BANNED IN BEANTOWN - Stations Respond To Death By Yanking Conservative Talk

radioequalizer ^ | August 26, 2009 | Brian Maloney

[Free ThinkerNY]

Boston's two largest talk radio stations have responded to Ted Kennedy's passing by dumping their usual conservative programming and replacing it with local liberal supporters of the late senator.

WRKO-AM withheld its standard midmorning and early afternoon lineup of Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh, replacing it with a special show hosted by convicted felon / former House Speaker Tom Finneran, a Democrat best known for circumventing a voter-approved cut in the state income tax.

Known as "Tommy Taxes" for that legislative maneuver, Finneran is normally heard in morning drive.

A choked-up Finneran told listeners that Kennedy's passing was much more difficult to experience than he'd believed and discussed "the positive economic impact" of Ted K's reign. Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh fans tuning in at noon were denied their opportunity to hear his take on the day's events.

According to an inside source within Entercom / Boston's cluster of stations, WRKO has been "inundated" with angry callers objecting to the censorship of Limbaugh.

[roses of sharon]

Na, behaving how liberals demand has never been constructive.

But informing Americans, is.

[Unam Sanctam]

Besides being a felon, as Howie always dings him for being, Finneran also flip flopped on same sex marriage and is now for it, thus tossing aside his Catholic faith as the Kennedies have done. I cannot respect him for that.

[benewton]

Howie’s up, but “respectful”, which isn’t a good thing.

Note that I’m up on line, though, so I’ve no idea if he’s actually on the air.

[andy58-in-nh]

Howie’s on the air and yes, he’s being “respectful”, but just barely; and you can tell it’s killing him.

[GI Joe Fan]

Exactly.

Regarding Boston's fascist decision toward a private enterprise like talk radio, one can easily surmise that Chavez is smiling somewhere in Venezuela now that the democrats are using his tactics.

[Little Bill]

I think they turned down the power to limit the broadcast area, all static in my area.

[trisham]

Agreed.

[andy58-in-nh]

My signal is also weak (but then it always stinks in New Hampshire).

Any idea if Howie is still syndicated on other stations? If you go to the new WRKO web site (which is now replicated at Howiecarr.com)
there is no mention of any other stations and an internal search comes up empty. It’s almost as though Entercomm doesn’t want to advertise any of his affiliates.

[raccoonradio]

Finneran’s co-host was libertarian/conservative Avi Nelson.

Right now Howie Carr is on but he seems a little quiet, subdued (no “my heart feels like an alligator! I’m in a great mood and I don’t know why!”) and he cautioned listeners not to go over the line with hatred; no Ted Kennedy impersonators on the Chump Line. No admirer of Ted, to be sure, but...

He said the Herald has someone full time on the website to delete nasty posts about the Senator. And that’s the uh,
non-liberal paper in town...

[raccoonradio]

>>angry callers objecting to the censorship of Limbaugh.

True, they could say “well we wanted to go local” and “you could still pick him up on stations in Hartford, Worc.,
Prov., and Cape Cod” but not everyone can pick those up
depending on what radio they had. You’re at work. You have a Walkman or a small radio that can get WRKO, but not WTIC,
WTAG, WHJJ, or WXTK-FM...So no Rush for you today.

(WTIC at least was streaming Rush on their site)

[Political Junkie Too]

Didn't Kennedy also smear John Roberts over his use of the single word "amigo" in a memo?

-PJ

[raccoonradio]

to the best of my knowledge:

WRKO 680 Boston
WCRN 830 Worcester
WHYN 560 Springfield area
WXTK-FM 95.1 Cape Cod

WNTK AM 1020 Lake Sunapee NH area
I think he’s back on WKBK 1220 Keene
WUVR 1490 Newport NH area

WGAN 560 Portland ME
A couple stations in Bangor (103.3? 101.3?)

WVMT 620 Burlington VT

[raccoonradio]

He’s getting a bit fiery now talking about immigration act from the 60s. “This problem was created by Ted Kennedy’s immigration reform act. He was the author of the legislation, Josh...”

[andy58-in-nh]

Thanks - I don’t know why Howie doesn’t have those stations listed on his website any more, except that it now appears to center more around WRKO than about him.

[raccoonradio]

no problem—hey, I did find a list of stations, on the Wikipedia page for the show

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Howie_Carr_Show

WGAN 560 Portland ME
WHYN 560 Holyoke/Springfield MA
WVMT 620 Burlington VT
WRKO 680 Boston
(WCRN 830 Worcester)
WKBK 1290 Keene NH (oops I may have said 1220)

WEGP 1390 Presque Isle ME
WXTK 95.1 Cape Cod
WNTK-FM 99.7 (but WNTK website says they’re on AM 1020?)
and WUVR 1490 Lebanon/White River Jct
WVOM 103.9 FM Bangor ME (but I think also on 101.3 up
there somewhere?) I think 101.3 is WKCG, simulcasting WVOM

[Little Bill]

I generally get RKO clearly in my truck in the Eastern End of the Lakes Region, all static today.

[andy58-in-nh]

Thanks - nothing audible in Southern NH except for 'RKO, whose signal is still considered "local" in Manchester (at least according to the radio locator map) - but nonetheless still fades rapidly in the Concord area, where I work. It ain't that great in Manchester either, truth be told...

[TankerKC]

It’s a programming choice by those stations. I fail to see the problem. Is it annoying if you can’t hear Rush? Yeah. Is it censorship? Hardly.

[raccoonradio]

yeah I think the 107.7, the Pulse, licensed to the Concord area had Howie for awhile. But not anymore. Once in Haverhill MA I picked up 107.7...

[andy58-in-nh]

They dropped the show a couple of years ago, which was too bad because it was the only one on which I could hear him clearly (and without static, on FM!)