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The New York Amsterdam News reports Access.1 Liberal Talk 1600 WWRL (NYC) will drop its format and flip to a Spanish language music format on January 1. WWRL currently features a mix of of Talk focusing on the local African-American community and Liberal Political talk. The station features a local morning show hosted by Mark Riley as well as syndicated hosts Ed Schultz, Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes, Phil Hendrie, and Alan Colmes. Riley confirms the format change and end of his show on his blog. No further details on the new format have been revealed.

KBOO, the Portland community radio station that has long championed worker rights and other progressive causes, is embroiled in a labor dispute of its own. Staff members are trying to unionize after KBOO Station Manager Lynn Fitch reduced employee benefits and shifted paid staff to “at will” status, which means they can be fired without cause. Fitch’s moves to assert more managerial authority are a departure for the 45-year-old nonprofit, which has long practiced a participatory style of governance that grants staff, board members and volunteers significant roles. --Snip-- Ironically, a station that has long aired a public affairs program...

On the heels of Clear Channel dropping Liberal Talk from 620 KPOJ Portland in favor of Sports, CBS will follow suit at 1090 KPTK Seattle. As of today the station has changed call letters to KFNQ, with a likely branding of “The Fan” to match many of its CBS Radio brethren coming. SeaTacRadio.com is reporting that Talk 1180 KLAY Lakewood/Tacoma will pick up the syndicated Ed Schulz and Stephanie Miller following 1090′s shift to Sports in January. The Everett Post run by the operator of two stations in that city states that KFNQ will add a local afternoon show. KPTK...

"So when does Seal Unit 6, or whatever it's called, drop in on George Bush? Bush was responsible for a lot more death, innocent death, than bin Laden. Wasn't he, or am I wrong here?," Liberal radio talk show host Mike Malloy said on his show Monday evening. VIDEO AT THE LINK

Liberal talk radio network Air America shut down for good yesterday ringing yet another death knell to progressivism in America. The majority of the people in the United States no longer support the policies of President Obama who ran in the center and governs from left of Castro. Scott Brown swept to victory in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts and now finally the realization that absolutely no one was listening has closed Air America. The people are talking now.

Are SALEM RADIO NETWORK and RUSH LIMBAUGH being targeted by Speaker of the House NANCY PELOSI and Reps. STENY HOYER (D-MD) and DENNIS KUCINICH (D-OH) as the three push the return of the Fairness Doctrine to the front burner? "THE WASHINGTON PROWLER," a column in the AMERICAN SPECTATOR, reported in an online article today (5/14) that a PELOSI senior adviser told the magazine, "First, [Democrats] failed on the radio airwaves with AIR AMERICA, no one wanted to listen. Conservative radio is a huge threat and political advantage for Republicans and we have had to find a way to limit it....

KQDS/Duluth drops liberal talk Listeners in the Twin Ports got a rude awakening this morning when they turned on the radio expecting to hear Sam Seder, but instead heard golden oldies. In a surprise move, KQDS in Duluth-Superior, which had been airing Ed Schultz and programs from Air America Radio for the past year and a half, has dropped liberal talk for oldies music...There was one rumor claiming that oldies was only temporary, and that a FOX 'News'-style conservative talk format would be the permanent format, but nothing else out there would give credibility to this rumor... As for the...

If you're a progressive researcher, red flashing lights will go on in your brain and a siren will go off as you read one key word in the following and not just for the usual reasons: It appears that Air America, the liberal talk-radio network, won't be on the air much longer in Dallas-Fort Worth. Guadalupe Radio Network, a Midland-based Catholic broadcasting company, has announced on its Web site that it will take over two Dallas-Fort Worth stations as of Oct. 1: KXEB/910 AM, which is Air America's Dallas-Fort Worth station, and KJON/850 AM. Guadalupe Radio will broadcast in English...

MIKE MALLOY FIRED BY AIR AMERICA RADIO There will be no Mike Malloy program on Air America Radio as we have been terminated as of 8/30/06. We are as shocked as you are, especially since as recently as last Tuesday we were told we had the go-ahead to announce our return to NY airwaves and that our contract was "on the way." We are told it's a financial decision. More details to follow as we hear them ourselves. Members of the press can contact malloyproducer@aol.com to schedule interviews.

According to a poster claiming to be his wife.... http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2485066 Quote This is not a published news article, but I think it qualifies as LBN. This is Kathy Bay Malloy and we just got news that as of this minute we've been terminated by Air America Radio. We don't have all the details yet, but got a tip from someone who'd seen the new network lineup that we weren't included after all. We just had that confirmed by one of the suits a few minutes ago. We're told that its a financial decision. Thank you so much for your ongoing...

The indictment of state Sen. Efrain Gonzalez is the tip of a massive corruption probe into taxpayer-funded programs, including the scandal-scarred youth group that lent $875,000 to launch liberal radio network Air America, The Post has learned. Federal prosecutors and the city Department of Investigation are zeroing in on ties between the West Bronx Neighborhood Association - which Gonzalez is accused of using as his piggy bank - and the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club and its affiliate, Pathways for Youth. The Co-op City-based Gloria Wise, with an annual budget of $10 million, was one of the largest social-service...

sorry for the vanity but I am unable to link the article due to copyright restrictions. According to the Burlington (VT) Free Press, the local Air America station WVAA 1390 is switching to sports as of this Monday (WCAT). The Air America programming will move to WTWK 1070...which is daytime only. Yes, in "progressive" Vermont, they found that ESPN makes more money than Al Franken and are putting him on a lesser signal (at least it's daytime only...) Another loss for AAR... a sign o' the times.

The "revolution of talk radio" and "Homer: The Sports Animal" are trading places. Clear Channel Cincinnati, which owns eight stations locally, announced Friday it is swapping the dial positions of its liberal talk and sports talk stations. Effective July 7, the liberal talker, which carries Jerry Springer's 9 a.m.-noon "Springer on the Radio," will move from WCKY-AM (1530) to the significantly less powerful WSAI-AM (1360). Homer, meanwhile is moving from WSAI to the WCKY frequency. For tri-state fans of each station, the move doesn't mean much except having to perhaps reset some car radio buttons. But it is significant in...

*** Exclusive To The Radio Equalizer - Part One ****** Updated With Breaking News Below *** It has long been reasonable to characterize Air America Radio as having an every man- for- himself work environment, where the name of the game is to see who grab the most cash before the whole mess finally comes crashing down. Add to the mix a nearly- constant stream of financial support from Real Networks honcho Rob Glaser and billionaire currency raider George Soros and the greedy temptation to push for obscene salaries, perks and benefits simply becomes too great to resist. Central to...

Have some liberals finally had enough of Al Franken & Friends? While Stuart Smalley's defenders continue to pound your Radio Equalizer for relentlessly exposing the truth about this partisan talk network, some of its harshest critics actually come from the left! In the past week alone, "progressive" mega-blog Daily Kos has featured two anti-Air America Radio rants, the latest with reader comments similar to these sentiments: An earlier diary here has a lot of comments I agree with, including especially that Air America is too much top-down. Trying to build an instant radio network from a studio in New York...

Local progressive talk format to launch August 31st. Radio Business Report: Quote: Randy gets a New York stick Former Clear Channel Radio CEO Randy Michaels is set to return to operating a major market radio station. RBR has learned that Michaels will take over programming of WLIB-AM New York when Air America Radio's current LMA expires August 31st. The station will continue to have a Progressive Talk format, but Michaels will replace Air America's network programming with a series of new local talk shows with a liberal bent. Michael's deal with licensee Inner City Broadcasting won't be an LMA, but...

Self-described liberal and feminist professor of culture and media studies Camille Paglia is not a fan of Al Franken, Air America Radio, Terry Gross or NPR. She said the following in an interview with the Madison, WI Capital Times newspaper: Al Franken: "Good lord! I want to fall asleep. Narcolepsy." * Air America: It isn't even broadcast in Philadelphia because of low ratings. "It's even slower than NPR. Like a record being played at the wrong speed." * Terry Gross: "Oh god. Awful. I never listen to her show." Gross broadcasts "Fresh Air" from a studio a couple of blocks...

As certain as the presence of a dozen Dunkin' Donuts outlets in every New England town, today's second Air America Radio on-air anniversary is sure to bring mainstream media accolades from every corner of the country. When looking at the network honestly, however, how can we conclude it's been anything other than a debacle? --- Ratings are in the toilet (another update soon on the way). --- Just to stay afloat, it requires constant cash infusions from Rob Glaser and George Soros. --- To sustain a bloated management and staff structure, company spending remains outrageous, with lavish salaries, perks and...

March 7, 2006 -- AIR America is close to losing its New York flagship station - knocking Al Franken and his liberal colleagues off the air on their second anniversary. The network has a two-year lease with WLIB (AM 1190) that is reportedly set to expire April 1 - and at least one reliable report says it is "extremely likely" the deal will not be renewed. Losing its New York outlet would be a serious blow to the fledgling liberal radio network. "Radio Equalizer" blogger Brian Maloney - who blew the whistle on questionable loans to the lefty network last...

With their unending devotion to Al Franken, why have so-called "progressives" chosen to paint themselves into a corner? For their followers, why must he be portrayed as eternally perfect? While also not free of flaws, one sustaining quality in the conservative movement has been a willingness to cut loose damaging characters (even if sometimes a bit late). Though the right cherishes individualism above nearly all else, only occasionally does it get caught up in the cult of personality. For any political faction, why is that a mistake? Because it must successfully advance values and ideas, rather than promote imperfect people...