Report: Huckabee's First Call Was 'Inside Job'

Mike Huckabee

The AMERICAN SPECTATOR's disclosure that the first on-air call to MIKE HUCKABEE's new CUMULUS MEDIA NETWORKS syndicated talk show was from CUMULUS programming executive MIKE MCVAY has generated some mild embarrassment for the fledgling show in its first week.

The SPECTATOR's JEFFREY LORD reported that the first call, from "MIKE in SAN FRANCISCO," started, "Well Governor, let me start by saying it's great to have a different opinion and a different person on the radio and I'm very, very happy that you're doing this radio show. One of the reasons why I want to listen to your program every day is because you ran for office and you've been a politician, you have a different perspective I think." 

LORD noted that the "different opinion and a different person on the radio" quote was a shot at PREMIERE's RUSH LIMBAUGH, and that the caller was MCVAY, CUMULUS' SVP/Programming, and added that this fact was not acknowledged on the air.

Praising HUCKABEE as "one of the nicest people on the planet today," LORD nevertheless charged that "right off the bat, Governor HUCKABEE's credibility as a conservative radio host has been jeopardized with a planted question from a CUMULUS executive. A question that deliberately took a shot at RUSH and the conservative movement … and by all appearances was pre-arranged." 

LORD, a former member of the REAGAN administration, opined that the HUCKABEE venture "is about replacing REAGAN conservatism -- represented here by RUSH LIMBAUGH -- with RINO ("Republican in Name Only") Radio."

« see more Net News