Another illustrious and well-respected host is coming to Dead Air America: Jerry Springer. Oy!Oy!Oy!

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/42919.htm

Mitch - This idea that Air America has penetrated Clear Channel is ridiculous on AA's part. A few years ago in another city, a neighbor of mine worked in the financial area at Clear Channel Radio. He was center left in his political thinking and I asked him if CC was discriminating against lefty talk hosts. His reply was as crass and capitalist as any accountants...if a Marxist revolutionary could draw/hold an audience and they could sell advertising at or above market rate to that audience, that Marxist revolutionary would be on 200 stations tomorrow.
The people at Clear Channel don't care what the product (host ideology, music selection or the worst format of all - tradio) is at all*. They only care if they can sell ads...the radio show is a means of delivering an audience to sell advertising to. At the end of the day, this is what commercial radio is about...putting on a product that attracts an audience that encourages advertisers to buy ad time. If Air America fails, like Governor Cuomo, Jim Hightower and other Liberal hosts before it, it will be for that reason and that reason alone.
*Stern might be the exception but only because of the FCC fines he generates.

Heard some of the Air America this morning. Can't remember the name of the local host, but he was repeatedly claiming to be somebody's monkey. Must be a Morning Zoo format or something.

Anyway, what struck me was the nature of the advertising. It's been mentioned before, trade unions, non-profit organizations, etc. I also noticed the University of Minnesota has jumped into the mix, advertising their hospitals and medical care or something.

The commonality among all of these groups is the involuntary nature of their funding. Union membership is mandated in many fields (including journalism) and the dues are not subject to controls with regard to political spending. Non-profits typically get government funding, meaning tax payer dollars redirected. And now throw in the U of MN, which get hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars. A part of that now being handed over to Air America.

I've always thought Air America, like NPR, would survive only if they could capture revenues produced outside of market conditions (meaning outside of any demand for their product). Getting the U of MN on board was the biggest fish the could land in this regard. Hard to say if that will even be enough to keep them afloat in the long run.

Speaking of AA, this accidental amusment is from the R&R homepage:

"Gary Krantz Named President Of Air America Radio-
Jon Sinton moves to co-COO role."

I would think the Air America would have the co-coo role well taken care of by now.

The fact that this posting has a whole 4 comments distinctly shows that none of you listens to Air America Minnesota, its local shows, the shows it picks up from Air America, or the Ed Shultz Show from the Jones Radio Networks. They are growing, telling the truth, and adding new shows regularly. Accept it - there is an audience for progressive and liberal radio that does not resort to lying to its audience and counting on the stupidity of its audience to spread the neocon bullet point of the day like the local mis-named Patriot, Limbaugh, Hannity, etc.

Au Contraire, "Betty". I listen to as much Air America as I can stomach.

They are not growing at any appreciable rate - certainly not in synch with their investment (as I've shown in other postings).

One odd feature of their programming; they chant that they tell "the truth!" endlessly, and yet nearly every time I hear them they are in the midst of some fairly easily documentable falsehood!

Adding new shows regularly - what on earth are you talking about? In the past year, they've demoted one show (Marty Kaplan) to weekends (it was a disaster), replaced one host (Springer for Winstad), added a comically inane, insane overnight wackjob in Mike Malloy.

As to the "stupidity" of the audience - pfft. Surveys have shown that the conservative talk radio audience is better educated than the public at large. You can tell by the relative quality of advertisers when you compare, say, KSTP and the local FrankenNet affiliate.

In short, "Betty", you've bought their spin, but you really don't know what you're talking about.

And the Patriot is not mis-named.

This morning I tuned to Air America - the announcer was Coleman - I was tuned into AM 1500 - the announcer was Davis. Davis does not let any facts get in his way and his intellect is about as deep as a brick. His broadcasts are becoming like fingernails dragging across a blackboard. I thought I'd see what the lefties were up to on the air waves. After about 20 minutes of Coleman's infantile whining and name calling, along with his droning on and on about why people should not be held accountable for their behavior and his “wing nuts” are the source of all that is wrong in the world, he made Davis sound like a renaissance man, and that is no easy feat. So, I hit the CD button until Ruesse's update on Am 1500. Morning talk radio in this market is remarkably weak. Bring back Bob Yates. He was articulately funny and interesting even if a bit perverse blue.

This morning I tuned to Air America - the announcer was Coleman - I was tuned into AM 1500 - the announcer was Davis. Davis does not let any facts get in his way and his intellect is about as deep as a brick. His broadcasts are becoming like fingernails dragging across a blackboard. I thought I'd see what the lefties were up to on the air waves. After about 20 minutes of Coleman's infantile whining and name calling, along with his droning on and on about why people should not be held accountable for their behavior and his “wing nuts” are the source of all that is wrong in the world, he made Davis sound like a renaissance man, and that is no easy feat. So, I hit the CD button until Ruesse's update on Am 1500. Morning talk radio in this market is remarkably weak. Bring back Bob Yates. He was articulately funny and interesting even if a bit perverse blue.

As I was Googling for the Air America Minnesota website (www.airamericaminnesota.com), I came across Mitch's "The Fantasy Life of 'Air America Minnesota'" on March 25, 2005. I read through most of it and could only laugh, because if this guy thinks that Air America Minnesota is such a stupid, non-threat to his precious Rush and Jason Lewis, then why Mitch, did you spend all that time writing about it. I really think you should listen to AM950. This is a great station that cares about the majority of people in Minnesota, not simply cares about lining the pockets of executives, and riding T-Paws coat tails to Washington.

Thank God For Air America!

Listen. All I want is truth about issues that are important. I've listened to Rush and, except for open line Fridays, I did not find it listening to him. Are people who listen to Rush or Mike Malloy smarter? Did Clinton get fellatio in the White House? Are their more conservatives or liberals in this country? Who will win the next election? etc, etc...

I DON'T CARE!

Does the free market always make the best policy for mankind?

Are their better things we could be doing with the hundreds of billions of dollars we will be wasting in Iraq? THIS I care about

What kind of future will my children have? I want my country to take steps NOW to help make the world sustainable far into the future.

As a citizen of the country that gave the world the U.N., I wonder, are we able to effectively set international policy?

Remember, regardless of your religion or political affiliation, the truth always wins in the end. The truth won in The Revoltion, In 1865, WWII, The Civil Rights movement, etc

This is comforting to liberals

Conservatives lampoon Air America for lacking the ratings of established radio personalities such as Limbaugh and Hannity, and stations such as 1500. So what? The ratings disparity between liberal and conservative talkers might be a result of the relative newness of the former or a genuine preference for conservative viewpoints. Either way, popularity hardly lends creedence to conservative ideology. No one would argue that in the past, conservatives were errant in advocating slavery, misogyny, and religious intolerance despite the former popularity of such ideals. 20 years from now, no one will contend with the recognition that conservative resistance to equal rights for homosexuals, albeit popular, was based on fear and bigotry. At that point, however, conservatives will have moved on to another opportune target -- perhaps Autistic children? It's hard to predict what will next capture the attention and scorn of a group of people who have been fixated on Bill Clinton's fellatio for the past 7 years. Indicative of conservatives' dearth of reasoning facilities, a President that brought us domestic tranquility, unprecedented prosperity, federal budget surpluses, and international peace is despised for doing what Presidents have been doing for centuries -- getting a little on the side. In contrast, a pseudo-patriotic, pseudo-populist, silver-spoon-fed pansy who has brought us nothing but deficits, unemployment, terrorist attacks, divisive slime politics, cronyism, and altogether inept leadership is hailed as the second coming of Jebus Christ.

In case 'Nancy' should ever check back here, HEY NANCY--you can laugh about Jerry Springer, but the fact is, he is a talented politician. The reason YOU DON'T KNOW this is because you DON'T LISTEN TO FACT-BASED RADIO.

Air America is fact-based. Rightwing radio is just that--rightwing. And these days the right wing is so far right, it makes anything in the center look left.
We liberals are the mainstream Americans. The rightwing liars like Limbaugh, etc. are a cancer chewing away at our democracy. They've done a great job. Hooray for them. They get ratings, they make millions. And our country, our economy, our middle class, our freedom and democracy go right down the crapper. Thank you, Rush Limbaugh, you big fat lying drug-addicted idiot.

Ed Schultz is on armed forces radio, just before Limbaugh. I heard Al Franken was going to be on too. Breath of fresh air!

Lee in Mashiko, Japan (transplant from St. Paul