No matter how deep the radio talent is in Madison, familiar local voices just don't seem to be important to Clear Channel/iHeart Radio. That's quite a change from the good old days.
Having been a part of that history, it breaks my heart to see funny, smart, innovative, creative people who still love the whole idea of radio, tossed out on their ass. Former WIBA talker Sly landed a job at a radio group dedicated to bringing local talent and issues to their audience. It's what makes them a part of their community.
For liberal and moderate voices in Madison, those days are gone (nope, Vicki McKenna doesn't count, sucks). Devil's Advocate Mike Crute and Dom Salvia had that Wisconsin sound, with a twist of Midwest skepticism and dry humor. The same goes for Mitch Henck. Here's what the Devil's wrote on their Facebook page:
The Devil's were the highest rated show on the highest rated progressive station in America...so IHeart flipped the Mic format to Christmas music. Find your daily Devil fix at 3:05 CT www.darnwi.com. "The website Radio Insight said The Mic pulled a 2.1 share in the Summer 2016 Nielsen Audio ratings, the highest share in liberal talk radio in the U.S. registered by Nielsen."
Henck said he’s working to get more affiliates for his show, and will expand his podcast with new hosts, including Phil Anderson, Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate, Matthew Rothschild of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and local activist Nino Amato, head of the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups.
Wisconsin State Journal Reporter Molly Beck may need to take
a continuing ed class on journalism.
Two big mistakes in the following story
that distorts and minimizes the impact of what it means to stand up to a repressive
government like Scott Walker’s, and protect the 1st Amendment.
First, she set out to anger readers by making them
resent Devil's Advocates radio host Dominic Salvia's big win for a citizens 1st Amendment rights, by writing “taxpayers”
will end up paying for Walker’s unconstitutional law arresting protesters at
the Capitol:
Taxpayers will pay a local radio show host $75,000 to settle
a lawsuit he filed against Gov. Scott Walker’s administration after being
arrested in 2013 while covering the arrests of protesters at the state Capitol.
Second, nowhere in the story did Beck mention that “radio
host” Dominic Salvia is a libertarian who voted for Scott Walker in the recall, leaving the
impression he was a nasty unpatriotic terrorist “liberal:”
Dominic Salvia, co-host of the liberal talk show Devil’s
Advocates Radio Show on The Mic 92.1 FM…
Beck was joined by Upfront's Mike Gousha (bottom video), and WTMJ’s conservative authoritarian host
Jeff Wagner, who did everything he could to make it seem like another long haired 60’s throwback and Madison liberal misbehaved again, disrupting the peace and tranquility
of the state Capitol. Scott Walker and Republican lawmakers had nothing to do with it of course ramming Act 10 down everyone's throat. At least Liberal America spent the time to investigate and got it right:
The man they arrested was Dominic Salvia, the conservative voice on the popular Devil’s Advocates Radio Show. This guy spent years defending Republican Governor Scott Walker to a progressive audience. Mr. Walker best not count on that defense anymore.
Unsettling attack on Judges...that don't follow the one-party dogma. It should be noted those same supposed liberal "Madison" judges, have decided in Walker's favor as well. Blaming judges without having a good reason to do so is meant to denigrate the whole judicial branch of government. Real American like, huh?
In this amazing video clip of Dominic Salvia's arrest as a reporter, with crystal clear audio, you can see for yourself that from the very beginning, the polite questions Salvia asked about why he was being arrest were completely ignored:
This was decided in a federal court, away from the predictable State Supreme Courts support of Walker's agenda, and the likely decision Salvia faced there.
Here's Devil's Dom and Crute on Upfront with Mike Gousha:
