The talk gets heated
Fans of liberal talk radio were no doubt baffled in recent weeks by the decision by KTLK-AM (1150) to relegate its popular midday personality Ed Schultz to the lesser time slot of weekday evenings and replacing him with a host with a lower national profile.
But while listeners may be puzzled, Schultz himself thinks there’s a conspiracy at work, one involving “progressive talk” station KTLK and struggling liberal radio network Air America.
“It’s not a radio decision,” Schultz said by phone. “It has nothing to do with ratings or sales. To say I’m upset about it is an understatement. Air America is screwing things up.”
Executives at L.A.-based KTLK, which is owned by Clear Channel, deny that the decision to bump Schultz to the lesser time slot had anything to do with Air America, which provides programming for KTLK and other liberal talk stations.
Station General Manager John Quinlan said no special financial arrangements have been made between KTLK and Air America as was alleged by Schultz. He said that the station, in fact, is striving to break free of the identity of “being the Air America station” in Los Angeles. He noted that the programming decisions for KTLK were made by the station and not Clear Channel.
Schultz, who does his daily three-hour show from Fargo, N.D., had recently been ranked by the trade publication Talkers Magazine as the top “progressive talk” host in the nation. Nationally, his audience had grown to an estimated 3 million, based on the most recent Arbitron ratings, more than double the numbers calculated for Randi Rhodes, the New York-based Air America host whom KTLK inserted in Schultz’s old noon-to-3 p.m. slot, and far more than Air America’s professorial Thom Hartmann, who has replaced the departed Al Franken, 9 a.m.-to-noon.
It seemed improbable that KTLK, a laggard in the ratings since adopting the progressive talk format in 2005, would jettison from radio prime time the host many regard as the left’s strongest mainstream challenge to the long dominance of conservative broadcasters Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. (Schultz has beaten Hannity head to head during past ratings periods in San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Denver and Miami.)
A rivalry intensifies
The realignment has aggravated Schultz’s not-so-friendly rivalry with Air America, the liberal network recently rescued from bankruptcy by New York real estate magnate Stephen L. Green. Schultz, along with KTLK-based early morning talker Stephanie Miller, is distributed by Jones Radio Networks, which has no connection to Air America. Schultz claims Air America has offered KTLK a cash premium to reserve the 9 a.m.-to-3 p.m. period for its own talent, in effect shutting him out.
Quinlan said the decision to move “The Ed Schultz Show” in early March was precipitated by Schultz’s decision in January to change the start of his live broadcast from 3 p.m. Eastern time to noon. To continue carrying Schultz live, KTLK could have moved his show to the morning slot formerly occupied by Air America headliner Franken but instead chose to begin carrying Hartmann in the time period because of listener preference, Quinlan said.
Schultz, crying foul, said Quinlan, in fact, initially applauded his time change and indicated to him before Christmas that he planned to move Schultz’s show into Franken’s spot. “Then Air America wrote them a check,” Schultz said.
Quinlan denied any payments were made. Instead he said, “Our listeners preferred Hartmann to Ed,” though Hartmann was not being carried regularly on KTLK except as an occasional sub for Franken. “The response we got was convincing,” Quinlan said.
Quinlan also said Schultz’s show, whatever its national profile, “was the lowest-rated show on the radio station” between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m., though he acknowledged that the statistical difference in ratings between Shultz and Franken and Miller and Rhodes was insignificant.
The Arbitron ratings for fall 2006 showed a growth in Schultz’s weekly listenership among adults ages 25 to 54 from 44,600 to 66,100 -- an increase in audience of more than 40%.
KTLK listeners might think of the Air America programs as being ideologically compatible with Schultz’s Bush-bashing show that includes frequent interviews with the Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill, but Schultz has repeatedly distanced himself from the Air America brand, referring to it as “cause radio.”
His rivalry with Rhodes goes back to 2004, when a consortium of Senate Democrats funded a search for a liberal talk show host to counter the enormous influence of Limbaugh and winnowed the candidates to Schultz and Rhodes, ultimately choosing Schultz for the Democracy Radio project that evolved into the show he has today.
A radio veteran of 25 years who sees himself as an entertainer and populist, Schultz has offended some on the left with his unrepentant meat-eating style and heartland values but nevertheless has attracted advertisers such as Purina, Sleep Comfort Beds and Subway as well as top-of-the-news guests. As a result, in the last year Schultz himself has become a frequent left-of-center guest on “Larry King Live” on CNN.
Ownership at issue
Progressive talk radio shows remain seriously outnumbered (roughly 10 to 1) by conservative programs, but Schultz has frequently said that the problem lies not in the audience but in the ownership, implying that the large radio syndicates like Clear Channel Communications, which owns KTLK (as well as conservative talk KFI and other stations in Los Angeles), are owned and administered by political conservatives who are not doing progressives any favors.
“Would the conservative movement in radio have succeeded if somebody with deep pockets had programmed against them in the beginning?” asks Paul Woodhull, a Washington, D.C., radio consultant who helped create Schultz’s show three years ago, referring to Air America’s latest backers.
“What happens to progressive shows,” said Schultz, “when every market demands compensation?”