KTLK, a Clearchannel station here in L.A., carries product from Air America (Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes, Rachel Maddow, etc.) and Jones Network (Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz). They've also added a local broadcaster with a large following whose name is Marc Germain. Don't know who distributes his show, or even if it IS distributed. I think not, though he's certainly good enough to go down that road.
About six weeks or so ago KTLK rearranged its lineup, ostensibly to provide as much "live" radio as possible. Say what you will about Clearchannel (and I'll second all the worst you have to say), they know how to "do" radio. "Live and local" is their mantra, and a powerful mantra it is.
Gone from live radio in L.A. is Ed Schultz. His show is still heard here, but at 7pm, 10 hours after he goes live from Fargo, N.D., his home base.
You may recall that about 6 weeks ago Schultz went on a rant on the air about how horrible Air America radio is, was, will be. He tore into AAR's management and on-air talent, naming names. His rant had been instigated, according to his account, by a request made by Sam Seder of AAR to Sam's audience that they call XM radio and ask that Thom Hartmann's show be put on the XM lineup instead of Ed's show. Sam's point was simple. The XM satellite channel is called Air America XM 167. It should carry Air America product. Ed is not Air America product. In fact, Ed has had a long history of slamming Air America and aggrandizing his own little cottage industry, The Ed Schultz Show. Nothing wrong with self-promotion in an industry built on ratings, but his constant sniping at Air America was a bit disingenuous.
While Ed is a Product First talent - Product First is Randy Michaels' company, he a former Clearchannel exec and eminence gris behind Rush Limbaugh's rise to fame - and is, as I said, distributed by Jones Network, Ed Schultz has benefitted enormously from Air America's arrival on the radio scene. To use the Supermarket analogy, Air America's stores around the country - which were rented, not owned - placed the Ed Schultz product on its shelves. They gave Ed prominent placement, right there at eye-level, afternoon drive time on the east coast, noon on the west.
Ed would claim that his show got ratings and he deserved to be carried on Air America's shelves. Nobody, he would claim, knew anything about many of Air America's talents (Al Franken aside), while he'd been on air for a couple years prior to Air America's debut and had developed a following, with ratings and advertisers in tow. Business is business, and he had a track record of success. This is and was all very true.
Yet Ed never stopped knocking Air America on the air. He razzed it's business model. Rightfully so, in the opinion of many in the business. Air America was trying to force feed markets with unknown talent who had unproven followings. Ed, a radio traditionalist and a businessman first and foremost, saw this as a "central command economy" strategy rather than a "market economy" strategy and bristled at it.
He should have kept his thoughts to himself, but that's not what talk show talent does. Ed also got into pissing matches with Randi Rhodes. Randi, as far as I know, never publicly knocked Ed. What she did do was openly wonder what Ed's deal was. Ed can sound kind of corporate now and then, has backed Lieberman's positions and seems woefully un-informed about basic policy issues, though his political sense is relatively keen. As far as I know, Randi never called Ed out on her show, but I may be misinformed about this.
In any event, the shake-up here in L.A. radio, which is being monitored by the rest of the radio world, has not gone to Schultz. Instead, it has tilted toward Randi. Her show is now heard live (noon, west coast) in L.A., following fast upon Thom Hartmann's show, which is also heard live on the air here. Randi is now live in many markets where she'd been previously heard on tape delay. This is the all part of the big experiment Clearchannel and Air America are conducting. They've gone "live" with Air America talent in the all-important L.A. market (second largest in the U.S.) and they've gone "local" with Marc Germain.
Marc Germain's show is actually the issue that prompted this diary. Germain, who's also known as "Mr. K" by dint of his prior incarnations in the L.A. radio market on a variety of formats, has a large and loyal following in this marketplace. He used to air over KABC radio and KFI, neither of which are known for supporting progressive causes, or even Democratic causes. Quite the opposite. While heard on those signals, Marc was considered kind of the closet Lefty by his colleagues over there. He never, to my knowledge, took on the mantle of The Left, as it were, but he didn't walk in lockstep with the other talent on those signals. Hence, their suspicions about him. Marc is, by his own account, a registered Democrat. He is not, however, solely a "politics guy" when he's on the air. His show deals with L.A. issues, like traffic (yeesh!) and the looming strike at Ralph's Supermarket chain that might shut down the two other large supermarket chains out here too. This is meat and potatoes in the radio world. Keep it local and keep it interesting. Germain does both.
What he doesn't do, and what has earned him the ire of many "Progressives" out here, is deal exclusively with "politics." Everything is political in the sense that two or more "parties" to an issue vie for control of that issue, and that's the attitude that Germain takes. This is isn't to say that he doesn't talk about political events and issues. He does indeed. He can be very passionate in his confrontations with the wingers, which he does on a frequent basis. He simply does more "human interest" stories than you'll ever hear on Randi's and Thom's shows.
For my part, I like Germain's show and am glad KTLK has put him on its lineup. He's a great broadcaster, number 1. He is well-informed and reasoned in his approach, and he gives those who listen to KTLK throughout the day a kind of "break" from the relentless assaults on The Republic being conducted by the Bushies. Steph, Thom and Randi nail this angle down for 9 straight hours. Germain comes on and gives the ear and mind a bit of L.A.-based talk. He and his sidekick/producer Lisa are great. I hope other Air America affiliates around the country have great local talent like Germain and are putting them to use in their programming. I think this is the way to improve ratings, gain advertisers and ultimately succeed in the marketplace, which is what the world of ideas and policies boils down to in our current environment: a marketplace. I hope Air America under its new management team continues to make smart decisions that, while controversial to some purists in the progressive fold, are directed at maintaining a strong media presence in local markets where, as many a Kossack knows from political campaigns and voter turnout experience, the rubber meets the road.