Is this the end for Stuart Smalley on the airwaves? We're hearing that Al Franken is leaving Air America and giving up on talk radio, most likely for good.His last day on the air will apparently be December 8. Already, a few libtalk stations have begun to leak word of Franken's impending exit.
One is KQKE Radio in San Francisco, which recently cancelled Franken and replaced him with Thom Hartmann, a more obscure "progressive" who airs in the same time slot. A check of Franken's site Thursday evening did not turn up any mention of a departure and the company itself has as of yet said nothing.
This confirms rumors we'd been hearing for weeks from industry sources and Air America listeners that are now backed up by these on- air announcements. What A Mockery, a liberal blog site, captured the audio of KQKE Radio's announcement here. Its main page is found here.
While Franken's contract was recently rewritten in order to extend through the spring of 2007, all bets were off once Air America entered bankruptcy, since Franken's continued participation was directly tied to the network's solvency.
With just a week remaining in which to nail down a buyer, Air America is truly skating on thin ice at this point. Does the impending loss of Franken's show hurt its resale value?
In addition, is there any connection between this move and the five stations that have dropped the liberal talk radio format since election day?
As for his likely US Senate run, it would not have required Franken to exit his radio show until a formal announcement was made, which is likely to occur at least nine months from now. So this departure appears to be tied to the network's financial troubles.
We'll have much more on this breaking story as details emerge.