Portland progressive radio station and Air America outlet KPOJ has been missing a host from its local 6-9 morning show, which featured Heidi Tauber, comic Carl Wolfson and national Air America personality Thom Hartmann (who joins the team at 8 a.m.).
Co-host and newsperson Tauber is conspicuously absent from the morning show. I say conspicuously absent because the other on-air personalities, Wolfson, producer Paul Pimentel and Hartmann, haven't mentioned her name once during the entire three hours Thursday or Friday. I also noticed that her name has been scrubbed from the website and her station e-mail address no longer works.
The morning show has also been re-branded as "Mornings with Carl Wolfson and Friends," replacing "Mornings with Thom, Heidi and Carl."
I listened to the podcast of Wednesday's 8 a.m. segment (featuring Willamette Week editor Mark Zusman), and Tauber cheerfully closed the show by saying she'd see everybody tomorrow.
If it's the case that Tauber's been dropped, it all seems kind of sudden and silent. It's eerily like Stalin trying to remove all references to Trotsky. Well, not quite like that, but you get the idea.
Why the silence? Do they think listeners wouldn't notice? Is it more budget cuts by corporate weasels who lack the simple decency to own up to their decisions? Who knows?
The complete lack of information only draws attention to the act.
During today's "Weasels of the Week" segment, somebody called up and tried to nominate the "KPOJ station mana ..." but was cut off in mid-sentence.
Clearly Tauber is missing. And it's also clear that the powers that be at KPOJ are consciously trying to avoid acknowledging that fact.
It's pretty insulting to listeners to pretend that Tauber never existed. You'd think a "progressive" radio station wouldn't behave so corporately creepy, but apparently you'd be wrong.
UPDATE:
Oregon Media Insiders has a post about Tauber. She's definitely gone. This comment from "Bill Cooper" sums it up:
HEIDI IS OKIt appears I was right. This is about corporate weasels who lack the personal integrity to own up to their decision-making. What's really sad about this episode is having to witness people you respect look the other way -- or actively participate -- when powers that be "disappear" someone right before their eyes.
I spoke with Heidi this evening. She told me to tell everyone she is ok. I won't go into the details of what happened. Bottomline, this business can often be brutal. This is one of those times. Broadcasters know that the ax is always overhead and it can fall at any time for any reason, or no reason.
I have been told that no one has been hired to replace Ms Tauber at this point, although there are those who are speculating that the move was made to make room for the return of a well-known female morning show news anchor who recently faced a situation similar to Heidi's.
When the brain trust at Clear Channel escorted Heidi from the building they immediately scrubbed all trace of her from the company, including killing her email and voicemail. Heidi is setting up a gmail account and I will post it here soon so her friends can get in touch with her.
on a side note...there are reports that several KPOJ sponsors have pulled their accounts because Heidi was let go. Maybe Clear Channel will see the error of their ways if their wallet gets hit hard enough!
First they came for Heidi, and I said nothing ...
11 comments:
And they think we are going to just turn around and welcome this new person?
I guess they never heard of Jane Pauley and Deborah Norville.
Look where Norville is today...or should I say where she isn't.
This the strangest behavior from a bunch of professionals I have ever witnessed. It makes no sense to dump the best thing they had going for them the way they did. What did she do? Assult someone at KPOJ... I don't get it. This is truly a sad day for many faithful listeners. Heidi was truly a class act and deserves better.
Heidi is great and someone smart will hire her (soon, I hope).
I have been listening to KPOJ since it's inception and feel I have a pretty good handle on what does and does not work on radio--and who do not work well together. I always felt that when Heidi teamed with Thom he carried the show. I also felt that he would be noticed, syndicated and leave Heidi to work with someone else. I also predicted that the next co-host would appear domineering compared to her if he (or she) was not as low key as Thom. Enter Carl.
I do not blame Carl for the firing of Heidi. I always felt she needed to bring more to the table than helping with the pronunciation of street names, a pleasant voice and having "a great personality." When I discovered the "gem" was finally, thankfully, fired I was dumbfounded by the support she has received. Gentle listeners, can any of you remember a paragraph containing more than four sentences that Heidi has uttered in her career that is informed or pithy? I consider myself a fair person and the way the firing occurred did suck but I think the complainers (which is most everyone on this page) would have griped about the process no matter how it went down. I suggest we look inside ourselves and consider: don’t we deserve more than a pleasant personality as the next morning’s co-host?
I agree that it's Clear Channel's station, and its minions can do whatever they want with the programming.
Officially pretending Tauber never existed may be the way it's always done in the business, but that doesn't make it right, and it doesn't mean that the silly and insulting nature of the station's lack of honesty should be beyond criticism.
I don't think anyone benefits when organizations of trust set out to ignore reality or try to imply a reality that does not exist.
In fact, it's quite obviously wrong and unethical.
For example: KPOJ most certainly scrubbed from the website podcast the moment from Friday's show when a listener attempted to nominate the "KPOJ Station mana ..." as a weasel of the week before being cut off.
Nixon should have been so paranoid!
At it's heart, this entire episode has been handled with a lack of respect for the listeners and with a contempt for the truth. And everything that follows will be tainted with that.
Most progressives has seen this kind of behavior before, and know it for what it is.
I am ashamed of Carl and especially Tom. He speaks so well of progressive causes and issues, but when it comes close to him, he appears to be willing to not speak.
I am ashamed of everyone else who works at KPOJ as well.
I've gone back to listening to KBOO each morning. When I didn't, Heidi was the main draw for me on the morning show. Down home and common sense. Too, too bad.
Pleeez....Heidi may be a lovely person but she had no business on the air. She could barely complete a sentence, stuttered through even the most simplistic single syllables and never bothered to proof read her news stories so most made little or no sense. Her apparant lack of broadcasting skill made her contributions to the show very difficult to listen to. I wish her the best...off the air waves.
Now what kinda low-down, cowardly snake in the grass would write something like that anonymously?
Most of the comments on this blog are anonymous...and so what? No one care who you are. And, no one on the blog seems to be intending to be hurtful to Heidi but it's true that she had a problem with speaking on the air. I am a regular listener and heard it also. If you didn't, you weren't listening.
I agree that heidi had difficulty enunicating words and stuttered often. I don't really understand why co-hosts read the news anyway. They should be using professional news persons. That said, Heidi was well informed and under utilized. I liked when she corrected Thom and carl about place names. I mean geez guys, you've been here long enough to know these pronunciations. Stop travelling so much Thom! KPOJ news is godawful. It's a rewrite of Oregonian news. I could not believe one day Heidi mentioned in the news that an Oregonian was going to be on the reality show, "Big Brother". How lame! If you want real progressive news, go to KBOO. The manner in which Heidi was 'disappeared' sucks. It is corporate BS. It was done to me that way by a Bush loving boss and I was the best employee who apparently threatened this incompetent. Radio seems to be very vicious these days.
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