Gov. Phil Murphy, WNYC clash over call-in program and abruptly cancel

Gov. Phil Murphy canceled his monthly radio call-in show Thursday night shortly before he was scheduled to go on air, setting off a dispute on social media over the cause of clear tension with a new radio partner.

The show, "Ask Governor Murphy," was scheduled to air at 8 p.m. on WNYC and public radio member stations WHYY and WBGO. Murphy, who took office in January, has been alternating his appearances each month between public radio and News 12 New Jersey.

But the governor's office and WNYC could not agree on the terms of the show Thursday night, and the station released a statement that the program was canceled "due to Gov. Murphy’s decision to withdraw." Around 6:30 p.m., Murphy's office revised his schedule to note it had been canceled.

The dispute with WNYC comes as Murphy faces scrutiny from fellow Democrats over his $37.4 billion budget and strong concerns from top lawmakers over his plan to fund public education. That school funding plan was going to be a focus of the show, Nancy Solomon, managing editor of New Jersey Public Radio and WNYC, said on Twitter.

The station planned to bring on a Politico New Jersey education reporter, Linh Tat, for a segment to ask Murphy questions about his school funding proposal, Solomon said. Murphy, she said, "refused" to go on air if the station kept to that plan.

"We refused. He canceled," Solomon wrote.

"Editorial independence is critical to our mission and the success of such a program. We regret the inconvenience to our listeners," the three radio stations said in a joint statement.

The Murphy administration disputes the cause for the cancellation.

The hour-long program has traditionally followed a call-in format with a host who peppers the governor with questions on the news of the moment out of Trenton. Callers tend to ask questions specific to issues they're experiencing. The show was hosted for years on NJ 101.5-FM, but Murphy opted at the outset of his term to split his appearances between public radio and News 12 in an effort to maximize his reach.

The administration contends that it wanted to focus on taking calls from constituents and that adding more reporters would take time away from callers. Solomon pointed out that on the previous show on WNYC Murphy had taken questions from a reporter from NJ Advanced Media.

"We told your (station) on many, many occasions that this wasn’t the purpose of us doing the show. We’re doing three Q&As with reporters this week — this was dedicated time to talk to constituents directly and WNYC believed it should be morphed into dedicated time for reporters," Mahen Gunaratna, Murphy's communications director, told Solomon in an exchange on Twitter.

Murphy, who has earned a reputation for being press shy, held two public events this week in which he took questions from reporters and had plans for an "availability" with the news media Friday.

In another Twitter message, Gunaratna said the administration was "hoping to have this sorted out in time for the second show, but your partner station unfortunately wasn’t honest with us."

"The purpose of 'Ask Governor Murphy' is for the governor to take unmediated calls directly from his constituents, rather than questions from political reporters," Murphy spokesman Daniel Bryan said in a statement. "The station disagreed, and we respectfully decided to move forward with the program elsewhere."

It's unclear where the abrupt cancellation leaves the relationship between Murphy and WNYC.

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