Rhodes Lands On Her Feet

Randi got hired by the station she was appearing for when she did the stand-up act that got her suspended by Air America. Talk about redemption - and very smart marketing by KKGN.

SanFran is a GREAT radio market. She'll have a blast there...and she'll be much happier than the crap Air America dumped on her. They even gave her the Fox News "We wish her well" routine. Radio & Records has the scoop:

Suspended talker Randi Rhodes and Air America network have parted company as of Wednesday (April 9), but it appears she’ll be back on the air soon. In a posting on the station Web site, John Scott, PD of Clear Channel talk KKGN/San Francisco, says to tune in at 4 p.m. on Monday (April 14) because, "it will be our pleasure to announce the return of Randi Rhodes to the Green 960 family."

Rhodes was suspended indefinitely last week by Air America following remarks she made at an appearance for KKGN where she called both Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro "f---cking bitches."

A new statement from Air America Media chair Charlie Kireker and president Mark Green says: “Last week Air America suspended Randi Rhodes for abusive, obscene language at a recent public appearance in San Francisco which was sponsored by an Air America affiliate station. Air America Media was informed last night by Ms. Rhodes that she has chosen to terminate her employment with the company. We wish her well and thank her for past services to Air America. We will soon announce exciting new talent and programming that will accelerate Air America’s growth in the future.”

UPDATE: Quote This:

"Air America pays people to be talk show hosts, not stand-up comics, or else we'd hire Chris Rock."

-A source at Air America, which apparently and suddenly can afford Chris Rock

UPDATE-A-MANIA: Stranger found out Nova M Radio will start syndicating her on Monday. Apparently, she's going to be based in West Palm Beach at her longtime home of Clear Channel's WJNO.

I'm lukewarm happy over that. The Drobnys are still trying the original Air America business model (which almost shut the network down several times) by attempting a hybrid sponsor-supported and listener-supported programming service. Likely, a deal with Clear Channel's Premiere was impossible, since that's Rush's syndicator and he hates her guts; doubly so now that they're back in the same city again.

We mean this for real, and not in that Fox News snarky way: We really wish her the best.

Comments

[Edgewater Joe, Chicago, IL]

It's better than that: she just got signed by Nova M and will continue her syndication on most of the big markets on Monday.

Plus, she'll be on Larry King tonight, possibly with Malloy.

I'm betting Seder will wind up at Nova M as well, Rachel will eventually end up at MSNBC, and Hartmann will survive nationally as he always did, leaving AAR with ...

Lionel?

AAR, 2004-2008

[cage free brown]

AAR is filling her slot with Richard Belzer.
Richard Belzer? huh.

what can you say about Air America Radio. I got tired of making excuses for them 4 freaking years ago. EVERY argument I have with a right-winger about Rush or Savage always has a "how's Air America doing?" thrown in as an easy low blow.

what the heck have those people done right?

me, I'd love to see Malloy and Randi on Larry King. I mean, I don't get why Malloy and Randi are expected to eat with their pinkies extended when right-wingers who have those jobs are welcome and encouraged to eat with their mouths open and elbows on the table. yeah, those people are confrontational. isn't that why those same gloating "how's Air America doing?" yahoos always say? left wing radio won't be confrontational they say - it won't be entertaining. so, two people who, even if you don't like them are ANYTHING but boring are NOT on Air America Radio.

I gave up on my local peep squeak signal years ago. I listen to Laura Flanders on podcast. same with Seder as long as he's not taking phonecalls. better watch it Seder. you're too good, too entertaining, too NOT BORING. how long can you last in that dump?

[Edgewater Joe, Chicago, IL]

And to that bozo who said AAR doesn't hire comics, what do you say about Richard Belzer hosting in Randi's old time slot next week?

[Mario]

I lived in Florida when Randi was on as a local host... she wipped Rush's drug addled ass so badly in the ratings ( they used to go head to head ) that Clearchanel had to buy WJNO and move Randi's show to a different time slot.

She's great... her and Malloy on the same network again.... yes!

[Stranger]

So, after not visiting here for... ever (I'm truly sorry, H!), I'm back twice in one day.

Rumor has it that Sam Seder is about to bolt AAR as well. I hear he's mighty pissed that TPTB decided to bring The Belz in for next week and didn't bother to tell Sam - he ended up reading about it on HuffPo while on the air today.

This is what happens when you put someone like Mark Green in charge of a broadcast outlet.

OTOH, I'm thinking that Nova-M may make a quantum leap in visibility and cred by bringing Randi on board. They may even inherit a lot of AAR's affiliates once they start to bail (starting in 3...2...1...).

[preznit giv me turkee]

wow, Don from Guam shows up. she was saying a couple weeks ago (before she went to SF for the gig that got her in trouble)that she was planning on moving back to WPB and broadcast from home since NYC rents were killing her. wonder if the Nova M folks were talking to her at that point

[Edgewater Joe, Chicago, IL]

That's why Randi is important to Nova M: she brings advertisers with her, and I have no question most affiliates will follow her.

As for Seder ... it makes sense. He's been screwed several times over by AAR, he openly admits that Malloy is one of his mentors (and even subs for him), Maron looks like he's all but locked in over there -- I could see a lineup starting in the afternoons of Randi, Seder, Farias, Malloy and Maron (or even put Seder and Maron together for a morning show to challenge the boring Bill Press). At the end of yesterday's show he played the opening from the Clash's "Straight to Hell."

Sound like a happy camper to you?

[Skycat]

I listen to KTLK a lot. In my view, the best hosts are Thom Hartmann and Rachel Maddow. They make their points without being strident and repetitious. What I dislike about talk radio in general is the hosts who get on a rant and repeat the same points over and over again as if every utterance is a new revelation. While I defend Randi Rhodes for standing up to her convictions, I found her act getting very tiresome, particularly because she is so rude to her callers. She may be a good talker, but she is not a good listener. I don't know how many times I've heard her argue with a caller when she was obviously missing the point the caller was trying to make. I understand she is trying to be provocative, but there is no reason to do so by being so insensitive.

On another point, we have Phil Hendrie on at nights now. Just where he fits in on Air America is beyond me. I have to admit he can be very entertaining at times, I would not consider him to be a liberal, particularly because of his early support for the war in Iraq (to say the least). True he has toned down his rhetoric somewhat, but I get the feeling he is censuring himself (or being censured by a producer).

[dennis in West Chazy]

AAR left this locale (NE NY, NW VT) a couple of years ago. Since then, the only flavor of liberal commentary I get to see or hear or read is on the blogs. Randi was my wifes favorite, I thought that Thom and Rachael were the people I'd most like to meet. Rachael seems to be in transition, maybe moving into the big time. Fact is, Rachael is fit to be the Pres of the US of A in my opinion. Randi is just someone else with another opinion. I'm glad she is not going to lose a step and she will keep speaking out, but she is in a different class than Rachael. No offense intended. I like when she's got a tee shirt on and somebody at MSNBC lends her a jacket. I touch of faux class.