Well, I’m finally back in town. I apologize for the hiatus, but it was unavoidable.
And here’s what I come back to: J Michael McKoy at 98.3 WOW-FM was fired this week.
I don’t even know what to say.
For those of you not so familiar with the air waves in Central Iowa, this station is the place we get to hear Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bob and Tom (unfortunately), Michael Savage (a bit extreme to me), Bill Handel’s Handel On The Law, Kim Komando, and Dennis Miller (past my bed-time). We also have an AM station in the area, WHO, that carries Limbaugh, Michael Reagan, and Dr. Laura, but is predominantly made up of local talent including a very conservative Steve Deace (who we’ve mentioned here before).
And then there’s Mac’s World, a little piece of local conservative sunshine in the midst of mostly syndicated conservative content.
McKoy has been doing radio for over 20 years, and from 1:20 to 4:00 each weekday afternoon, he has provided a great program, covering issues that really matter to Iowans. We’re really going to miss him. My hope is that another station here in town can pick him up. If WHO ever wanted to replace the tape-delayed Limbaugh with some local talent, Mac would be a great option.
Meanwhile, 98.3 is moving McKoy’s co-host Chris Bradshaw, who is very liberal, into the slot that Mac was yanked out of. Bradshaw is not a bad guy, and frankly he probably put up with a lot more abuse on the show over the time he’s worked with Mac, but it’s going to be interesting to see what he brings to the time slot.
So what’s going on here? Although I happen to know the General Manager at 98.3, I only have the public statements to go by on this one. It was called an economic decision. Although the story is carrying Mac’s comments that he was willing to work for minimum, I don’t think what he was paid was the issue. An economic decision can just as easily be, and possibly is in this case, a decision about advertising revenue more than the talent expense. An interesting tide turning as the impression is that perhaps the public is becoming liberal enough (as reflected in this past election cycle) that they are looking for something that matches the new wave of thinking.
Which means we shouldn’t be too surprised if suddenly Hannity is replaced by a new show featuring Alan Colmes (who recently announced he was leaving the TV program “Hannity and Colmes”), or if Air America doesn’t suddenly make a big come back.
And then, we shouldn’t be surprised if support for the “Fairness Doctrine” doesn’t one day start to come from Republican lawmakers because the world of talk radio has flipped upside down.
It’s great to be back.
Hat tip to Michael Libbie at Insight Advertising.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
My boss asked me if I was going to write something about the Governor of Illinois. I will. Check back tomorrow.
I accidently caught Chris Bradshaw’s show. He is so biased to the left, the callers that day were so frustrated talking to him. He diverts the conversation when a question is directed at him. His sources are from liberal websites and media. He claims he is not for Obama and that he has been critical of Obama, but during the whole show, he only criticizes the Republican party. Now, if Mr. Bradshaw would be honest and say he is liberal and he supports the Democrat party 100 percent and then argue with substance, I have no problem. I admire someone who will discuss a different view maturely. But, Mr. Bradshaw lies about being critical of both parties. He lies about his sources being accurate. His favorite website to quote off of that day was PolitiFact. PoliticoFact is ran by someone who is a Republican turned Democrat. So, of course, all facts on PolitiFact is biased on Democrat party side.
I hope WOW will reconsider keeping Mr. Bradshaw. You need to have someone who will discuss with honesty and integrity, and unbiased if that is the host’s claim, not lie and patronize the audience.
Bring back the Mac (No offense Bradshaw)
When I listen to Bradshaw I get frustrated at the amount of dead air time he wastes by pausing for such a long time in between what he says.
It makes me switch the dial to NPR (Sorry Chris, Im a lib too)
Bring back the Mac!! e was so much more engaging and interesting to listen to. Lets all write 98.3 WOW FM and all thier sponsors and tell them we want Mac BACK!!!!!!
Interesting, isn’t it? I really don’t know how to interpret the lack of any support on the web site.
I don’t get to listen to the radio much during the day, but what I’ve heard when I’ve had the opportunity has been sometimes disturbing, sometimes interesting. In one respect I’m glad that 98.3 is open to having a lead Liberal voice on their station. In another, I think Bradshaw sometimes lowers the quality of the overall presentation due to his meanderings and musical taste. Do I think Chris is a leader in political Liberal thought? Not really. Does he reflect Populist Liberal thought? Very much.
Keep in mind that 98.3 is a business and needs to make money. Bradshaw’s reign will likely depend most strongly on how much advertising revenue he generates. However, he helps the station establish some position in preparation for the potential implimentation of the Fairness Doctrine.
It will be worth keeping an eye on this situation as what happens at 98.3 may signal events elsewhere as well.
Art, I recently started listening to 98.3 again in over a year and come back to hear Chris Bradshaw, which caught me by surprise because his points of view were completely offset from that of what 98.3 broadcasts. I suppose all I wanted to truly comment about this situation is that 98.3 even though they have had Chris Bradshaw on the airwaves for a few months now, they have yet to represent him on their website. If you go to the homepage of 98.3 and scroll your mouse over the navigation button of ‘On Air’ you find that his name is missing from the list, his name and photo does not appear on the banner, his name appears in the program line-up but when you click it you get three photos of another man drunk and essentially being distasteful with a link to e-mail Chris Bradshaw. Either 98.3 is ashamed of this talk show host or they sure are taking their sweet time to represent the man that they chose to put on their radio airwaves.