Various sources are reporting a mini-shakeup in the works at New York’s right talk radio station WABC.

A deal to begin a local radio show with an eye toward national syndication for MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough has been talked about all day.

Morning Joe will apparently get the 10am to noon slot to host a local program, but that will most likely later turn into a syndicated show heard from 9am to noon.

With a previous syndicated program, Scarborough has tried talk radio in the past, but failed miserably. Then, he played a conservative, but on MSNBC, he’s steadily moved leftward.

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In July of this year, Joe did a series of late night, unannounced tryouts with liberal co-host Mika Brzezinski. Clearly, that was in preparation for this new program. A source indicates that Mika might be part of the new WABC show, or he could potentially be paired with someone else down the road.

But within MSNBC, there is said to be a great deal of concern with Scarborough’s move. Why? According to a network source, NBC has spent a great deal of time and money shifting Scarborough leftward, but at WABC, it is recognized that his only real chance for success would be to follow the station’s right-leaning philosophy.

Curtis Sliwa, had been hosting shows at 5AM and 10AM.  The 10AM show will apparently be replaced by Scarborough and the 5AM show by Imus newsman Charles McCord as Sliwa moves into a syndicated 10PM show on the station. (radio-info.com)

McCord tells the New York Daily News, “The way the news has been sounding these days, I think a lot of folks just want to know if it’s safe to get out of bed.” McCord, who is a longtime Imus cast member, will give WABC the local flavor to compete against CBS-owned all-newsers WCBS (880) and 1010 WINS. McCord says the hour is a natural extension, because the regular Imus show is almost entirely news-driven. It will be billed as part of the Imus empire.

WABC has also removed conservative talk pioneer Bob Grant from his permanent time slot, although he remains under contract to the station and will apparently be brought in as a fill in.  A tape delayed Laura Ingraham moves into Grant’s old time slot. (radio-info.com)

He’s off the 8-10pm shift, but still under contract, and apparently still available for utility work. Radio-Info hears Bob got a call from a Citadel employee before Monday night’s show. The WABC website now shows the TRN-syndicated Laura Ingraham in Grant’s former 8-10pm slot, which fits message-board speculation of the last week or so.

Limbaugh, Hannity and Levin do not appear to be going anywhere.

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Tagged

Joe Scarborough, Laura Ingraham, New York, Radio, Talk Radio, WABC