Days after firing longtime talk-radio host Marc Steiner, WYPR announced yesterday that Sun columnist Dan Rodricks would replace him.
The news came as the station, facing passionate protests from Steiner loyalists, pushed back its fundraising drive originally set for next week. While Steiner's firing came as a shock to people who viewed his show as a unique civic forum, some said replacing him with a well-known local columnist and media personality might quell some of the backlash.
WYPR programming director and vice president Andy Bienstock said Rodricks, who in addition to his newspaper column has worked on local television and radio programs, was his first choice.
Bienstock said Rodricks, who will keep writing his Sun column, would inherit Steiner's noon-to-2 p.m. time slot Mondays through Thursdays beginning Feb. 25. The show will follow the previous host's format that invites studio guests and area callers to discuss the day's issues. The station may expand the show to Fridays.
"I think he does great radio," Bienstock said of Rodricks. "I think he's got the same involvement with community issues that we always had and always will have at WYPR."
WYPR abruptly canceled The Marc Steiner Show on Feb. 1, citing dropping ratings and what it called Steiner's Baltimore-centric focus despite the station's reach to all corners of Maryland.
Steiner, who hosted the lunchtime public affairs program for 15 years, had largely become the face of the station.
Since the firing, protesters have gathered outside the station every day. Steiner, 61, said he's not surprised Rodricks was WYPR's pick to replace him.
"They had to pick a star - someone who was politically liberal and progressive with a little bit of street credibility," he said. "They're trying to blunt the trauma, trying to staunch the bleeding."
Rodricks, 53, said he's been wanting to have his own radio show again and is glad to be able to do it at WYPR, which he described as a place for civil discussion rather than the vitriol attacks on much of commercial talk radio.
"I think a talk radio show should be like a diner you visit to catch up on conversation for an hour or two," he said, "with voices that are familiar, where you can learn something new every day."
Rodricks said he hopes people will give him a shot - even those upset about Steiner's departure.
