Beck Loses NYC Clearance

Glenn Beck may be one of the hottest talk show hosts in the country, but he apparently left New York's WOR cold.

According to David Hinkley at nydailnews.com, WOR (710 AM), one of the city's two biggest talk radio stations, said this morning it is dropping Beck's syndicated show as of Jan. 17 and replacing him with a familiar New York name: Mike Gallagher.

"The reason is ratings," said WOR program director Scott Lakefield. "Somewhat to our surprise, the show wasn't getting what we wanted."

Beck, whose style is sometimes off-center and who hosted a well-publicized national rally in D.C. last year, has been seen as one of the rising conservative radio and TV talk stars.

Talkers ranked him No. 3 on its "Heavy Hundred" list last year, trailing only Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

Gallagher was a long-time host on WABC (770 AM) before he moved to national syndication several years ago. WOR general manager Jerry Crowley praised Gallagher as a New Yorker who will comment more on local issues than Beck.

Read more here.

Tom's Take:  For the second time about a matter of weeks, Glenn Beck has lost a Top 10 market clearance. WPHT in Philadelphia unveiled a new line-up this week without Beck (and Sean Hannity).  Does Premiere Radio's parent company Clear Channel have something up its sleeve? Philadelphia seems a more likely opportunity for CC to flip one of its FMers to talk. Although nothing has been announced.  The Big Apple is very unlikely. Hannity and Rush are both carried on 77WABC and it's very hard to imagine Premiere would pull the shows, at least not without Rush's and Sean's "OK".  Therefore, it doesn't look likely that CC will flip an FMer in NYC to talk.  Beck looks like the odd man out.  Unless, Salem's 970WNYM picks him up.  Salem already clears Beck in a couple of its markets.