{"id":31293,"date":"2021-10-25T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T11:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=31293"},"modified":"2021-10-25T06:00:15","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T11:00:15","slug":"wls-midday-host-dan-bongino-threatens-quit-cumulus-media-vaccine-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2021\/10\/25\/wls-midday-host-dan-bongino-threatens-quit-cumulus-media-vaccine-mandate\/","title":{"rendered":"WLS midday host Dan Bongino threatens to quit over Cumulus Media vaccine mandate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

WLS AM 890<\/p><\/div>\n

Cumulus Media,<\/a> owner of news\/talk WLS 890-AM<\/a> and more than 400 other radio stations nationwide, is on a collision course with some of its biggest personalities over the company\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all employees.<\/p>\n

Dan Bongino, who took over<\/a> Rush Limbaugh\u2019s coveted midday slot (11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays) in May, is threatening to quit \u2014 even though he already was vaccinated on the advice of his doctors because he has Hodgkin's lymphoma.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really happy with the company I work with right here,\u201d Bongino told listeners last week. \u201cI believe these vaccine mandates are unethical. I believe they\u2019re immoral. I believe they don\u2019t take into account the science of natural immunity due to a prior infection. I believe they\u2019re broad-based and don\u2019t take into account an individual circumstances of why they may or may not want to take a vaccine. And they\u2019re antithetical to everything I believe in.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Dan Bongino<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019ll say again, I\u2019m not going to let this go. Cumulus is going to have to make a decision with me \u2014 if they want to continue this partnership or they don\u2019t. But I\u2019m talking to you on their airwaves. They don\u2019t have to let that happen. And I wouldn\u2019t mind if they didn\u2019t. Because it\u2019s really unfortunate that people with a lower profile than me, who don\u2019t have 300-plus stations, have been summarily either shown the door or been put in really untenable circumstances because they simply want to make a medical decision by themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

His fight with Cumulus, Bongino said in a subsequent explanation, \u201chas everything to do with the principle of body sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Media Matters for America,<\/a> the progressive nonprofit media watchdog group, reported that despite the company\u2019s mandate, Bongino and other nationally syndicated right-wing hosts continue to spread anti-vaccine talking points while receiving paychecks from Cumulus. (Here is the link.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

They include Ben Shapiro, whose show airs on WLS from 2 to 4 p.m. weekdays, and Mark Levin, whose show airs on WLS from 9 p.m. to midnight weeknights. Both have railed against mandates and promoted non-compliance on their shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe company\u2019s hosts, and talk radio in general, have played a notable role in spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine, even as other anti-vaccine figures have succumbed to the illness,\u201d Media Matters reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cCumulus has a history of providing a platform for dangerous content while later instituting rules that run counter to its hosts\u2019 rhetoric. Earlier this year, Cumulus received attention for issuing a directive to employees to cease spreading misinformation<\/a> about the 2020 election after some of its hosts were implicated in promoting conspiracy theories leading up to the violent insurrection at the Capitol on January 6. Despite this directive, Cumulus hosts continued to spread misinformation on the election seemingly without repercussions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Locally Cumulus Media Chicago has strictly enforced the company's mandate, which went into effect September 27.<\/p>\n

As reported here earlier, staffers returning to the office were offered color-coded bracelets to indicate their willingness to engage with colleagues. According to an internal memo, red means \u201cPlease stay 6 feet away\u201d; yellow means \u201cSome contact is acceptable\u201d; and green means \u201cComfortable with appropriate office greetings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marv Nyren, vice president and market manager of Cumulus Media Chicago, declined to comment.<\/p>\n

In the latest Nielsen Audio survey WLS tied for 24th place overall with a 1.7 percent share and cumulative weekly audience of 234,400.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s comment of the day:<\/a> Phil Ponce:<\/strong> Big fan of Phil Kadner\u2019s work; a solid internal compass and an innate sense of decency. Good luck, Phil, and thank you.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cumulus Media, owner of news\/talk WLS 890-AM and more than 400 other radio stations nationwide, is on a collision course with some of its biggest personalities over the company\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all employees. Dan Bongino, who took over Rush Limbaugh\u2019s coveted midday slot (11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays) in May, is threatening... 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\/31293"}],"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=31293"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31301,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31293\/revisions\/31301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}