Randi Rhodes Back on the SF Airwaves After Hillary/Ferraro Slam

Randi Rhodes will be back on the air Monday in San Francisco. It’s been a long couple of weeks for the highly-rated liberal chat show host.

Remember how the now former Air America host got herself suspended last week for stuff she said at a March 22 appearance in San Francisco about Sen. Hillary Clinton and ex-Rep. Geraldine Ferraro? To keep this G-rated, Randi called the ladies the not-so-nice word for prostitutes, and mixed in a couple of f-bombs. It was all over cable and YouTube while the cable dorks were killing time until the Pennsylvania primary.

Even thought the naughty words were part of a 15-minute, off-air standup shtick Rhodes did at a North Beach club for a $5-a-head listener party for SF station KKGN-AM (Green 960), Air America suspended her indefinitely. And that’s a big deal, because Rhodes has a big audience, and well, Air America doesn’t have a surplus of those types of ratings.

Gerry thought she should be fired. But Rhodes wouldn’t apologize, ala Imus and every one else trying to save their job in that situation.

Well hours after she and Air America “terminated” their relationship in mid-suspension — Rhodes cut a deal Thursday to get back on the air in SF, where she will work the 4 p.m.-7 p.m. slot starting Monday on 960 AM. She is now working for Phoenix-based Nova M Radio Network.

Rhodes told Larry King Thursday that Rhodes said that the suspension was because Air America had new owners and that “this thing is really about them wanting to change my contract.”

John Scott, who is director of AM Operations at Green 960 AM, said he’s not concerned about what Rhodes said at the event for his station, even if he would have phased things a bit differently.

“I think that all of us have said some things in our life that we wish we didn’t,” Scott said. “What concerns us less is that it was said off the air at a private event” where 400 people had paid to come. The station didn’t consider it a big deal; it posted video from the event on its site for days before it was discovered and, as Scott said, taken out of context.

Should she have apologized? “I’ll leave that for other people to judge,” Scott said, adding that the important thing was that Randi is a terrific person.

So terrific in fact that he fired himself a few months ago from his on-air gig in order to place her show in that time slot. Perhaps there is no finer tribute than firing yourself.

Posted By: Joe Garofoli (Email) |
April 10 2008 at 10:03 PM