Hannity, Savage Talk Feud Heats Up

Michael Savage

A simmering feud between radio stars Michael Savage and Sean Hannity has burst to the surface now that the two men are going head to head in prime drivetime — battling for listeners and advertisers in an already competitive market.

According to an article at Politico.com Friday: It’s not simply a professional rivalry — it’s clearly personal.

“My competitor doesn’t have the capacity to go beyond the Democrat-Republican talking points,” Savage told Politico. “That’s all he’s ever done. That’s all he can do. He has no education. I’m just going to lay it on the line, I’m not going to mince words.”

Savage, 71, kicked off 2014 with his show “The Savage Nation” moving into the prime 3-6 p.m. afternoon drive timeslot on Cumulus radio stations. Savage scored the spot when Hannity split with Cumulus last year and re-upped his contract with Premiere Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications.

For his part, Savage is relishing his new time — and the rivalry with Hannity. Savage says the root of the personal conflict is Hannity, who has told unflattering tall tales about him. Savage would not detail what Hannity has said, saying he “would rather not repeat the lies.”

“He’s making allegations about sexual activities, etc., that if he keeps it up, I’m going to sue him. Because he’s making it up out of whole cloth.”

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Sean Hannity

Meanwhile, Brietbart.com  is reporting that in the process of putting together a 'puff piece', Politico contacted Hannity for comment. After attempting to manipulate Hannity’s comments repeatedly, Hannity withdrew them. Now, they appear exclusively at Breitbart News.

Hannity parted ways with Cumulus last year to move to Premiere, retaining his major markets and reportedly ripping the Dickeys as “the single worst operators in the history of radio.”

Here are some of Hannity’s comments on Savage:

• The poor guy is just an angry, depressed, and jealous human being who has been hanging around the backwaters of broadcasting for too many years.
• Cumulus airs Savage, not on all of their stations, only 2 hours on heritage stations; or on delay. They clearly do not have confidence in him, and his ability to generate revenue. 
• His show will not grow beyond Cumulus. Revenue will suffer, as he has shown he is incapable of any self control, i.e. when he intentionally made comments about kids’ autism, or comments on MSNBC; and Cumulus has a horrific record when it comes to launching new syndicated shows. 
• Despite all the spin and propaganda it was my decision to fire Cumulus at the end of my contract and partner with Premiere and other great radio stations around the country. It was extremely difficult working with Cumulus… and to watch them literally destroy many heritage talk stations…such as KGO, WLS, KABC, and many others…and fire some of the best and brightest managers and PD's in the industry. 

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