Progressive Radio continues to slip on banana peels on its winding road to relevance.
Air America put out a generally good product when they launched, considering most of the talent on the network were not experienced radio people -- not too slick, but there were a lot of distinctive voices; it didn't sound like other radio, for better or worse. But their murky financial problems put them behind the eight ball from the start. Finally bailed out by Mark Green, the interesting departing talent was replaced by generally uninteresting incoming talent (Does anybody here actually find Lionel listenable??).
Less than a year ago, the most fiery of the original Air America personalities, Randi Rhodes and Mike Malloy, were brought together as the foundation of a new Progressive radio network, Nova M. And now Randi Rhodes has flamed out again with her employer.
The pertinent question here is, will Nova M replace Randi with a comparably strong personality (well, approximately -- it's hard to match Randi's force of nature), or will they replicate Air America's tendency to replace all of their distinctive, interesting voices with the bland mush we hear from them now?
Go to Randi's website, which used to be a treasure trove of posted documents and links, and you will find, free of any distracting formatting or graphics, only this blunt message:
TO ALL:
NOVA M RADIO HAS NOT YET CORRECTED THE PROBLEM THAT HAS KEPT ME OFF THE AIR DESPITE MY STRONG DESIRE AND READINESS TO BROADCAST MY SHOW. RESPECTING THE EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP THAT HAS EXISTED BETWEEN NOVA M AND ME, AND EXPECTING THE SOLUTION TO BE QUICKLY ACHIEVED, DETALIS OF THE TRIGGERING EVENT WERE WITHHELD IN GOOD FAITH. BUT I CAN TELL YOU THIS MUCH: ANY STATEMENT IMPLICATING ME AS BEING IN ANY WAY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DISRUPTION IN THE RANDI RHODES SHOW IS PATENTLY FALSE. THIS ENTIRE SITUATION IS SOLELY WITHIN THE CONTROL OF NOVA M.
IN LIGHT OF MOST RECENT DEVELOPMENTS, MY SHOW WILL BE SEEKING A NEW HOME.
I WOULD ASK FOR YOUR CONTINUED PATIENCE AND INDULGENCE IN RESPECTING MY
RIGHTS DURING THIS TIME. YOUR UNWAVERING SUPPORT IS CHERISHED. THANK YOU.
RANDI RHODES
For their part, Nova M has posted this message in the corner of their website that used to house her bio:
To all of Randi's listeners;
You are all correct - I have not had the option to disclose what has been happening between Randi and Nova M...
You see, it's in her contract that she has total control, but, after Wednesday night, I want you all to know that Nova M has done everything we can to get her back on the air.
All this is her choice; if she wants to tell you all what the issue is, then I hope she does, but I can't according to her contract rules.
But I can tell you this I have wanted her back on the air. She's an amazing talent and needs to be heard.
Thank you all for all of your support.
Randi now has to make her decisions as to what she must do with her career...
Anita Drobny
I don't know what this is all about, and I don't really care. Randi Rhodes is one of the most talented people in all of Talk Radio, and seems to pull strong ratings and a loyal following wherever she is broadcast. But she has had difficulty maintaining a healthy relationship with her employers lately.
Her break with Air America arose in the aftermath of somewhat indiscreet comments she made about Hillary Clinton (she called Clinton a "big fucking whore") at a pro-Obama event in April of 2008, when the Democratic primaries were at their most intense. Air America was then run by Mark Green, who was backing Clinton in the primaries. Air America suspended Rhodes and terminated her a few days later for making these comments:
"Air America encourages strong opinions about public affairs but does not condone such abusive, ad hominem language by our Hosts," said chair Charlie Kireker.
Whether her dismissal was politically motivated or was a necessary antidote to the vapors her bold language induced among Air America's management's delicate sensibilities, Randi was let go and was picked up almost immediately as the cornerstone of the new Nova M network.
And now -- well, what happened? No one who knows is talking. On February 3, her show went off the air. Since February 5, Nancy Skinner has been substituting. And now Nova M has a gap to fill.
The question here is, will they fill that gap with someone interesting and compelling? Or will they fill it with another milquetoasty Russ Lieber clone, like Air America always does?
Already there is a movement afoot to get Al Giordano into the slot that Randi vacated. As many of you are aware, Al rose to rapid prominence in the Progressive Blogosphere through his election coverage on The Field, a blog initially hosted on RuralVotes.com, but now housed at Al's own Narco News website.
What most of us don't know -- indeed, I didn't know it until Al told me yesterday -- is that Al had a successful radio show WSPR in Springfield, Mass from 1989 to 1993. He was a consistent #1 in his market's talk radio ratings in his time slot with a 6.2 Arbitron, which any radio personality would kill for, and when slotted against the Rush behemoth still delivered a surprisingly strong 3.4, good for #2 in the talk format in the market.
(full disclosure - Al and I became friends after I wrote this diary about his departure from Rural Votes, along with this follow-up.)
I've never heard Al on the radio, but anyone who has read his work knows that he isn't going to be a Russ Lieber. Consensus on Nancy Skinner is that she does a nice job, but she's no firebrand. Just listening to her right now, my conclusion after two segments is that she is just another bowl of unseasoned gruel.
But now Nancy Skinner is no longer billed as Randi's substitute host. She now is the star of "The Nancy Skinner Show" on Nova M. So although there has been no indication of this posted on Nova M's website, their General Manager, Eric Reinert, has informed me that they are committed to Nancy Skinner for the long run.
But this is radio. Hosts are permanent until they suddenly aren't. Is there still room for Al to be considered for this slot? Or has Nova M watered down their original vision of potent progressive radio by settling for serviceable pap?
I have some inquiries pending and I'll keep you posted if I hear anything more. If you want to pitch in to get Al put on the air, one of his supporters has started a Facebook page to push Nova M to give him an audition.
UPDATE: (Yes, I'm posting an update before I've even posted it once) One of the commenters on Al's "The Field" blog has posted the following:
Hey all, I just received this response from Eric Reinert. Not exactly sure what it means. Perhaps emails should be directed to On Second Thought?
"Yes, I am familiar with Al. We actually have several people clammering [sic] for that time slot. Right now it’s Nancy Skinner. We’ll see what the future holds. Nova M is no longer running the station. It is now being operated by On Second Thought, LLC.
Sincerely,
Eric Reinert"
This is at odds in two important ways with what Reinert told me just a couple hours ago. One, he didn't seem at all familiar with Al when I mentioned him. Two, he told me they were committed to Nancy Skinner. Now, not so much (perhaps he heard the same part of the show I heard today).
I'm not sure what that last part means. Nova M was created by Sheldon and Anita Drobny to produce a new Progressive Radio network. Either the network has changed hands or Drobny has created a new legal entity for reasons of his own. Whatever happened, it's just another banana peel on the road.
UPDATE 2: Major events behind the scene at Nova M!!
Nova M has folded. The shows recently produced under their auspices are now being broadcast by a new company, "On Second Thought LLC". The Arizona Corporation Commissionlists Michael Newcomb as one of its two officers.
Dr. Mike Newcomb was originally one of Sheldon and Anita Drobny's partners when Nova M was founded last year, but left the partnership early. He hosts a radio show that was broadcast locally in Phoenix between Randi's and Malloy's show, but was not part of the Nova M network. However, his acquisition of the assets of the company suggests something less than an arm's distance transaction.
But it gets much more serious...
The following is a report found on Mike Stern's Radio and Records, a website dedicated to news from the radio and music industry:
The finger pointing between host Randi Rhodes and her network Nova M is over, and so is Nova M. Network GM Eric Reinert tells R&R that Nova M is no longer an entity and that a new company called On Second Thought LLC has been formed and is moving forward. Both Reinart and Rhodes' lawyer Robert V. Gaulin confirm that Rhodes is no longer associated with the group.
Gaulin tells R&R that Nova M's legal team is advising the company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and that Rhodes would not hear anymore from Nova M until after the bankruptcy proceedings began.
Gaulin says he has advised the network that their contract with Rhodes is considered terminated due to breach of agreement on their part. He declined to comment on the exact contract breaches but says, "No on-air personality would ever go on air with a talk show under the circumstances that existed that we found out about two or three weeks ago."
Gaulin also says that the current hospitalization of Nova M co-founder Sheldon Drobny is due to an attempted suicide saying he and Rhodes are, "Most sadded by the tragic news." Reinert declined to comment on the situation.
The contents of Gaulin's statement is corroborated by Brian Maloney on his website, The Radio Equalizer, a right-wing site that has dedicated itself to discrediting Progressive radio (He's "The Equalizer", you see, because until he came along, talk radio was SO heavily tilted to the left). His mission aside, he runs a letter from Gaulin that pretty closely follows the information Stern reports and reports the issue fairly straightforwardly. However, as an update, he runs a response from Anita Drobny:
brian...shelly suffered a nervous breakdown...we tried as hard as we could to bring another voice to our nation...i guess we failed...as far as randi goes, we couldn't meet one of her contract issues....i wish her well and hope for all of us to overcome this horrible economy we are faced with....thanks anita
I find no reason to doubt the authenticity of this message. But it is a very strange message to send to the proprietor of a website dedicated to showing your company in the worst possible light. It has a clear tone of grief and capitulation, and frankly does little to mitigate or control the damage.
Clearly there are more serious issues afoot than who gets to replace Randi Rhodes. I sincerely hope that Mr. Drobny's challenges do not extend beyond a nervous breakdown. However, it seems highly implausible to me that a lawyer would release a statement to the media alluding to a suicide attempt knowing the world of legal trouble he would get into if that were not the case.
I offer deep sympathy to the Drobnys and hope they come through this difficult situation well.
UPDATE 3: Al has just posted a request on The Field that all the people who were sending Nova M management e-mails in support of an audition for him please discontinue in light of the ongoing chaos. Anyone who has been motivated by this post to do the same are similarly requested to refrain. However, if you would still like to be a part of getting Al back on the air in the long run, you are encouraged to join the Facebook page.