Posted on 03/13/2003 8:54:33 PM PST by Indy Pendance
With lily-livered national sponsors fleeing Michael Savage’s new show in the face of liberal complaints, MSNBC has dug in its heels and is sticking with the outspoken talk show host.
Even though such heavyweight sponsors as Procter & Gamble, Dell Computer Corp., Sharper Image, along with three other national companies have pulled away from the show, MSNBC is standing by the controversial Michael Savage, writes Gail Shister of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
MSNBC is "very comfortable [with Savage], "and we expect it to air every Saturday," the cable network’s Jeremy Gaines told Shister
Savage, author of the best-selling The Savage Nation: Saving America From the Liberal Assault on Our Borders, Language and Culture racked up a viewership of 503,000 viewers on his first outing on MSNBC, double the usual audience for the 5-to-6 p.m. despite vociferous opposition from such liberal anti-free speech groups as GLAAD, the National Organization for Women, and Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), Shister wrote.
Best known for his attacks on homosexuals, feminists, liberals and immigrants from what he calls "turd world nations," Savage has toned down his rhetoric for the MSNBC show leading GLAAD spokeswoman Cathy Renna to say that "The Michael Savage on the air Saturday is not the real Michael Savage we see in his book or hear on the radio." Renna told Shister that in her view, "it's clear that he was being pressured to contain the content on the show."
But MSNBC insisted that no special restrictions were placed on Savage, according to Gaines but Shister noted that last week MSNBC boss Erik Sorensen reportedly said that if Savage used the same pejorative terms on MSNBC that he does on his weekday radio, it would happen only once.
"We can only judge him based on the show he does on our air," Gaines says. "We're very comfortable with last week's show, and I think you'll see a similar show this Saturday."
It’s been a bad week for liberals like the storm trooperettes at NOW – first Savage’s show survived despite the desertion of big name sponsors, and now the Senate has passed the ban on the brutal partial birth abortions that meant so much to them.
His ratings were double the usual for that time slot. If they pulled, they were not important spots to them anyway. If his rating continue to climb he will have no problem filling every slot.
Hold on to your tampons ladies, things could get crazy.
He's an acquired taste, I guess.
I can't stand his radio show; too much egomania and rudeness to his callers.
Sponsors don't like controversy, and Savage generates controversy in spades.
Really. There's not.
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