CBS Loses Another Radio Affiliate In Rather's Hometown Of Houston

By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
September 29, 2004

Just days after CBS lost an affiliate for their news at a radio station in Virginia, another CBS radio affiliate announced it was dropping a segment featuring news and analysis from CBS News anchor Dan Rather over a "60 Minutes" report using fake documents questioning President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard service.

KPRC-AM, the CBS radio affiliate in the 11th largest media market in the United States, Houston, Texas, has decided to drop Rather's segment.

Interestingly, Houston is considered Rather's hometown because he was born in Wharton, Texas, grew up in Houston, went to Sam Houston State University and worked at Houston's KHOU-TV.

Program director for KPRC Ken Charles told the Associated Press on Monday that never should Rather or any other anchor "be the story or bigger than the story."

"I thought it was appropriate to take [Rather] off the air," Charles explained.

Although Rather apologized for the story that defamed Bush's integrity and character last week for the September 8 story, Charles did not believe that gesture was good enough.

"For right now, I'm not convinced there's any reason to put [Rather] back on the radio station," Charles revealed. "Until CBS or somebody is able to do that, I feel like there's no place for Dan Rather on KPRC."

Pressure is mounting on CBS to deal with Dan Rather or else risk losing more radio stations and possibly some television affiliates over this debacle.

Doug Forrester, a Republican New Jersey Senate candidate in 2002, released a new radio, television and Internet ad campaign on Tuesday to force Rather out at CBS.

"Dan Rather is a classic example of liberal media bias," the ad begins. "It wasn't just sloppy journalism; it was political bias."

The ad points listeners and viewers to a web site entitled DanRatherMustGo.com to gather names for a petition.

"He needs to be held accountable for an egregious political piece, and I believe that CBS and America will be better if he retires," Forrester exclaimed in the ad.

Talon News reported on Monday that WNIS-AM radio in Norfolk, Virginia abruptly switched their top of the hour news broadcast from CBS News to ABC News in reaction to listener feedback over the Rather gaffe.

WNIS, located in the 40th largest media market in the country, ended a 12-year relationship with CBS News because of intense complaints from local listeners.

Charles stated that he had also received in excess of 300 e-mails from local listeners in Houston asking KPRC to drop Rather.

CBS spokesman Dana McClintock, who responded to the news that WNIS was dropping CBS News by commenting that it was the only one of CBS's 1,000 radio affiliates who had decided to do that, declined to comment on KPRC's decision to do the same.