Malloy's firing reeks of something awful.

[Nutmegger]

Here I was, ending a long day and looking forward to some freeper ass-kicking only to find out that Malloy has been FIRED! WTF?

I read the nice statement by Kathy Malloy which detailed "financial reasons" as the culprit of this event. Financial reasons? Wasn't his contract renewed for TWO YEARS?!

It would seem to me that if it fact the motive is for "financial reasons", they would have notified him and he would have had a few weeks left. At least he would have some time and would have made mention of that.

In this instance he was just dropped like a hot potato. Then Thom Hartman mentioned that he will be filling in for Randi at 2:35 and Kathy posted her message at 2:29. I get the impression that there was some scrambling behind the scenes to get someone to host.

All this for "financial reasons"? Sorry, but this whole thing stinks. Say what you want but I'm not going for the bait.

[redirish28]

1. It's nothing buch a bunch of BS!

I just lost all respect for air america, and will stop listening to them.

[quinnox]

2. yet another successful plan by

the BFEE. :tinfoilhat:

[longship]

3. Somebody's not telling the truth here.

This has all the markings of "firing for cause".

What really happened?
I don't know if I want to know, or if it will do Mike any good for us to know.

[arcane1]

4. the suits or sponsors don't like us hearing Mike's 9/11 talk

especially since August is almost over, time for the "new product"

[longship]

6. This has *nothing* to do with the 9/11 talk.

Mike was fired quickly. One day he's there, the next he's gone.

The 9/11 talk was weeks ago. Please look up "post hoc ergo propter hoc".

[arcane1]

14. the 9/11 talk is in every show

[Sanity Claws]

12. Well, at least not the full story

It does look more like it was a firing for cause. For financial reasons -- this could be code that he was a liability or a potential liability on something.
Anyone listen to him yesterday? Could he have had a guest who was not approved? Did he say something that was not factual and opened up Air America for suit?
Randi was sued and Air America stood by her. I don't think there was any mass conspiracy here or anything else here that would cause me to abandon Air America.

[bdamomma]

5. it's amazing and disgusting how some people are happy

about Malloy being canned by AAR, excuse me, he was the best to listen too, among Randi and Sam, number to call to place complaint is:

212-871-8290 I suggest that anyone who cares about Mike and Kathy to call.

[maddiejoan]

7. Now goes to just a message.

Mentions Malloy specifically and asks for you to leave comment.

[Junkdrawer]

8. More prep work for MIHOP II (tm)....

Anytime before election day with early September being the "peak of the season", so to speak.

[LaPera]

9. They scheduled Malloy for a whole week on Randi's show, then fire him

after two days because of "financial reasons" They didn't know about the finances before they scheduled Malloy?

You mean the AAR assholes have this little foresight?

[wicket]

10. It really doesn't add up

:grr:

[Beelzebud]

33. Exactly. Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining.

You don't schedule a fucking guy to sub for someone for a whole week, and then just all of the sudden realize you were supposed to fire him.

FUCK AAR. The more I think about this the more pissed off i'm getting.

It was because he spoke out on the 9/11 LIES we've all been told for 5 steady god damned years...

[B Calm]

11. It STINKS to high heaven

[mvd]

13. I'm telling you, the Bushies did not want him on such..

a known network IMO. Wouldn't be surprised if AAR was threatened.

Very sad day. :-(

[PaganPreacher]

15. "Bushies" don't care about Malloy.

Malloy is a very small fish in a very big pond. He doesn't even rate a mention in the staff meetings. "Bottom of the market" on fewer than 75 stations nationwide does not equal a threat to anyone on the national level. If that were the case, Democratic politicans across the country would live in mortal fear of Limbaugh, Hannity, and O'Reilly; each of them has 10 times the listening audience of anything on AAR.

AAR's "financial reasons" may be related to the reports that Franken's latest contract is worth $2 million plus operating expenses, with increase in the base value to $3 million for 2008; that Rhodes renegotiated her contract in response to Franken's big payout; and that both Franken and Rhodes demanded up-front payments on their current contracts. AAR is obligated to dump loads of cash into those programs; cash they may not have. Note the reports from June 2006 about a mandated 20% budget cut at AAR.

With listener numbers as low as they are (Franken draws a 0.1 rating nationally), there is not enough revenue from advertising to support Franken and Rhodes, and keep #3 (Malloy) in the stable. The checkbooks-that-be who have kept AAR afloat as long as it has may be growing tired of the owners negotiating new contracts like drunken sailors negotiating with hookers on Saturday night. No more around-the-world for $100 for AAR!

The Pagan Preacher
I don't turn the other cheek.

[The Count]

19. 10 times the listening audience my foot!

I am tired of those myths. With streaming and buzz Malloy did matter.
Not saying the "financial' reasons came directly from the White House, but the "Connecticut for Lieberman "level could have been involved.

[PaganPreacher]

40. Oh, you're funny! Numbers = "Myths"

Limbaugh, Hannity, and O'Reilly sell orthopedic beds and steak dinners on 500+ stations, each. Big stations and small, major markets and farmlands, with the majority of stations in the top quarter for each market. Each right-wing talker also has streaming audio.

AAR has fewer than 100 stations nationwide, and ranks consistently in the bottom quarter for listener numbers for each show. If AAR can't deliver listeners for the advertisers on stations it currently holds, it can't sell its product to new stations.

You give too much credit for "buzz" on Malloy. Nobody outside of this small circle cares about Malloy's opinion. 500 people talking about Malloy at DU do not constitute "buzz", no matter how much you want it to be so.

Lyf sux, donut?

The Pagan Preacher
I don't turn the other cheek.

[mvd]

20. Oh, I think they do

He's the only one that really exposes them.

[MamaBear]

24. May franken and robertson choke on it

If what you post is true, and I've no reason to doubt it, than it's fully settled that al and randi are only in it for the bucks which they don't even need. I don't give my support to greed heads.

[The Count]

16. Elections are coming - Lamont demonstrated the power of grassroots

The dark forces are trying to do away with our voices so anti-war, anti-Bush candidates don't succeed. As the new Republic says, grassroots are dangerous!

[butterfly77]

17. The bushites have something to do with it...

and they have been planning it all along, they have been buying up stations just so they can fire whoever speaks the truth about their lying asses. If they are so damn truthful and honest and are the party of god ( or so they think) why in the hell do they always try to shut down free speech.

[QuestionAll...]

18. financial reasons could mean advertisers

were threatening to pull out because Mike cannot be muffled so AAR buckled.

[glitch]

26. or pressure from affiliate stations. whatever the motive AAR behaved badly

Signed contract and then a zero notice firing citing weasly reasons is not cool, whether you are a Malloy/AAR fan(which I am) or not.

[QuestionAll...]

27. I don't listen either...

Randi turned me right off with her interruptive rudeness to her good guests, long time ago. but even saying that, She absolutely Rocks on tv as a guest and I adore her in that media.

Franken bored the crap out of me, I always want to finish his slow assed sentences... Never heard Malloy once... there were threads here on Mandatory Malloy with a bunch of jumping frog icon and not much else.

but AAR needs to be what it promised to be, whatever the hell that was, I forget.

[Beelzebud]

34. After announcing he would be subbing for the week?

It just doens't make sense.

Unless they are managing their money like crack fiends, how could they schedule him to sub for Randi for a week only to fire him 2 days into the week?

[earth mom]

21. Of course it stinks! The THUGS in office wanted him out and their

buddies at Clear Channel helped them out! Just because no one is talking about Mike Malloy like they do Jon Stewart doesn't mean he wasn't being noticed and watched and conspired against. Yes damn straight-CONSPIRED! The thugs have spent years and billions of dollars to control the airwaves. They are not gonna let someone like Malloy ruin it for them. Nor will they allow Stewart, Colbert or Conan O'Brien to influence anyone-even if they do it in jest. Just wait. They will find a way to screw them over too. :puke:

[mvd]

22. I don't think they wanted to take the chance that..

Malloy and Air America could both get bigger. And if Air America was scared that their advertisors would be put off, that's also not a good enough reason.

[earth mom]

30. Exactly! Malloy was a threat!

Thanks for the most excellent post! :hi:

[rinsd]

23. Yeah, they let him rant and rave for 2 years, then they pulled the plug

:tinfoilhat:

[earth mom]

29. Hmm. Rant and rave? Interesting viewpoint you have there.

I would call it speaking truth to power.

The Powers That Be-aka the Reich Wing-pulled the plug because Malloy was WAY too damaging to them. Simple as that. :tinfoilhat:

[rinsd]

32. My viewpoint is interesting?

"The Powers That Be-aka the Reich Wing-pulled the plug because Malloy was WAY too damaging to them"

I think you win that one.

[earth mom]

35. I don't get your reply...

Do you agree with my earlier post or not? If so, my apologies.

[onenote]

25. and seder, rhodes, franken and the rest are just Thug tools!!

Clearly if they weren't they would've spoken out about the heavy handed efforts of the jackbooted thugs from Rove and Clear Channel and their efforts to suppress them and dictate what they say on their shows.

:sarcasm:

[earth mom]

28. Malloy and Rhodes were/are the only ones that I liked.

Excuuuuuse me if I decide to post that I think this is bullshit and that Malloy was a target by the Reich Wing! I don't like Shultz or Franken because they are DINOS! I rarely listened to Seder, I don't know why or really care at this point, no offense to him. Again, Mike and Randi matter a helluva lot to me. They are my favorites because they didn't pull any punches and that's what the left needs right now! The time to play nicey nice is OVER!!! :grr:

BTW-why in the hell are you following me around from thread to thread?! First the airplane thing with Conan and how you thought is was oh so awful of him and the network and now you are dogging my protest of what Air America has done! :wtf:

Here's a suggestion: Why don't you post YOUR thoughts?! Or are you too afraid to post your REAL point of view for fear of what we all might think of you?! :eyes:

[onenote]

36. ROFL!! I'm following you around?

Paranoid much? I don't even look at the name of the posters I respond to, so if it turns out that I've been responding to your posts it can only be that you post the kinds of statements that I like to respond to -- posts that need a reality check IMO. And my posts do reflect my thoughts. If you're too obtuse to figure that out, I certainly don't feel the need to spell it out for you.

BTW -- I've posted 30 plus times since yesterday afternoon. Since you're into this kind of thing, why don't you let me know how many of those were responses to you. I have no fucking clue.

[earth mom]

37. Okay, so you just arbitrarily replied to like 3 or is it 4 of my posts.

whatever.

So....why don't you post why you think Malloy being fired is fine and dandy...no worries? :shrug:

[onenote]

42. who said I think its fine and dandy

Here's what I know: Malloy has announced that he was fired by AAR and that it was for financial reasons. I don't know if that is true or untrue. However, what I think is that if he was fired for some reason other than financial reasons, he'd speak out and say so. If he thought his firing was engineered by or the result of pressure by Clear, he'd say so. The fact that he hasn't said so speaks volumes to me at this point. Also, it has been reported that AAR recently entered into a new contract with Malloy. Don't know if that's true, but if it is, it undercuts the theory that Clear is pulling the strings at AAR,since if that was the case why would clear have re-upped with Malloy? Is it fine and dandy that Malloy was fired? Frankly, I was never the guys biggest fan. But to the extent his firing is an indication that the extent to which AAR is struggling financially, I find that unfortunate. I want to see it succeed. I find it telling that here in Washington DC, most of the cabs I get into typically have on talk radio, but not the AAR affiliate, so I'm subjected to Limpballs or that asshat hannity. Why hasn't it caught on more strongly? I don't know.

PS..now I've responded to 4 or 5 of your posts. Of course, you've been responding to my posts too, so maybe the number should be adjusted by some sort of mathematical formula.

[Beelzebud]

31. They didn't even let Malloy say goodbye to his fans...

Fuck them..

Thom Hartmann sounded completely bummed when he announced was was filling in for Rhandi today. He let out a heavy sigh and said: "I guess I'm going to be guest hosting for Rhandi Rhodes today, so that will make it 6 hours of radio for me today."

[Cha]

38. That's cruel and unusual and

I read Mike Malloy had a hand in starting air america?

It sounds very similiar to a one Phil Donahue's firing at msnbcge. Poof! He was gone!

[hippiegranny]

39. This thread is the reason

I don't come to DU as much anymore. All this knee-jerking. Fer chrissakes.

[Individualist]

41. Yes it does

How much influence does DLC have with AAR? They detest anyone who speaks truth to power regarding the neocons, and DLC supporters here are out in force, gleefully slamming the man when he's down.

[tnlefty]

44. Really, I hadn't noticed!

Heavy, heavy :sarcasm:

[Marie26]

43. Maybe his ratings dropped

The radio/TV industry is pretty cruel that way.

[B Calm]

45. I'm beginning to think it was fans of another talk show host on AA and

they felt threatened...