‘Ultra-left and pro-Muslim groups’ behind firing of veteran SF radio host?
“You’d be surprised how many conservative talk show fans there are here in the Deep Blue Hot Tub,” writes SFGate politics blogger Joe Garofoli.
I know I was. I still can’t believe Michael Savage lives and works in San Francisco, for one thing.
Now a shakeup at KSFO has Bay Area listeners wondering: was veteran morning host Lee Rodgers unceremoniously fired after pressure from “ultra-left and pro-Muslim groups?”
That’s what Rodgers claims. In an open letter to fans, he said:
I was seriously considering retirement at the end of my contract in early July, and I certainly wouldn’t have left without saying goodbye. Instead, within one minute of the conclusion of last Thursday’s show, I got the word that it HAD been my last one; cut with no notice, in violation of my contract. (…)
I WILL tell you, in all candor, that thanks to [CEO Farid] Suleman’s Citadel management, I could no longer proudly say that the company had never told me what to say or what not to say. There was an obvious cave-in to some ultra-left and pro-Muslim groups, making it unlikely that I would have ever renewed my contract with the company, anyway.
Getting fired, sometimes abruptly, is a way of life for talk radio hosts, especially when they venture into “politically incorrect” territory. In Lee Rodgers’ case, he made Media Matters‘ “Most Outrageous Comments of 2009″ list for saying that, should a terrorist attack occur, a “few million dead Americans” will “wake up” public “to the fact that they have elected an anti-American President.”
Rodgers also earned the wrath of the George Soros Steno Pool for calling Obama “the most corrupt” president in history, and an “incompetent, Muslim-sympathizing fool.”
So did these and other controversial outbursts really get Lee Rodgers’ fired? If so, why would KSFO replace him with someone like Brian Sussman, who promises to “give the Left a major headache” by spending “four hours daily on one of America’s most successful radio stations to expose” the “shenanigans” of “global warming, government tyranny [and] fiscal insanity.”
Speaking of which: Citadel — the nation’s third largest radio broadcaster — has troubles of its own, having filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December. Like Rodgers, broadcasting industry watcher Brian Maloney has nothing good to say about Citadel CEO Farid Suleman, who he says has “overseen the complete destruction of this once-promising company”:
Under Suleman’s rule, the company’s left-wing political bias became so unbearable that it convinced Sean Hannity to move his program to another syndicator.
Just last month, Citadel admitted that the loss of [#2 rated] Hannity caused it to lose millions in desperately-needed revenue.
So here’s where we stand:
Progressives and/or radical Muslims have tried, and failed, to take down big name talkers like Glenn Beck, Dr. Laura, Don Imus and Rush Limbaugh. Assuming Rodgers is being candid about why he was fired, are AstroTurf activists now setting their sights on more vulnerable local conservative pundits?
While monitoring threats to talk radio coming from “above,” (such as FCC “localism”), we need to watch for leftist AstroTurf campaigns, and worry about implosions caused by ideological incompetence — from within the industry itself.
I guess the price of liberty (and conservative talk radio) really is eternal vigilance.
He wasn't fired. Citadel has fired for bankruptcy and told him he needed to take a pay cut.
The most delcious quote from the local paper, which you chose not to use, indicated that his union goons are taking up the case.
Rodgers in a union? Who'd a thunk it, after hearing him slam unions on air so much. And better yet, he's getting you guys and his goons to go after a small business, the kind of place that is the Engine of Job Creation? Outstanding.
"He wasn't fired. Citadel has fired for bankruptcy and told him he needed to take a pay cut."
So he quit rather than take pay cut? What's your source for this assertion? Specifics please.
As Lee said many times ON AIR, he HAD to be in the union to actually GET ON AIR. Get your facts right, liberal tool. Outstanding.
Ah, I hadn't caught that this blog had omitted a few sentences from the Chronicle interview they linked to.
Rodgers: "I had hoped to conclude my quarter-century relationship on pleasant terms, but that has been made impossible. Now, AFTRA, the performers' union, is pursuing my case."
Jack Swanson, vice president for programming for KSFO and KGO — and a friend of Rodgers for 30 years who has hired him twice — told us that the station "spent several months trying to negotiate a new contract" but it didn't happen. Our goal was to retain Lee."
Lee's response to The Chronicle: "I was offered an insultingly low salary to extend my contract, which I rejected."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election...
Nothing in your two posts refutes the fact that he was fired. He was in negotiations for a contract renewal due in July and had rejected an early offer. He was FIRED suddenly in mid February.
Paul, anyone can read the stuff you cut and pasted. I chose to focus on Rodgers' troubling assertion that "ultra left and pro-Muslim groups" had something to do with his firing. That's the part of the story that seemed, well, _news_.
I agree that it is unseemly for an anti-union guy to suddenly run to his union. Again, however, that was not the focus of this particular post.
You are using the word "omit" in an almost sinister way. It's called "being a writer with a word count and a deadline." And yes: a point of view. You might as well scold me for not relating the entire history of the radio station, or of Citadel, or quoting all of Media Matters' complaints about Rodgers. Space. Is. Limited.
Kathy, Bruce obviously had not read the Chron piece that I read last night. This is why I sourced it for him, since he hadn't seen the rest. I did not mean to imply anything sinister with omit. I had honestly though that you'd mentioned the station's side of the story also in your piece, since I'd read a few different pieces about Rodgers leaving KSFO.
"Are AstroTurf activists now setting their sights on more vulnerable local conservative pundits?"
This would be a savvy, though evil, strategy for a Machiavel to pursue. Dem donor Tim Gill has deliberately targeted state legislature races to advance his agenda, and flipped the Iowa legislature to the Democrats.
This strategy drains the talent pool of one's opposition and encourages their allies to shun them in favor of the new kingpin.
One worst-case scenario would use national networks to target local part-time bloggers and try to get them fired for voicing their opinions. It's too late for lots of us to go anonymous.
With a CEO named Farid Suleman, what could go wrong?
My sentiment exactly.
Anything to do with production falls apart at the hands of Liberals.
Lefties can't stand the fact most people dislike their philosophy of rapine.
Marxists just can't help being gremlins. Commies where losers in High School, & like a Hooters girl. No matter their accomplishments. Users will still be losers. Just as even an intelligent Women. Who becomes a rocket science, will die with the title "Hooters Girl" on her tomb.
This is why Air America with its other Marxist drum beaters have died. Including the MSM, who gave up freedom of the press for man worship laced in self censorship. Hows that working out?
What the hell are you talking about? Do you realize how that comes across as complete gibberish?
what did you just say? are you having a manic episode?
I think he's on benzodiazepines.
Lee was fired for repeatedly asking guests "If BO was NOT a traitor surrendering us to Moslem terrorists, and deliberately bankrupting America, what would he be doing differently?" The guest, trying to keep their own job would say. " Well, uh, you said it, not me." That's what "Paul" and the relentless commie rat-lovers Garafoli & the Chronicle are really enraged about. To these commie-rats. the worst sin ever is being an anti-communist, and the media's pro-Moslem-terrorists are the newly-cloaked commie-rats of old. Anyone destroying America is a friend of their's.
Lee's contract still has to be paid to him until July, so how is this firing a cost-cutting move?
Sussman's replacement 6-8pm is the excelent John Batchelor, a commendably rabid champion against Moslem terrorists. He declared to Sussman the other morning these primitive savages have vowed repeatedly to slaughter 3-4 million Americans, and they have the money and the means, so how are there any questions about what to do about them? On 9/12 a long banner was hung from a skyscraper near the WTC that read KILL THEM.
From Kelly's Cove
San Francisco
um. Bin laden's original funding came from the anti-Communist slush fund.
Actual communists in the Islamic world have traditionally not done well. Executed and tortured for their views, things like that.
But I'm loving this website.
Lee had a great, popular show. He often had people on like Robert Spencer of jihadwatch.com and author of many books such as the Truth About Muhammad. Given what Lee said regarding the owner's influence on his freedom of speech, it's entirely likely that the pro-Muslim groups had a hand in this, and that's seriously frightening.
Jayne, I agree with you. When last Friday morning my alarm went off and I heard Sussman's voice my first thought was that Lee was fired for his frequently expressed views about the muslim invasion of the western world. It was fairly common knowledge that CAIR had made several attempts to have KSFO get rid of Lee. Suleman isn't exactly a common anglo name either, so……
I can't imagine that some of Lee's prominent guests will want to continue interviewing on the station, the IQ level of the current host is simply too low. Someone mentioned Michael Savage, he is now on 860am, a sports station no less.
Isn't it mandatory that Rodgers belong to a union? Or at least pay dues? Seems to me I heard that somewhere, possibly from F. Lee Levin.
Paul, I'm sure he had to belong to a union to be on the radio. If he did, why not take advantage of the services he is paying dues for.
I'm forced to be in a union with my job, and I talk bad about them all the time. If I need them though I'm going to use them.
It would be informative to find out how much of a pay cut he was asked to take, and if his ratings deserved that cut.
You too are advocating using union goons to attack Small Business, the Heroic Creators of All That is Good and Fluffy. "If you need them?" No, the boss is either right or you can quit or you can reason with him and come to a mutually beneficial understanding.
So sayeth Saint Ayn and so it shall be.
Oh, the irony, it's delicious.
I love this site, I really do. Rarely can I find this level of self-parody outside of mises.org.
http://mises.org/story/2066
You really need to keep up with current events. You seem stuck in the 1980s. The most interesting move in the political world is the nexus between extreme leftists and the Islamo-fascists.
They are, of course particularly masturbatory over their shared Jew hate. An "irony" that is not particulary "delicious". Rather nasty in the melding of hates: hateful leftists (who really are a prety vile bunch, and now include the ruling wing of the Democrat party) and murderous Islamo-Nazis.
It is a match made in hell.
So confusing. The last fascist pamphlet I read made it clear that the Jews were the ones behind the Russian Revolution. So how could the left be Jew haters, since they are a front for the International Jewish Conspiracy?
And the notion that actual lefties have any traction in Washington? That would imply that there were actual politics in Washington, which there appear not to be.
In black is white news this week, the current Dem jobs bill is largely a tax cut for business, and the Republicans were dead set against it.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/01/jews-fleeing-sw...
You're wondering how could the left be Jew haters? Well, look at this. They hate Jewish capitalists and want to see their greed end and their money stolen from them and redistributed in the style of Socialism.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2004/01/why_does_t...
They hate them because conservatives support Israel. They hate them because Jews have money and control and exploit the masses. Just ask Karl Marx and Hitler. There's more reading for ya.
Same thing happened to Melanie Morgan: The station" just couldn't meet her salary demands": translation: Farid Suleman and his leftist allies didn't want any hosts that effectively focus on Islamo facists and leftist destruction of this country with Obama seeming to be a member in good standing of both groups.