Posted on 06/17/2008 10:57:48 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Fighting Ingraham's Battle, Activists Waste Valuable Time
At a time when conservatives face important political battles heading into November's election, one radio host would have the right waste valuable resources fighting for her lucrative syndication contract.
After playing her hand much too aggressively while courting a rival broadcast outfit, Laura Ingraham has found herself locked out at the Talk Radio Network, which has handled her show since an abrupt exit from Westwood One nearly five years ago.
While your Radio Equalizer certainly doesn't expect Ingraham to back down from her contention that she's done nothing wrong, attempting to drag the entire conservative movement into her contractual dispute is ridiculous.
Whether directly from Laura or via her lawyers and friends, this represents a profound misuse of the right's collective energy. Especially dubious are any assertions that the Talk Radio Network, a reliably conservative syndication outfit for many years, has shut her down for ideological reasons.
Not only is this absurd, it's frankly embarrassing. Already, some respected names on the right have been pulled in to this misguided "cause".
Today's Washington Post piece by Howard Kurtz underscores the silliness of this would-be crusade:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/16/AR2008061602835.html
Laura Ingraham, the most popular woman on political talk radio, has been off the air for two weeks, and not by choice.
Ingraham's syndicator, Talk Radio Network, barred her from her Washington studio after talks about a new contract hit a snag, and some of her fans are mounting a campaign to get her back.
"The fact is, they took her off the air," says Eric Bernthal, her lawyer. "There's no doubt in my mind they did it as a tactic in contract negotiations."
Ingraham said on her Web site: "Rest assured, this absence is not of my choosing, nor is it health or family related. I am ready, willing and eager to continue the conversation we started seven years ago about politics and the culture. (Heck, if cancer couldn't keep me off the airwaves for long, nothing will.) . . . I would never voluntarily abandon you during such a critical time for our country." She declined a request for comment because of a confidentiality clause in her contract.
Neither Mark Masters, chief executive of Talk Radio Network, nor a lawyer for the company responded to requests for comment. Ingraham's five-year contract -- she previously worked for another radio company -- expires in September, and __she is contractually barred from negotiating with other syndicators until later this summer__.
-------------------------------------
Bingo! That's the apparent source of the dispute: early negotiating by Ingraham with Citadel- ABC stations based on earlier thinking that Sean Hannity's program would soon be leaving their stations. That alarmed Masters, who locked out Ingraham in a defensive move.
In a business where so many left- wing executives have moved to dilute conservative talk radio in order to suit their own partisan agendas, the last thing right- leaning activists need is a misguided crusade against a company that has done nothing to deserve it.
Ingraham has every right to push for the best deal she can within the conditions of her contract, but should leave the rest of us out of it.
from the Post article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/16/AR2008061602835.html
“The Laura Ingraham Show” is carried by 340 stations, including Washington’s WTNT-AM. Since June 2, her voice has been heard only on taped promos and commercials. One week into the lockout, the industry magazine Talkers gave her its “Woman of the Year” award, with Masters standing nearby as she delivered her remarks at a New York party.
(snip)
It goes on to say that Talk Radio Network also
syndicates Michael Savage, Tammy Bruce, Jackie
Mason, and Mancow, and that Laura’s show ranks her
#5 behind Rush, Hannity, Savage, and Dr. Laura
Schlessinger (5 million listeners_
I wondered why she was off the air. I had thought maybe it was health or family, esp. since she just adopted a child.
But the details of these contracts are all “inside baseball” type information. Interesting that they can keep her off the air as part of contract negotiations, but apparently they can.
Who says? You Brian?
I'll be watching Laura tonight on Fox interviewing Rush Limbaugh!
Programming Alert: Today at 5PM ET, Rush will be a guest on Laura Ingraham's new Fox News Channel Show, "Just In."
Same thing happened with Boston’s Howie Carr last year.
Yesterday Fox News Channel started “just in” and one of
the possible permanent hosts (she’s being given a tryout,
for awhile) is Laura. It runs at 5 pm E.T. —and if you
have XM Satellite radio, you can hear it via Fox News
Channel audio (XM 121 I think)
I’m not Brian; the article above, except for the bit
of Kurtz, is from Brian Maloney’s blog. His opinions.
Dr. Laura was thrown off off her Chicago affiliate 5 years ago when she insisted on starting her TV show, which canabalized her radio show.
I haven’t listened since Monica Crowley took over. Just not fond of her.
There hadn’t been any discussion about it on her program by any of the substitute hosts and I don’t even recall seeing anything about it in her email “e-blasts”.
If the syndicate thinks that they are doing no wrong, they should have informed the listeners about this hitch rather than making it appear that she was out for “personal” reasons. Last week it was talk of “leaving” radio for tv (which does not appear to be her intention).
for later
OK.... :)
Yes, Crowley has said “Laura will be back” (but when,
and where? what if she sits out the whole summer and
then goes to a diff. outfit, poss. diff. time slot..?)
and she also assured listeners that Laura was well
(with no official announcement on air about Laura’s
status, many worried about her breast cancer)
He was afraid she'd leave his network so he locked her out? Makes no sense.
Laura's version of this, when it comes out, will be the one I trust.
Is Monica Crowley related to Candy Crowley of CNN? Just wondering, does anybody know?
Actually she may have bitten off more than she can chew. With a newly adopted child and the hour-long afternoon Fox show, when is she going to have time to host a three-hour long morning radio show?
Whew! Thanks for posting this, I thought her illness had returned.
Just a contract hassle.......that’s a good deal, that’s nothing compared to the big “C”.
And don’t forget..her sister married Alan Colmes...
Not sure, but she's Alan Colmes' sister-in-law. Love to be a fly on the wall at those family dinners ...
I listened for a while today ‘til she started harping about how “most Americans” agree that gays should have some sort of union...
I can barely tolerate Crowley.
I don’t think so. If she is, she probably doesn’t want to own up to it:)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.