Joe Walsh

Joe Walsh, the former northwest suburban congressman turned conservative radio talk show host, just struck out in the Big Apple.

In a setback to his ambitions for syndication, Walsh has been dropped from WNYM AM in New York, where his talk show aired since January 2014. His last broadcast there was Friday.

The Salem Media station is replacing Walsh with author and columnist Eric Metaxas, whose New York-based talk show is syndicated by Salem Radio Network. The handwriting was on the wall last month when Walsh’s hours on the station were cut from two to one.

“Other talk show hosts threatened to leave New York, but I told the folks at AM 970 I want to go where the enemy lives, and they took me in,” Walsh said when he joined the staff of WNYM. “I will be looking for anybody who would destroy an America of free men and free women. Every day I want to fight those people and wake the rest of us up before it’s too late.”

There’s bad news for Walsh on the home front, too: Salem Media news/talk WIND AM 560, his Chicago broadcasting base since 2013, is about to cut the third hour of his afternoon show here. As of June 1, Walsh will be heard only two hours each weekday — from 5 to 7 p.m.

The move will accommodate the addition of “The Dave Ramsey Show” from 7 to 10 p.m. Ramsey is a best-selling author and expert on personal finance and debt reduction.

Walsh, 53, a Republican maverick and tea party firebrand who served one term in Congress, turned to radio after he was defeated for reelection by Democrat Tammy Duckworth in November 2012. After joining WIND as evening host in March 2013, he moved up to afternoons three months later when Steve Cochran jumped to Tribune Broadcasting news/talk WGN AM 720 as morning personality.

Walsh made headlines last June when WIND bosses pulled the plug on his show after his repeated use of racial slurs on the air.