(UPDATED 9/20/04)
Apparently, there are some things you just can't say on the radio, in Seattle.
About Dan Rather.
On a CBS radio affiliate.
Or else - you get fired.
Brian Maloney says CBS affiliate KIRO-AM in Seattle fired him Friday for saying Dan Rather of CBS-TV should retire or be retired for Rather's use of what are now widely regarded as false documents to air criticism of President Bush's service in the National Guard. For three years, Maloney hosted "The Brian Maloney Show" on KIRO-AM, one of Seattle's leading radio stations.
SEATTLE -- A radio talk-show host said Saturday he has been fired for criticizing CBS newsman Dan Rather's handling of challenges to the credibility of memos about President Bush's National Guard service."On the talk show that I host, or hosted, I said I felt Rather should either retire or be forced out over this," said Brian Maloney, whose weekly "The Brian Maloney Show" aired for three years on KIRO-AM Radio, a CBS affiliate here.
Maloney says he made that statement on his Sept. 12 program. He was fired five days later on Friday, he said.
"What they have expressed is essentially that my show went in a direction they're not comfortable with," Maloney said.
KIRO Radio's general manager, Ken Berry, declined to return a call from The Associated Press about Maloney's status. A staff member at the station said Berry would not comment because it is a personnel matter.
....Maloney said he felt free to comment on the controversy and on Rather.
"I really felt he was taking the network's credibility down with him," Maloney said in a telephone interview.
"Talk-show hosts have generally had a lot of independence in these kinds of issues," he said. "Nobody's ever said, 'You can't criticize CBS News.'"
KIRO Radio is affiliated with CBS but owned by Entercom, a national radio broadcasting company based in Bala Cynwyd, Penn.
Entercom certainly was happy to have the conservative Maloney on board, if this glowing and informative Maloney bio on KIRO-AM's Web site is any indication. Guess freedom of speech only goes so far.
The CBS Politbureau ought to rethink its priorities, and the network's crumbling image, which is worrying insiders. They should hire Maloney as a "60 Minutes" producer.
UPDATE: KIRO-AM station manager Ken Berry says it wasn't Maloney's Rather comments that got him fired. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that Berry, unavailable for comment when reporters first called for reaction to Maloney's claims, now has come out of his shell to say:
"The primary reason Brian Maloney's show was canceled is because KIRO's broadcasts of the Seattle Seahawks football games significantly reduces our Sunday talk lineup, and we felt the remaining time slots would be better filled by other hosts."
Taken at face value this means Berry asserts Maloney was lying when he said, reagarding his recent on air-comments criticizing Rather, and his firing five days later:
"What they have expressed is essentially that my show went in a direction they're not comfortable with," Maloney said.
As for Berry's claim football games cut talk airtime on Sundays and the station thought the remaining non-football hours would be better filled by "other hosts," um, wasn't Maloney one of KIRO-AM's very few few conservative talk hosts? And, with him having just one show per week, wouldn't that have been worth preserving? Especially in the liberal monoculture that is Seattle?
Sorry, but Berry's lame CYA attempt to "walk it back" raises more questions than it answers.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at September 19, 2004 12:45 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.rosenblog.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/516
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Seattle Talk Jock Canned, Rather's Honor Upheld:
» RatherGate: Devolving Into a Feeding Frenzy? from A Stitch in Haste
Lost in the depths of the Commentosphere and Trackbackosphere was the pesky detail that the radio station in question, KIRO, although a CBS affiliate, was actually owned by Entercom, not Viacom. [Read More]
Tracked on September 19, 2004 03:01 PM
I like Brian Maloney's work very much - and appreciate his reasoning even when I don't agree with him. It would be great to hear from him weekdays - though I noticed that his bosses kept him out of guest host slots for liberal Congressional campaigner Dave Ross - picking liberals who don't know a thing about Seattle in many cases, right Bill Press? It has been my opinion for quite some time that KIRO-AM has kept him on the sidelines with only a few hours of exposure weekly for 'editorial' reasons. Now KIRO caves to pressure from the liberal culture warriors who feel outrage that anyone in Seattle dares utter a word in dissent. Popular, mainstream, mid-day host Dori Monson has cause for concern, no doubt he is in the cross-hairs as well. Especially if those who have designs on our media market 'get away with' hatcheting Brian Maloney
Posted by: P Scott Cummins at September 19, 2004 02:11 PMCertainly, KIRO has every right to place the hosts it desires on it's radio programs.
However, it boggles the mind that a talk show has speech codes and certain opinions (though controversial but reasonably argued) cannot be uttered. Brian isn't the only commentator calling for Rather's resignation. It's not as if it isn't a legitimate news story for discussion and not bound to attract an audience.
KIRO has only added fuel to this discussion and it's clumsy efforts only push this story forward and it's audience to other talk shows only to happy to entertain this argument.
Is the left going crazy in this country as four more years of Bush seems more and more likely?
Posted by: Gary B at September 19, 2004 06:30 PMI've also been following this story for a few days. Pretty amazing, *if true*. I'm just a tad cautious about it.
Maloney got canned. That much is clearly established. That he got canned for comments on CBS and the Rathergate scandal we only know from... Maloney. It is suspicious that the station won't comment on his firing, but we also have to wonder: did Maloney get fired for some completely unrelated reason, and choose this moment to make himself into a sort of "martyr for the Rathergate" thing?
For all we know, he actually got canned for boffing the station manager's fifteen-year-old daughter, and the station fears a lawsuit if they divulge such a personal personnel matter. HR departments refuse to divulge such things almost automatically, these days, for fear of lawsuits.
Posted by: Jeff Brazill at September 20, 2004 04:22 AMItem in The Times says KIRO cancelled because the primary reason is because " its broadcasts of the Seahawks games significantly reduced the Sunday talk lineup and felt the remaining time slots would be better filled by other hosts."
Posted by: Lorna at September 20, 2004 11:16 AMMatt: Thanks for the detailed update. As stated earlier, I find it an interesting story; it is difficult to follow from 3000 miles away, however, without your wonderful blog.
I agree - the reason put forth by the station manager at KIRO looks full of holes. My doubts about Maloney's claims are drying up fast. It's looking like Maloney is telling it like it is.
Posted by: Jeff Brazill at September 20, 2004 10:49 PMBaloney!!!!
Brainless Baloney was cancelled because his show didn't perform, i.e. lousy ratings. Long ago his 3 hour Saturday slot was cut. Did he raise a stink then about some liberal conspiracy? Probably, knowing Baloney.
So football season rolls around and the coverage cuts into his Sunday time slot. Is his show performing? Probably not. So why keep him on if an audience isn't there for him? Why keep him on if football fans turn off the radio after game coverage is over? So Kiro just cut Maloney and let other, established hosts fill in during the dead time. It just made fiscal sense.
All you wingers going on about a liberal conspiracy are full of it as usual. KIRO has Ebert, Pate, Weissbach, Monson and Ryan spouting right of center views. Entercomm who owns KIRO also owns KTTH, "The Truth" (I call it The Falsehood) with Mike Seigel, Weissbach, Limbaugh, Medved and Boze to name a few. There's KKKVI. SEATTLE IS DRENCHED IN RIGHT-WING TALK.
By the way, what about those other winger talk show hosts working for Entercomm in Seattle? THEY WERE ALL HAMMERING DAN RATHER!
Boze, Weissbach and Monson are on the record saying Brainless Baloney is, well, full of baloney!
Brainless Baloney was a lousy talk show host. Period, End of Story. Good Riddance!
Posted by: John at September 27, 2004 11:04 PM