KUGN to bounce hard-line talk show (DUMPS SAVAGE IN A BOW TO LEFTIST WHINERS)

The Eugene Red Guard ^ | December 18, 2002 | TIM CHRISTIE

[Clinging Bitterly]

Been looking to do this since last summer. Yeah right.

I emailed Jerry Allen (the senior on-air personality at the station, and also a university employee as the Ducks' radio announcer) a month or so ago when the leftists started tossing their feces around over this issue, and I told him that my radio dial is not stuck and I would be turning it if anything like this happened.

My email tonight will be to tell him that the dial has been turned.

As for U of O sports, this year I was fortunate enough to obtain tickets and attend most of the Ducks home football games at the newly expanded Autzen Stadium. I noticed that later in the season there were a lot of empty seats. My company is a huge sponsor of U of O athletics, and purchases hundreds of season tickets for all of the programs (and part of the Autzen complex is named for it), and while I don't see that situation changing a whole lot, there are those of us who appreciated that politics didn't get mixed up in at least this part of the University, and our disappointment today isn't likely to do much to fill up those empty seats. In the coming year, there'll be plenty of time to analyze the whole issue and figure out if the station's comments regarding this are on the up and up, and also decide whether or not to attend home football games.

I think KUGN has made a mistake here. In the end, the Ducks' broadcast contract boils down to money. Until very recently, it went between the top three AM stations in the area, and they were locally owned. With changes in broadcast regulations, we now have KUGN as #2 owned by Cumulus Broadcasting, and KPNW as #1 owned by Clear Channel Communications (and for all practical purposes, there is not a #3). Talk radio is the bread and butter of both of these stations, but the university sports broadcasting contract is the meat. It is the biggest thing on radio in this town, and when the radio contract comes back up for bids, it's gonna get ugly as it always does. But the university doesn't have much control over what station gets it anymore, as they have delegated that function their national television broadcats rights holder, which is currently ESPN. Somehow I don't think much will affect this beyond the bottom line.

Dave in Eugene

[Clinging Bitterly]

Hey bud, ya got a Eugene ping list in the can??

Dave in Eugene

[Commander8]

Well, there's one station that's going to lose lots of listeners.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

The move follows a chorus of complaints from University of Oregon faculty and students who have argued for weeks that UO football and basketball broadcasts shouldn't share the air with "hate radio" commentators who defy the university's commitment to diversity liberalism and equality special treatment for selected classes of women and non-white people.

[GOP_Raider]

Did that article just say that talk shows dont do as well in smaller markets?? Baloney!! Maybe not in Eugene, but in places like Reno, Boise, Billings, Idaho Falls, and a few other markets in the west they do extremely well.

I think sometimes news departments just make up statistics like that to suit their own purposes.

[Nachum]

What station is KUGN's competitor? Man, I would pick up Savage's contract in a heartbeat. Then I would run a billboard on campus with a huge picture of Savage and my call letters just to piss everybody off.

Can you imagine the publicity? Ratings would hit the roof.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Yeah, that's how it goes. They dump a conservative in the name of equality and diversity (code for "liberalism"), then can't figure out why their ratings just went in the dumper.

[The Obstinate Insomniac]

ping

[jwalsh07]

Critics at the UO said Savage went beyond outrageous. They called his program "hate radio," and cited his on-air remarks denigrating women, immigrants, Hispanics and Jews

Michael Weiner, nee Savage, is a Jew and strong supporter of Israel. Not that the truth matters in today's America.

[Clinging Bitterly]

My email to jerry@kugn.com (Jerry Allen):

Subject: Dropping the Savage show...

When this issue of the Savage show vs. Oregon sports came up about a month ago I emailed you and I mentioned that my radio dial is not stuck.

I'm not inclined to believe what I heard from your market director in the former Savage time slot today. The newspaper article sort of gives away the fact that the programming decision was made at least partly in response to the vocal leftist minority's cries for censorship.

Too bad for you and the station. I listened to you on the sports broadcasts, and to the Savage show, but it seems as though your station didn't listen to me.

Thank you for all the years of wonderful Ducks game broadcasting, especially for the excitement with which you have colored some of the greatest moments in U of O sports history. I will be missing them for as long as the sports programs remain on KUGN. I am truly sorry.

David xxxxxx
Eugene, Oregon

[Clinging Bitterly]

There are two "major" AM stations in town and as I said, talk radio is their bread and butter. To say talk radio doesn't do well here would seem to be a lie, since that's all there is.

Dave in Eugene

[Clinging Bitterly]

> What station is KUGN's competitor?

That would be KPNW 1120 (a "clear channel"), 50,000 watts into a four tower directional array standing in a big flat marsh. If you tune in right now, I can just about guarantee you will hear it (currently playing a Trail Blazers basketball game).

Their billboards have Rush's picture, but there's room for more.

Dave in Eugene

[First Amendment]

I used to live in Eugene (left about 5 yrs ago) and for those of you who haven't been there, it is one of the most left-leaning towns I have been in. More women with beards there than anyplace I've seen.... I bet Mike Savage will do fine on 1120 AM!

[John W]

We just lost Dave Macy on WOWO in Fort Wayne this week.Supposedly for not properly filling out FCC required paperwork when commercials don't run within 15 minutes of scheduled time.Macy didn't disput his errors,but,as he put it-it'll be a "safer" station without him.Fort Wayne is a cowtown that aspires to be something else,won't get there this way.

[Nachum]

50,000 watts? Clear channel?

Hey, why not write a letter to the sports director of the University, suggesting he could do better with a station with more power. This is sure to affect the recruiting power of his football program. What mother wants to send her highly touted football player to a University that has so much controversy?(send a copy of this letter to the program director at KUGN along with a reminder of how he just lost a bunch of listeners)

I mean, as long as Oregon is now more of a nationally recognized football power, the fan base would appreciate a 50,000 watt clear channel station. "Mr. Sports Director- think of the better recruiting the program could do with the larger reach of a 50,000 watt clear channel station like KPNW 1120."

[DBtoo]

But Savage has that awful, whiny, grating voice that makes me just cringe....

Plus I think he is nothing but an opportunist. I think his act is a charade. I am not a liberal. I just don't like that man.

[The Obstinate Insomniac]

Just don't make the mistake of listening too often to his show, he might grow on you.

[DBtoo]

Where I live we have one AM station and one FM station. The FM station is local (AM is public radio) and the owner of the FM has Michael Savage on in the afternoons. It's much more interesting than NPR, but Savage behaves like such a jerk. He is very much in love with himself. I went to his website some months ago to find out about him. At the time all I could find on his site was him begging for money.

[DBtoo]

Well that's the problem!

I've been listening to him a few days a week for over a year now. It seems he's gotten worse lately with the rudeness and insults. He makes me so mad sometimes when he doesn't give other people a chance to speak and yells nasty things at them and hangs up. What a jerk!!! I even resort to screaming at the radio sometimes.

[The Obstinate Insomniac]

I would agree with your assessment except every once in a while he will have a great show.