'McBride did herself in'

Tim Cuprisin, Journal Sentinel Tv-radio columnist:

FRIDAY, May 18, 2007, 7:40 p.m.

More on the end of McBride

The news release didn't mention McBride's fate, but I did talk to 'TMJ's general manager, Jon Schweitzer, this evening.

She is, in fact, gone from the station as of today. Her blog is still posted at WTMJ's web site, but there's a link to the release on the addition of Dennis Miller.

The replacement of McBride with Miller was something that was in the works, but was sped up by this gaffe.

I'll have the details in a column in Saturday's paper. (See below.)

This is another sign that the world of talk radio is changing (ask Don Imus, Michael McGee and, this week, Opie and Anthony, who were suspended by XM Satellite Radio, which is supposed to be a freer form of radio, after an offensive bit involving Condoleezza Rice, the first lady and the queen of England.)

I've said that recordings of over-the-line bits like Imus' slur against the Rutgers women's basketball team were going to do in other talkers... In McBride's case, it was her own recording, that she posted on her blog, that did her in.

MORE FROM CUPRISIN: Saturday's column says that the furor over McBride's failed "comedy" segment Tuesday night moved up her dismissal date, although it may have been coming anyway:

A day after an offensive podcast from her Tuesday show was removed from the WTMJ-AM (620) Web site, the station has fired Jessica McBride, replacing her with Dennis Miller's nationally syndicated show.

General manager Jon Schweitzer said Friday that the move had been in the works, but was sped up by McBride's attempted comedy bit that featured a reference to a 4-year-old girl killed earlier this week in a drive-by shooting.

"It contributed to the timing of it," Schweitzer says. "We felt it was in the best interest of the station and Jessica to make the move right now."

Schweitzer says Miller's show, being billed as "Miller Time," would fit better with the sports programming that airs on the station in the evening. Miller launches Thursday. McBride is off WTMJ immediately.

She didn't return a call Friday.