Starting Monday, News/Talk AM 1160 WCFO is adding Geraldo Rivera to the lineup starting August 13 from 4 to 7 p.m.

Jeff Davis, who runs the station, was attracted by his name recognition.

“It’s much easier for our salespeople to sell to potential advertisers when those potential advertisers are familiar with the names on our roster (i.e., Imus, Laura Ingraham, Mike Huckabee et al),” he wrote to me via email.

America’s Radio New Network will now be cut back to 7 to 9 p.m., Davis said.

Rivera started a show in Los Angeles and New York. Atlanta-based Cumulus Media decided to take him national.

“We had a hunch there’d be national substantial listener interest in his incisive and insightful style,” John Dickey of Cumulus said in a press release. “Now we’re thrilled that with Geraldo such a success in those two markets the show will now be available across the country.”

This L.A. Daily News radio columnist was none too impressed. And neither was this columnist, Brian Maloney of Radio Equalizer, who pointed out that Rivera’s ratings in Los Angeles and New York were not impressive at all, certainly not good enough to merit a national show so quickly.

Rivera in the press release paints himself as a moderate:

“I’m a patriot and a pragmatic idealist, who believes both the political left and the right have contributions to make. I’ve also developed a comfortable enough relationship with the audience over the last four plus decades in television news for listeners in a spirited way to tell me when they think I’m full of beans. Like I say, ‘I’m not always right.’

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By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk