BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Controversy over the ouster of popular talk radio show host Marc Steiner mounted Tuesday as a group of loyal listeners vowed to continue to protest outside WYPR-FM, while rumors swirled the station will cancel its annual winter fundraising drive.

Steiner, who was let go Thursday after rejecting a $50,000 buy-out offer, criticized WYPR management’s contention that low ratings lead to the cancellation of his midday talk show.

“Ratings has nothing to do with it; ratings are a ruse. “They just said ‘we’ll use it as an excuse,’ ” Steiner said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Steiner said disagreement over the station’s mission was the primary reason he was let go.

“It’s about what public radio means -- a place for community dialogue to generate real discussion.”

But in an on-air interview early Tuesday morning, station president Anthony Brandon said low ratings had plagued Steiner’s noon to 2 p.m. talk show.

“We had a precipitous drop in the ratings from 12-2,” Brandon told WYPR’s “Maryland Morning” host Sheilah Kast.. “We needed to make a change.

Steiner’s show will be replaced by a one tentatively called “Statewide,” which may begin airing this week.

Meanwhile, a group calling itself the City Wide Coalition circulated an e-mail calling for the protests outside WYPR’s Charles Village headquarters to continue through Friday. About a dozen protestors gathered outside the station Monday, demanding Steiner’s return.

“In our view, they don't like him because of how progressive he is. It is important to the community that he be reinstated,” coalition organizer Michael Melick said in a written statement.

Sources inside the station said Tuesday that nearly 500 protest e-mails had been received, and that the continued controversy over Steiner’s ouster had led station management to consider postponing the annual fund raising drive scheduled for late February.

Steiner is scheduled to appear on the Ed Norris Show on WHFS-FM at 11 a.m. today to discuss his firing.

sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com