Franken Leaving Air America Radio
*** Breaking News -- Friday Updates ***
Is this the end for Stuart Smalley on the airwaves?
We're hearing that Al Franken is leaving Air America and giving up on talk radio, most likely for good.
His last day on the air will apparently be December 8. Already, a few libtalk stations have begun to leak word of Franken's impending exit.
One is KQKE Radio in San Francisco, which recently cancelled Franken and replaced him with Thom Hartmann, a more obscure "progressive" who airs in the same time slot. A check of Franken's site Thursday evening did not turn up any mention of a departure and the company itself has as of yet said nothing.
This confirms rumors we'd been hearing for weeks from industry sources and Air America listeners that are now backed up by these on- air announcements. What A Mockery, a liberal blog site, captured the audio of KQKE Radio's announcement here. Its main page is found here.
While Franken's contract was recently rewritten in order to extend through the spring of 2007, all bets were off once Air America entered bankruptcy, since Franken's continued participation was directly tied to the network's solvency.
With just a week remaining in which to nail down a buyer, Air America is truly skating on thin ice at this point. Does the impending loss of Franken's show hurt its resale value?In addition, is there any connection between this move and the five stations that have dropped the liberal talk radio format since election day?
As for his likely US Senate run, it would not have required Franken to exit his radio show until a formal announcement was made, which is likely to occur at least nine months from now. So this departure appears to be tied to the network's financial troubles.
We'll have much more on this breaking story as details emerge.
FAIR QUESTION: why report this now, rather than when rumors first surfaced weeks ago? The difference is that it can be verified via the affiliates, while there was no way to do so at the time.
ALSO COVERING THIS TODAY: Newsbusters, USS Neverdock, the Dental Blog, BoreAmerica and others.
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Technorati tags: talk radio air america al franken liberal talk progressive talk franken leaving
Frankendisaster, I'm Rich: David A Lunde
I have to admit that I've only listened to AirHead Radio a couple of times...just to get a 'feel for it'.
ReplyDeleteIt was bad. It was inaccurate. It was annoying.
Good riddance...
This is not news. I mentioned this weeks ago, and at least one station publicly mentioned this fact on their program schedule, explaining why Thom Hartmann was taking on Franken's spot!
ReplyDeleteI did not care for Franken personally or think he made a very good radio host, but he had excellent guests and did help to guide more moderate liberal and centrist voters through the most recent midterms, enabling our nation to begin the cleansing cycle.
For that, and that alone, I am grateful.
More importantly, what will happen to this blog, now that the focus of its obsessive fixation is moving on to other endeavors?
...because he's not good enough, he's not smart enough and doggone it, people don't like him.
ReplyDeleteAfter having listened to Al a few times I can honestly say that he has earned every penny.
ReplyDeleteMartimac, you're delusional. Yes, Franken is planning to run against Norm Coleman, but that seat ain't in play for a long time.
ReplyDeleteHe's jumping ship in front of Clear Channel going private, and selling off four hundred or so small market stations, many of which are AAR affiliates. Even AAR's fans here on Brian's blog regularly say they like Randi or Malloy better than that boring,monotone idiot.
He's quitting before he gets canned, plain and simple. Hartmann, Schultz and Lionel can all draw better numbers and offer better, more professional product, and he could never stand losing his timeslot.
Franken is just another rat leaving a sinking ship.
ReplyDeleteAll you libs hear this. this blog will be around and better than ever. You idiots said the same thing about Limbaugh when Clinton left offica. I see Limbaugh is here and just as big if not bigger thorn in your sides.
He can't very well be a thorn in anyone's side when he's too busy trying to pull the needle out of his own arm...
ReplyDeleteThe few progressive talk show hosts allowed to broadcast freely will turn down their rhetoric as the horror show of the past six years and the helplessness fades, and the battle turns more toward investigations, legal actions, possible impeachment, restitution, etc.
And the regressive neocons, the ultimate lemmings, will do as they always do.
They will follow.
Replace him with Hartman, one of the most educated and qualified radio hosts in America. cons fear Hartman, the man is a walking history book. Cons have bigoted dropouts like Limbaugh, Savage and Beck. Hartman would be the best possible national host. Franken is a great guy, great writer, dull host. I hope this is true, it will save them millions.
ReplyDeletePCD, Limbaugh has NO credibility. NONE. Limbaugh is not a thorn in anybodies side, he helped the Dems win, he is a mentally sick, drug addict. I hope Limbaugh stays on the radio forever. Thaks for November 7th, drug addled high school flunkie
ReplyDeleteAAR stations are dropping like flies.
ReplyDeleteIn Boston the ratings are microscopic
at Clear Channel-owned WKOX and WXKS.
While technically those stations are not on the list of selloffs, the low
ratings indicate they may eventually be. No doubt they, too, will soon
change to a format that actually makes money like sports, Spanish, or
nostalgia.
Really whitebread Repub of you there, Maloney. The friggin' "Dental Blog" gets the linky love, but nothing for the LeatherPenguin?
ReplyDeleteWhassup with that? You just another shanty Mick from Massachusetts or something?
Some faker got the blogger name
ReplyDeleteBrian Maloney (blog: kxjhbnsdfsf)
Disregard!!
Though the part about WRKO is true.
Still, ratings are much higher than AAR.
Do you think Minnesota will actually elect Stuart Smalley?
ReplyDeleteWhile entertainers often get elected to public office, that is because they are entertaining. Al Franken was not. This was a guy who stayed on SNL - basically an entertainers training show - for 20 years. And he certainly was never that funny. So his effectiveness as a campaigner is questionable. In addition, he has several years of partisan rants that can very easily be taken out of context and used by Senator Coleman's campaign.
So if the mood of America is not like it is now, I highly doubt that we will see a Senator Franken.
You're saying Minnesota should reject Franken because he's not funny enough for the job?
ReplyDelete>>And he certainly was never that funny.
ReplyDeleteIf MN elects him it would probably be for his politics not his humor or lack thereof. The inability to tell a joke hasn't hampered Kerry's re-elections in MA.
Or is Al leaving after all? Lib talk blog LTRadio.blogspot.com:
ReplyDelete------------------------------
"According to Steve Young at Huffington Post, Al Franken will not be giving up his Air America Radio show anytime soon. Right Wing media outlets in the know about liberal talk, reported the breaking "news" that Al Franken would be leaving Air America on 12/8. Newsbusters, Brian Maloney's Radioequalizer, and a number of other sites all gleefully reported Al's departure from AAR.
1. Al is leaving all right...for Iraq and Afghanistan on a USO Tour.
2. While some have said he's leaving Air America, he hasn't. As Al told me last night, at this point, he's "made no decision on leaving the show."
So, if you've heard of Al's AA demise, even from some quack in the Huffington Post, it might serve well not to believe everything you read. It's kind of like believing right wing talk radio. You'll only get misinformation and quite possibly, lose an election. Better to listen directly to Al. And you still can.
I don't know.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, Franken's had a hand in contributing to the rumors, by not addressing them. He could literally ridicule anyone directly during one of his humor segments and simultaneously get out word that it's all nonsense, but he doesn't....so he shouldn't beef on others for speculating.
Raccoonradio:
ReplyDeleteYes, someone has been impersonating me. I actually had deleted that comment when it was posted, but a Blogger glitch kept it there. Should be gone now.
No, actually in Oweeee's case, it was correct the first time around...
ReplyDelete