Conservative Armstrong Williams loses Air America gig

[CT_Progressive]

http://ltradio.blogspot.com/2007/10/morning-shakeup-at-wwrl.html

Friday, October 26, 2007

Morning shakeup at WWRL

"Sammy and Army" are history.

Sam Greenfield and Armstrong Williams, the morning show hosts at WWRL (1600AM) in New York, exit the station, in a programming overhaul. The two hosted their last show yesterday.

Former Air America Radio personality Mark Riley and current WWRL nighttime host Richard Bey will take over mornings effective Monday. Program director Rennie Bishop calls the move a "creative redirection."

Both Riley and Bey are New York radio veterans. Riley was a longtime personality at WLIB prior to joining Air America, from their debut in March 2004 until this past August. Bey was formerly at WABC radio until starting at WWRL in August. He has also done fill-in work at Sirius Left. And yes, he did host that talk show back in the 90s.

The "Sammy and Army" show was often controversial among Air America fans. Listeners mostly took exception to the 'conservative half' of the duo, Armstrong Williams, who was most notably caught in a scam involving some suspect dealings with the Bush administration. Williams had to fork over $34,000 to settle his case with the Department of Justice when it was discovered that he accepted $240,000 in payments from the Bush administration to tout their 'No Child Left Behind' act on his TV and radio shows. According to USA Today, Williams was hired "to promote the law... and to urge other black journalists to do the same." When the whole matter was disclosed, he lost his TV show and the White House turned its back on him. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington claimed the deal was illegal, as the federal government is forbidden from funding propaganda broadcast within the United States.

[hlthe2b]

1. Williams was NEVER part of AAR, but appeared only because

of a previously inked deal with the station which became the local NY affiliate (and flagship). That local affiliate had to honor their original contract with him, so they broadcast Williams instead of AAR content during that timeslot. It is incredibly erroneous to refer to Williams as an "AAR talent". However, I do celebrate his receiving the "boot."

[ClassWarrior]

2. Was this on the network or just the NYC affiliate?

Ever since Nova M launched, and AAR replaced Sam Seder with fingernails on a chalkboard, I haven't listened to AAR's morning show. I thought it was still Young Turks.

NGU.

[NYCGirl]

4. Just the NYC station. Williams' contract was part of the deal to buy the station. NT

[papau]

5. AM is 18 yr talk vet Lionel - at least when I turn it on - 8am n/t

n/t

[ClassWarrior]

6. Yeah, that's Central time. Technically, the "morning show" is the one before that.

Lionel. <shudder>

NGU.

[tularetom]

3. Armstrong has made a career out of kissing republican ass

and look where it got him. When the shit hit the fan over his illegal shilling for the NCLB law, the bush maladministration threw him under the bus. Tough titty Armstrong.

[senseandsensibility]

7. Yes but did he get to keep

the two hundred and forty thousand TAX dollars that the administration paid him?

[DemNoir]

8. Incredible

Mark Riley's hand bursts out of the crave again. That hack just cannot be killed.

[annabanana]

9. It's about damn time. He was in NYC "am drive time"... one of the

most radio-heavy exposure times. He was never a good mix with AAR. . and seriously muddied the water on the NY frequency.