{"id":22796,"date":"2019-08-27T06:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T11:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=22796"},"modified":"2019-08-27T06:00:13","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T11:00:13","slug":"presidential-candidate-joe-walsh-im-done-talk-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2019\/08\/27\/presidential-candidate-joe-walsh-im-done-talk-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidential candidate Joe Walsh: \u2018I\u2019m done with talk radio\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> Joe Walsh<\/p><\/div>\n

Now that Joe Walsh has announced<\/a> his quixotic bid to challenge President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020, the former Illinois congressman says he's sacrificing his career as a radio talk show host.<\/p>\n

Walsh has been holding forth on WIND 560-AM, <\/a>the Salem Media news\/talk station, since 2013 \u2014 the year after he lost his reelection bid following one term in Congress. His local show aired from 5 to 7 p.m. weekdays. His national show, syndicated by Salem Radio Network, aired from 8 to 11 p.m. weekdays.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m done with talk radio, and that makes me sad,\u201d Walsh said Sunday on \u201cBeyond the Beltway with Bruce DuMont.\u201d <\/a>\u201cBut to me this is a bigger mission. I\u2019ve got to do what I can to make sure this guy can\u2019t be reelected and . . . to try to help save the Republican party. Trump has destroyed the Republican party.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday Salem Radio Network gave affiliates 30-days notice that it was cancelling Walsh\u2019s show to avoid running afoul of the FCC's Equal Time Rule. \u201cThis announcement does not affect Walsh\u2019s local program airing on AM 560 The Answer<\/em> in Chicago, however Walsh\u2019s program will have to be removed as soon as he becomes a viable and legal candidate for president,\u201d according to the company.<\/p>\n

Walsh acknowledged that his outspoken criticism of Trump already had cost him support among some affiliates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe easiest thing for me to do is to just line up with everybody else in conservative media and sing this president\u2019s praises,\u201d he told DuMont. \u201cIf I did that, I\u2019d still have a radio show, I\u2019d have great ratings, and every Republican would love me. I truly believe that this president is a danger to the country. He has no respect for the rule of law. He believes he\u2019s a dictator.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be the most difficult thing I\u2019ve ever done because Trump and his people are going to come after me and pound me every day. I\u2019m not doing this because it\u2019s going to be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

AM 560 The Answer<\/p><\/div>\n

Despite Walsh\u2019s declaration, his bosses at WIND weren\u2019t quite ready to close the door on him Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation with Joe Walsh is complicated, it is not black and white,\u201d Jeff Reisman, regional vice president and general manager, told me. \u201cSalem will proceed with Joe and his WIND program in a manner consistent with FCC regulations as they apply to candidates for political office as well as with Joe\u2019s employment agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walsh has been on vacation from his radio job since last week. Filling in for him \u2014 at least through today \u2014 is Shaun Thompson, host of \"The Liberty Hour\" on weekends. Will Walsh be back on the air Wednesday? Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

Since Salem Media does not subscribe to Nielsen Audio, WIND no longer appears in the local ratings. The most recent figures available are from 2016 when WIND tied for 25th place in afternoons with a 1.7 percent share and cumulative weekly audience of 169,600.<\/p>\n

Walsh's contract with the station reportedly runs through the end of 2020.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s comment of the day:<\/a> Shane Gericke:<\/strong> The newspaper industry is literally a dying shame, which upsets me greatly both as a citizen and an ink-stained wretch of so many years. When newspapers are gone \u2014 not the dead-trees distribution part, but the reporting, editing, and visual information, the poetic hammer of writers banging keyboards on deadline \u2014 who will report the news, investigate social, political, and business wrongdoing, and tell our wonder stories? TV? Cable? Internet opinionists? Hell, no \u2014 they almost all get their leads from newspapers. Without real reporters paid to dig out truth, the chattering class would have to do original reporting, and they don't want to pay that heavy freight. Eventually, most \"news\" will be provided by government and corporate \"information specialists,\" and opinionists will spin that pre-digested bulk into flossy strands of fool's gold. I sigh for America.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that Joe Walsh has announced his quixotic bid to challenge President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020, the former Illinois congressman says he's sacrificing his career as a radio talk show host. Walsh has been holding forth on WIND 560-AM, the Salem Media news\/talk station, since 2013 \u2014 the year after he... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22796"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22796"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22811,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22796\/revisions\/22811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}