The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney

02 June 2007

WLVP-AM Portland, Liberal Talk Radio

STILL FADING

In Another Lefty City, Libtalk Shown The Door







If you thought liberal talk radio was dead and gone, guess again: there are several stations out there that haven't yet cancelled its programming.

And with its slow and painful demise still ongoing, format changes are making headlines in the affected locales. In this case, Air America Radio is now out in a left- leaning city: Portland, Maine.

From WMTW-8:


PORTLAND, Maine -- Nationally- syndicated Air America Radio if off the air in Portland.

News 8 has learned that Nassau Broadcasting, which owns Air America affiliate WLVP-AM, has changed the station's format, effective Friday. The station will now carry ESPN Sports Radio.

The station, which broadcasts at 870 and 1470 AM, will now be known as "Maine's Sports Station."

In September 2004, Nassau announced that it was taking Air America off the air, but public outcry forced the company to reverse its decision.


And according to the Portland Press- Herald, the loss of Al Franken and other Air America lineup changes were a major factor:


PORTLAND — Air America Radio, the liberal talk network, has gone off the air in Portland.

WLVP (870 AM) dropped Air America at 6 a.m. Friday and replaced it with the national sports network ESPN Radio.

Nassau Broadcasting, owners of WLVP, decided to drop Air America because of significant changes at the network recently, said Patrick Collins, senior vice president for Nassau Broadcasting in Maine.

Collins said the changes, included the departure of Air America’s star personality, Al Franken. By Friday afternoon, Collins said he had gotten a couple dozen phone calls from people protesting the change.

Besides the national programming of ESPN Radio, Collins said 870 AM will also broadcast local high school sports, beginning with football in the fall.


Here's a question worth repeating: when was the last time a station actually signed on with liberal talk radio programming?


Meanwhile, it's increasingly clear that Air America Radio's continuing existence is an attempt at bringing credibility to Mark Green's faded political career. From Thursday's show, here's Rush Limbaugh's take on the situation:


RUSH: They kept teasing it, kept promoting this upcoming segment. Bush vs. Rush. Then last night, this is (MSNBC Hardball host Chris) Matthews and playing an audio sound bite from me.

MATTHEWS: Rush vs. Bush. Tuesday in Georgia this week, President Bush went on the attack to sell the immigration plan to his political right. I don't know. Some supporters, including Rush Limbaugh, didn't take kindly to the president's tone. Let's listen to him.

RUSH ARCHIVE: It's disappointing to me. I'm not going to hide that fact. That he may be attacking me doesn't bother me. What concerns me more about it -- you can't take this kind of stuff personally. He didn't mention my name and I'm not going to sit around here and start making assumptions. The thing that is most troublesome to me is that the words that he spoke yesterday were a criticism of the people who have stood by him through thick and thin when everyone's been trying to destroy him, be it on the National Guard story, take your pick, Rumsfeld, the entire war in Iraq, the whole weapons of mass destruction thing, people have stood by him, and because they trust him and believe him on those issues. They also did not want the Democrats to get away with taking him out.

RUSH: Now the interview portion of the program.

GREEN: Rush Limbaugh is really funny, and so is George Bush. Bush is probably scratching his head wondering why these opponents use such demagogic phrases as "amnesty." It's not literally amnesty, as you know, because you have to pay a fine. One last point on Rush Limbaugh, I know exactly who he is, enormously talented; he gets higher ratings than Air America; he has ten million people listening. He has five to eight percent of America listening. Good for ratings --

ROGERS: I sense jealousy.

GREEN: -- awful for politics. Eight percent doesn't win an election. Rush Limbaugh is irrelevant to someone who doesn't care about winning Republican primaries.

ROGERS: If Rush Limbaugh is irrelevant, what is Air America?

RUSH: If I'm irrelevant, why was I the show last night? Why is this whole fake topic of Rush vs. Bush a big deal? First off, the voice you heard was Mark Green, who is the brother of the new owner of Dead Air America. He doesn't even know what he's talking about here. He said, "It's not literally amnesty, as you know, because you have to pay a fine." No, you don't have pay a fine. That's unless you want citizenship. If you don't want to have citizenship, you just want to become legal, you don't pay a fine, Mark. No fine whatsoever.

Also, my audience, 20 million, Mark, in a week, 12 million from beginning to end of each three-hour program, five million at any one time. I love these guys. They sit out there and they go on and on and on about how irrelevant I am, while at the same time making me relevant.


This is exactly right: why is Mark Green now relevant? Because his brother bought him a radio network?

Who is Green to downplay Limbaugh's political importance? Get some ratings for your remaining stations and then perhaps you'll someday be in a position to talk that way.


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19 Comments:

  • "Get some ratings for your remaining stations and then perhaps you'll someday be in a position to talk that way"

    Where does your authority come from Maloney - a footnote in Time Magazine and a short-lived radio career?

    By Blogger elmonica, at 02 June, 2007 02:34  

  • Bimbo and Green are BOTH losers.

    However....

    "Who is Green to downplay Limbaugh's political importance?"

    Brian?

    Who are YOU to determine whether or not Mark Green (or anyone else) has a right to comment on Rush Limbaugh?

    Your own common arrogance and foolishness sinks you once again, Brian.

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 02 June, 2007 02:37  

  • Libtalk off air in Howie Carr's
    birthplace, ayuh.

    By Blogger raccoonradio, at 02 June, 2007 03:33  

  • Is Mark Green the next savior for lib talk radio? NOT!

    How many liberals have stepped up to the plate and walked back to the dugout with the big "K" next to their name in the failed archives of lib radio? It is just like a rotating door - they go in and they come right back out.

    Gotta give 'em credit for trying, I guess.

    What is that quote by Benjamin Franklin? Oh yeah, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

    By Blogger The Benson Report, at 02 June, 2007 14:56  

  • "Oh yeah, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

    Ya mean, like the failed war in Iraq?

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 02 June, 2007 15:13  

  • Since the Hophead Enthusiast is having trouble comprehending a simple post, let me expand a bit more with a concrete example.

    How is the reality-based liberal community dealing with the latest terror plot (against Kennedy Airport)?

    Nothing at Daily Kos.

    Nothing at Eschaton.

    Nothing at Crooks and Liars.

    Nothing at Firedoglake.

    Nothing at AMERICAblog.

    Maybe they’re still trying to settle on the best spin.

    “Question the timing?”
    or
    “Blame Bush?”
    or
    "Blame Carl Rove"

    Maybe they are waiting for their spokesperson, Rosie, to return and speak up.

    Choices, choices...

    By Blogger The Benson Report, at 02 June, 2007 17:31  

  • Benson, I wish I could flame that craptacular blog of yours.

    What is your point Benson? Let me guess. Uh... Iraq is the central front in the war on terror.

    What a bunch of fraken morons on the right.

    By Blogger elmonica, at 02 June, 2007 18:23  

  • I don't recall these types of "plots" cropping up so frequently during the Clinton Administration.

    Hmmm, I guess that, after seven years of the Bush Crime Family's regime, we are "safer, yet still not safe"....

    Glad we real Americans got our $58 billion dollars worth in Iraq, or else we'd be having to fight terrorism here.

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 02 June, 2007 18:55  

  • Elmonica....check out the pic in his profile.

    Pretty much tells you all you need to know, no?

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 02 June, 2007 18:59  

  • Benson
    Scared? BOO!!!!! Muslims from Guyana are commingto blow you up!!! BOO!!! Dot'g open the closet door!!! Muslims!!! Boo!!

    just like the Cherry Hill incident, we have another case of Islamo-hackists, not real terrorists

    I guess we better bomb Guyana, fight them over there, so we dont fight them over here!!!!!

    note: we are arresting these "terrorists" by the way that has always worked, police and FBI working together......
    just like when Clinton was president, only difference the media during the Clinton era for some reason was not intent on scaring the pants off of the viewer every night


    no this incident does not excuse the Iraqi war, and no bombing Iran will not stop the next group of wanna be terrorists either.


    Why would a blog spend time covering a story the main stream media pumped all weekend long, after all Benson shit his pants already over the story.

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 03 June, 2007 19:48  

  • I don't recall these types of "plots" cropping up so frequently during the Clinton Administration.

    I do. The difference, of course, is that more often than not, the "plots" succeeded.

    By Blogger BF, at 04 June, 2007 09:28  

  • BF - great comeback with facts.


    Mop comments:
    Dot'g open the closet door!!
    Your a retard
    sorry t obe so blunt
    It't the orwellian "lib media" bullshit
    he media has been SUBJECTIVE


    Hey MOP, maybe you should try a spell checker occasionally. And do a quick review of your illogical rants before posting them. Regarding your grammar schooling - well, it's obvious you should try to get a refund.

    Glad to hear you finally moved out of your million dollar father's home (at what age? 30?). Sorry to hear about your girl friend dumping you and moving to Greece. Oh well, it's tough out in the real world.


    MOP said:
    We have another case of Islamo-hackists, not real terrorists


    Yeah, right, it's just a simple case of a right wing "bumper sticker" promotion!

    The benefit the extreme left has is they suffer from a sick form of alzheimers (a progressive form of presenile dementia). MOP loves to forget the facts when it conflicts with his distorted views.

    Here is some information pulled from New York newspapers over the past weekend:


    The key terrorist is Adnan el-Shukrijumah, the so-called "Fixer" behind the 9/11 attacks.

    He has been called the most wanted man in America because of his efforts to explode nuclear devices.

    The New York newspapers said this man is the suspected "invisible hand” behind the plot to bomb a fuel pipeline feeding New York’s JFK airport.

    A former FBI consultant revealed that this man is in charge of al-Qaida's scheme to detonate nuclear devices in several U.S. cities

    He is same man Osama bin Laden named to hatch the terror group's nuclear plan in the U.S. Authorities have compiled evidence that bin Laden designated el-Shukrijumah to arrange a simultaneous nuclear attack on seven U.S. cities — New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Boston, and Las Vegas.

    Adnan el-Shukrijumah the "so called nuclear-whiz kid” — a "tantalizing terror figure” with a $5 million bounty on his head.

    According to the paper, el-Shukrijumah was "the radical big shot investigators hoped to snag in their 18-month JFK-plot probe.”

    According to law enforcement sources, el-Shukrijumah's name surfaced several times during the FBI's surveillance of the JFK plotters' phone conversations.

    The U.S. was allowing the JFK plot to continue in hopes of snatching el-Shukrijumah, but had to make arrests when one of the conspirators planned to fly from Trinidad to Venezuela, where the U.S. has no extradition rights.

    el-Shukrijumah is now believed to be operating within the U.S.


    BUMPER STICKER? Islamo-hackists? - I don't think so!

    By Blogger The Benson Report, at 04 June, 2007 12:34  

  • BF: Your factually wrong, the millinium bomb plot was foiled and never occured, so as I said under Clinton real terrorist attacks were stopped. Clinton also stopped project bojenka. So much for your facts. The differnece the Clinton asdministration did not use Orwellian fright tatics with the help of the media.
    --------
    Benson:Glad to hear you finally moved out of your million dollar father's home (at what age? 30?). Sorry to hear about your girl friend dumping you and moving to Greece. Oh well, it's tough out in the real world.

    I Respond:
    Huh? I have been on my own since , 20 years of age, and my father rich!!! Hysterical, if you call $70K a year rich !!! rolling on the floor laughing, my dad is from f*cking Wantaugh, yep a rich area!! IDIOT... My girlfriend did not move to Greece, my co-hosts girlfriend moved to Greece.. I see you read our blog..... My girlfriend and I broke up and she is in the Army, not moving to Greece. See there are 2 of us, JARED (ME) posts here, Ralph, the other "evilliberal" never posted here, he hates you freaks too much to bother.

    Again, this is a case of Islamo-hackery, serious terrorists who do not wish to get caught do not talk about blowing up JFK on the telephone, just like the freaks who were arrested in Cherry hill, these are HACKS, who obviously wanted to get caught. Use your head Benson, it's logic.

    Why are you obsessed with my father anyway? I have been on my own for a long long time, again Im 34 and moved out when I was 20. I bet you still live with Mommy or suck off the inheritance.

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 04 June, 2007 14:17  

  • MOP, you're the one who bragged about your father's 6 figure income.

    Regarding your weak attempt to tie the JFK terrorists to hackers, I will defer to the Liberal left-wing rag known as the New York Times.

    The New York Times story (on Sunday page one) acknowledged the seriousness of the threat, noting that one of the four suspects in the plot, Russell Defreitas, had boasted that the destruction at the airport would be so vast that "even the twin towers can’t touch it.”

    The Times reported: "Officials said the four men determined to carry out their attack, having conducted ‘precise and extensive’ surveillance of the airport using photographs, video . . . and satellite images downloaded from Google Earth.

    "They said the men had also traveled repeatedly to Guyana and Trinidad in recent months, seeking to obtain the blessing and financial backing of an extremist Muslim group based in Trinidad and Tobago called Jamaat al-Muslimeen, which was behind a failed coup attempt in Trinidad in 1990.”

    FACTS do seem to confuse you, don't they?

    By Blogger The Benson Report, at 04 June, 2007 15:01  

  • MOP, you're the one who bragged about your father's 6 figure income.

    Never mentioned my father, that I can recall, unless you provoked me, only you wold dwell on something like this, no life I see?

    Not hackers, HACKS, as in fake terrorists who were not capable of planning out their goal.

    NY TIMES LIBERAL??
    go ask Judy Miller about how liberal the NY time is

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 04 June, 2007 15:09  

  • You'd have to be from New York to understand how ridiculous this is.

    This guy was one step up from homeless....he was picking off fridges and old air conditioners for scrap and was selling books on the sidewalk because he couldn't support himself...yet somehow he was able to fund this major attack on the city!

    These guys were doing their in-depth, intelligence research on GOOGLE EARTH!!

    Conveniently, the surveillance was done without a warrant...so no charges will stick and we (that would mean Americans) will have NO idea of the details of the attack!
    HA!!

    If the Rethugs are so desperate to
    invent "Islamofascism" and manufacture terror where it doesn't exist, it's inevitable that they'll CREATE terror here at home (and find a way to smear the blacks as well....a fraudulent "two-fer".)

    Meanwhile, if we had good intelligence and reciprocal agreements borne of DIPLOMACY as we once had, we'd be apprised of real threats before they came to fruition, there'd be nothing to "thwart" in the first place, and no wars for corporations, oil, or other entities!! Can ya imagine??

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 04 June, 2007 16:23  

  • BF: Your factually wrong, the millinium bomb plot was foiled and never occured

    Which is why I chose to put that example under the "not" in my previous post. If you need further help, I'm sure your local community college has a remedial reading comprehension course you could take.

    By Blogger BF, at 06 June, 2007 08:56  

  • Comments: Please put Air America back on radio at Portland, Maine. Do this as a public service because everything else comes from the political right. Thanks, Ben

    By Blogger Ben Dudley II, at 09 June, 2007 14:14  

  • Yes, please put Air America back on Air!

    By Blogger J, at 24 July, 2007 09:42  

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