the same time, demanding progressive talk radio for their communities. (Live stream here.)
Sacramento, San Francisco and Milwaukee were among the eight cities.
Ten days later, let’s see what happened.
Timeline:
December 12: Occupy Sacramento, Media Action Center, Sacramento Media Group, Media Alliinace and others occupy Clear Channel stations from coast to coast, basing the action at KFBK in Sacramento, which launched Rush Limbaugh.
December 14: Clear Channel management in Sacramento agrees to a meeting (but not yet the public meeting we requested.)
December 15: a Milwaukee Media Action Center team leader who has been unsuccessfully writing letters to Clear Channel asking for Progressive talk in his community, receives a personal response from management that Clear Channel has rethought its position and will offer the community a progressive station, (albeit on obscure HD radio.) Press reports follow.
December 16: Clear Channel announces it is rethinking plans to convert San Francisco’s 960 AM to yet another conservative talk station.
December 21: BradBlog confirms that Clear Channel will keep most of 960 AM in a progressive format.
Hmnn, after real people marched into Clear Channel stations in what was a strategic national strike, Clear Channel made format changes in two of the eight cities targeted, with a third willing to discuss it further.
Never underestimate the power of the people physically exercising its rights.
I smell “pay to play” is at work here. How else can you explain Beck in morning drive? Meanwhile, a perfectly good “happy clappy liberal” morning drive show is relegated to after the afternoon drive is over. I do not understand Stephanie Miller as an evening show, especially since her show is very timely, with Stephanie and her guests making references to events happening in almost real time. What makes me especially think this is “pay to play” is the program set to bump Thom Hartmann from 9 am to 10 pm — a “Christian” financial advisory talk show. There are plenty of other stations with a “Christian” slant, including KFAX AM 1100, a 50 KW daytimer that clearly would have better 9 am coverage than the 5 KW of AM 960.
Our right-leaning friend, Parke Bostrom, noted @ 2 (with no small amount of snark):
In truth, I likely lean towards Randi Rhodes thoughts, quoted above, that she is “happy” to see a “change in the industry” from “conservative format purity”. I’ve always thought the Balkanization of talk radio, with RWers on one (or three) stations and Progressives (if the public is lucky) on another, was silly. Good radio is good radio. I don’t think only wingnuts listen to wingnuts and Progressives listen to Progressives.
Until the GOP went off the rails entirely over the last 2 or 3 years, and it just became Crazy Town, I used to listen to Limbaugh more, for example, than anybody else.
So I’ve got no prob w/ a mix of politics on the same station. Trouble is, that doesn’t work when it’s only done on one station, and the other three talk stations in San Fran allow ZERO progressives on the air at all. There’s nothing either “fair” or free market about it.
LinearBob @ 4 said:
Well, he needn’t “pay to play”, since he is already syndicated by CC’s syndidate arm Premiere Radio Networks. So it’s already in CC’s interest to make sure he appears on their stations.
That brings to mind United States v. Paramount Pictures in which the U.S. found that movie studios owning their own cinemas, running only their own pictures in them, and keeping those films from being screened at competing theaters, was in violation of anti-trust laws.
According to Wikipedia:
While I don’t think Premiere keeps their shows from running on non-CC-owned stations, there is clearly some anti-trust questions in general with the largest owner of radio stations across the nation (all of which rely on using our public airwaves) also being among the largest radio syndicators. But I’ll leave further examination of that to greater legal minds than mine. In any case, we don’t really do trust-busting in this country any more, as you know, since left-wing, anti-American, pinko commies like Republican President Teddy Roosevelt went out of style.
As to Ramsey’s show, I believe it’s quite literally “pay to play”, if my source is correct and he is paying CC to appear on their air, as is frequently done — and perfectly legal to my knowledge — on many stations around the country (many of them CC-owned stations that find they can make more money by simply selling off air time on our public airwaves, then either producing their own shows, or even selling ads during syndicated programming that they would otherwise get for free from folks like Miller, Malloy, Hartmann, etc.)
while it “sounds” nice that they’re not taking progressives off the station, to put Thom Hartmann on at 10 PM is pretty much like taking him off the air. He is the #1 progressive talk show host in the country. And, yes, Stephanie is a pretty close second, I think, and is definitely a morning show. Listenership in general from 7 pm to midnight is, well, miniscule compared to 7-9 am where Glenn Beck now is. This is NOT good news, it’s only a good publicity effort from CC. And congratulations to Sue Wilson, above, for all her great work! Occupy radio!
“Our right-leaning friend, Parke Bostrom, noted @ 2 (with no small amount of snark)”
Why, it’s the BradBlog, I thought the snark was required. 😉
“Until the GOP went off the rails entirely over the last 2 or 3 years, and it just became Crazy Town, I used to listen to Limbaugh more, for example, than anybody else.”
Hmmm. I thought the GOP (as opposed to talk radio) went of the rails round about 2001-2002.
As for talk radio (as opposed to the GOP) going Crazy Town “2 or 3 years ago”, I really cannot comment. I cannot stand listening to talk radio.
I love paying attention to framing. I think framing is important. But most of the framing that goes on talk radio is deceptive, designed to distort and excite, rather than to educate.
Glen Beck replacing Stephanie Miller. It’s a remake of The Crying Game as a liberal horror movie.
KNEW? It’s more like KPEW.
That does it. I’m throwing away my AM radio. No use to me anymore. To the barricades, compadres.
Radio Free Conservative is using our public airwaves for psychological warfare. The target population are those Americans stupid enough to fall for that crap. I am somebody spoact.blogspot.com
Can we get our own radio network?
I feel at least this is a good thing that they are allowing at some progressive voices. I live in Ohio where radio is a total wasteland. When progressive used to be allowed they were given almost zero broadband and it was almost impossible to hear them. Then it was declared that no one listened to them. ARE YOU KIDDING? It was virtually impossible to listen. Then the good progressive voices were replaced by another disgusting sports station.
We need to get our airwaves back. Aren’t there any of the wealthy 1% who can buy us some radio?
I have had to podcast Randi since Air America days. I have to PAY for it. Why, If “we” own the air waves do I have to pay for something that makes sense?
I can’t listen to Beck of Limbaugh without throwing up.
Believe it or not Ohio is a BLUE state. Our airwaves and elections have been stolen from us. Does anyone but BRAD get that?
I live in the Bay Area and I happily wake up with Stephanie Miller each morning. As I drive to classes I enjoy Thom Hartmann. In the evenings I love Mike Malloy–but it is extremely unusual for me to listen to the radio past 9 pm…it is total crap that they want to put Beck on the air here–why replace a perfectly good left-leaning show in a left-leaning locale with a ranting conservative psychopath? I have to tell you that the morning I wake up to Glenn Beck’s voice is the very last morning I will ever be listening to this station. I’ll just have to move on to podcasting!
Clear Channel owned by Bain Capital, REALLY???? Even if Mitt doesn’t work for them anymore, they certainly stand to profit big time if he is elected and Mitt will profit right along with them.
Losing money on a radio station would be worth it to keep the voices of Stephanie Miller and Thom Hartman away from the Bay Area.
Having Glenn Beck and other right-wingnuts in the line-up is equivalent to making an omelet with several good eggs and a couple of rotten ones. It makes the whole thing unacceptable and uneatable. I will not listen to this station. I am lucky I have iHeart radio. But what is to keep Mitt and CC from making changes on all their stations?
Can you say Monopoly?
Sorry its inedible.
I really like the Occupy the Radio Station idea. If I was still living in SF Bay area I would be right there.
Also do you also realize they are cutting out the truthful voice about what is happening at the Occupy actions. Makes it easier for the police to disrupt without having to hear about the truth from live witnesses.
Hum” station owned by a company that Mitt Romney owns,sounds pretty fishy to me,um,he wants to pump propaganda out there?thinking san francisco voters will vote for him? highly unlikely.I dont see San francisco listeners tuning in to Glenn Beck either way,we do need to take our airwaves back, getting the fairness doctrine reinstated is a first step.
Its not about hearing Glenn Beck. Nobody is listening to him. Its about keeping people form listening to progressive radio. Starting with Stephanie Miller and Thom Hartman.
Who is next?
I never really understood ‘radiowaves, airwaves,frequency,banwith etc. what i do now understand about the telecommuciation act signed by Clinton and continues by Obama, that the rich corporate republicans have been allowed to buy all of our public airwaves and if progressive, liberals want to listen to progressive talk they have to BUY it.I live in the south, i purchased the smart just to get iheart radio app. Now i have to buy satalite radio if the progressive/liberal talk is there.
Really, progressive San Francisco and the Bay Area needs Glenn Beck?
Are you living under a rock Green 960?
Wonder if Clear Channel noticed Occupy was the person of the year in Time Magazine for 2011?
It wasn’t the Tea Party!
My take:
My take:
No Stephie At All
Shut it down, Green(?)960. We don’t need no Glen Beck. Clear Channel can stick it where the sun don’t shine.
Occupy the Airwaves!!!
Clear channel violates FEC and FCC regulations, switching sole liberal station in bay area to neoconservatist propaganda machine!
http://www.sfbg.com/bruce/2012/...ller-green-960
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2...n_1186764.html
https://bradblog.com/?p=8994
https://bradblog.com/?p=9024