Springer Hangs Onto...At Least One Big One

Monday was the start of Air America Radio's new lineup, as the liberal talk network moved former "Majority Report" co-host Sam Seder to his own new mid-morning show, and moved incumbent 9-noon ET host Jerry Springer to its syndication arm.

Despite being trucked off the main AAR feed, Springer has at least one bright spot out of this - Chicago.

Northwest suburban daytimer WCPT/850 Crystal Lake IL has decided to hang onto Springer in the 8-11 AM CT time slot, even after declining to take AAR's morning drive replacement for moving-to-evening host Rachel Maddow - syndicated talk trio "The Young Turks".

Instead, WCPT has picked up Jones Radio's Bill Press for its "Whenever We Sign On until 8 AM" time slot, which means he'll get at least a month or two before nearly all of his show is preempted.

(And long-time readers know there's an Ohio connection here as well, as Press' show began as a local-only show on Clear Channel Akron liberal talker WARF/1350 "Radio Free Ohio".)

Back to Springer.

One reason "Chicago's Progressive Talk" is presumably hanging onto him is the talk show host's local ties. He tapes his trash TV talk fest in Chicago three days a week and maintains a residence there...which means he splits his radio time between the Windy City and the Queen City of Cincinnati.

Either way, it's an active move on their part, as simply going to the primary AAR satellite feed as they did in the past would yield Sam Seder's new show.

What's the overall read on the move from Camp Springer? Here's a note from show staffer Jene Galvin on the official Springer On The Radio blog:

Early reports are that the vast majority of Air America affiliates have chosen to continue with Springer On The Radio.

"The vast majority" apparently does not include New York City, where there are reports that Springer's show is no longer heard on new AAR flagship WWRL/1600 - the station now reportedly carries Seder's program in the slot where Springer was once heard on former flagship WLIB/1190.

Galvin's note seems to confirm our long-time thought that the Springer radio show has also been continued to be offered outside the AAR syndication deal, presumably within Clear Channel:

Some Springer On The Radio listeners hear Jerry on progressive radio stations that are not Air America affiliates, and presumably you will be able to continue to hear Jerry’s enlightened approach to talk radio on those stations.

There's only one problem here...we're trying to figure out what stations that covers.

Cleveland's talk powerhouse WTAM/1100 was one, and it's been gone from the Springer affiliate list for months.

The San Antonio Clear Channel FM liberal talker changed to a music format some time ago, and the Clear Channel talk outlet in Sarasota FL (another Springer hometown) recently also dumped talk for music...WSRQ/1450. which aired Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talkers outside of Jerry's show, is now part of the "Dove" standards simulcast there.

And neither WTAM nor WSRQ would have been considered "progressive" radio stations, even when they were both carrying Springer's program.

Doing math in our heads here - would that only leave Springer's Cincinnati flagship WSAI/1360 in the "Not Fed by AAR" column? Maybe we're missing a station...