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Radio talk show host quits non-conservative program
Star Tribune ^ | December 9, 2003 | Eric Black

Posted on 12/09/2003 10:38:51 AM PST by wallcrawlr

An effort by a recent Democratic congressional candidate to introduce a non-conservative alternative to the local talk radio scene got off to a shaky start Thanksgiving week when the star of the show, veteran local comedian Jeff Gerbino, quit after two days.

He complained that the boss wouldn't let him be funny or provocative and was turning the show into a "shameless plug for the DFL."

Janet Robert of Stillwater, a wealthy attorney who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House last year, said that she wouldn't discuss Gerbino's departure and that it wasn't fair to judge the show on its first two days. Promotional materials for the show feature almost exclusively Democratic officeholders but Roberts said the goal was to be centrist and politically independent. "Jeff was the one that was trying to push us too far to the left," she said.

Nationally and locally, the talk radio scene is dominated by conservatives, but Democrats have been trying to create a liberal radio network.

A Democratic investment group is close to buying radio stations in five major cities and recently hired Lizz Winstead, another veteran of the Twin Cities comedy scene and one of the creators of the "The Daily Show," to oversee the entertainment programming. Minnesota native Al Franken has also been mentioned as a possible host on the network.

Gerbino was one of a group of stand-up comics who helped build the local comedy club scene in the late 1970s. Louis Lee of the Acme Comedy Company said he wasn't surprised to hear about Gerbino's short, unhappy tenure in his latest gig because he's known in the comedy business as "not the easiest-going guy in the industry." Gerbino also worked as a drive-time radio host for two local stations in the 1990s.

Politically, he's been a maverick with Democrat leanings. Gerbino said that in the past eight presidential elections he has voted for four Democrats, two Republicans and two independents (John Anderson and Ross Perot). He said he wrote humorous material used in speeches by Gov. Tim Pawlenty during last year's campaign.

Robert and Gerbino met weekly for months to work on the format and philosophy of the show. "High Ground" premiered Nov. 24 on WMNN, 1330-AM, an all-news station.

During the first two shows, Gerbino felt that Robert micromanaged the content, the guest list and him. In an e-mail to the Star Tribune, he complained about an hour of the second show that featured this lineup of guests:

Sen. Mark Dayton, U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, Attorney General Mike Hatch, a professor discussing the Democratic presidential field, state Rep. Tom Rukavina and Franken. All of the elected officials, plus Franken, are Democrats. Gerbino described the hour as a "donkey telethon" and said Robert criticized him for not "gushing" enough over Dayton and Oberstar. He also complained that Robert would not allow him to schedule any Republican guests and forbade him from mentioning his work for Pawlenty.

Turning the show into an "infomercial for the Democratic Party" would ring hollow for the audience and he couldn't be funny or provocative in such a format, Gerbino said.

Robert said she discouraged Gerbino from talking about his work for Pawlenty because the show was not supposed to be about Gerbino but about the issues. She said the show has no partisan leanings and has had Republicans as guests, although she could think of only one, State Auditor Pat Awada, who was on the show after Gerbino's departure.

She also said she is not the boss of the show, is only handling the public relations and hopes to be gone from the operation soon. Her goal is to line up enough affiliates that the show will be heard statewide within a year.

"High Ground," is continuing Monday-Friday from 1-3 p.m. with fill-in hosts who are auditioning to be the permanent replacement. Robert said a decision on permanent co-hosts will be made by Monday.

WMNN is owned by the parent company of Minnesota Public Radio but has a much smaller audience than MPR or any of the big local talk radio stations. John Rash, media buyer for Campbell Mithun advertising agency, said the flap over the show's creation and Gerbino's sudden departure had generated little talk at his end of the business because "High Ground" seems unlikely to be an attractive media buy with or without Gerbino. Gerbino, he said, isn't famous enough in comedy circles or political circles to get many people to sample a show on an unfamiliar station. If Franken launches a liberal talk show, it might different, he said, adding: "In advertising circles, what creates the most buzz is an audience."

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: defundnpr; liberalmedia; liberalradio; liberaltalkradio
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To: wallcrawlr
Politically, he's been a maverick with Democrat leanings. Gerbino said that in the past eight presidential elections he has voted for four Democrats, two Republicans and two independents (John Anderson and Ross Perot).

Hmmm, why wouldn the paper name the independents, but not also at least give us the names of the two Republicans he voted for(and then we could figure out the rest)?

41 posted on 12/09/2003 12:52:53 PM PST by Diddle E. Squat (www.firethebcs.com, www.weneedaplayoff.com, www.firemackbrown.com, www.firecarlreese.com)
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To: Bluntpoint
A little sick and twisted...but funny. I laughed.

Red

42 posted on 12/09/2003 12:54:57 PM PST by Conservative4Ever (Dear Santa......I can explain.......)
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To: Bluntpoint
That's funny!
43 posted on 12/09/2003 12:56:52 PM PST by Aeronaut (In my humble opinion, the new expression for backing down from a fight should be called 'frenching')
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To: DManA
I can't figure out how they are even allowed to own that station in the first place.
44 posted on 12/09/2003 1:01:02 PM PST by Broadside Joe
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To: Broadside Joe
Its all taxpayer money. He wouldn't have his MPR sidelines without MPR.
45 posted on 12/09/2003 1:07:09 PM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: blackdog
Dems might be good at a few things, but running a business is not one of them.

Care to rephrase?
46 posted on 12/09/2003 1:47:54 PM PST by gcruse (http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
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To: gcruse
I was trying to be nice.
47 posted on 12/09/2003 2:15:46 PM PST by blackdog (Proudly raising Wisconsin racing sheep since 1998......Sheep Darby tripple crown winners fer sure)
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To: gcruse
I get my "To Go" espresso from these two ladies who opened up one of those coffee shacks. The two women had lives prior to joining the small business community which featured them as a school psychologist and a guidance counselor. These two ladies were dyed in the wool liberal attack dogs with warm fuzzies and a lack of reality. After six months of payroll taxes, employee headaches, sales tax, quaterley's, and such, these are two ladies questioning everything they had held sacred. They had to rethink the world.
48 posted on 12/09/2003 2:22:30 PM PST by blackdog (Proudly raising Wisconsin racing sheep since 1998......Sheep Darby tripple crown winners fer sure)
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To: blackdog
What I mean is, democrats show no less an aptitude for running businesses as republicans. The fifty-fifty split between red and blue isn't just at the voting booth, although it sure doesn't apply to academe. ;)
49 posted on 12/09/2003 2:24:28 PM PST by gcruse (http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
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To: wallcrawlr
I'd like to see Alfranken as a talk show host because everyone would be calling trying to get him to fly off the handle. Bet it wouldn't be too hard. OTOH, that's what the left did to Savage on MSNBC, wasn't that difficult apparently.
50 posted on 12/09/2003 2:26:27 PM PST by johnb838 (Mr Bush, build *us* a wall...)
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To: 1Old Pro
Oppose the Fairness Doctrine. Sheesh what a contradiction in terms.
51 posted on 12/09/2003 2:27:09 PM PST by johnb838 (Mr Bush, build *us* a wall...)
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To: blackdog
I like little coffee shacks but their day is gone. Let one become successful and a Starbucks will open across the street.
52 posted on 12/09/2003 2:32:18 PM PST by johnb838 (Mr Bush, build *us* a wall...)
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To: gcruse
Once they become business owners, they are no longer liberals and in many cases, no longer democrats. It's a self fulfilling prophecy.
53 posted on 12/09/2003 2:33:56 PM PST by blackdog (Proudly raising Wisconsin racing sheep since 1998......Sheep Darby tripple crown winners fer sure)
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To: johnb838
Starbucks leaves us rural folks alone. Bigger fish and all....
54 posted on 12/09/2003 2:36:09 PM PST by blackdog (Proudly raising Wisconsin racing sheep since 1998......Sheep Darby tripple crown winners fer sure)
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To: wallcrawlr
That's too bad. I wanted to make fun of them first....
55 posted on 12/09/2003 2:37:05 PM PST by Snowy (Annoy a lib -> Work hard, earn money, and be happy!)
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To: Diddle E. Squat
I'll bet that would be McGovern, Carter, Anderson, Mondale, Bush I, Perot, Clinton, Bush II. The Bushes had crossover appeal because they weren't thought to be like "those" conservatives (harumph!) but I'm guessing he was for McCain in the primaries.

Ever notice how many talk show hosts are more libertarian than they are Republican or Democrat? It's an easy call because in our two-party system, being a libertarian is like being neutral. They can side with the liberals on all their hedonism and social do-goodism yet side with the conservatives against all the big-government socialism and bureaucracy. Since they play to both sides, they're considered "fair and non-partisan". They're also typically the kids who got beat up in school for being smartasses and didn't generally have many friends. You can't be good in talk radio without being an arrogant wise-ass.

56 posted on 12/09/2003 2:38:19 PM PST by Tall_Texan ("Is Rush a Hypocrite?" http://righteverytime2.blogspot.com)
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To: wallcrawlr
The Left--and for that matter, many on our side--simply do not understand the reasons why so many Conservative radio talk shows succeed in comparison with "non-Conservative" talk shows. It really is not very difficult to understand; nor does it say anything extraordinary about the talents of Conservatives on radio.

The fact is that anyone who is at all consistently Conservative will sound more creditable, and more appealing, simply because a far greater percentage of his talk will accord with common sense perceptions of reality--something that many Americans feel completely starved of, by the denial of reality in much of the media, academia and Government. The Left, for a variety of reasons starting with a compulsion for uniformity, is and has long been in the business of denying reality. It is this denial of reality, more than any other attribute, which characterizes their writing, discourse and program.

So let the wealthy neurotics spend their money trying to justify their compulsions. They are never--no matter how skillfully spun--going to be able to compete with a simple, heartfelt human reaction to their ongoing denial of things which are plain and obvious to most observers.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

57 posted on 12/09/2003 2:42:47 PM PST by Ohioan
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To: anniegetyourgun
I am literally LOL at this thread!
58 posted on 12/09/2003 2:44:56 PM PST by Howlin
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To: wallcrawlr
DFL = the name for the rat party in Minnesota.

I find it uproarious that the host quit because liberal talk radio will take DIRECT marching orders from the Democrat National Committee. This HAS to be that psychopathic control freak Hillary's doing.

So-called right wing hosts are never lockstep on anything. They are fiercely independent thinkers, many with totally unexpected opinions.

The rat network is nothing less than evil, vicious infomercials, presented with a robot like dead hand.

This is PATHETIC and will have NO LISTENERS (outside of the Kool Ade drinkers).

59 posted on 12/09/2003 2:45:34 PM PST by friendly (Man is so made that whenever anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish.)
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To: wallcrawlr
WMNN is owned by the parent company of Minnesota Public Radio

Why am I not surprised that liberal talk radio would first find a home on tax funded Minnesota Public Radio? Of course they are seperate (wink, wink).

60 posted on 12/10/2003 2:57:54 AM PST by Drango (A liberal's compassion is limited only by the size of someone else's wallet.)
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