After a seven-month absence after being fired from NY NPR giant WNYC over alleged sexual harassment (along with standards DJ Jonathan Schwartz and "Takeaway" host John Hockenberry), talk show host Leonard Lopate returns to NY radio Monday during the last hour of his old noon-2 p.m. WNYC time slot on perennially-troubled Pacifica's perennially-troubled mostly lefty talk WBAI:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/nyregion/leonard-lopate-wbai-radio-show.html Although GM Berthold Reimers is quoted as saying, "We are thrilled to have him back at WBAI and can’t wait to hear what he has in store for all of us," when Lopate started in radio at BAI in 1977, a starting point for a lot of public radio's first generation, the hardcore radicals thought he was too "commercial-sounding" (it was rumored that Percy Sutton, the African-American founder of urban AC WBLS, was going to buy the station--similar frequent rumors have caused lots of turmoil over the years for the station that's above 92 on FM and in FM radio's boom years might've drawn over $100M from a potential purchaser). It is an assumption that there are going to be some who will not welcome Lopate back with open arms, especially the hosts of of the health programs currently filing the slot (and Lopate's lead-in, so-called nutritionist Gary Null, the Dr. Oz of the radical left known for pitching for quack nostrums during station pledge drives). Lopate may regret this decision immensely. Meanwhile, WBAI's schedule is showing an "Evening Edition" of Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now!" at 6 p.m. weeknights--could Goodman be preparing to have a national presence in afternoon drive against "All Things Considered?" Considering that a sizeable number of her stations (including small market, volunteer-driven NPR affils) carry the show in the late afternoon, hours after the 8 a.m. ET feed time, it's totally possible. However, we point out that Pacifica owes a lot of money in unpaid license fees to her (for a program that she daily identifies as being a Pacifica program) and that push is going to have to come to shove sooner or later. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
