The Pelican Sticks a Fork in Nova M, Finds Out if Obama is a Red, and Logs On to Grant Woods' Web Cast

Is there anything sadder than the backstabbing pettiness of a liberal talk-radio station going under? The Bird would like nothing more than to listen to left-wing lip-flappers such as Randi Rhodes, that ribald yenta of the airwaves, as a counterbalance to the political poison emitted daily from far-right loons such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. But the left in this country continues to prove that running a talk-radio station is beyond its capabilities.

Take liberal talk-radio network Nova M, heard locally on 1190 AM. Its owners, Anita and Sheldon Drobny, continue to betray a passion for taking a Luger to their tootsies and acting contra the desires of Nova M's listeners. The network, which claims to have about 30 affiliates nationwide, grew out of the Air America radio network, which the Drobnys helped establish in 2004 but which has also had a tortured and troubled history.

Nova M's flagship station is 1190 AM, but until the end of last year, the station was parked at 1480 AM. Sources have suggested that financial problems prompted the move, while others have cited better digs and a debatably stronger signal (depending on where you are in the Valley).

Location aside, the problems really began September of last year when the Drobnys canned 1480's station manager and CEO, John Manzo, who's currently suing the Drobnys for breach of contract, among other things. Manzo's departure fomented a rebellion in the ranks, with many on 1480's staff either taking a powder or getting axed, depending on whom you're listening to. One of these was popular local lefty Jeff Farias, who now hosts a daily Web cast at thejefffariasshow.com. Love him or not, it's been a tribute to Farias' following locally that he actually gets viewers calling into a show available only on the 'Net.

Farias contends he was fired, hence his slogan, "Jeff Farias is FIRED up." And until recently, Manzo's replacement as station manager, Art Mobley, was arguing the Drobnys' line that Farias' departure was voluntary and part of a coup attempted by the Manzo faction. This is the so-called "hostile takeover" version of events, which was bandied about the Internet with all the abandon of a 9/11 conspiracy theory.

But despite being a loyal soldier and even helping the Drobnys score the new space at 1190, Mobley parted ways with the Drobnys in early January, with engineer Sean Ryan suddenly getting elevated to station manager. Ryan, too, was one of the Drobnys' staunchest defenders, 'til the point that they let him go in late January, offering him no reason other than it was "time for a change," according to Ryan. This pecker asked him if he feels as though he'd been stabbed between the shoulder blades.

"With a very long, sharp knife," Ryan said. "And not only stabbed, but twisted."

Ryan claimed the Drobnys were worn out and broke, and he placed his bet in the Nova M death pool for the end of February, claiming that de facto control of the station had been turned over to Mike Newcomb, who hosts an afternoon show on 1190 and is generally regarded as even more boring than the infomercials 1190 plays on the weekends.

Speaking of which, Phoenix Democrat Todd Landfried's tres lefty show, Desert Politics, was cut suddenly from last Saturday's broadcast and replaced with an infomercial in a move that rivals something Loch Ness Monster enthusiasts might do in stupidity. Landfried's show was one of the few local efforts that people actually listened to, but the station sold the hour out from under Landfried, informing him at the last minute. Landfried didn't sound too peeved when he discussed it with The Bird, as he was hoping 1190 would give him another time slot, assuming there's not some pay-for-play show about investing in gold or getting enemas that 1190 can score for the same spot.

The cataclysm seemed to become official as the news hit the blogosphere recently that Randi Rhodes's daytime show was kaput. One of the few real talents on the left side of the fence, talk-radio-wise, Rhodes is one of those people blessed with the gift for gab. The woman could jabber on about windshield wipers or the last time she got her toenails done and make it interesting.

The real reason for the split remains unsaid. Anita Drobny has a condescending message on Nova M's site asserting that "Nova M has done everything we can to get her back on the air," and that "Randi now has to make her decisions as to what she must do with her career."

Rhodes fired back on her Web site: "Any statement implicating me as in any way responsible for the disruption of the Randi Rhodes Show is patently false . . . In light of [the] most recent developments, my show will be seeking a new home."

This loss of Rhodes has devastated 1190's fan base, leaving only left-wing wild man Mike Malloy as a draw for the station. Malloy, however, has all the appeal of a crazed, urine-soaked homeless man yelling obscenities in a public library. As one poster to the Feathered Bastard blog commented recently, Malloy is "an acquired taste." You know, sort of like Albanian goat dung.