NEW YORK — Television network executives looking for new talent are accustomed to getting pleas from agents urging them to check out their clients.
But in the past few weeks, MSNBC has experienced a different kind of onslaught: a flood of unsolicited endorsements from fans of liberal radio hosts touting them as the network’s next potential big star.
The grassroots campaigns were triggered by the news that the cable channel may create a new show for the time slot currently occupied by a “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” repeat. That prompted the launch of independent Facebook groups extolling the merits of radio hosts Cenk Uygur of “The Young Turks” on the Internet and Sam Seder of Air America.
The lobbying efforts have drawn thousands of supporters and led fans to pepper MSNBC with e-mails in support of their favorite personality. Hundreds of people have posted messages of support online, some even creating their own video spots.
They hope that MSNBC will choose a left-leaning host like Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, who have helped power the cable channel’s ratings.
“You have a block with two unabashedly progressive voices that doesn’t exist anywhere else on cable news,” said Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, founder of Daily Kos, who urged his readers to back Seder for the spot. “We want to take advantage of locking up that third hour, if we can.”
MSNBC president Phil Griffin said he’s not necessarily looking for someone who shares the political leanings of Olbermann and Maddow but is delighted by the response.
“If people identify with us, I’m thrilled,” he said. “Obviously, we’re going to have flow between our shows. But it isn’t going to be ideology that drives it. I want that hour to be edgy, to be smart, to be a little snarky.”
Griffin, noting that the network might not even select someone by the year’s end, said he had been floored by the reaction, which has included “dozens and dozens of phone calls from people I never thought about or considered.”
“It’s just incredible and just shows you where MSNBC is,” he said. “We’ve had times when hours have been open and nobody noticed.”
That’s changed in recent years as the network got traction with Olbermann, who drew a following for his full-throated denunciations of the Bush administration, and then Maddow, whose brainy take on politics was an immediate hit.
Fans cite Maddow’s success as proof that an online base of support can translate into strong television ratings. She now regularly beats CNN’s Larry King in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic.
