Westwood One syndicated midday host Dan Bongino threatened on-air today to quit over Cumulus’ recently enacted COVID-19 mandate.
Bongino told listeners, “Cumulus is going to have to make a decision with me if they want to continue this partnership or they don’t. But I’m talking to you on their airwaves. They don’t have to let that happen. You have a choice. I work with you. I do not work for you; I never will. You may have had other people in a corner, but you don’t have me.”
Following the death of WWTN Nashville and fellow syndicated host Phil Valentine from COVID-19 after denying the vaccine in August, Cumulus became the first radio operator to require all staffers to have had their shots by September 27 in order to return to the offices on October 11. Bongino, who is vaccinated, is not a Cumulus employee but rather retains ownership of his show and licenses it to the company to offer into syndication. He also works for Fox News, but has not commented on that company’s vaccine mandate or required daily testing.
Bongino threatened to invite Cumulus staffers who had been fired or quit to appear on his show while challenging the company to cancel his program while “not letting this go”.
Cumulus has yet to comment on Bongino’s statements.
INSTANT INSIGHT: Bongino is using the fact that Cumulus put a lot of money and resources into the launch of his show earlier this year to try to gain leverage over this situation. Like most political talkers, he knows Cumulus was well within their rights to implement the requirement that their employees get vaccinated and other companies have followed suit. It is quite possible he sees a chance to walk out of his contract and into the arms of another company willing to give him more money. The people let go by Cumulus, who we have been told represent a very tiny fraction of their entire workforce, are being used as pawns here. A reputable Talk programmer who wishes to remain anonymous even suggested to me that Cumulus may “be in on the game” using this issue to gain publicity in the Conservative news sphere to bring more listeners to the show.