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WABC: Morano, Sliwa, Weiner off 770

The station needed to make this move. Had they not, they would've been obliged to provide time to their opponents. Nothing wrong with that, but hard operationally to do when the programs are on for hours each day.
 
I'd amend that a bit. Someone who is DJ'ing on Lite, reading liner cards and weather reports, and then intro'ing the next song, they can continue that while they run for Town Council, NYC City Council, Mayor or POTUS. I seriously doubt it would have any material effect. (As long as that person doesn't get wise and start slipping in political references.) Same with CBS-FM or Hot 97 or Q104-3, or 1010WINS for that matter. But talk formats just are different, and provide too much opportunity to bend the rules, mention campaign positions, disparage opponents in oblique way, even without overtly mentioning the position they're running for or the status of their campaign. In that case they made their bed and the price is (at minimum) taking an unpaid leave of absence, or worst case, tendering their resignations and hoping the job's still open if their run is not successful.
The rules are the rules, especially if the opponent files a complaint for equal time. Dusty Rhodes was Hamilton County (Ohio) Auditor seemingly since the dawn of time, or at least since he left radio full-time, but during election campaigns had to take a leave from his Sunday night oldies show.
 
Curtis is 71. He's had a long run, and if radio news talk is over for him, there are other avenues he can pursue. Writing a book. Authoring a weekly opinion column in the NY Post or Daily News. Going back to the Guardian Angels. But I think, if Mamdani wins next month, WABC will probably want him back because he would have the most street cred to critique and criticize the new mayor for WABC's right-wing listeners. The same might go for WOR, but who really knows. Cats is smart enough to realize that he needs Curtis as much as Curtis might need WABC.
 
Here's an opinion article about Sliwa's radio future:

This is surprisingly so well-written and illustrates how the mayoral race has basically become a litmus test for NYC conservatives, not just for Sliwa and his supporters, but also for would-be kingmakers like Cats and Bill Ackman.
 
Curtis Sliwa's radio career might be toast after the election. If Mamdani wins, he will be blamed for it. I don't see how anyone at WABC, WOR, and WNYM would trust him after that. Yes, talk radio is about money but it's also about ideology.
 
This is surprisingly so well-written and illustrates how the mayoral race has basically become a litmus test for NYC conservatives, not just for Sliwa and his supporters, but also for would-be kingmakers like Cats and Bill Ackman.

Sliwa was always the Republican candidate on the ballot. It's funny how Republican power brokers like Cats are now framing him as the evil spoiler in the mayoral election.

The actual spoiler is former NY Governor Cuomo, who was so unpopular he lost the *Democratic* primary to Mamdami by a landslide and chose to run as an 'Independent' on the ballot instead.
 
Sliwa was always the Republican candidate on the ballot. It's funny how Republican power brokers like Cats are now framing him as the evil spoiler in the mayoral election.
Curtis was always going to be a longshot, no matter who else ran. That's as much a function of how polarizing he's been for almost half a century as it is that Republicans always are at a handicap in NYC. But there have been exceptions: Giuliani winning twice as a Republican ('93 & '97), and Bloomberg running and winning as a Republican in 2001. (Though he ran as a Democrat the next time and as an independent for his third term. Or was it vice versa?)
 
Curtis was always going to be a longshot, no matter who else ran. That's as much a function of how polarizing he's been for almost half a century as it is that Republicans always are at a handicap in NYC. But there have been exceptions: Giuliani winning twice as a Republican ('93 & '97), and Bloomberg running and winning as a Republican in 2001. (Though he ran as a Democrat the next time and as an independent for his third term. Or was it vice versa?)
A bigger discussion to have (not here, of course) is how the NYC Republicans have been unable to run a more serious candidate in the last three mayoral election cycles. Before Sliwa, there was then-state assemblywoman (now U.S. Rep.) Nicole Malliotakis (2017), who was way too green and just as inexperienced as they claim Mamdani is today. The last serious Republican mayoral candidate was Joseph Lhota in 2013–whose victory over Catsimatidis in the primary turned Cats into a self-manufactured media celebrity.
Sliwa was always the Republican candidate on the ballot. It's funny how Republican power brokers like Cats are now framing him as the evil spoiler in the mayoral election.

The actual spoiler is former NY Governor Cuomo, who was so unpopular he lost the *Democratic* primary to Mamdami by a landslide and chose to run as an 'Independent' on the ballot instead.
The irony here is that Cats wants the nominee of his own party to drop out, and at the same time refuses to acknowledge Mamdani as the Democratic candidate.
 
Tensions will ease after the election. Sliwa and Catsimatidis likely will patch things up with Sliwa returning at some point.
It would seem that Scott Fybush agrees with you on that.
Barring a massive upset in which Sliwa actually wins the election next Tuesday (he’s currently polling a distant third), it’s easy to imagine that after a cooling-off period, WABC will indeed end up welcoming Sliwa back – he’ll fit right in, after all, in a talk format that’s sure to be heavily critical of Mamdani (if he wins), or even of Cuomo if he too comes from behind to win.
Full story here.
 


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