Saturday, June 29, 2013

Alberta’s king of talk radio, Dave Rutherford, fired after criticizing station over flood coverage

Alberta’s  king of talk radio was unceremoniously booted from the airwaves Tuesday after criticizing his station’s inadequate coverage of the flood crisis in Southern Alberta, the National Post reports.
NewsTalk 770 was one of several Corus Entertainment radio stations evacuated from its downtown headquarters as the Bow River started to rise on Friday. In the meantime, the station broadcast an Edmonton news feed, while still putting Calgary music stations on the air, talk show host Dave Rutherford said.
The switch prompted a live, on-air rant from Mr. Rutherford: “It is with profound disappointment that I have to tell you that Corus in Calgary has decided to direct resources in places other than information radio,” he said. “I would completely understand if you went elsewhere for your information.”
The next day, he was told he was off the radio. However, the host said he was never told why.
“The manager said ‘you’re off the air.’ I obviously asked why and he said he can’t talk about it and that the legal department would be in contact with [me] and that was it,” Mr. Rutherford said Tuesday.
More from the National Post

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