Clear Channel Converts 3 Stations to Liberal Talk

[Freddie Stubbs]

From Reuters

Clear Channel Communications Inc. said it converted three stations to a liberal talk format and this year could double to 44 the number of stations carrying such programming.

After offering mostly conservative-leaning talk for the last decade, Clear Channel and other broadcasters are now embracing "progressive" talk to woo a listener base that is growing increasingly fragmented because of satellite, Internet radio and devices such as iPods.

more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-rup20.11jan20,1,1555438.story?coll=la-headlines-business

[Beetwasher]

1. Hey! Looks Like Alan Colmes Has A New Home!

:eyes:

[jayfish]

31. You May Hammer Me For This,...

but Colmes' radio show is usually quite good. I don't think television and guest-hosting with Insannity in particular, are his strong suits.

Flame away :spank:

Jay

[physioex]

43. Please....

Colmes is just a token liberal who is there to get bitch slapped by Hammity. You don't really take the man seriously?

[420inTN]

45. Ever hear his radio show?

He does much better on his own, where he's not being shouted out by Hannity.

here's his website: http://www.alan.com/index2.html

perhaps you can find a station in your area that carries him, or streams his show when you can hear it.

[SoCalDem]

59. Sorry, but Alan must choose

to win me as a listener. To accept money for doing something that is against his own principles, and then host a show where he espouses an opposite view, is not going to win me over.

Would Rush be accepted if , after his radio show, he went on Bill Maher's show as HIS stooge? His people would dump him in a nano second.

Democrats have been so hungry for a voice..ANY voice, that we lowered our standards of acceptance.

Like the Holiday Express commercials point out.. A pretender is not the same as the real thing.

I do not respect Alan Colmes, so I do not value his opinion.. How do we judge his REAL feelings?? Are the they ones he lets Hannity walk all over, or the ones he mouths into the radio microphoone??

[jasop]

76. Absolutely True! n/t

[Born Free]

77. "Ever hear his radio show?"

Yes! and after two weeks I could not take it anymore, took back my XM radio and got Sirius so I could listened to real liberals. I hated it when XM cut off Randi Rhoades for Alan Colmes, it made me sick to hear the apologists, Colmes best described as the "the liberal right wingers love because he fits the liberal stereo type" I now like Mike Malloy best of all and listen to his reruns in the early morning. However, There are many other good progressive/liberal talkers on Sirius, actually far more progressive talk than I have time to listen to. Colmes is at the bottom of the list, probably the worst of all the talk shows on Sirius.

[jayfish]

48. Radio, Radio'o -NT-

Jay

[physioex]

49. I read the original post....

It just that I don't see any point in listening to what he has to say. Even if he does "a good job".....

[jayfish]

56. Fair Enough. -NT-

Jay

[physioex]

58. No prob...

We are all in this togethor.... :hi:

[niceypoo]

61. As if you could do better

I think COlmes does a good job considering the hostile environment he is in.

[w4rma]

65. There are LOTS of progressives who DO do better. But they arent allowed on

national TV as more than a guest and very rarely at that.

[Tomee450]

64. I agree with you.

Colmes is quite different on his radio show.

[number6]

70. I agree

Colmes' radio show is usually quite good.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Yes, fragmentation.

But there is much more to this than just that.

Wherever AAR debuts in a market, they quickly enjoy Arbitron Ratings("book") very, very well. When you are a company like Clear Channel and you are in the business of making money from advertising, you cannot deny or defy "the book". The book tells them and advertisers who listens to the stations and what their age, ethnic and economic status is. This is a market for these advertisers. They cannot afford political idealogy. They want to sell you stuff. If they sell you stuff, Clear Channel gets more ad buys and thus makes money.

AAR is satisfying a need in a segment of the radio business. There are tons of people out there who do not listen to the repuke lie machine, radio division. This addresses them, for verily, they are a market.

Flex that market power. Every day and in every way.

[sendero]

47. Tell it!....

.. and you CAN get a witness. Amen! :)

The media is about money. If people listen to these stations they will be fruitful and multiply. Hallellujah (or whatever its spelled :))

[jdj]

53. all about the benjamins as usual.

[LiberalFighter]

62. Converting is fine but don't believe the right way...

It should be fair and provide both conservative and liberal at the same station. The question is which time slot would be best for us.

If I read the posting right... they were converting it totally to liberal. That may not be best for us IMO.

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

3. Bullshit

They are trying to make up for losing all Howard Stern's listeners. They made a monumental mistake, now they are trying to fix it before their shareholders fix them. Too bad their bosom buddies on the Bush* Admin bit them in the ass with the FCC fines.

DBDB

[420inTN]

33. Bullshit on the Bullshit

This has nothing to do with Stern. Stern was dropped from six (6) stations. big whoop.

This is all about ratings, and advertising revenue. Locally, CC owns at least six stations. Only two (2) are talk radio (both currently conservative/"family values"), the others are classic rock, rap/hip-hop, and country/western. Since Shelby Co. (where I am) is a very blue county in a red state, i wouldn't be surprised (and would welcome it) if CC brought AAR here.

However, CC did piss me off when they ran off Drake&Zeke, a local afternoon drive-time team. They were funny, but too crude/over-the-top for corporate CC.

[Born Free]

78. Stern going to Sirius

Sirius has the best selection of liberal/progressive talk shows available today and they are also getting Howard Stern. Furthermore if more DU posters email Sirius , they will add even more progressive talk.

[jackster]

4. 2 stations here in Boston

were converted by Clear Channel

with the change, came new jobs one of which my son landed

although he also works on Clear Channel's KISS 108 station, he's also doing some work for the progressive talk - 1200 am and 1430 am

THE GOOD NEWS HERE IS THAT MY SON IS A 20-SOMETHING REPUBLICAN

altho he considers himself moderate, he practially worships Raygun (who was pres during his formative years donchaknow) and shrubya

he did note however after this election that he thinks it might be dangerous for so much power to be in the hands of one party and is concerned about abortion since he is pro choice.

hoping he can come over from the dark side!!!!!!!

[fudge stripe cookays]

11. Me too Jackster!

And how ironic for your son that Reagan's administration was the first one to add "pro-life" to their platform.

You might want to point that out to him sometime when he starts deifying his idol.

I'm just sayin....
FSC

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. Wait for the draft

He'll become a (if I may) Commie Pinko Dirtbag in no time flat.

[jackster]

16. he's already served

and I get nervous that he'll be called back because he was in an artillery

he denies that there will be a draft - says we have too many regular troops

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

22. Oh crap. He's a prime candidate for getting the shaft.

If he's recalled, slap him silly and mention the existence of such entities as foreign embassies and consulates.

[progressiveBadger]

5. And what lesson can we take from this?

Ok, two lessons:
1. Clear Channel really does ONLY care about money
2. All of our hard work is making it clear to even massive corporations that the "liberal minority" is a myth.

Power to the People

[Botany]

18. But they also carry Jones Network too.

And that handles my love

Stephanie :loveya: Miller

I will always be her biggest stalker.

http://www.stephaniemiller.com/

Bottom Line their is millions of "us" out there and Clear Channel is about money

[progressiveBadger]

21. Always about money

Yep, I agree. I'm just saying it's good to reaffirm that there are so many of us out there.

[cascadiance]

23. Look back at history of monopolies though...

and look at what happened in areas like the browser market between Microsoft and Netscape:

The lesson there is that once a monopoly feels threatened by another entity (like Netscape), they will try to control the competition in any way they can by raising their own quality, offering the features/product, etc. that that competitor offers, buying up similar features that that competitor has. This has put entities like Netscape on the sideline and they become more palatable to the consumer then. However, once they get the control they want over that market, they step back from enhancing those products and services, and we need some other product/company to start the process all over again (ala Firefox in the browser marketplace) to bring back quality/service to the consumer.

We should be careful to allow Clear Channel to resume getting more control of the radio market place, and be quiescent about this simply because they add more liberal talk radio stations. They can turn these off tomorrow for something else if they felt they could do so business wise.

Whether or not they create these newer liberal talk radio stations, that shouldn't stop many of us from investing in true competitive solutions (ala Sirius Satellite radio, which is available everyplace, and doesn't have a Clear Channel investment in it like XM does). Sirius (and other Clear Channel company competitors) getting stronger will keep Clear Channel on its toes and keep forcing them to make moves like this to compete. If entities like Sirius go away though, then Clear Channel will feel more comfortable at a later date to reverse this trend and go back to more right wing talk radio dominated marketplace to serve their advertising partners.

[zann725]

6. Terrific! But still none in L.A.?!! And LAT reporting it!

In what is one of the biggest markets in the country, WHY we do NOT have AAR here yet is baffling indeed. It's been almost a year since they pulled our radio coverage here, and still have not placed it back on the air. I envy those country-wide who can easily listen to it WITHOUT having to stream it.

[joefree1]

17. Yeah, where's our AAR in LA!

Let's start a group or something.


Seating now available in the Smoking Section:
Politics, humor, death and the Devil - http://www.eDiablo.com

[Pirate Smile]

28. It looks like LA may be coming soon.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB110616841893830479,00.html?mod=todays_free_feature

It's a remarkable feat for a network that was nearly given up for dead just last year. After a hype-filled launch in March, stoked by the passion of the presidential-election campaign, the network ran out of money within six weeks and was kicked off the air in Los Angeles and Chicago, leaving it with just a New York station and two smaller markets. Critics predicted the company wouldn't recover, especially after the election ended and interest in politics faded.

But with an infusion of new financing and new management, the radio network has won high ratings in some of its local markets and has garnered the support of radio-industry giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. It has signed three-year contracts with its top two stars, Al Franken and Randi Rhodes, and raised an additional $19 million from private investors. People familiar with the situation say Air America is also finalizing a deal that would get it back on the air in Los Angeles via KXTA-AM, a Clear Channel sports station.

[trogdor]

7. Money talks, bullshit walks, and Bush got four more.

What else did ClearChannel want?

[RawMaterials]

9. they know that power is going to swing

back to the left, and they want in on some of that action.
corporate whores IMHO

[Pirate Smile]

8. I want to start a campaign to contact stations in areas where we have

only RW Hate talk and try to get one to change.

There are multiple RW talkers all competing with each other.

If one station would switch to AAR, they would do great.

[RamboLiberal]

12. Count me in - Pittsburgh stations need to get a clue

We got 3 friggin almost all conservative stations competing against each other.

Geez, Cincinnati is more conservative than Pittsburgh and they got an all liberal station.

All we have is one daily liberal who is tired of talking politics and arguing with wingnuts and 2 other "liberal" hosts who are banished to weekends and weeknights where they are preempted much of the year by baseball or are forced to do what should be called informercials.

I was ticked by one programming manager when he had an opening and a chance to pick up a local liberal out-of-work host, John McIntire, who is fabulous. And what's he do, but pick up Neil Boortz who was bumped by another station for Rush Limbaugh. :grr:

[AlinPA]

19. Those local pigs Honsberger and Pintek on KDKA make it worse .

[RamboLiberal]

26. I agree on Pintek and Honzman

Pintek's an idiot - I can't believe how uninformed he is, plus he just whines. And Honzman is a buffoon. I think he's looking especially terrible since his tummy tuck.

And don't forget Mr Never Wrong - Jerry Bowyer. And never met a wacky Clinton conspiracy I didn't love and promote - Jim Quinn.

[athenap]

46. Jim Quinn?

Didn't he used to be part of Quinn and Banana on B-94 about 15-20 years ago? They got busted for sexual harassment of the news woman? How'd he get to be a political pundit?


athenap--former steel citizen

[RamboLiberal]

50. Quinn - Yep he's a chickenhawk of the highest order

This is his website - :puke: alert - he calls it "The War Room - The Most Dangerous Site on the Web"

http://www.warroom.com/

He claims the sexual harrassment suit changed him to a wingnut. And having listened to the show - believe me it was more than one callers comment that set Liz Randolph off.

He and sidekick Banana Don Jefferson had started doing their wild and wacky weekday morning show on WBZZ (93.7 FM) in 1984. Quinn had been offered a $75,000 salary and another $25,000 to $30,000 in talent fees to work there. It was a far cry from the roughly $51,000 he had been making annually at WTAE (1250 AM) while also working at WPGH (Channel 53) from 1979 to 1983.

The "B-94" money and ratings were great. Life was good, until things became too wacky. During a 1988 "Friday Morning Joke-off," when listeners called to air jokes, one caller included a very risque punch line about Liz Randolph, the show's newscaster.

She sued the morning duo and the station. A Common Pleas Court jury found in 1990 that Randolph had been subjected to the infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and defamation. The station's company was also named in a second suit. Both suits were settled in 1991 for an undisclosed amount.

Quinn leaves no doubt about his opinion on the controversy that followed the lawsuit: "Having been sued for doing what I was paid to do -- off-the-cuff humor -- and after a feminist firestorm in the media in which facts and evidence took a back seat to political correctness, my formerly liberal eyes were opened to the agenda of the feminists, their friends and supporters in the media," he says.

http://user.pa.net/~ejjeff/tribreviewquinn.html

[RamboLiberal]

51. Lynn Cullen's taking a month long sabbatical - replacements

are Thom Hartmann M-W and John McIntyre Th-Friday starting Monday.

Non-Pittsburgh DU'ers you might want to sample McIntyre on Th and/or Friday starting next week Noon-3PM EST. This guy should have a national show - he's that good. I'm hoping with liberal radio apparently gaining ground he'll get a permanent gig.

http://www.1360wptt.com/

[Born Free]

79. Talk with your pocketbook

Money talks best, buy a Sirius radio and let them know it's because you enjoy Liberal talk - Sirius has 2 channels AAR and Liberal talk that have 24hr a day talk and many of the shows are good, really good. As more and more over the air stations seeing people move to satellite radio they will realize their programming has to change if they want to sell advertising.

PS: My favorite was the vermont station that dropped Rush for AAR - advertisers learned it's better to have 1 liberal listener that likes to spend money than 2 cheap right wingers that expect everything for free

[tngledwebb]

10. Especially DU.

And if the majority of voters chose two Democratic presidents in a row, that seems a reasonable demographic to go for.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

14. we got a cleare channel "progressive" station in ashevill, NC

and i am loving it.

[Rose Siding]

15. Once they're on Clear Channel, won't the corporation have some control

over message? That hasn't worked to our advantage with any other corporate media.

[420inTN]

35. Only if Clear Channel is the syndicator.

AAR is it's own syndicator. The only thing that CC can do is drop a show from the station. They won't (or shouldn't) have any control over content.

Locally, CC owns serveral rap/hip-hop stations. The DJs aren't censored (as far as i know) and have been quite vocal in the run-up to the elections, and critical of Dubya in general. About the only thing that will get you in trouble with CC is if you lose market-share, or commit a Finable Offense.

[w4rma]

66. They have control over which shows are aired and where they are aired.

They can also do devious stuff like running emergency tests during an important interview (like I saw Sinclair do to an important speech given on the West Wing).

[Liberty Belle]

20. San Diego's KLSD is a Clearchannel station.

It was converted from another format last year.

I'm still skeptical that they may sell out one of these days, but for now it's actually quite liberal programming. They carry Randi Rhodes, Ed Schultz, Al Franken, and other national liberal talk show hosts.

Also a local talk show host, Stacy Taylor, a libertarian who used to be on a conservative station locally. Now he sounds like a true lefty liberal--even harping on the voting fraud issue as well as loss of civil liberties and other outrages of the Bush administration. I think he's actually a powerful force, because someone like that who has changed sides and had a loyal following can win converts from other parties.

That said, I think Air America and other radio networks would do best to seek alternatives to Clear Channel wherever available, because Clear Channel is a big Republican donor and the prospect of pulling the plug before the next election remains.

The one bad part locally is that Clear Channel controls the ads, so you'll sometimes hear right-wing ads on liberal shows. But it's better than no liberal programming at all, which is what San Diego had before.

[GOPBasher]

24. That's cool. I have hope that this could be for real.

By "for real" I mean more than just some "Alan Colmes" types of liberal commentators.

[Beware the Beast Man]

25. Yippee! We're marketable!

:P

[MrPrax]

27. A cynic might conclude a more ominous sign...

Certainly the revenue model of traditional radio is becoming obsolete because of the various 'competing' alternatives...

Isn't it possible, that the corporate media has realized that there really isn't a 'liberal' media anymore and therefore an important 'prop' in the ideological frame of Right Hate Media, no longer has a 'foil'.

Going into a second term, it must obvious to even the most rabid, that there is very little dissent and when guys like Rush and Fox are reduced to blaming 'bloggers' on the Internet for 'evil' and 'undermining American stability and freedom', you know the Media NEEDS a pliant Opposition to play off of, in order to fulfil the barest mandates of 'freedom' and 'democracy'.

Like most have commented; they can pull the plug anytime and since what passes for 'liberal' talk radio is merely 'media criticism' and rarely ever defines a liberal or 'progressive' issue outside of the Democratic Party sutures.

As much as I like Jon Stewart, I do find it a little strange that he had a steady stream of GOP creeps (Ralph Reed, Ed Gillispie) as guests in the run up to the election. Most progressives I know wouldn't be caught in the same room with Reed, let alone, give him an opportunity to associate is 'poison' with 'hip-ness'.

The Left is usually conflicted, while the Right usually agrees and sees NO need whatsoever to be balanced or fair...

[CAcyclist]

63. I like it when he has a conservative guest

He always manages to make them uncomfortable.

[ProfessorGAC]

29. They Were NOT KIcked Off The Air In Chicago

And they did NOT run out of money. The story is completely inaccurate.

The stations in LA and Chicago were run by a guy who doubledipped the airtime and would not refund AAR's money. They sued to get the money back so he took them off the air because they were suing him.

The case was settled rather than go to court, because the guy had ZERO chance of winning. He had broken the law (civil) and would suffer punitive damages if he didn't just fork over the cash and court costs. He did. AAR got their money back and decided to pursue other markets rather than have to do horsetrading with small operators in the big markets. They'll eventually be back in both cities.
The Professor

[ferme ta bush]

30. Try not to be too dark

one of the top, influentials at clear Channel is "one of us".....change comes from within....

[skippythwndrdog]

32. Jerry Springer headlines one of them.

www.1530wcky.com

1530 WCKY (CKY stands for Covington Kentucky) has changed from oldies to AAR + Jerry Springer. The station, while originally located in Covington Kentucky, now has moved across the river into Cincinnati.

[Robbien]

34. They are doing so because of all the talk recently of their bias.

Their right wing bias has been in the news and commentary a lot this last year or so which waters down the effect of the propaganda. Previously there was little talk about Clear Channel being a right wing tool so they got to pretend they represented mainstream America. They only want to point to these three liberal stations as prove they are not just a right wing propaganda machine.

[420inTN]

36. Wrong

It's about money. These three stations are probably test markets. If they do well, I'd be very surprised if CC doesn't convert more stations to progressive talk radio. The only things that concern CC are: 1) Market-share, 2) Advertising Revenue. not necessarily in that order.

hell, i'd basically consider CC an advertising company. or rather, an advertising medium company... radio, billboards, etc. Everything that they do is about selling advertising. They just use talk and music formats to get the most market-share and therefore charge the most for the advertising.

[Robbien]

41. No not wrong. There is a ton of money to be made in politics

and Clear Channel is making it hand over fist because it is the media tool of corporate elites. Those corporate elites pass money to Clear Channel through advertising revenue. The corporate elites thereby are getting air time to push their agenda through right wing hate talk radio. The people are fooled by the propaganda and vote for the corporate elite candidates to Congress. Congress funnels money to the corporate elites. Nice gig.

But since the propaganda is being watered down by the talk of Clear Channel being biased, Clear Channel needed to take steps to combat the bias talk.

[420inTN]

42. Clear Channel owns more non-talk stations that talk stations

It's not about politics, but advertising money. Talk radio is but one of many formats of CC radio stations. CC owns country/western, rap/hip-hop, and rock format stations in addition to talk radio. The local CC-owned rap/hip-hop stations are definitely not advancing "right wing hate talk" agendas. If CC thinks that they can gain market-share and money from liberal/progressive talk radio formats, then they will do it.

[Robbien]

44. Fox News is now doing the News and the News Breaks on Clear

The right wing corporate propaganda agenda has been in the works for almost thirty years. Yes, many of their stations play just music. But those stations also have news.

The next step in the propaganda agenda has just been completed where Fox and Clear entered into an arrangement to have all Clear stations air only Fox News.

But if Clear Channel is labeled as being right wing, the propaganda effect of the news on music stations is watered down. Clear Channel needs a cover of being balanced.

[420inTN]

57. News to me...

"The next step in the propaganda agenda has just been completed where Fox and Clear entered into an arrangement to have all Clear stations air only Fox News."

1) The changes must not have propagated throughout the CC networks. I believe that the local CC stations are still using ABC or CNN radio for news feeds.

2) While they may be trying to push an "agenda", the more likely scenario is that with one news provider for all of their stations, they probably get a cheaper rate, and have fewer contracts to worry about. Why have three or four news providers, with different contracts, terms, schedules, and rates for each when you can negotiate a single contract and rate? Or, it could be a combination of the two (agenda & cheaper).


"But if Clear Channel is labeled as being right wing, the propaganda effect of the news on music stations is watered down. Clear Channel needs a cover of being balanced."

Why do they need a cover of being balanced? If they want to push an agenda, they can do it. They don't have to pretend to be balanced. Why would you think that they would?

[Robbien]

71. The same reason Fox News insists it is "Fair and Balanced"

If it is fair and balanced then it is news, not propaganda. Fox claims no bias and that it is not a tool for the WH. They claim everything they report, reports both sides accurately and that it does not surpress bad news about Bush and emphasis bad news about progressives. The general masses believe Fox's statements. That is why many still believe in WMD and that Saddam/Osama are linked.

Clear Channel has been hit hard for being right wing. It wants the same believability which Fox claims. So Clear is trying to clean its right wing image by supporting liberal shows.

and in reference to the Fox/Clear Channel deal
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/12/06/financial1132EST0087.DTL
Fox to provide news to Clear Channel stations

The deal is over the next year the news will switch to Fox. So yes you may be hearing ABC/CBS right now, but that will change.

[420inTN]

72. However, CC is not a "news" broadcaster, they don't have to fake balance

Additionally, how has CC been "hit hard for being right wing"? It doesn't look like CC is reeling from any punches.

"It wants the same believability which Fox claims. So Clear is trying to clean its right wing image by supporting liberal shows.

I still think that you are reading far too much into this.


"and in reference to the Fox/Clear Channel deal... "

hmm.. so Fox isn't supplying news to all of CC's stations, just some of the news and talk stations.

"Starting next year, it will provide more than 100 Clear Channel stations with a 5-minute newscast at the top of each hour, a nightly news broadcast and serve as San Antonio-based Clear Channel's primary source on breaking national news."

"Clear Channel, which operates 1,200 stations, did not immediately return a phone call seeking additional comment."

So, clear channel operates 1200 stations, and Fox is going to provide news for over 100 of them. Wow. That's really scary. :eyes:

[Robbien]

73. Nice to see you pick only the parts of the article

which supports your wish that everyone believes Clear Channel is fair and balanced. The article I linked was a local article and you compare local Clear Channel takeovers with national Clear Channel stations. If you wish you could google the national article yourself. I am no longer wasting time on this with you.

Keep on believing in the fair and balanced news reporting of your Fox News and Clear Channel.

I am no longer playing your game.

[420inTN]

75. What the heck are you talking about?

"Nice to see you pick only the parts of the article which supports your wish that everyone believes Clear Channel is fair and balanced."

Where have I stated that I "wished" CC to be "fair and balanced". If anything, I have argued that they DON'T HAVE to be "fair and balanced".


"The article I linked was a local article and you compare local Clear Channel takeovers with national Clear Channel stations."

I have repeatedly explained local conditions. You have been talking about national trends. I took local trends and expounded them to the national scene. You provide a local link about a nationwide story. You stated earler that ALL CC stations are taking up Fox News. However, the link you provide only states that 100+ of CC's 1200 stations will be using Fox News. Currently, Fox News provides news feeds for 275 stations. However, if all options in their contract with CC are executed, the number of stations will expand to 500. That's an increase of only 225 stations. But somehow this equates to every CC station?


"Keep on believing in the fair and balanced news reporting of your Fox News and Clear Channel."

I have neither stated, nor implied, that CC or Fox believes in fair and balanced reporting. Personally, I don't believe that CC gives a crap about "fair and balanced". As I've stated before, their only concerns (imho) are market share and ad revenue.


"I am no longer playing your game."

I'm not the one playing a game.

[eek]

37. so how *does* one mount a campaign to change local radio formats?

I'm in one of those All Hate Radio towns. Never even had Stern here, apparently.

Who do you start pestering? Local station managers? Owners/
I really want AAR here and want at least one of the talk channels to change formats.

Anyone know how to get started?

[RamboLiberal]

67. Start writing them - see if you can find their ratings

The low-rated ones just might be ready. See if any all-sports talk stations are in the ratings toilet.

Send them the WSJ article. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB110616841893830479,00.html?mod=todays%5Ffree%5Ffeature

Highlight this. Smaller companies are switching to Air America, too. Last April, Mapleton Communications LLC's KYNS in San Luis Obispo, Calif., transformed itself overnight from conservative talk to Air America. "People turned it on expecting to hear Sean Hannity, and got Al Franken instead," says station manager Nancy Leichter.

The new programming created "a lot of controversy," Ms. Leichter says. But after an initial dip in listeners and advertisers -- she lost a flooring company and a landscaper -- Ms. Leichter saw both numbers pick up again. By late summer, advertising revenue was running almost double what it had been under the conservative format, a pace that continues today.

Organize others in your area to email and write. Write the newpaper - especially if they have a letter column for local media/entertainment.

Good Luck - I'm still trying to convince a little local station manager he's an idiot for having mostly all conservative against 2 big ass conservative stations in town.

[Bouncy Ball]

38. I'll believe it when I hear liberal talk radio in Dallas.

[TEXASYANKEE]

54. Exactly.

I couldn't agree more. Nothing but hate radio 'round here.

[Bouncy Ball]

55. That's called "hatio" ma'am!

[Kikosexy2]

39. AAR..

is coming back to L.A.--yyeeaaaaahhhh!

[SleeplessinSoCal]

68. 690 am in L.A.

[genieroze]

40. It's about F**king time. eom

[GoddessOfGuinness]

52. Fuck them

Stick with satellite, Internet radio, and devices such as iPods!

[Gingersnapsback]

60. When is Gore's TV station going to becoe a true liberal media source?

[98geoduck]

69. It's probably a GUISE!!!

To collect habit info on non FOX/CNN/ MSNBC watchers.
Got to get the left to spend their money on something, now that they've eradicated the savings and homes of the working poor right.

[Southsideirish]

74. They can see which way the wind is blowing. The era of the dim witted

"conservative" is over - they just don't know it (yet) .

[Freddie Stubbs]

80. I'll believe it when liberal radio is getting as high ratings as

conservative radio. I don't think we're at that point yet. If the conservative era were over, Bush would have lost in a landslide.

[grahamhgreen]

81. Randi Rhodes Rules

http://www.randirhodesarchives.com/

[leesa]

82. Well, AAR alone has 46 in January. I expect it will be many more.

The great thing about Clear Channel is that they would sacrifice their "morals" for $$$ in a heartbeat.

[rocktivity]

83. No real details

Will it be Air America, or a hybrid Clear Channel is creating?

:shrug:
rocknation