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Curtis Sliwa Dumped By WABC / Citadel

by Brian Maloney, November 25th, 2009 at 11:07pm


So where does
this leave WTKK? Will they carry his new, scaled-down show run out of a tiny Salem station?

From Perry Simon at All Access:


WABC Expands Batchelor To Weeknights

CITADEL Talk WABC-A/NEW YORK is expanding weekend host JOHN BATCHELOR to weeknights 9p-1a ET starting MONDAY (11/30). The move into the slot presently occupied by CITADEL MEDIA’s CURTIS SLIWA follows the recent launch of BATCHELOR’s weekend show into syndication by WABC.

GM STEVE BORNEMAN said, “BATCHELOR’s SATURDAY and SUNDAY ratings have been so explosive, it’s a logical move to expand the program to weeknights.”

PD LAURIE CANTILLO added, “BATCHELOR offers a road map for understanding our fast-changing world at a time when listeners are hungrier for information than ever before.”

So, where does that leave SLIWA? Will he be taking another bite of the APPLE shortly elsewhere on the NEW YORK dial?


Batchelor, by the way,
has been syndicated in the past and bombed. He’s about as interesting as watching paint dry.



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73 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Cap'n Spackle  |  November 25th, 2009 at 11:22 pm

    Beg to differ. When “Batchelor and Alexander” was carried locally circa 9/11 I thought it was one of the best shows on.

  • 2. Hell Boy  |  November 26th, 2009 at 7:37 am

    I agree. It was a very interesting show. Miss it.

  • 3. WRKO Staffer  |  November 26th, 2009 at 8:08 am

    I remember Batchelor used to have his fraud “intelligence” expert on. The guy pretty much got everything wrong on the Iraq war.

  • 4. Al Bowlly  |  November 26th, 2009 at 8:45 am

    I listen to the Bachelor podcast weekly. (Soon to be monthly). His show is one of the most interesting and thought-provoking shows left on radio. I’m thrilled to see his restoration to weekdays.

    Brian, the bitterness is showing again. Pull your skirt down. “Bombed”? His show was in a half dozen markets and was canceled. How unusual in the radio business. So he clawed his way back to weekends on WABC and KFI. KFI dropped him recently (likely in preparation for the weekend show being replaced by M-F) and he’s back in the biggest market and likely to syndication.

    Where’s your second act besides making fun of Margery’s wrinkles?

    I love you man, but come on. What exactly defines “interesting” nowadays?

  • 5. Brian Flaherty  |  November 26th, 2009 at 10:06 am

    I liked Sliwa’s show - he never took a day off and had an interesting show.

  • 6. Anti Brian  |  November 26th, 2009 at 11:33 am

    It figures you wouldn’t like Batchelor’s show. I think he has the best programs on information radio. He is an excellent interviewer and has one great guest after another. What I liked about his past shows was there were no callers just one good interviews.

    Maybe he is a bit to intelligent for the regular talk radio listner who is used to Lonesome Rhodes and the Recovered Drug Addict telling them how to think.

  • 7. piratetoby  |  November 26th, 2009 at 12:20 pm

    Don’t have the time to read anything right now, but wanted to wish you all a great day. Hope we all OD on tryptophan.

    And for the Doctor, I’m cooking with honey today. I always cook w/honey.

  • 8. Toukonfan  |  November 26th, 2009 at 5:27 pm

    Gotta disagree, like several others here. I thought Batchelor and Alexander was one of the best shows going. I recall bouncing between the Drudge report radio show and Batchelor’s show on Sunday nights, way back when.

    This is great news for me!

  • 9. piratetoby  |  November 26th, 2009 at 8:47 pm

    I always respected Sliwa for creating the “Guardian Angels”. His heart and spirit were in the right place, and I considered him a true activist.

    However, I never cared for his radio show and never enjoyed listening to him. Something about the way he spoke- his monotone voice- seemed devoid of any passion.

    I wonder, did he lose that passion over the years? Or maybe I assumed, because of the GA thing that he was someone special. I found him mediocre, at best, and would have preferred to never have listened to his radio show.

  • 10. Tokyo rush  |  November 26th, 2009 at 10:37 pm

    He’s just about the only guy I like on WTKKK !

  • 11. raccoonradio  |  November 27th, 2009 at 6:52 am

    John Batchelor & Paul Alexander used to be syndie on WRKO, about 10 pm nightly.

    Sliwa ranges from so-bad-he’s good/so-bad-he’s bad to not too bad; heard his discussion about movies with Jeffrey Lyons the other night. I work nights and for talk it’s either WTKK or Sports Hub 98.5 though AM stations like WRKO or WBZ come in if I use a mini-FM transmitter only, due to interference. Phil Hendrie can be good too.

    Sliwa’s delivery gets into rhymes and puns and expressions like “oofah to that!”, “liar for hire”,
    “put a rocket in his pocket”, “it’s a double disgracia”, “the urge to merge the AM with the FM”. What with his history with the son of the Teflon Don, etc., there are “mob updates”

  • 12. raccoonradio  |  November 28th, 2009 at 2:24 am

    Doug McIntyre of KABC was in for Sliwa tonite

  • 13. Marco  |  November 28th, 2009 at 10:08 am

    At least he doesn’t have a whiny/unlistenable voice like Michelle McPhony.

  • 14. New York Pizza  |  November 28th, 2009 at 4:48 pm

    Spaghetti Sauce Face-phony tough guy-fake non-profit organizer Sleaze-wah’s show has been canceled?… That’s more mama drama than I can take, on this, the Curtis Sleaze-wah Show.

    Sorry, I have to go now and pretend I’ve been shot multiple times by a hit man working for John Gotti, Jr.

    What a fraud!

  • 15. Soxfanscott  |  November 28th, 2009 at 7:52 pm

    Batchelor & l Alexander when on WRKO were good solid radio. The intelligence expert that is mentioned in a previous post is John Loftus, as with any expert that is using open source intelligence information, you get some right and some wrong. But remember it’s entertainment! I am delighted that John Batchelor will be back on the local airwaves. He does well on mideast issues. And no one does Hubble telescope and planetary exploration talk etc

  • 16. Soxfanscott  |  November 28th, 2009 at 7:53 pm

    Batchelor & l Alexander when on WRKO were good solid radio. The intelligence expert that is mentioned in a previous post is John Loftus, as with any expert that is using open source intelligence information, you get some right and some wrong. But remember it’s entertainment! I am delighted that John Batchelor may be back on the local airwaves. He does well on mideast issues. And no one does Hubble telescope and planetary exploration talk etc

  • 17. Emperor's Return  |  November 29th, 2009 at 3:23 am

    No surprise that a double digit IQ/reactionary/Limbaugh groupie like this Maloney fellow would be put off by Batchelor’s broadcast. It’s informative, dare I say, erudite and miles beyond anything that a Michael Savage listener could comprehend. If this is true about that clown Sliwa departing WTTK, then WRKO becomes even more irrelevant at night. Batchelor and Phil Hendrie are far superior than the tape delayed “thespian” Jerry Doyle or the debacle that George Snoory presides over. And that creepy Fart Smell..I mean Art Bell… is off to Manilla with a girl 40 years his junior.

  • 18. Emperor's Return  |  November 29th, 2009 at 12:10 pm

    A new nadir for this Maloney fellow. Attacking John Batchelor’s broadcast just proves what a double digit IQ/reactionary/Limbaugh listener he is. Batchelor’s program is informative and erudite…so it’s no wonder a simpleton like Maloney,wearing a “MOAB University” shirt, couldn’t comprehend intelligent discourse and would be so dismissive of Batchelor.

    Go listen to Michael Savage and his amen choir of mental midgets. That’s your mediocre level.

  • 19. Dr. Quincy, M.E.  |  November 29th, 2009 at 4:47 pm

    I don’t know if Batchelor fakes sounding flaming gay as part of his shtick (his former co-host Paul Alexander also sounds flaming as hell, regardless of references to his “daughter”) but he should be better than Sliwa, who’s such a fraud he faked his “assassination attempt,” along with faking several “assaults and robberies” in which the Guardian Angels supposedly rescued the innocents and apprehended the perpetrators.

    Maybe Batchelor’s “intelligence” expert is the same one the Bush Admin relied on.

  • 20. Northshore  |  November 29th, 2009 at 9:03 pm

    I love Batchelor his is the only show I listen to on podcast. I am glad to hear he is being picked up nightly, I just noticed last week he was on Saturday nights as well! Just hope a station in Boston picks him up, would rather FM though as that is all my mp3 player has. Do they make them with AM ? I have a feeling my kids will be asking me what AM was in not to distant a future.

  • 21. Hell Boy  |  November 30th, 2009 at 5:47 am

    Observation: I think they pass this “intelligence”
    expert around. That would explain a lot!

  • 22. Hoss  |  November 30th, 2009 at 9:03 am

    I always liked Batchelor’s show. Frankly, the McPhee to Sliwa thing has always been back-to-back unlistenable shows, so I’m not upset that half of it might be gone.

  • 23. New York Pizza  |  November 30th, 2009 at 6:34 pm

    Tokyo rush: Was the name “Tokyo rush” inspired by Deep Purple’s “Woman from Tokyo” (spelled “Tokayo” on the original album jacket) or Bryan Ferry’s “Tokyo Joe?”

  • 24. piratetoby  |  November 30th, 2009 at 7:20 pm

    Hey, all, I can’t believe this Sliwa story is still up? Brian, did you OD on turkey (or as NYP points out, “turkay”?)

    I haven’t a clue if anyone here is into 20th century architecture and the modernization of style, but if you are and know anything of the late Walter Gropius (Harvard professor of architecture), the school he founded in Germany at the end of WW1, Bauhaus, you must see a current exhibit at MOMA. I’ve seen several smaller Bauhaus exhibits, but this is a major collection.

    Gropius’ interest was to combine form with function and genius of the Bauhaus can not be underestimated. Once anyone studies what was happening at Bauhaus, with Gropius’ vision and the artists he hired to teach, you’ll understand the revolutionay thinking behind what became to be known as our modern “style”. It is fascinating.

  • 25. New York Pizza  |  November 30th, 2009 at 8:02 pm

    piratetoby: You should check out Bryan Ferry’s “Tokyo Joe” clip:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dPW0-N5le0

  • 26. piratetoby  |  November 30th, 2009 at 8:18 pm

    Pizza: Great video. Ferry is the epitome of sexy, cool.

  • 27. WRKO Staffer  |  December 1st, 2009 at 11:29 am

    Yawn…

  • 28. Piratetoby  |  December 1st, 2009 at 11:41 am

    Staffer…wake us up

  • 29. WRKO Staffer  |  December 1st, 2009 at 12:36 pm

    I can’t, at this point all I can do is observe. I mean, some people hear find Michael Graham good radio…what can I say?

  • 30. piratetoby  |  December 1st, 2009 at 1:08 pm

    ok, I heard a snippet of J & M this am. I didn’t have any time to email. Magpie’s contention was people who adopt or rescue dogs deliberately tell others to make them feel bad.

    In other words people who adopt pets look down upon others (like Magpie) who have bought their dog.

    Magpie, if you’re reading this, usually the owner will state their pet is adopted or rescued only if aksed the breed. Typically the new owner doesn’t know the mix of their adopted dog, and that’s why/how they answer.

    Been on both sides, the owner of a purebred dog and owner of adopted dog. I’ve never judged or felt judged either way.

    A dog lover is a dog lover.

  • 31. Hoss  |  December 1st, 2009 at 5:59 pm

    That’s their topic for the day? Really?

  • 32. New York Pizza  |  December 1st, 2009 at 6:17 pm

    piratetoby: I found the Japanese chicks in the video, lip synching back-up vocals and mock playing the strings, to be a more interesting sight. I’d say that clip was circa ‘78/’79 (the song was released in ‘77.)

  • 33. Dr. Quincy, M.E.  |  December 1st, 2009 at 6:55 pm

    Can Ralph Wiggum look-alike Michael Graham’s show get any worse? Today he was pandering to some idiot who waited on hold, then got on the air to shout into a cell phone to bemoan the discontinuation of the Christmas tree display at the Saugus and Chelmsford Post Offices!

    Here we are, threatened with Obama Care, Cap and Tax, we have a U.S. Senate race under way, Afghanistan, and this douch_bag, Pumpkin Head Graham is talking about the right to have public Xmas and Chanukah displays!

    His fu_king show can’t get canceled fast enough. Maybe tonight Pumpkin Head will cross-promote by “calling in” to McShrill’s show.

  • 34. Dr. Quincy, M.E.  |  December 1st, 2009 at 7:02 pm

    As much as I couldn’t stand Sliwa (and Batchelor’s definitely an upgrade,) where is the justice in Graham’s show outliving Sliwa’s?

    Go Michael Savage!

  • 35. raccoonradio  |  December 2nd, 2009 at 3:17 am

    Dan Rae was also talking about the war on Christmas. Say what you want but topics like these get callers and, they would hope, listeners in. I’d like to think he talks about those other subjects, too…

  • 36. raccoonradio  |  December 2nd, 2009 at 1:00 pm

    Update: the Sliwa show nationally is toast as of Dec 11. Boston Radio Watch linked to a NY Daily News article about Sliwa’s ouster and it said that “two more weeks” of the show would be offered to affiliates. It’s thought (see BRW) that WTKK will take the show which Citadel is offering in its place, John Batchelor.

  • 37. raccoonradio  |  December 2nd, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    From Curtis’ site

    Apparently he didn’t say anything last week either on WABC or nationally (I think he
    had a 9-10 local hour). Listeners who didn’t see pieces in the local papers, etc., may have been caught unaware
    Mon night when they tuned in to hear the Raspberry Beret they got Batchelor instead.

    >>Where’s Curtis! What happened?…Where are you. Turned on the radio last night, and Mr. B has your slot. Called the radio station today and was told you quit.

    Huh?

    One post said that the show is no longer being syndicated after the next 2 weeks, and that listeners
    can hear it via WTKK’s stream

  • 38. WRKO Staffer  |  December 2nd, 2009 at 2:09 pm

    What’s this, Day 6 of Curtis?

  • 39. New York Pizza  |  December 2nd, 2009 at 7:32 pm

    piratetoby: There’s not one weak track on that solo Ferry album (1977’s “In Your mind”) which includes “Tokyo Joe.” It sounds much like Roxy Music’s “Siren” but with more female back-up vocals. Although Manzanera is present, the great Chris Spedding and (Roxy’s) John Wetton contribute significantly on guitar and bass guitar, respectively.

  • 40. piratetoby  |  December 2nd, 2009 at 8:39 pm

    NYP: I missed the mock string playing the first time I watched it. Guess I was focusing on Ferry more than his female backup.

    Anyone catch Magpie on Jim’s show tonight? I’ve gotta hand it to her, she doesn’t disappoint in her wardrobe……typical black v-neck (crooked with a bit of her white bra peeking out) and over her shoulders her second favorite color: drab olive green. It could have been her bathrobe resting on her shoulders.

    And again she continues to call Martha and other women “girls”. Me thinks she is stuck in high school- boys and girls. She did get her “babe” comment in on Scott Brown.

  • 41. piratetoby  |  December 2nd, 2009 at 8:52 pm

    Pizza: I’ll have to order the old CD. I’ve never been disappointed in anything Ferry has done. Ever.

  • 42. WRKO Staffer  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 7:25 am

    Please be the last day of this Curtis thread, please be the last day of this Curtis thread……

  • 43. Bea in Biloxi  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 8:57 am

    Does anyone have a wish list for new topics
    with or without the ringmaster?

  • 44. Cap'n Spackle  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 2:07 pm

    IMO “The Bride Stripped Bare” (78) is better than “In Your Mind” (77), though I’m guessing neither one featured any tunes that were played on the “Big 68″.

  • 45. New York Pizza  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 5:53 pm

    Holy shyte!- Thanks for your info about “The Bride Stripped Bare,” Cap’n. I’ve never heard its entirety, but I’m concerned about its lack of original material, even though Ferry has covered other’s compositions very well.

    One thing I like about the I.Y.M. album is it’s all original and doesn’t even contain re-works of previously-released Roxy material (like “Let’s Stick Together” does.)

    One of his best covers was “The ‘In’ Crowd” in ‘74, which I also doubt was played on the Big 68 but, I did hear it aired at least once on WVBF in ‘74 (by Ron Robin or Harvey Warfield?) Ferry’s version has great, big and crunchy but not overly-distorted guitar components (by David O’List and/or John Porter [yes, the same John Porter who produced for The Smiths.])

  • 46. Cricket  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 5:54 pm

    I am sick of the Tiger Woods stuff….Jay talking about it does keep me a bit amused though. Today a caller said Tiger was a sex addict. Jay disagreed and went on to explain why he thinks it is not an addiction. The guy asked if Jay thought Tiger could stop running around now. Jay said “I think he can quit, because I did”.

  • 47. New York Pizza  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 6:12 pm

    The Tiger Woods news emphasis by the mainstream media also offers the Obama Admin and Congress some cover from being scrutinized. It’s almost as if the uninviteds who crashed the state dinner story was planned by the Obama Admin for the same reason. We have the health care “reform” and global warming shams, Afghanistan, along with unemployment, and these media as_holes cover this Tiger Woods sh_t more instead.

  • 48. Laurence Glavin  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 6:29 pm

    What…does Brian have a job? It’s been well over an hour since the Boston PPMs were released, and not a peep about them! WRKO has a full-point higher rating, but WTKKK has a larger cume. WRKO listeners linger longer? Hey…the WGBH-GM/WBUR battle has been joined: WBUR right now at the top of its game!

  • 49. Dr. Quincy, M.E.  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 6:30 pm

    Well, it’s official. Dan Rea’s show is in trouble because he’s had to resort to a promotion/”live remote” (which included the obligatory $10 buffet dinner) from the indoor go-kart track in Braintree, presented as a Dem Senate Candidates’ debate. Let’s see, doing this, there’s been at least: 1) J-Bar 2) Rick Shaffer 3) Now, Dan Rea

    You know your show’s demise can’t be too far away when you’re saying “live from F1 Boston.”

  • 50. Piratetoby  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 6:38 pm

    NYP, I love Ferry’s version of “In Crowd”.

    Tiger Woods…I won’t waste my time.

  • 51. Piratetoby  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 6:42 pm

    NYP, I love Ferry’s version of “In Crowd”. “Midnight Hour” is pretty good, too.

    Tiger Woods…I won’t waste my time.

  • 52. Piratetoby  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 6:44 pm

    Sorry for the dup

  • 53. Piratetoby  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 7:02 pm

    The guitarist for The Smith’s…was his name Johnny Marr? He was the BEST…and the perfect antidote to the ego based Morrissey. He just stood back and played his ass off.

  • 54. WRKO Staffer  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 8:42 pm

    Memba Marr’s post Smith’s project…The The?

  • 55. piratetoby  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 9:00 pm

    I loved The The. Marr was part of that band? I didn’t know that. I’ve seen him with his own band. I’m looking at a copy of “Soul Mining” by The The, but the members aren’t listed.

  • 56. WRKO Staffer  |  December 3rd, 2009 at 10:11 pm

    Actually, I think Marr joined The The as they had been around long before Marr joined them.

    Speaking of The Smith’s, their rhythm section played on Sinead O’Connor’s debut “The Lion and the Cobra”.

  • 57. Cap'n Spackle  |  December 4th, 2009 at 1:00 am

    Please be the last day of this Curtis thread, please be the last day of this Curtis thread……

    If for no other reason than to force Therese Murray’s hideous mug down the page.

  • 58. Hoss  |  December 4th, 2009 at 10:48 am

    I had a roommate in college who listened to The Smiths 24 hours a day, and I came to this conclusion:

    The Smiths are the worst band of all time.

  • 59. karl from malden  |  December 4th, 2009 at 11:15 am

    I had a roommate that was a parrothead and listened to Buffet bootlegs 24 hours a day, there is no way this affront to humanity can be topped even by the Smiths.

  • 60. piratetoby  |  December 4th, 2009 at 12:23 pm

    Hoss, that is truly a sad story. If you weren’t forced to listen to them 24/7, you would never come to that same conclusion.

    Staffer, again didn’t know the contribution to Sinead’s debut LP (which I love), but her second is my favorite. Prince’s “Noting Compares 2 U” is one of my personal top 10’s.

    I’ve seen her live a few times, The Smiths, Johnny Marr, but I don’t recall seeing The The. English Beat, Fine Young Cannibals, UB40- seen tham all.

  • 61. Cap'n Spackle  |  December 4th, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    58. Ugh
    59. Ugh.
    60. Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh.

  • 62. piratetoby  |  December 4th, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    Well, Cap’n, you can always go to the next thread and gaze at Mother Theresa if you’re so full of “ugh’s”. If Brian gave us something new, none of this 80’s music would be boring and making you sick.

    Meditate on Ms. Murphy’s mug for a few minutes. Trust me…..you’ll be back here with your own Cap’n and Tenille memories.

  • 63. Cap'n Spackle  |  December 4th, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    On second thought, although I wrote “ugh”, I think the now-discarded Howie Carr <scondras>”uhh-uhh”</scondras> sound effect applies equally well.

  • 64. Dr. Murray, M.E.  |  December 4th, 2009 at 5:51 pm

    Listening to Buffet must be worse than being waterboarded.

  • 65. piratetoby  |  December 4th, 2009 at 8:15 pm

    Another doctor? Murray? Any relation to my mistake, Therese “Murphy”?

    I just re-read my post #62. My only explanation for calling Therese “Murphy” is I’m sick.

    To my great surprise I found some Tamiflu in my house. It came in a gift basket last Christmas!

    I was dragged (kicking & screaming) to a Jimmy Buffet show several years ago. Nothing against “Parrotheads”, but I just can not relate to them…..nor do I want to. I begged to leave early. Hands and knees kind of begging.

    No offense to Jimmy Buffet. He’s an OK guy.

  • 66. Dr. Quincy, M.E.  |  December 5th, 2009 at 4:50 pm

    Dr. Natalia Murray (no relation to the state senator) is my associate at the Coroner’s Office. We both loathe Jimmy Buffet.

    pirate: How is your back pain now? Please don’t “paint a vulgar picture.”

  • 67. piratetoby  |  December 5th, 2009 at 5:58 pm

    Doctor? What does that mean, “paint a vulgar picture”?

  • 68. Dr. Quincy, M.E.  |  December 6th, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    pirate: Are you high?… “Paint a Vulgar Picture” is the best song on “Strangeways Here We Come.”
    Boy, I guess I started something, typical me.

  • 69. piratetoby  |  December 6th, 2009 at 5:27 pm

    No, you didn’t start anything. I’ve been sick with a head cold for a few days, and needless to say, not as sharp as I’d like to be.

    Years ago I could tell you every song, musician, obscure trivia, etc. from all the bands I liked. My aging brain hasn’t had to access those old files in quite a while.

    Anyway, my back pain has subsided a bit, replaced by a nasty head cold. And forget about taking myself to a doctor, I had to take my dog to the vet yesterday, cost me $ 300.00 and I came home with bottles and pills and instructions for a twice daily routine.

  • 70. raccoonradio  |  December 7th, 2009 at 12:38 am

    back on topic: Fybush’s North East Radio watch says Curtis Sliwa is new morning guy at WNYM 970 NYC starting Jan 11

  • 71. Dr. Quincy, M.E.  |  December 7th, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    pirate: Frankly Mr. Shankly, it’s actually titled “I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish.”
    The intro of that song is the only time I can recall Marr employing a lot of fuzztone.

  • 72. piratetoby  |  December 10th, 2009 at 9:50 am

    Frankly Mr. Shankly I should be making Christmas cards for the mentally ill.

  • 73. raccoonradio  |  December 15th, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    John Batchelor premiered on WTKK last night; sampled a bit of it. It’s debatable as to whether it can
    be considered a talk show; in terms of “only a talk show if listeners call in” it isn’t, as there are no
    call ins (or they’re discouraged)–though Sliwa’s show was pretty much also the host and guests but
    callers were rare. But if you consider “hosts plus guests” as talk, then it is. Wikipedia’s entry for
    Batchelor actually calls it a “Radio News Magazine”

    And this NY Times piece says the show isn’t full of hollering people, it’s more sedate and erudite…
    and might be considered “BBC without the British accents” or “NPR on Drugs”.

    >>He does not stray far from the political leanings of Laura Ingraham and some of his other WABC counterparts. But in a landscape of radio often dominated by shouting, Mr. Batchelor’s show has enjoyed the rare distinction of being a source of sophisticated — and at times impossibly erudite — political debate and quirky subject matter. Mr. Batchelor, 57, has described his show as the BBC without British accents, but others in the world of talk radio have referred to it as NPR on drugs.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/19wepers.html?_r=1

    So in other words, no “what’s the latest on Tiger?” No death pools, crusading against uni-health-care
    or against the war(s). Some may find it interesting–not quite what I’d like but who knows.

    Supposedly his weekend shows on WABC got boffo ratings and they expanded it to weeknights
    (sorry, Curtis). For now it’s 7 nights/wk but will shrink to 6 eventually.

    And the bumper music is unexpected, too; tense pieces from movie soundtracks, maybe classical?
    Not exactly “In Da Club” (Sliwa), “Mississippi Queen” (Carr), or “Smashing A Perfectly Good Guitar”
    (Ingraham)


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