shotbanner.jpeg

April 19, 2005

Air America: Good News, Bad News

The Good News: By any rational measure, Air America is el-flopola [1]

Of course there's bad news.

In the LATimes, Brian C. Anderson (senior editor of City Journal and the author of South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias)
writes about the liberal network, which "celebrated" its first anniversary a couple of weeks ago.

The liberal Air America Radio, just past its first birthday, has probably enjoyed more free publicity than any enterprise in recent history. But don't believe the hype: Air America's left-wing answer to conservative talk radio is failing, just as previous efforts to find liberal Rush Limbaughs have failed.

Wait a second, you say, didn't I read that Air America has expanded to more than 50 markets? That's true, but let's put things in perspective: Conservative pundit and former Reagan official William J. Bennett's morning talk show, launched at the same time as Air America, reaches nearly 124 markets, including 18 of the top 20...And look at Air America's ratings: They're pitifully weak, even in places where you would think they'd be strong. WLIB, its flagship in New York City, has sunk to 24th in the metro area Arbitron ratings — worse than the all-Caribbean format it replaced, notes the Radio Blogger. In the liberal meccas of San Francisco and Los Angeles, Air America is doing lousier still.

As Anderson notes, this is in markets where they have all the advantages.

Almost equally important: Most of those "50 stations" or so that FrankenNet and its fans rave about are:

  • Small stations with dinky signals. For example, the station in liberal hothouse Boulder, CO is (according to one source) a 1,000 watt station whose antenna is on the wrong side of the mountain from the city proper, giving it a lousy signal under perfect circumstances.
  • Many, if not most, of the affiliates carry only a fraction of Air America's programming. Most stations in the Pacific time zone carry the Marc Maron show via delay, pre-empt the mid-morning show (formerly Lizzzzzz Winstead, now Winstead's former fifth wheel Rachel Maddow) for Ed Schultz, and may or may not carry Randi Rhodes or Janeane Garofalo.
  • Many of the "affiliates" are part-time at most; some of them even carry conservative programs along with FrankenNet shows.
  • As I pointed out last month, although Clear Channel is carrying FrankenNet in some markets, it's strictly a tactical measure; more or less like being drafted by the Vikings to be in charge of laundering jockstraps and underwear.
The Anderson piece has excellent commentary on why FrankenNet is such a stiff. Read it.

Reading the article, of course, takes you to...

The Bad News. What the left can't win via the free market, they'll try to win via the coercive power of the state:

Unable to prosper in the medium, liberals have taken to denouncing talk radio as a threat to democracy. Liberal political columnist Hendrik Hertzberg, writing in the New Yorker, is typically venomous. Conservative talk radio represents "vicious, untreated political sewage" and "niche entertainment for the spiritually unattractive," Hertzberg sneers.

If some liberals had their way, Congress would regulate political talk radio out of existence. Their logic is that scrapping Air America would be no loss if it also meant getting Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Bennett off the air.

To accomplish this, New York Democratic Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey has proposed reviving the Fairness Doctrine to protect "diversity of view," and John Kerry recently sent out some signals that he too thought that might be a good idea.

Under the old Fairness Doctrine, phased out by Ronald Reagan's FCC in the late '80s, any station that broadcast a political opinion had to give equal time to opposing views. A station running, say, Hannity's show, would also have to broadcast a left-wing competitor, even if it had no listeners.

The "Fairness Doctrine" was in force when I got into talk radio - ironically, KSTP-AM put my old "Mitch Berg Show" on the air (from 2-4 AM on weekends, no less!) purely because the rest of the station's lineup ranged from mushy-left (Mike Edwards, Owen Spann, Larry King, Michael Jackson, Don Vogel) to hard left (Geoff Charles); having a conservative somewhere on the air was a good idea.

Things, obviously, have changed.

Pre-Reagan, talk radio in today's sense simply didn't exist. What station could risk it? But people listen to conservative talk because they want to, not because the post-Fairness Doctrine regulatory regime forces them to. To claim that "diversity of view" is lacking in the era of blogs and cable news, moreover, is downright silly. Complaints about fairness are really about driving out conservative viewpoints.

Sure, talk radio is partisan, sometimes overheated. But it's also a source of argument and information. Together with Fox News and the blogosphere, it has given the right a chance to break through the liberal monoculture and be heard. For that, anyone who supports spirited public debate should be grateful.

Of course, there are big chunks of the American media who do not support spirited public debate that is not under their control.

This is going to be an interesting couple of years.

[1] Hmmm. That could be a good backup strategy; rechristen the network "Al-Flopola", and market it to terrorists and their sympathizers. Don't thank me, Air America!

Posted by Mitch at April 19, 2005 07:41 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Side questions: What ever became of Geoff Charles (when did he leave the Twin Cities Market?), and where is he now? Back then, when I lived in the Twin Cities, I didn't listen to the radio at all, much less talk radio, but I heard people rave about Geoff Charles. What was the appeal?

Posted by: Will Allen at April 19, 2005 06:25 PM

Side questions: What ever became of Geoff Charles (when did he leave the Twin Cities Market?), and where is he now? Back then, when I lived in the Twin Cities, I didn't listen to the radio at all, much less talk radio, but I heard people rave about Geoff Charles. What was the appeal?

Posted by: Will Allen at April 19, 2005 06:25 PM

Sorry.

Posted by: Will Allen at April 19, 2005 06:27 PM

Well, I guess if you could call Phil Hendrie conservative, then yeah, AM760 (Boulder/Denver) does carry conservatives along with Weird Al. And while AM760 doesn't have the reach of its ClearChannel mothership 850KOA (nothing outside XM/Sirius does), it can be heard reasonably well throughout the metro.

I am amazed that Bill Bennett has that many stations, considering that his show is really not that good.

Posted by: Brad S at April 19, 2005 07:15 PM

Of course, the "fairness doctrine" will never
be applied to radio that is forcably financed
by tax payers.

Perhaps Hinchey and Kerry should look into
having the "fairness doctrine" applied to
NPR, for instance.

Posted by: Ted at April 19, 2005 08:05 PM

The Bill Bennett show was okay for my morning drive but since I moved next door to the office I haven’t had to get up that early (or commute unless it’s really cold outside). Having heard both the Bill Bennett show and most of the Air America line-up, I definitely prefer Bennett’s show even though it’s a little too congenial for my tastes (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since there is a lot of venom in some talk shows – see Savage, Michael and pretty much any Air America affiliate) and he pretty much sticks to cultural issues.

The guy from Empower America that ought to try for a talk show is Jack Kemp. He’s a dynamic and charismatic speaker, former Congressman, former Vice-Presidential candidate, and rumor has it he used to play professional football. He seems to also have a wider range of issues covering the same social issues that Bennett does but also is pretty dynamic on foreign policy and economic issues.

Posted by: Thorley Winston at April 19, 2005 09:18 PM

Personally, I think Air America will survive as long as it wants to. Yes, its terrible ratings are well documented. Yes, many of its stations are on rotten AM stations. However, in the MSP market alone, Salem has two non-Patriot stations that are rotten in the ratings. However, they've got die-hard fans, and that's something you can tell advertisters. I'm guessing Air America can survive if they tap into the die-hards and find a way to market to them.

However, I think Air America won't be able to keep its big names on it's roster for long. Someday Al Franken will grow tired of being an also-ran in the radio world, then other well-known names (plus Jeanene Garofalo) will follow suit.

Posted by: Jerry Leigh at April 19, 2005 11:48 PM

Personally, I think Air America will survive as long as it wants to. Yes, its terrible ratings are well documented. Yes, many of its stations are on rotten AM stations. However, in the MSP market alone, Salem has two non-Patriot stations that are rotten in the ratings. However, they've got die-hard fans, and that's something you can tell advertisters. I'm guessing Air America can survive if they tap into the die-hards and find a way to market to them.

However, I think Air America won't be able to keep its big names on it's roster for long. Someday Al Franken will grow tired of being an also-ran in the radio world, then other well-known names (plus Jeanene Garofalo) will follow suit.

Posted by: Jerry Leigh at April 19, 2005 11:48 PM

1) Geoff Charles is alive and well and can be heard daily on WHJY & WHJJ in Providence, RI. He's been a fixture in RI radio since 1989. He is brilliant, but I doubt you'd like him because his views are way left of center.

2) You think NPR is liberal? Maybe if you lived in 1930's Spain it could be considered such. In a recent poll, NPR was rated the most trustworthy source for news by people identifying themselves as conservative as well as liberal. I'm sure Rush didn't mention this on any of his programs, though.

3) As long as idiots such as O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh et als. continue to spout RNC penned bullshit on a daily basis, there will be a place for Air America. Someone has to speak truth to power. Don't you guys get it? Your right wing heroes are given a script each day containing Republican talking points. The hosts then repeat the lies over and over until you think there's a grain (or more) of truth in them. They're whores, each and every one of them, bought and paid for by Karl Rove.

Posted by: sshan25 at June 22, 2005 10:49 AM

I used to produce Geoff Charles. We got along just fine.

As far as the last paragraph - complete paranoid delusion.

Posted by: mitch at June 22, 2005 11:37 PM

Diamonds can be heated and enhanced or irridated. The rest of the ore is then used for industrial purposes lapdauthors com. So then why would a diamond merchant discount the price on a genuinely good quality diamond that is a billion years old. Regardless of the shape, you really need to look at the cut and if there is any damage to the diamond. Also watch out for cosmetic enhancements or synthetic diamonds. jewelry-gift net http://www.jewelry-gift.net/link12_2.html

Posted by: jewelry-gift net at April 8, 2006 07:23 AM

Great work!
[url=http://ucghskou.com/jzct/uunt.html]My homepage[/url] | [url=http://wmqjjhco.com/sone/vgaq.html]Cool site[/url]

Posted by: Wendy at May 8, 2006 11:38 AM

Good design!
My homepage | Please visit

Posted by: Phyllis at May 8, 2006 11:42 AM

Thank you!
http://ucghskou.com/jzct/uunt.html | http://xbfxtjyb.com/jvba/bmqx.html

Posted by: Elaine at May 8, 2006 11:47 AM

We recommend you to visit excellent hairy men site. qY0ptan0x

Posted by: hairy men at July 16, 2006 07:55 AM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?
hi