Days after firing longtime talk-radio host Marc Steiner, WYPR announced yesterday that Sun columnist Dan Rodricks would replace him.

The news came as the station, facing passionate protests from Steiner loyalists, pushed back its fundraising drive originally set for next week. While Steiner's firing came as a shock to people who viewed his show as a unique civic forum, some said replacing him with a well-known local columnist and media personality might quell some of the backlash.

WYPR programming director and vice president Andy Bienstock said Rodricks, who in addition to his newspaper column has worked on local television and radio programs, was his first choice.

Bienstock said Rodricks, who will keep writing his Sun column, would inherit Steiner's noon-to-2 p.m. time slot Mondays through Thursdays beginning Feb. 25. The show will follow the previous host's format that invites studio guests and area callers to discuss the day's issues. The station may expand the show to Fridays.

"I think he does great radio," Bienstock said of Rodricks. "I think he's got the same involvement with community issues that we always had and always will have at WYPR."

WYPR abruptly canceled The Marc Steiner Show on Feb. 1, citing dropping ratings and what it called Steiner's Baltimore-centric focus despite the station's reach to all corners of Maryland.

Steiner, who hosted the lunchtime public affairs program for 15 years, had largely become the face of the station.

Since the firing, protesters have gathered outside the station every day. Steiner, 61, said he's not surprised Rodricks was WYPR's pick to replace him.

"They had to pick a star - someone who was politically liberal and progressive with a little bit of street credibility," he said. "They're trying to blunt the trauma, trying to staunch the bleeding."

Rodricks, 53, said he's been wanting to have his own radio show again and is glad to be able to do it at WYPR, which he described as a place for civil discussion rather than the vitriol attacks on much of commercial talk radio.

"I think a talk radio show should be like a diner you visit to catch up on conversation for an hour or two," he said, "with voices that are familiar, where you can learn something new every day."

Rodricks said he hopes people will give him a shot - even those upset about Steiner's departure.

"People will harbor those resentments over the way Marc was treated, but if they have those issues, it's not with me," he said. "I'm going to continue - and I hope to expand - on a strong midday tradition at WYPR."

From 1995 until its cancellation in 1999, Rodricks hosted Rodricks For Breakfast, a talk show that aired Sunday mornings on WMAR-TV. From 1980 until 1993, he was a regular commentator on WBAL-TV and hosted nighttime and Saturday morning shows on WBAL Radio. In 2005, he teamed with Chip Franklin to host a show on WBAL Radio, but the arrangement fell apart because of personality clashes between the two.

Rodricks said he'll try to keep his two roles at The Sun and WYPR "as separate as possible."

Though it's common for newspaper columnists and sports writers to have radio shows, Bob Steele, the Nelson Poynter Scholar for Journalism Values at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., said working for competing media organizations could lead to conflict.

"Given his dual role, he has divided loyalties," Steele said. "The divided loyalties is a factor that could create tension."

Sun Editor Tim Franklin called the hiring of Rodricks "a win for WYPR and The Sun." He said Rodricks could use his radio time to explore a wide range of topics - including discussions of local media and The Sun.

"The station benefits from having on its air one of the most respected and high-profile journalists in Maryland," he said. "The Sun benefits because this will showcase Dan's considerable talents for WYPR's politically and culturally engaged audience."

Reaction to the hiring of Rodricks was mixed.

Maria Allwine, who has led the protests at WYPR, said she will continue protesting today.

"Dan Rodricks is not Marc Steiner," she said. "The community is still enraged over the firing of Marc Steiner."

But Doreen Bolger, a WYPR community advisory board member, said Rodricks was a good choice.

"His background in journalism, and more importantly, his civic sensibility, tells me he'll use the show as an opportunity and a forum to address the issues meaningful to us in Baltimore and Maryland," she said.

jill.rosen@baltsun.com

meredith.cohn@baltsun.com