WABC TUNES OUT SAVAGE (Disney/ABC Management Orders Savage Off the Air)

New York Post ^ | July 3, 2003 | John Mainelli

[Dont Mention the War]

July 3, 2003 -- MICHAEL Savage has been permanently dropped from WABC' lineup following the collapse of West Coast contract talks that used the Bronx-raised blabber's beloved New York affiliation as leverage.

WABC (770 AM) abruptly yanked Savage off the air earlier this month in solidarity with its San Francisco sister station, KSFO, during noisy negotiations with Savage, who's based at KSFO but is syndicated by another company.

[Thorondir]

LOL!

[Thorondir]

Look up the word, "extremist", and this time don't just look for some pictures before you read.

[arasina]

I still love Rush Limbaugh. He's smart, witty and cutting-edge. I'm uncomfortable with his current take on the Bush administration, but I'll listen anyway because I always get an education from whatever he's discussing with listeners. He's also a very generous and compassionate human being, IMO. And if he states something that turns out to be a factual error (a rare occurrence), he corrects it as soon as possible in an upfront way instead of burying the correction as so many media members do.

[Keith in Iowa]

>>Besides, Levin is a Freeper.

>>How do you know that?

It's not really a big secret - look above in the thread for his screen-name. I've also exchanged e-mail with him. And, yes, he's a lawyer, and runs Landmark Legal Foundation - http://www.landmarklegal.org -- check it out. He's been kicking butt on eduaction issues, and coming close to getting the NEA re-classified from a union to a political organization.

[Thorondir]

Yep. I love Savage for exactly the same reasons the PC Liberal crowd hates him.

[oceanperch]

Wish Savage would put his first two books on Audio. I do not like reading out loud in for long lengths of time for/to my adult son/quad. Rather save my voice box for discussion/communication of the books contents.

[Mr. Mojo]

You (for some odd reason) imagined that I thought Tuscon was a "small town" just because I don't consider it a major city. You took it to extremes.

Look, this whole ridiculous argument is centered around our different definition of what a "major city" is. (A fairly irrelevant point). The main point, which I'd imagine you'd readily concede, is that China presently has enough firepower - megatonnage - to nearly destroy the U.S. (and 20 ICBMs is enough to do the trick).

I originally commented on Savage's shortsightedness (to put it mildly) in advocating that we nuke China last year, considering that they'd probably unleash whatever they had in their arsenal they had at us if we did. Do you agree with Savage that we should've nuked them, and therefore risked annihilation (of around 20 of our largest cities) in return?

[arasina]

A brilliant mind is riveting and, to the discriminating female freeper, highly atractive. Despite a deep and abiding love for my husband, I nearly swooned listening to the Great One dissect the Constitution, verbally flay liberals on Fox News, and defend the founding principles of our country and system of justice.

You wrote that so well. All I would've been able to express is something like "Mark Levin turns me on." LOL It's so true, just better said coming from you. (Your Freeper ID suits you!)

[L.N. Smithee]

It must be political, KSFO could have had the Top Three Talkers- Rush, Hannity, and Savage.

Sorry. It's all business. Savage is a hot potato, but he's no more controversial today than Rush was in 1990 when he began his shocking and unpredicted rise to the top of the industry.

This is not about content, it's about power plays. Rush is threaded to Laura because they both are in the Premiere Radio Networks stable. On smaller stations, Laura isn't going anywhere unless they want to risk losing Rush. Hannity is a home-grown ABC Radio host, and Hannity's show replaced Laura on ABC-owned stations like (correct me if I am wrong, Chi-town) WLS while hanging on to Rush.

When Talk Radio Network signed up Savage to Clear Channel-owned KNEW, which has switched just months ago from an all-techie talk format to standard talk radio, that was enough for ABC to yank the rug from under Savage in NYC.

Dr. Laura is #3, and her ratings are up from this time last year. Stern is fourth. Savage is fifth.

The Savage Nation is NOT the fastest-growing talk show. It was at one time, but no more. Facts are facts.

[KC_Conspirator]

Savage has one of the best talk shows going and the ratigns prove it. Now he is one PMSNBC on Saturdays and actually getts people to tune in. I certainly don't agree with everything he says, but he is a greaty entertainer. I can see why Savage plays hardball with these radio stations because he's one of these guys who always gets bumped for sports games or a delayed (or partial) broadcast like here in KC. Being live and one for entirety of your show is very important to the people in the business.

[aristeides]

Phil Boyce will hear from me.

As with Bob Grant, the Savage decision was made by corporate Disney, not WABC.

[Symix]

Michael Savage' stated goal is to ridicule the left and he is doing it with a passion. Republicans often appear like bookkeepers talking about the numbers while Democrats always go hysterically for the gut.

What Michael is doing is using emotions to strip the web of lies. The people here who critisize Savage for being "too much" intentionally or subconsciously want to make him "proper" and thus disable him.

Let the creator create and just support him.

BTW, Michael often says he is not a Republican - neither am I. As you can see none of the Republicans support him (or his predecessor on MSNBC Alan Keyes). They just ignore.
Many say Republican party now is the Democratic party of 20 years ago. I do not see any proof it is otherwise.

[bootless]

I would love to see Larry Elder move over to KSFO. His live hours are 3-6 pacific. So, 12-3 Hannity Live, 3-6 Elder Live, 6-9 Brian Wilson, 9-12 Laura rerun, 12-? Coast. Howdat? :-)

[bootless]

Hold on now! You don't want to go and blow his cover now, do you?

ROFL! I think that's already happened! :-)

[bootless]

(I'm pinging Mark because you did in your message)

Well, I certainly wish Mark Levin had not taken advantage of Savage's dispute with corporate Disney to get a show.

I believe that's a mischaracterization of the situation. Mark has been on the air, subbing for Hannity or (I think) doing a weekend show for a while now. It's not a fair statement to say that he "took advantage" of the contract dispute. What is WABC going to do - leave three hours of dead air on during that time slot>

Mark has an enjoyable and incisive show, and if the spot is there to be filled, he's the guy I want filling it.

[bootless]

Lee Rodgers "mainstream"? I don't know when you listen, but the man's maintained his caustic edge ... including when he disagrees with the President, and he will preface that by saying "Bring on the hate mail. This is what I believe." The man's got ... well, this is a family forum, but he's got 'em.

[bootless]

So, what was Savage's first show like, and what was his manner like then?

[bootless]

The biggest reason I don't care for Savage is that he manages to cram 15 minutes worth of material into three hours.

(breaking out the new keyboard)

ROFL! But it's generally true.

[dogbyte12]

So, what was Savage's first show like, and what was his manner like then?

He was guest fill in host on KGO-810. I believe it was on a week-end, and he called himself a contrarian. He didn't yell or scream at all, but pushed more of a moderate line. No joke. He did this for about 2 shows, then he switched over and started the scream fest. First two times though, he did stress a more conservative position, but he tried to do it in moderate reasoned tones.

Each show, he kept evolving, until he became the screamer. The sister station picked him up as a full time host, and the rest is history. I do know for a fact though, that it is an act. He was either acting then, or now, but he went through a personality transformation kinda quickly.