Posted on 06/01/2006 9:21:05 PM PDT by Pro-Bush
Nothing if not controversial, Mark Williams figured to have plenty to say Wednesday about the cancellation, effective immediately, of his weeknight conservative talk-radio show on KFBK (1530 AM). Turns out, though, the talker who made a name nationally on cable TV news shows for his inflammatory opinions on immigration and terrorism was mostly gracious in discussing his parting with KFBK after five years. Williams produced solid numbers for KFBK, Sacramento's top-rated station, but his contract and added bonuses, called "talent fees," made him expensive for the station to keep, sources say. He will be replaced on an interim basis by Bruce Maiman, who has filled in on the air at KFBK recently. "It was all a budgetary decision," said Williams, who said he was told several months ago his show was in danger of being cut. "It was just a matter of the station cutting back and concentrating on the 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. time slot.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Funny, you mentioned that. This is the station that launched Rush's career. Sacramento is his "adopted home town" and also where his "Rio Linda" references are based.
Wow. Where is the CA Rio Linda? I just assumed that Rio Linda was in FL.
Yes, Rio Linda is everything Rush says it is....and more. I used to live near Sac. and cut through Rio Linda to get to the airport. Couldn't do it without thinking of Rush!
My sister lives in Rio Linda...
That's the radio biz.
I used to live in Yuma, AZ, at least 800 miles away, and listen to the Giants at night on KFBK. Of course, that was back in the days before they took away the clear channel signals and allowed 200,000 watt Mexican stations to rattle our radio's.
But when he said this I was a little taken aback.But Williams also said his outspoken style did not mesh with the philosophy of KFBK operations manager Alan Eisenson, who replaced longtime boss Ken Kohl in September.
"(Eisenson's) major criticism of me was that I spent too much time talking about terrorism, the Middle East, Arnold Schwarzenegger and illegal immigration," Williams said. "He thought I should look for more lifestyle and broaden things. I tried to do some of that stuff, too. He wanted me to soften the edges a little bit. I guess a kinder, gentler Mark was what he wanted."
"Hey," he said, laughing, "it depends on the issue. If you give me raw meat, I'm going to feast. On a slow night, I had no problem talking about people driving badly on Route 65. But I've been all over the immigration thing since I got here five years ago. It's a very important topic that needs to be talked about. I stand by that."
But Williams, who said his show had more than 50,000 listeners a night, maintained that nothing he said or did on the air contributed to the cancellation.
I imagine he was talking in generalizations but I do think it had everything to do with what he was saying and doing.
Remember that Melanie Morgan was fired from KSFO in Oct 2005 I imagine for similar reasons. The uproar was so great the station renewed her contract.
Northern California and Military Families
c/o D.K. Johns & Michele Souza
4120 Douglas Blvd. #306-442
Granite Bay, CA 95746
May 30, 2006
Mr. Jeff Holden
KFBK/Clear Channel
1440 Ethan Way, Suite 200
Sacramento, CA 95825
Re: Boycott of KFBK and the Bruce Maiman Show
Dear Mr. Holden:
We as Marine and Military families are very sadden to learn that Mark Williams is no longer with KFBK, and further that you have decided to turn KFBK into a liberal station by replacing the Emmy Award Winning Mark Williams with liberal Bruce Maiman.
The Military families thought we could always count on KFBK for support with regards to our fundraising efforts, rallies, luncheons, deployments and homecomings for our loved ones who are serving this great Nation in the War on Terror. Obviously with KFBK becoming a liberal station with the hiring of Bruce Maiman, we know now we can no longer count on the support of KFBK for our military men and women and the families who stand behind them. We take this as a personal attack and lack of support against our military men and women and their families.
Therefore, we are calling for a boycott of KFBK and any and all of your sponsors who advertise on the Liberal Maiman show. It is our understanding that KFBK has already begun to lose sponsors with Griffin & Reed Eye Care pulling their advertising from your station. I am sure it will not be long before several other companies pull their advertising as well. We have sent this letter to all of the sponsors who advertise on that show to not support KFBK, because KFBK has turned their backs not only on Mark Williams, but on all the military and their families.
We obviously have no idea as to why you do not want to support your target market in the greater Sacramento/San Joaquin Valley and beyond, which is a conservative market nonetheless. Instead you have decided to turn KFBK into a liberal broadcast media center. Your efforts to turn a station into a liberal station would be better served in the San Francisco Bay Area. This decision was a poorly made decision and a reckless one at that.
In two nights of listening to Mr. Maiman’s show in a one hour segment he had only 3 callers. Mark Williams had 3 callers in 5 minutes with phone lines jammed when he was on the air.
Mark Williams has a far reaching, wide spread, conservative loyal listener base and we are all eagerly awaiting his return on a new station. Mr. Williams has been there for the support of our military men and women and their families. He and his lovely wife Holly have attended our luncheons, greeted our sons and daughters at the airport when they returned home from deployment. Helped us raise money for sending care packages, making condolence books and met the needs we have when our loved ones are deployed. He also had many of them on his show to tell their stories of the great things that are being done in Iraq, as well as he was very instrumental in his support of Move America Forward and the "Cindy You Don’t Speak for Me," tours with Marine Mom Deborah Johns to Crawford, TX and Washington D.C. He is truly missed on KFBK and your station has been left with a tremendous void because Mark Williams is no longer there. Our military and families knew we had a friend in Mr. Williams and that we could always count on him for support when we needed it. He will be missed by all of us.
It greatly saddens all of us that KFBK under your direction Mr. Holden has turned your backs on the support of our military and their families. We only wonder how long sponsors will continue to advertise on KFBK with the direction you are taking it in to try and turn it into a liberal media station. It is sad to know that you ran three other stations into the ground with your misguided efforts there as well and now it seems KFBK is your next victim.
Therefore, we are calling for a boycott of KFBK and any and all of your sponsors who advertise on the Liberal Maiman show. It is our understanding that KFBK has already begun to lose sponsors with Griffin & Reed Eye Care pulling their advertising from your station. We are sure it will not be long before several other companies pull their advertising as well. We have sent this letter to all of the sponsors who advertise on that show to let them know we will not support KFBK or advertisers on the Liberal Maiman show, because KFBK has turned their backs not only on Mark Williams, but on all the military and their families. We have also sent this notice to the numerous military web sites, blogs, Free Republic.com, military magazines, the Bee and the hundreds of sponsors we have around the country to boycott KFBK’s liberal efforts.
Mr. Holden be advised that the military families will not support KFBK or sponsors on the Bruce Maiman show. KFBK and your reporters from his show are no longer welcome at any of our military family luncheons, homecomings, funerals and we will not grant interviews to KFBK any longer.
Sincerely
Michelle Souza
Co-Chair Northern CA Marine Moms & Military Families
Deborah Johns
Co-Founder Northern CA Marine Moms & Military Families
"Cindy You Don’t Speak for Me"
Deborah Johns sent the above to me in an email yesterday with this note:
Please post this letter on any and all websites and blogs that you can. Bruce "Liberal" Maiman is advocating on his show under "Freedom of Speech" the continued protesting at military funerals and for the ACLU to file a lawsuit against the President for signing into law that makes it illegal to protest within 500 yards of a military funeral.Deborah Johns
This new host wants Felps and his ilk to continue to undermine our Military and spew hate to families who have lost loved ones to the War On Terror by harassing them at the funerals.
Oh my.
They might as well go all the way and replace him with an spanish-only-speaking illegal alien for below-minimum wage wages.
BUMP! Thanks for posting this. (..copying and pasting, licking, sticking -mailed)
Thanks for spreading the info
Since dropping Mark Williams, I no longer listen to KFBK. Radio station 1380 is a good alternative.
Friends,
I have some AWFUL news to report, and it requires us to take IMMEDIATE action.
One of the top talk radio stations in this nation, KFBK 1530 Sacramento - yes, the very same station that launched the Rush Limbaugh Show - has FIRED their pro-troop talk radio host, Mark Williams, and replaced him with a left-wing, anti-war radical.
The move is shocking, especially since Williams' show beat out his competition in the ratings, and especially since the liberal who is replacing Williams is a man who has announced his strong support for the tactic of having anti-war protestors target the funerals of military personnel.
Mark Williams in contrast helped lead, organized and then traveled with the "Voices of Soldiers" tour with Move America Forward to Iraq. He won a Mark Twain Journalism Award from the Associated Press for his incredible live reports from Iraq. Williams also helped to launch the "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy" caravan we led across the nation to Crawford, Texas to rally support for our troops. Mark Williams has led and organized and promoted countless pro-troop rallies. Mark has helped us to send over 15 TONS of coffee and cookies to our troops. And there has been NO stronger voice for securing our borders then Mark Williams.
Mark has ALWAYS been there for our cause, and now we must stand up and speak out in his defense. I've been notified that military support groups have started a campaign to call, email and FAX the radio station and their parent company. It's time for all of us to stand side by side with these military families.
Here's what we need to do - we need to SPEAK UP. I need you to send an email, make a phone call and send a FAX. Let's light up the phone lines of KFBK and their parent company, Clear Channel, and let's tell them that we won't sit back and say nothing as they replace a pro-military talk show hosts with someone from the Air America crowd.
1) FIRST: Send an email to these people and let them know you are saddened by the news that Mark Williams has been fired and replaced with an anti-war liberal. I've also included the email addresses for 2 reporters covering this issue - include them on the same emails. We need them to hear our voices!
jeffholden@clearchannel.com
markpmays@clearchannel.com
apeterson@radioandrecords.com
smcmanis@sacbee.com
2) SECOND: Place a telephone call and politely and calmly state that you are calling to have them add your name to those who are disappointed with the decision by KFBK to fire pro-military talk show host, Mark Williams.
The number to call: (916) 576-2223
We need them to get TENS of THOUSANDS of phone calls. So, please, if the line is busy when you call, try back a few minutes later.
3) THIRD: Please also send a FAX and let the management at KFBK know how thoroughly displeased you are to see this station switch from being a proud sponsor of our troops and their mission, and becoming a mouthpiece for an anti-war, left-wing agenda.
The FAX number is: (916) 921-5555
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
*Please forward this to 5 other people you know who support our troops and their missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Every night the Mark Williams Show was broadcast over the Internet to units in Iraq and Afghanistan - where Mark had a lot of admirers. Many nights, Mark would sign off for the evening by sending out a message of support - complete with music and voices of Americans expressing their love for our troops - as a morale boost to all those who were listening over the Internet and serving in the war for freedom.
These troops have now lost their voice in Sacramento, and they've lost a radio program that they could count on to be there for them when the other media outlets had them feeling so down and discouraged.
So, please let's get this information posted on all the military support group websites. If you have a pro-troop email list, perhaps you can send this out to them?
Thank you!
Melanie Morgan
Chairman, Move America Forward
http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org
How ya doin' btw?
That coverage map doesn't even begin to describe the 'reach' of KFBK. In the later evening hours, Mark Williams frequently took calls from people listening in such distant locations as British Columbia and Wyoming. Atmospheric 'skip' gave that 50KW signal a really big footprint.
ACTIVIST reinstate Mark Willliams BUMP!
Completely untrue.
KTKZ 138 / 105.5 is a vastly superior station: conservative, pro-America, thoughful.
I never listened to Williams, anyway.
Dan
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