Is this the future of progressive talk radio?
Due to some bizarre business practices, NOVAM blew up. It was “acquired” by a doctor after their top talent and main draw Randi Rhodes went away. Some Randi-haters have said that she “brought it on herself” which is bullflop, the owners of NOVAM went on a firing spree and dumped LOTS of folks, some of whom are suing, stopped paying the bills and unfortunately one of them had some sort of breakdown. ( I wish him and his family well)
Some doctor by the name of Mike Newcomb apparently bought the “network” and rather than re-instate Randi and promote the thing wound up NOT paying the rent on his flagship station in Phoenix with the result pictured above.Stephen Lemons of The Phoenix New Times published an article on this whole sordid mess.
So. The net result of the firings, lawsuits, nervous breakdowns, bankruptcy, name-change and chained-up radio stations is that ONE of America’s top liberal talents no longer HAS a show, another is trying to self- syndicate and Randi’s “replacement” reads a paragraph of MY post NATIONWIDE out of context, making me look liks a “guy who hates EVERYBODY” and I damn well resent it.
One thing is clear. (NOT channel) If liberal talk radio is going to continue to exist, there needs to be a concerted effort to gather a consortium of “rich liberal” investors to finance it, and they should hire radio PROFESSIONALS to manage it. There are just too many instances where good-intentioned, but inexperianced people buy networks as a kind of hobby and run it into the ground, and the talent WITH it.
UPDATE!!
BOTH NOVAM AND On Second Thought websites are down. Are BOTH Mike Malloy and Nancy Skinner without a gig? Can Malloy really self-syndicate? I think he CAN, can Nancy? Jeeze I don’t know. Will Randi pop up somewhere? I HOPE so. Jeeze what a mess!
Uh, so who are Thom Hartmann, Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller, Ron Reagan, Peter B. Collins, and Bill Press? All are popular syndicated liberal talkshow hosts. It’s good that they’re spread among various networks so that if one goes out of business it won’t affect the ability of a station to continue to run liberal talk.
Agreed, I hope MORE networks pop up as the depression intensifies.Radio stations are at rock-bottom price. As I have mentioned in other posts, a consortium of “rich” liberal (Hollywood?) money pooled and used to acquire networks as they become available and run/managed by RADIO people, could crack the wall that is the right-wing monopoly on talk radio.
Self syndication is the way to go. It’s cheaper and they don’t need to rely on ad revenue to get a show out. Then they can farm out their programs to whatever stations are interested in carrying them. Similar to what Mark Maron and Sam Seder are doing now. I’ll gladly support these efforts to keep Malloy and Randi going strong.
I STRONGLY agree. Whatever it takes. Although I don’t much care for paying for podcasts to hear my favorites, it is truly the best way to do this. I don’t think imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, CASH is the most sincere form of flattery.
As a liberal why would I be unhappy that DLC-DNC mouthpiece-whore Randi Rhodes (YUK) was off the air. Good riddance to bad rubbish
So, she took NOTHING from the Dems, no money, no nothing. Ed Schultz TOOK the money and he’s on MSNBC, WHO’S the whore? Randi took a shot at the LEADER of the DLC, Hillary and lost her GIG! Who’s the whore? As a REAL liberal why am I unhappy she’s off the air? Because I’m a liberal. YOU aren’t.
When Jeff Farias quit because of incredible mismanagement and was replaced by the incredibly dull Mike Newcomb, I nearly lost it. I often contemplated how a nationally syndicated operation was based out of that dump downtown. I hear that Jeff is here http://www.thejefffariasshow.com/ and soon to be back on AM radio as well. Pass the word.
I HOPE Randi can shake up Clear Channel with ratings and revenue to prove once and for all that real liberal talk CAN succeed, thus opening the door at a NATIONAL level, for other talkers like Jeff, Peter B Malloy and others screwed by “Progressive” AAR and the unbalanced NOVAM. What a bunch of screwballs and buffoons.