Reply #25: Wonder what's going to happen with the schedule as a whole [View All]

[LTR]

It sounds like Randi will go down to three hours. Probably a good thing, since a four hour talk show (without sidekicks) is pretty grueling.

I would assume Rachel will be 6-8 ET, followed by Sam 8-10 ET, then Malloy at the usual time. Or Sam gets the boot and Malloy goes on two hours earlier. I'm thinking it will be less jarring to the individual affiliates if they just have Sam do 8-10.

That leaves mornings. Granted, anything pre-9 ET is morning drive only for the Eastern and Central time zones. On the west coast, the morning shift is in the overnight hours. Are they dumping morning drive? This would be a little risky, since many stations have been running AAR mornings (while quite a few go local). I do know that Bill Press is syndicated by Jones in the 6a-9a ET slot, so that at least leaves stations an option to fill mornings. I doubt Maron would come back.

Leaving the spot blank, even though their NY station has other plans for mornings, would be a mistake, IMO. They've gotta put something substantial there.

Or maybe they've got another surprise for morning drive. Laura Flanders?