Murtha Campaign pulls ads from
Boot Murtha Rally emcees'
radio station & affiliates
"John! If you're listening out there by satellite, you'd better come home right away!
Things are going to hell in a hand basket back in Johnstown!"
– Jim Quinn, on-air, Sept 1, 2006
Jim Quinn of the syndicated "The War Room with Quinn & Rose" radio show reports the Murtha for Congress campaign has pulled all ads from their station and their five affiliate stations.
[EXCERPTS:]
"...the Murtha for Congress campaign has decided not only not to buy any commercial time on this radio show, but to punish the other five radio stations in our group. I guess this is supposed to put pressure on me and Rose. Or it's supposed to... well it's designed to punish us for our editorial positions on Murtha and also on the upcoming election...
... I mean, look – if you're gonna take your advertising off SIX of the largest, most successful, most listened-to radio stations in a market that covers half of your congressional district... I mean, you've gotta be really torqued off about something...
Jim Quinn and Rose Somma Tennet are co-emceeing the Boot Murtha Rally, set for Oct. 1st in Murtha's hometown of Johnstown.
The War Room with Quinn & Rose [LINK] airs Monday through Friday in the 6 to 9 a.m. time slot. It covers a major portion of Murtha's district and is heard on Pittsburgh, PA (104.7 FM WPGB); Altoona, PA (1290 AM WFBG); Johnstown, PA (850 AM WNTJ); Somerset, PA (990 AM WNTJ); Akron, Ohio (640 AM WHLO) and Wheeling, West Virginia (1170 AM WWVA).
Transcript from the Sept. 1st show:
Ladies and gentlemen... John Murtha, John Murtha. I mean I became privy to some information yesterday and I want to share it with you....
Alright, so last evening I get a phone call informing me that the Murtha for Congress campaign has decided not only not to buy any commercial time on this radio show, but to punish the other 5 radio stations in our group. I guess this is supposed to put pressure on me and Rose. Or it's supposed to... well it's designed to punish us for our editorial positions on Murtha and also on the upcoming election.
Ya know, look – this is a business. And I'm all for making money. And I do not make it a practice to go out of my way to try and lose money for my employer. Ah, that would be counterproductive and stupid. I mean let's face it... the bottom line is, this is a business. The bottom line is to generate enough listeners so that we can absolutely fleece these poor advertisers out of every buck [laughing] we can get! I mean, that's what it's about.
But you have to remember, this is after all a political show. And we're certainly not going to limit our criticism of a candidate, we're not going to limit our advocacy, our doors are always open for the opposition – I mean, anytime Murtha wants to call here I'll stop whatever I'm doing and put him right on. I mean, it may not be an easy day for him, obviously, because it's a go with the show is what it is.
But I find this to be very instructive. Ah, because, first of all I'm flattered that the Murtha campaign feels that this show has been that instrumental in... (pause) and now here you have to fill in the blank. Instrumental in what? I mean, look – if you're gonna take your advertising off SIX of the largest, most successful, most listened-to radio stations in a market that covers half of your congressional district... I mean, you've gotta be really torqued off about something.
I bring this up because yesterday it was either Rush [Limbaugh] or Sean [Hannity] who was complaining about the dearth of polls regarding the Murtha race. And, if I heard correctly, Robert Novak – who by the way I don't think is the end-all, be-all of predicting things – but Robert Novak had taken the Murtha-Irey contest out of the "Shoe-In" category and put it in the "Up in the air" category. Up for Grabs category. Now that tells me that... I mean, that combined with this... this phone calling 'we're not going to buy any advertising on any of your radio stations – NONE of 'em!' Well, that suggests to me that they've got some internal polling here, ah, that has made them very angry about whatever influence this show has had in that congressional district. Because certainly the other 5 radio stations are not political. They don't talk about this stuff. So, it's gotta be all us.
But you know, it's interesting because in the history of this show, which I believe extends all the way back to February of 1993 when we first went on the – yeah, when we first went on the air as a local show, before it got syndicated and before it got on satellite radio... in the entire history of this show, no candidate has ever pulled their advertising from our show, much less an entire group of radio stations in retaliation for what they feel is an unfair or an unjust political opinion. I mean, again, it's a political show. You're gonna have political opinions here and you don't whine about it. But actually in the history of this show, the people that we have taken issue with... the people that we have criticized the most are the ones that went out of their way to make sure that advertising was purchased on the show...
In the whole history of this show this is the first time this has happened. And that tells me a number of things. First of all, if I'm the Irey campaign, I am popping champagne corks this morning because in their anger, apparently, about this show they have managed to take their presence off 6 of the most listened to radio stations in half of their congressional district.
Now, I would think this would come under the heading of shooting oneself in the foot. And frankly, this is a big win for Irey. And it does beg the question, considering that this is the first time that anyone's responded this way or acted this way... it really does beg the question here: Who's running this campaign? I mean, do these people really know what they are doing?
Now, the reason I ask that question – and I think it's a legitimate question – is because I think John Murtha needs to address it as well... Murtha has been such a shoe-in for so many years... why would you develop and pay a 'crack team' of political operatives who really know how to win an election... why would you pay for an expensive team of experts to run your election when you're a shoe-in?
Well now, apparently under fire here, we've seen what I think is a tremendous mistake on their part. Because you don't like the opinion expressed by one political show you remove yourself from the stage? And you let the other side have full reign?
So, I just find all of this very interesting. And very instructive.
[later in show]
Listen. I don't think John Murtha had anything to do with this. Cuz he's off on the 41 state Jane Fonda Redux Tour, Let's Bring Back Vietnam Tour. See I gotta figure that any really smart campaign manager is not gonna do something like that. I mean, "John! If you're listening out there by satellite, you'd better come home right away! Things are going to hell in a hand basket back in Johnstown!"
