November 26, 2010: Talk Show Host Reverses Previous Commitment to Leave Airwaves, Joins Satellite Radio Network

Siriun XM logo. [Source: Reuters]Talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who recently promised to leave the airwaves after repeatedly using the racial slur “n_igger” in conversation with an African-American woman (see August 10-18, 2010), announces that she will not leave the airwaves. Instead, Schlessinger is moving her syndicated radio show from the broadcast milieu to satellite radio. Schlessinger has signed a “multiyear deal” with Sirius XM Radio, according to a spokesperson. Schlessinger has repeatedly said she would be leaving the airwaves after her tirade, accusing her critics of “persecuting” her and denying her right to freedom of speech (see September 7, 2010 and September 8, 2010). Her broadcast program will end on Friday, December 31, 2010. Her Sirius XM show will begin the following Tuesday, January 3, 2011. Schlessinger explains why she chose to go with Sirius XM instead of leaving the airwaves: “The first and most important thing that appealed to me was the freedom to speak my mind without advertisers and affiliates being attacked by activist groups that just love to censor anything they don’t agree with,” she says. “That just about made my heart and head explode.” She cites pressure from the progressive media watchdog organization Media Matters as driving her initial decision to leave radio (see August 13, 2010). She says she is sure her new show will offend some people. Michael Harrison of the trade publication Talkers says, “She will have far less listeners now, but she will be able to superserve her core [audience] with less compromise.” He says Schlessinger may do better on satellite radio since “since she appears to be more thin-skinned than most personalities in talk radio, although professionally she’d be better off with a combination of satellite and terrestrial radio.” Media Matters official Ari Rabin-Havt says her show will remain fundamentally the same. “Her influence and her ability to impact a wide audience has clearly decreased,” he says. [Associated Press, 11/26/2010; Media Matters, 11/27/2010]