Anchorage media personality Dan Fagan has lost his show -- again. Coastal Television, which televised the "Dan Fagan Morning Show," declined to talk about the end of the program.
Both the conservative talk show host and his co-host, Elizabeth Giardina, are out of jobs now that the show is no longer broadcast 6 to 9 a.m. weekdays on the FOX network affiliate in Anchorage.?? Neither could be reached for comment, and their plans are unclear.
Also unclear is what brought about the end of the program, on which Fagan and Giardina interviewed Alaska newsmakers. ??Coastal Television Corporate Operating Officer Scott Centers said via email the company "decided it was within our best interest to discontinue our relationship with Dan Fagan and further discontinue our local broadcast of the Dan Fagan Show."
The last post on the Facebook page of the Dan Fagan Show is Feb. 15.
Before moving to KTBY-FOX, Fagan hosted a radio show on KFQD-750 AM. In October 2010, he was suspended after rallying listeners to register as write-in candidates. Critics said Fagan aimed to take votes from Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who had been defeated in that year's Republican primary by Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller. Murkowski won a write-in campaign in the November general election, however. ????
Fagan had spent much of his three-hour radio show slamming Murkowski and praising Miller leading up to the primary. About halfway through Fagan's Oct. 28, 2010 show, a caller phoned in to say he had just registered as a write-in candidate in the Senate race, which included Miller, Murkowski and Democrat Scott McAdams.
The caller's motivation -- and the reason Fagan liked the idea -- was a Division of Elections' decision to provide voters who ask for it a list of write-in candidates. The Alaska Supreme Court ruled that workers with the Division of Elections could give voters the list, which included candidates names but not political affiliations, the day after Fagan's show aired. Fagan broadcast the addresses of the Anchorage and Wasilla Division of Elections offices and urged his listeners to drive over and register as write-in candidates.?? Branch Haymans, an Anchorage financial advisor, was angered by Fagan's show. Haymans is a close friend of Murkowski's and had volunteered for her campaign.????
The next day, Haymans called KFQD and spoke with Joe Campbell, KFQD's program director. Haymans told Campbell that he thought Fagan's on-air behavior bordered on election tampering, but didn't threaten legal action or ask for Fagan to be taken off the air.?
Fagan said the station's general manager, Dennis Bookey, told him he was off the station and that executives at the station would evaluate the situation.
After his brief suspension, Fagan returned to KFQD for a couple more months, then left the station and joined KTBY-FOX.
Contact Jerzy Shedlock at jerzy(at)alaskadispatch.com