Bob Lonsberry
Encyclopedia
Bob Lonsberry is an American radio talk show host, columnist, author and conservative political commentator. A newsman for 25 years, Lonsberry claims to have won in excess of 80 journalism and broadcasting awards, including top Associated Press commentary awards in newspaper, radio and television—the only person ever to do so.
He has been a newspaper reporter, columnist, photojournalist and editor, as well as a magazine writer and commentator on radio and television and a television reporter and manager. He is the author of "The Early Years," a collection of newspaper columns, as well as a collection of essays, and two short novels.
in Rochester, New York
from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM ET. The program is streamed on the Internet by the station and is also available through the "I 'Heart' Radio" mobile phone application. For 10 years, ending abruptly on June 16, 2010 when he was fired, Lonsberry also did a morning show which aired on KNRS in Salt Lake City, Utah
weekdays between 5:00 AM and 9:00 AM MT.
While the content of both shows was politically and socially conservative, the two broadcasts differed due to local content and interests. The Salt Lake City show was more genteel and included frequent religious references whereas the Rochester show is more raucous and occasionally risqué. (On the WHAM show, Lonsberry frequently mentions his affinity for women's breasts.) Lonsberry broadcasts his show from the WHAM studio in Rochester, although he occasionally originates the program from his home.
In February 2009, Lonsberry began using the term FUBO and started endorsing and giving away associated merchandise on his Rochester radio show. This term, an acronym for the phrase "Fuck You, Barack Obama", is used to express disgust with the actions and policies of the US President. This term is spoken on a daily basis on Rochester's 50,000 watt News Radio WHAM 1180. For the politer crowd, he also promotes urinal screens with a picture of President Obama.
Lonsberry almost always expresses a conservative opinion about the issues he discusses on his talk shows. Typically, Lonsberry spends most of his shows discussing local and state issues—less frequently discussing national issues. Lonsberry also discusses life and family issues. Lonsberry is currently married to his third wife. He and his first wife divorced and his second marriage was annulled.
a black man who was then mayor. Lonsberry never mentioned the three-term mayor by name. The Black community was up in arms trying to dominate society through threat and intimidation. Immediately called for Lonsberry's job.
Lonsberry was later fired from WHAM-AM for the remarks (but not from KNRS, both Clear Channel radio stations). When WHAM ratings in his time slot plunged, he was rehired following completion of sensitivity training. During his absence, many fans of his Rochester show boycotted the station and its sponsors until he was returned to the airwaves.
On June 16, 2010, Lonsberry was fired from KNRS in Salt Lake City, where he'd hosted an early morning slot for a decade. In Lonsberry's daily web column, he indicated that the station attributed his firing to his lower listener ratings following the introduction of the Portable People Meter
. Lonsberry also suggests that his opposition to Republican primary candidate for US Senate, Mike Lee, a Utah-based attorney whose employer, a law firm whose clients includes one of KNRS's advertisers, may have been a factor in his firing. Lonsberry writes:
Lonsberry vocally supported Mike Lee's primary-election opponent, Tim Bridgewater, a businessman and former Chairman of the Utah County Republican Party. The Bridgewater Campaign subsequently pulled all its ads from radio station KNRS.
Interest in Lonsberry's firing from KNRS was high with over a thousand reader comments—several times the normal response—to Lonsberry's weekday blog. Lonsberry fans also started a grassroots listener campaign with the objective of restoring Lonsberry to his position (www.bringbobbacktoutah.com). Lonsberry returned to the Utah airwaves in February 2011 on radio station KLO
1430AM.
. Lonsberry currently writes a weekday column published on his own website. Lonsberry has also been published in The Washington Times
and on the National Rifle Association
's website, nra.com.
Lonsberry has authored three books. One of his books, titled A Various Language (ISBN 1-59955-007-5), is a collection of essays. Two of his books (Baghdad Christmas (ISBN 1-55517-971-1) and Hopiland Christmas (ISBN 1-59955-069-5) ) are short novels with a Christian theme
. Lonsberry doesn't publicly discuss his membership status in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon
) but has discussed topics related to the church during his radio shows. These religious discussions were frequent on the former Salt Lake City show, but are discussed only occasionally with the Rochester area audience.
He has been a newspaper reporter, columnist, photojournalist and editor, as well as a magazine writer and commentator on radio and television and a television reporter and manager. He is the author of "The Early Years," a collection of newspaper columns, as well as a collection of essays, and two short novels.
Radio career
Once using the promotional tagline "The most fired man in Rochester media," Bob Lonsberry has enjoyed a roller-coaster career in Rochester radio. Lonsberry hosts a Monday through Friday midday radio talk show, which feature a mix of news, political commentary, callers, and day-to-day anecdotes. His show airs on WHAM (AM)WHAM (AM)
WHAM is a clear-channel talk radio station in Rochester, New York, owned by Clear Channel Communications. Its 50,000-watt transmitter is located in Chili, New York, and the station broadcasts on 1180 kHz.The station first went on the air in 1922...
in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM ET. The program is streamed on the Internet by the station and is also available through the "I 'Heart' Radio" mobile phone application. For 10 years, ending abruptly on June 16, 2010 when he was fired, Lonsberry also did a morning show which aired on KNRS in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
weekdays between 5:00 AM and 9:00 AM MT.
While the content of both shows was politically and socially conservative, the two broadcasts differed due to local content and interests. The Salt Lake City show was more genteel and included frequent religious references whereas the Rochester show is more raucous and occasionally risqué. (On the WHAM show, Lonsberry frequently mentions his affinity for women's breasts.) Lonsberry broadcasts his show from the WHAM studio in Rochester, although he occasionally originates the program from his home.
In February 2009, Lonsberry began using the term FUBO and started endorsing and giving away associated merchandise on his Rochester radio show. This term, an acronym for the phrase "Fuck You, Barack Obama", is used to express disgust with the actions and policies of the US President. This term is spoken on a daily basis on Rochester's 50,000 watt News Radio WHAM 1180. For the politer crowd, he also promotes urinal screens with a picture of President Obama.
Lonsberry almost always expresses a conservative opinion about the issues he discusses on his talk shows. Typically, Lonsberry spends most of his shows discussing local and state issues—less frequently discussing national issues. Lonsberry also discusses life and family issues. Lonsberry is currently married to his third wife. He and his first wife divorced and his second marriage was annulled.
Controversy, firing, rehiring, and latest firing
While working as a talk show host for WHAM-Rochester in late 2003, an orangutang had temporarily escaped its cage in Rochester's Seneca Park Zoo. Lonsberry made the comment while monkey sounds played, "a monkey's loose up at the zoo again--and he's running for county executive." He was insinuating that both candidates were unfit for the position. The two candidates were Maggie A. Brooks a white woman who was then county clerk and William A. Johnson, Jr.William A. Johnson, Jr.
William A. "Bill" Johnson, Jr. was the first African-American elected mayor of the City of Rochester, New York. Elected in November 1993, Johnson was the 64th mayor of the city and was re-elected in 1997 and 2001...
a black man who was then mayor. Lonsberry never mentioned the three-term mayor by name. The Black community was up in arms trying to dominate society through threat and intimidation. Immediately called for Lonsberry's job.
Lonsberry was later fired from WHAM-AM for the remarks (but not from KNRS, both Clear Channel radio stations). When WHAM ratings in his time slot plunged, he was rehired following completion of sensitivity training. During his absence, many fans of his Rochester show boycotted the station and its sponsors until he was returned to the airwaves.
On June 16, 2010, Lonsberry was fired from KNRS in Salt Lake City, where he'd hosted an early morning slot for a decade. In Lonsberry's daily web column, he indicated that the station attributed his firing to his lower listener ratings following the introduction of the Portable People Meter
Portable People Meter
The Portable People Meter is a system developed by Arbitron to measure how many people are listening to individual radio stations and television stations, including cable TV. The PPM is worn like a pager, and detects hidden audio tones within a station or network's audio stream, logging each...
. Lonsberry also suggests that his opposition to Republican primary candidate for US Senate, Mike Lee, a Utah-based attorney whose employer, a law firm whose clients includes one of KNRS's advertisers, may have been a factor in his firing. Lonsberry writes:
- Of course, being suspicious is my stock-in-trade, and the timing of my termination and the stand I’ve been taking on the looming senatorial primary and the fact I’ve been opposing a candidate who made $600,000 from one of our largest advertisers last year, does make me wonder. Strings get pulled in the real world, and politics is hardball, and our program’s effort helped tip the nominating convention, so it’s not impossible that I lost my job in Salt Lake so that somebody else could get a job in Washington.
Lonsberry vocally supported Mike Lee's primary-election opponent, Tim Bridgewater, a businessman and former Chairman of the Utah County Republican Party. The Bridgewater Campaign subsequently pulled all its ads from radio station KNRS.
Interest in Lonsberry's firing from KNRS was high with over a thousand reader comments—several times the normal response—to Lonsberry's weekday blog. Lonsberry fans also started a grassroots listener campaign with the objective of restoring Lonsberry to his position (www.bringbobbacktoutah.com). Lonsberry returned to the Utah airwaves in February 2011 on radio station KLO
KLO
KLO is a news/talk radio station broadcasting out of Ogden, Utah to the Salt Lake City area. The stations airs syndicated conservative talk shows, including Bill Bennett, Laura Ingraham, Michael Medved, and Dennis Prager. When startup 97.5 FM Talk changed its format in late 2006, KLO added Michael...
1430AM.
Author
Lonsberry is a former columnist for the Rochester Democrat and ChronicleDemocrat and Chronicle
The Democrat and Chronicle is the most widely circulated daily newspaper in the greater Rochester, New York area. Located at 55 Exchange Boulevard in downtown Rochester, the Democrat and Chronicle operates under the ownership of Gannett. The paper's production facility is located in the town of...
. Lonsberry currently writes a weekday column published on his own website. Lonsberry has also been published in The Washington Times
The Washington Times
The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...
and on the National Rifle Association
National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America is an American non-profit 501 civil rights organization which advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection...
's website, nra.com.
Lonsberry has authored three books. One of his books, titled A Various Language (ISBN 1-59955-007-5), is a collection of essays. Two of his books (Baghdad Christmas (ISBN 1-55517-971-1) and Hopiland Christmas (ISBN 1-59955-069-5) ) are short novels with a Christian theme
Religion
Lonsberry was an LDS (Mormon) missionary on the Navajo and Hopi reservations in the American Southwest. Lonsberry claimed to attend the church and discussed topics related to the church during his Salt Lake City radio show. Although less frequently than on KNRS, he continues to discuss religious topics on his WHAM show. He has written in defense of the veracity of the Book of MormonBook of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
. Lonsberry doesn't publicly discuss his membership status in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
) but has discussed topics related to the church during his radio shows. These religious discussions were frequent on the former Salt Lake City show, but are discussed only occasionally with the Rochester area audience.