Oh, the joys of programming a talk radio station: Fox Radio 910am operations manager Blair Peyton, who runs the station for his father Ben Peyton, the owner, has experienced a roller coaster ride of sorts over the past few months, as several of the mostly-conservative syndicated talk shows carried by the station have been on and off the air due to contractual issues.
For starters, Laura Ingraham (weekdays 9am-12 noon) went off the air at the end of November, after enacting a clause in her contract that allowed her to leave TRN (Talk Radio Network) immediately. “They need to get rid of that clause,” said Blair Peyton, who moonlights as a stage actor and the producer of a web-based TV show, Tuned Out. “I was trying to figure out what was going on. [Ingraham] wasn’t happy with Talk Radio Network.”
Various hosts have been filling Ingraham’s time slot; meanwhile the departed Ingraham has signed on with another syndicator and will be back on Fox Radio 910am on January 2, in her old 9am-12 noon live time slot. Peyton said he got “a ton” of e-mails accusing the station of taking Ingraham off the air because they didn’t want people to hear her message, or “the truth” as one writer put it. That wasn’t true said Peyton, and Ingraham’s return on January 2 is proof of that.
Michael Savage, the often-controversial talk show host who is critical of Republicans and conservatives as well, debuted on 910am to much ballyhoo in September. Listeners had inquired about carrying Savage for three years, since the southeast Roanoke-based station switched from southern gospel to talk radio. A month into his tenure on 910am however, Savage finally won a court battle he had waged against TRN for several years, claiming his contract should have been voided.
A California judge agreed and Savage left the air, again leaving 910am in the lurch. They scrambled to fill his nighttime slot with several programs. Now Savage will return to Roanoke, with a new syndicator (Cumulus Media). His return (10pm-1am) is scheduled to start this week. The station is also dropping the overnight Phil Hendry Show, for something called Red Eye Radio, a live news-talk program from Cumulus that will run after Savage.
Peyton is also dealing with the impending departure of Neal Boortz (3pm-6pm), the acerbic Libertarian talk show host who is retiring at the end of January. His assumed successor, former presidential hopeful Herman Cain, has been trying out in that time slot over the past few weeks, but Peyton said he isn’t sold on the former business CEO and author of the ill-fated “9-9-9” tax plan. Peyton will take any suggestions on programming via e-mail ([email protected]).
“We would like to pick up a live show,” said Peyton. Running Dennis Miller in the afternoons (he currently has a night time 8pm slot) or Rusty Humphries (who had been part of the previous package with Michael Savage and ran at 6pm) are other options. Peyton likes Dennis Miller, the former Saturday Night Live funnyman, “but I’m a little off,” he said with a grin.
Peyton didn’t expect programming decisions to be this hectic, especially around the Christmas holidays when things are normally low-key. Fox Radio 910am will also debut a local financial radio show in early January, a program that will run on Monday and Tuesday mornings from 8-9am. Syndicated financial guru Clark Howard runs in that same time slot the rest of the week. “I hope won’t get flack about that,” said Peyton.
Listeners can keep up with all of the changes at foxradioroanoke.com or on the Facebook page, and on Twitter. (Note: The Roanoke Star news editor Gene Marrano can be heard on Fox Radio 910am every Saturday and Sunday morning at 11:30, on “Roanoke This Week with Gene Marrano.”)
By Gene Marrano
