KFBK Fires Mark Williams (Rush's old home station goes Liberal)

www.MoveAmericaForward.org ^ | June 6, 2006 | Melanie Morgan

[editor-surveyor]

Friends,

Last night I updated you on the decision by KFBK 1530 AM/Clear Channel to move away from their "conservative" reputation, including the firing of a pro-troop/pro-military talk show host, a man who has been a hero to our cause - Mark Williams.

We have several updates for you that you need to hear about.

1) KFBK has now posted online the biography of the man who has been hired to replace Mark Williams. His name is Mr. Bruce Maiman and he announced on the airwaves that he is a "liberal" who is also anti-war. He is also apparently a relative of one of the sales executives at KFBK, which might explain how he got his job.

You MUST read the biography KFBK has posted on this Mr. Maiman. It is insulting to see the kind of crass approach they have taken in their efforts to rebrand their station and shed their long-established conservative pedigree. This was the station that launched the "Rush Limbaugh Show," and now they dump a pro-troop advocate for a man with this as his bio:

http://www.kfbk.com/pages/maiman.html

2) The news media has begun covering the growing backlash as outraged listeners and sponsors have bombarded the station with phone calls and emails of protest. Read this report from the Sacramento Bee:

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Mark Williams fallout: The decision by KFBK (1530 AM) to oust conservative talk-show host Mark Williams in favor of moderate [sic] Bruce Maiman has angered many of Williams' fans.

Griffin & Reed Eye Care, which pays for on-air media endorsements (including Williams') for its lasik eye surgery, has pulled all advertisements from KFBK.
"Our relationship with the personalities that help us with our advertising is something we take very seriously,"
writes Brad Mitchell, Griffin & Reed's chief operating officer, in an e-mail.
"... I'm sure the absence of our money on KFBK won't be felt too much, but hopefully the position will."

And a Granite Bay organization called Marine Moms & Military Families, which has held many events supporting the troops in Iraq and protesting Cindy Sheehan's opposition to the war, is banning KFBK from covering future events.

"We take (Williams' firing) as a personal attack and lack of support against our military men and women and their families," reads a letter sent to KFBK boss Jeff Holden by the group's leaders, Michelle Souza and Deborah Johns.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/story/14264297p-15077028c

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It's time for those of us who appreciated Mark Williams' unwavering commitment to our troops and their fight against terrorism to take action. We must speak out and let KFBK/Clear Channel know how much they've let us all down.

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 to Jeff Holden, the KFBK Program Director who FIRED Mark Williams, and politely and calmly state that you are calling to have your name added 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 for them to be besieged with 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

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*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.

If you have a pro-troop email list or website - could you please pass on this information?

Thank you!

Melanie Morgan
Chairman, Move America Forward
http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org

[editor-surveyor]

Let's not take this laying down

[editor-surveyor]

The conservative pretense is over at KFBK

[Fruitbat]

I guess they're going for that more lucrative liberal programming!

Ahh, we have open lines. Where's the number. Oh, here it is, ... silly me. Do we have any callers? (H'yuk!)

No Alec, no one seems to want to listen to your horsecrap.

[CAluvdubya]

So, is Tom Sullivan still there? (or do I have the wrong station?)

Way to go Grittin and Reed (son's surgeon) and way to go Granite Bay! (used to live there)

Did KFBK get bought out by someone or something? They are a very conservative area so this is just stupid!

[kingu]

Me thinks you're targeting the wrong level. Who owns this station - not who makes day to day decisions at the station, but who picks up the phone and people's heads end up disconnected from their bodies rolling down the hill? Because that is who needs to be contacted.

The station manager who made this decision should be fired, but even better, is the owner losing money by it becoming a 'moderate/liberal' crap fest. Then the opinion of the station manager means nothing because his paycheck will be taken to pay for the damage.

Least that's my viewpoint on it. I'm glad the guy is pro military, but it doesn't mean a rip in the long run if he's hired back at a station where they're ready to fire him. Time for him to find better anchorage.

Oh, and you might want to call other stations in the area, and offer to switch your listenership if they hire him on. Because it sincerely sounds like you are.

[CAluvdubya]

oops Griffin!

[demkicker]

Let's just let capitalism work its natural magic. KFBK will die a natural death, and rightfully so... Unlike Terry Schaivo, this death will actually be self inflicted and well deserved.

[editor-surveyor]

"So, is Tom Sullivan still there?"

Yes, but Sullivan is no conservative, except for his fiscal outlook; otherwise, as for social issues, he is pro-gay, including some form of 'marriage' and thinks that illegal immigrants should be given amnesty.

[Randy Larsen]

I've noticed lately that Tom Sullivan has gone wishy washy also!

I'm done with KFBK, Hope Rush hears of this!

[hedgetrimmer]

Let's just let capitalism work its natural magic.

Thats the problem. The senators and congressmen who voted for the Telecommunications Act of 1996 were bought out so that the media could be concentrated in the hands of internationalist corporations. THEY don't want balance, THEY don't want the American people to have an American viewpoint, it interferes with their push for multiculturalism and globalism. The capitalists in this case are working their 'magic' and they are eliminating any opposing voices to the globalist view.

[editor-surveyor]

"Oh, and you might want to call other stations in the area, and offer to switch your listenership if they hire him on."

The problem with that idea is that KFBK is the most powerful station in the western US. It can be heard from Shasta to Bakersfield. None of the other Sac stations can be heard easily outside of Sacramento county.

[atomicpossum]

They might as well run the Tom Daschle Show.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

A sad day indeed. I used to listen to Rush on that station before he went national.
Has the Sacramento area gone that liberal? Well I know it's the state capital. But the central valley is a fairly red voting area as a block.
Stop listening to the station.
Advertizers pull the pin like this piece mentions. Make them feel the pain in the pocket book. Best way to deal with this in a capitalistic society.

[SierraWasp]

I strongly suspect that Mrs. Sullivan's little boy Tommy was "embarrassed" by Mark and his somewhat rabid sounding rants. I think I'm gonna boycott Tommy who even thought he could be an apprentice for Donald Trump for Pete's sake!!! Phhhhht!!!

Sullivan is good, but he's an intermittant RINO and way, WAY too in love with Schwartzenegger and another failed candidate for Governor, horsewhipped by Gray Davis... Mrs. Lundgren's little boy Danny!!!

[demkicker]

The capitalists in this case are working their 'magic' and they are eliminating any opposing voices to the globalist view.

This is all we can ask and pray for. Capitalism and Freedom will win the day in the end. Our society is far too spoiled with the good life and will not be willing to relinquish it, nevermind the pathetic speeches from the b.s. global warming alarmists.

[Drango]

Griffin & Reed Eye Care, which pays for on-air media endorsements (including Williams') has pulled all advertisements from KFBK.

This is the only thing that counts. Calling the station people don't work. CALL THE ADVERTISERS!

[cicero2k]

Way to go Griffith and Reed (son's surgeon) and way to go Granite Bay! (used to live there) I still live in Granite Bay, have the house on the market in order to move to AZ. Also, Tom Sullivan lives in the neighborhood and his house is also on the market, but I doubt he's leaving Sacramento. I'm also social freinds with Dr. Reed and have met Mark Williams twice. That being said, the political dynamics of Sacramento County leans liberal, however Placer County; where Granite Bay is located is one of the strongest Republican counties in the state, perhaps the stongest. The state as a whole is what bothers me the most. We decided to move when the state decided to spend $6 billion it did not have on stem cell research. At that point we figured that we would never align with the state majority in our lifetimes and move elsewhere. The radio industry will have to figure whether it wants to make money or advance agenda. Nobody is making us listen, and I plan to not listen to KFBK in the evening any longer. So where did you leave Granite Bay for?

[proudpapa]

Calling the station people don't work. CALL THE ADVERTISERS!Calling the station people don't work. CALL THE ADVERTISERS!Calling the station people don't work. CALL THE ADVERTISERS!

[lexington minuteman 1775]

Oh, I did not live in Granite Bay, I lived in Live Oak in Sutter county. Then moved to Placer county outside of Lincoln. Moved away after a divorce and now Pastor a church in Florida.
Glad to be out of the California thing. And I am a native of Los Angeles...lol.

[CAluvdubya]

I had forgotten how Sullivan is on all issues but financial.