"The Goddess" Randi Rhodes is back on the air! In only four days Randi has assembled a nationally syndicated talk show carried by over 2o affiliates, most of whom dropped Air America radio network programming.The same Air America where Randi used to work. The same Air America who, Randi revealed On Larry King Live, slandered her and then suspended her in an ugly contract negotiation ploy.
The same Air America who seriously underestimated the power of one of the top progressive radio jocks in the US. Air America, you and your new ownership, what were you thinking? What were you smoking? What were you drinking? Will Air America radio network even last long enough to cover the election in November? I think not.
The people of Palm Beach Florida are happy with Randi's return. Following her departure from the liberal Air America talk-radio network last week, controversial host Randi Rhodes is bringing her nationally syndicated afternoon drive-time show back to WJNO-1290 AM in West Palm Beach, starting last Sunday.
But this time, she's not just being heard on WJNO, which is owned by media giant Clear Channel. She's producing the show from her former employer's studio.
"We have our biggest star back," said WJNO Programming Director Brian Mudd.
Dubbed "The Goddess" by her loyal listeners, Rhodes, who worked for WJNO for a 10- year stretch starting in 1994, gained fame for her tell-it-like-it-is brand of leftist politics. In turn, that prompted Air America to hire her when the network debuted in 2004.
Rhodes stayed on the air at WJNO in the years that followed, but through Air America.
She also became a national personality, seen on billboards and TV news shows alike.
The bottom line, says Rhodes of her return to West Palm Beach: She'll still be her usual loud and feisty self on air. And she'll still be speaking to a national audience, not necessarily a local one.
But she no longer has to schlep back and forth from New York to Palm Beach County, where she continued to maintain a home during her Air America tenure, to do what she loves.
CHARLES PASSY Palm Beach Post Staff Writer