Seattle's KVI Radio drops Michael Medved Show

Michael Medved ^ | August 30, 2002 | Michael Medved

[libertynews]

" After six spectacularly successful Seattle years, the Michael Medved Show has been abruptly dropped by KVI Radio. One of my regrets about this situation is the inability to speak directly to my listeners about this change in my life, and in your daily radio schedule. ..."

[libertynews]

KVI's management has been unable to adequatly explain this sudden replacement of Medved with Sean Hannity's show. Both shows are highly rated, and Hannity is on the rise. But KVI was Medved's flagship station, home since he started his radio career after filling in on the Rush Limbaugh show several times.

[TankerKC]

I hope we still get Medved here in Montgomery.

[libertynews]

He found a new studio, so this doesn't effect the national show. But we have to wait until January to hear him on the air again (or listen to him on the web).

[Clinging Bitterly]

Interesting.
Medved is one of the shows that has been targeted for censorship by the Oregon Democrats. Is the situation the same in Washington?

Dave in Eugene

[willgetsome]

Michael is one of the most intelligent, articulate, and compelling talk show host on the radio. KVI screwed up big time on this.

You can hear his show from Noon to 3PM PT on www.krla570.com

[Blood of Tyrants]

I'm sure another station will snatch him up.

[noexcuses]

WHAT!! Michael Medved is my favorite radio show. I listen everyday at work. We get Hannity later in evening- the best of both worlds. I don't like this one bit.

[Spyder]

They canned him on the station I listen to for Glenn Beck. Glenn is fine, but I think I prefer Medved. I wish his website listed his affiliate stations. So far I haven't been able to find anywhere in the Honolulu vicinity who broadcasts his show.

[cmsgop]

Im in Shock! I like Medved alot. He is so friggen smart it's scary. This Sucks.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Too bad for KVI listeners. What will Dean from Burien do for four months without being able to call Michael "a stooge for the rich." You know he'd never bring himself to use an evil invention like a PC. Hannity is affable enough but is an intellectual lightweight compared to Medved. Michael would clean his clock on Jeopardy. In fact that would be a good tournament for Trebek to put on. Talk show hosts. Throw in some lefties to get spanked in the early rounds and end up with a final showdown between Medved, Praeger and Hewitt. Wonder if Hannity's star will fall as quickly as it has risen.

[VOA]

(Just paging you Cinnamon Girl in case this topic is of interest)

Medved is one of the shows that has been targeted for censorship by the Oregon Democrats.
Is the situation the same in Washington?

FACT:
My brother used to listen to Medved on a station in central Missouri.

FACT: Medved was replaced by Hannity on that station with the past couple of months.

FACT: Columbia, Missouri, home of the major state university of Missouri,
was also named as a location with a number of active chapter of Muslim groups,
including Hamas (folks here have probably seen the map compiled by Steven "Jihad In America"
Emerson that shows this).

My inexpert speculation:
I wonder if Medved is being "squeezed" out in some more liberal markets for a number of reasons:
1. Medved "names names" when it comes to talking about terrorism and some other
hot button topics.
Between liberal/Democrats that probably whine at management, maybe Medved is
the recipient of an organized campaign by some Muslim and/or Arab group trying to
force him off the air.
Those sorts of folks helped push Steven Emerson off National Public Radio some years back.
I suspect that those groups are even tougher in responding to the unfavorable
events of 9-11...and need to silence any public voice that will speak the truth and come
after them.

2. Hannity, while I like and respect him and his show, is just not quite as pointed
when it comes to critical analysis of liberal B.S.
(Don't get me wrong...Hannity is in the first rank of conservative radio commentators,
but he just doesn't go after liberal guests and hand them their heads when they
are spouting nonsense.)


My amateur conclusion:
Maybe station directors get enough grief over Medved...and see Hannity as a
viable (and profitable alternative)...and show Medved the door in order to buy
peace and quiet.

While I listen to Hannity occassionally, I go with Medved 95% of the time.

And I suspect that anyone with a decent internet connection can get him at
his Los Angeles affiliate, 870AM, KRLA.

Just go to
www.newstalk870.com
and punch the "listen live" button at Noon to 3 PM, Pac Time.

And this is probably also just part of the fluid nature of talk radio...IIRC Medved
said he went back on the air due to popular demand on one station a few weeks ago.
(IIRC, I think it might have been Albequerque (sp?), New Mexico.

[tubebender]

I haven't been able to listen to Medved this summer but I love the way he slays the socialist on his show. He has a total recall of historic events that causes a loss of my bowels when he is refuting the nuts that call in even Liberal Larry.

[VOA]

Throw in some lefties to get spanked in the early rounds and end up with a final showdown
between Medved, Praeger and Hewitt.

I'd start a betting pool to pick which one of them gets exasperated with
Trebek and insults him with a term even Trebek and his team doesn't recognize.

[AdA$tra]

I haven't seen CG since Neil was Young.

[Common Tator]

Itis money. This is going on all over the nation.

When a station picks up Hanity or Limbaugh it pays nothing for the show. The satellite show gets half the commercial content in the show for national sales. Thus if there is 14 minutes commercial time in a show, the station keeps all the revenue from the 7 minutes it sells and the syndicated show can sell the rest nationally and keep the money.

Typically a local show like Medvid would cost 10 minutes of the time sold each hour. Thus a station had to sell on average 12 minutes an hour to make a buck.

With a syndicated show, which has no production and talent costs the first two minutes sold pay all the bills for that hour. If station sells 6 minutes an hour in Hannity it makes more money than if it salls 12 minutes in a locally produced Medvid. Hanity only has to do half as well as Medvid for the station to make a lot more money.

Hannity's show can't sell locally in the market. Buying a spot on the Hannity show from the Hannity producers means buying a spot on all stations that carry Hannity. It is not really possible for Hannity to sell a spot on his show to just run on KVI. To get a spot that just runs in the local market one has to go to KVI. To buy all 130 stations costs too much for locals and offers no benifet to local stores. So the money spent for the national spots on Hanity don't hurt KVI. The locals don't buy the national spots.

If Medvid were to originate in the market, and had the right to local sales, he could sell spots on all his stations or feed separate local spots to KVI for local rates.

KVI certainly does not want that.

It is all about money. I had lunch with one of the few remaining independent major market station owners last week. I complimented him on the quality of his staff. He said that with all the syndicated shows, there was a huge talent surplus. Each of the hundreds of stations that carry Limbaugh, used to have a local person in that slot. There are thousands of fewer jobs because of the success of syndication. That has resulted is a huge natioal talent pool of very good people at very reasonable pay.

In most markets there is one sales staff selling 5 stations where there used to be 5 sales staffs. There is one local news staff doing 5 stations where there used to be 5 staffs. In many markets only morning drive time is locally staffed.

There are far fewer jobs. Money is made by carrying "time share" programs that a computer puts on the air by tuning in a satellite dish.

It is just economics. The station can make more money with Hanity than it can with Medvid. He knows the reason. He is just not telling you how it is. Everyone knows the score .... even Medivd.

[Consort]

It's probably retaliation for the two who got canned in that St. Patricks sex radio caper a couple of weeks ago.

[Diddle E. Squat]

That's a shame. Sean is ok, and a good guy, but Medved is GREAT. Haven't heard Hewitt yet, but of those I've heard, Medved and Praeger are the two best candidates to replace Limbaugh, when that sad day eventually comes(far away, I hope!)

[VOA]

I haven't seen CG since Neil was Young.

Our CG is a freeper who's a Medved fan.

Speaking of screen-names...would I be right to guess you picked that off
the state motto of Kansas? Just curious...I grew up in north-central OK...
And do you listen to Medved?

[VOA]

Haven't heard Hewitt yet, but of those I've heard, Medved and Praeger are the
two best candidates to replace Limbaugh, when that sad day eventually comes
(far away, I hope!)

Hey, try www.newstalk870.com and click listen live.
You'll get Prager 9-Noon, Medved Noon-3PM, and Professor Hewitt 3-7PM, PAC Time.
And don't be put off by Hewitt's Professorial tone. He will occassionally go off
of an odd tagent, but 95% of the time he rocks.

Too bad you weren't listening to Hewitt's show when Rumsfeld giving it hot and heavy
to the press corps.

[Let's Roll]

Tator,

I have to say that the most useful information I ever pick up on FR comes from you, starting way back when you explained how to rig voter sign-in logs and various voting machines in November 2000. When I first started reading this post and your screen name was still "below the fold", I thought this sounds like Common Tator. Thanks!