Radio Hosts Joel Heitkamp, Mike McFeely To Lose Syndication In Western North Dakota

The rumors have been flying in political circles for some time now, but today I can confirm that within thirty days Joel Heitkamp and Mike McFeely will only be broadcasting in Fargo.

Currently Heitkamp is syndicated on KFYR AM550 out of Bismarck and KCJB AM910 out of Minot in addition to his KFGO signal. McFeely was removed from KFYR some time ago, but will now be losing his KCJB syndication as well.

That’s a big blow for both talkers who will go from covering the entire state (in Heitkamp’s case) and most the state (in McFeely’s case) to covering pretty much just the Fargo region.

So who will be replacing them?

That’s yet to be revealed.

Update: Here’s the spin from KFGO, announcing that Heitkamp’s show will be simulcast on 740 “The Fan” which is owned by the same company. They’re claiming that their syndication deal with KFYR was somehow holding them back from simulcasting on a station they already own, which broadcasts to an area largely already covered by KFGO, but that’s just bluster to cover up the fact that Heitkamp just lost his broadcast reach to most of the state.

Seriously. It sounds suspiciously like Ed Schultz (a KFGO alumnus) trying to convince people that his banishment to the wastelands of weekend cable news programming was a promotion.

Update: Its being reported now that Scott Hennen will be replacing Heitkamp in the morning.