Marc Germain, Mr KABC, KTLK, Los Angeles Talk Radio

NOT LIBERAL ENOUGH?

At New Libtalk Home, Host Catches Static







With low- rated libtalker KTLK's latest hire at issue, there's trouble brewing in La La Land this week. Is the new guy too conservative for the Air America crowd?

Known in the past as "Mr KABC" and "Mr KFI", Marc Germain has enjoyed unusually long stints as a Southland late night talk host. Recently let go from the ABC owned and operated (O&O) station, Germain quickly found a new home at KTLK, which has been an Air America affiliate for the last two years.

While previously thought to be a fairly apolitical talk host, Germain says he generally holds liberal beliefs, according to the LA City Beat:

Radio industry observers sounded the alarm last week when “Progressive Talk” KTLK-AM 1150, L.A.’s standard-bearer for liberal talk radio, suddenly signed on popular local host Marc Germain, a man so identified with his last employer that he was known as “Mr. KABC,” the call letters of a station from the opposite side of the political spectrum.

...

The implication was that the more radical voices on KTLK were being sidelined in favor of moderates who might bring in better ratings, thus undercutting the stated political mission of the station. To make room for the moderate Germain, who will now be known as “Mr. K” and who blew the schedule apart when he took the four-hour live drivetime slot from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., KTLK Program Director Don Martin shuffled most of the other hosts and dumped one of those most identified with activism in the L.A. community: live-and-local host Cary Harrison of Harrison on the Edge.

Germain, however, sees his arrival in a somewhat different light.

“A, I’m a progressive, and B, I’m going to save the format. Without sounding completely immodest,” Germain chuckles. “The station needs new listeners. They need to bring in some fresh blood, and hopefully my old listeners from the old station. And it has to happen for the station to succeed. If anything, it shows a commitment to the format, and to the political leanings.”

Martin echoes that assessment, saying, “Mr. KABC, when he was over there, they always bitched and moaned that he was the progressive one on an otherwise conservative station.”

...

Regarding his politics, Germain says he’s happy to be challenged. “Have I ever voted for a Republican? Have I ever supported a cause that was in opposition to traditional liberals? Yes. And I fully face those and talk about ’em. But on the big issues – abortion, gun control, affirmative action – I march in lockstep with liberals, and I always have.”

KTLK listeners will be forgiven for being suspicious, given the more ebullient and even outrageous in-your-face political activism of hosts like Harrison, who challenged his listeners with regular features like “Activism A-Go-Go” (which provided ways to plug into local issues), regularly interviewed leftist icons, used the Bush administration as a punching bag, and organized a huge peace march with the grandson of Mahatma Ghandi which was attended by 10,000 listeners. He was also one of the only openly gay hosts on a major commercial talk radio station.

Within two days of the announcement, Harrison’s fans organized a website, peaceteam.org, where listeners have now left more than 900 posts that will reportedly be delivered to Clear Channel. They have also received thousands of e-mails. A source close to the cancelled host says that this was not organized by Harrison, but by loyal fans.

While it's hard to know whether Germain can succeed at political talk, it's not difficult to understand why Clear Channel would look to a radio veteran to pump up KTLK's anemic ratings.

But has Germain failed some kind of "progressive" litmus test? That appears to be the case here.

On right- leaning talk radio, this ideological purity generally isn't required, given a number of "conservative" hosts whose views are actually all over the place (think Michael Savage, Neal Boortz and many others).

Given this active effort against Germain, which includes an advertiser pressure campaign, it's hard to say whether the former Mr KABC will remain on KTLK for long.

Do libtalk listeners really expect their hosts to march in lockstep on every issue?


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