How strong are the Air America radio stations?

[ringmastery]

I read that they for the most part are low-power without great signals in their markets.

[biko]

1. Does Air America Violate Campaign Finance Laws?

I heard somewhere (dont know if its true) that Air America is paying those stations to carry its programs until enough advertisers are found.

If thats true, is it a violation of the compaign finance rules that say you cant pay to advertise your candidate?

I think that only applies to around election time. Im not sure.
Can anyone straighten me out on this?

Thanks.

[Postman]

2. I don't know maybe you should ask Rush..

over at WABC. Are they violating campaign finance laws because all they air is rightwing bullshit?

[SharonAnn]

21. And, Rush pays some radio stations to carry his show.

That way he gets paid by the advertizers.

[Cocoa]

3. RNC should sue

why not, they've sued at every opportunity. Keeping those lawyers in business.

[newyawker99]

6. Hi biko!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[SoCalDem]

7. Ask O'Reilly... Stations were paid $100,000 to carry his drivel

when he "got" his radio show.. I remember him being very indignant when the story first came out..:)

Does anyone really think that the advertising money for Rush FatAss' show generates enough income for his multi-million dollar salary??

How many fold-up beds and snake-oil pills do the "people" out there buy, anyway??

[LTR]

10. Not true

Same principle as religious groups bartering time with AM stations. And believe me, there are a ton of them.

Westwood One paid a bundle to some stations to carry Bill O'Liely.

The Dem party doesn't own AA. It is privately owned. So they can do whatever they want as far as buying time on local stations.

[NashVegas]

16. Not At All

Air America is programming content, not advertising. They are, in effect, leasing the signals its being broadcasted on.

[West Coast Democrat]

20. Clear Channel runs the AA Station in Portland

Do you think Clear Channel would break the law to help the DNC, or do you think it's more likely that Clear Channel simply believes that it will make money running a Liberal radio station in Portland, Oregon?

[Robin Hood]

25. There are a ton of legitimate ads on KPOJ/Air America.

By legitimate I mean JCPenney's etc.. The broadcast seems like it's half commercials.

[realdeal22k]

27. As long as it can't be traced to the Democratic party it's OK

I'm sure they have their six covered.

[MoonRiver]

31. GIVE ME A BREAK

:eyes:

[NightTrain]

4. I'm in the Hartford area and can pick up WLIB, but not strongly.

There's quite a bit of static, and the signal fades out depending on where I am. Hopefully, they'll have a Boston affiliate soon. (I'm not going to count on Air America coming to Hartford itself any time soon!)

[NewJeffCT]

11. same with me in Hartford

And, I tend to get NYC stations much stronger than anything out of Boston...

definitely not a 50,000 watt flamethrower like 660, 770 & 880.

[hexola]

5. How strong is Comcast...!!!

Broadband in the home is changing the playing field...

It seems even AA wasn't ready for the online response...

[IronLionZion]

28. They are rocking online now!

they had a shaky first day but it works great now. I'm guessing they opened up a bunch of mirrors to handle the massive demand. Some of the AM stations have live streams too. It would be so awesome if they got into more AM stations.

[theoceansnerves]

8. the one in los angeles must be very weak

i'm in north orange county and i can't hear it.

[jackstraw45]

12. LA Station VERY weak

and tape delayed. So no phone calls unless you're listening online.

I expect big improvements over the months ahead. Rome wasn't built in a day but I hope they improve signal strength in LA AND go live against Limbaugh instead of tape delaying (ugh!).

[tishaLA]

14. I hear it well

but I live in Hollywood and the station is based in KOreatown, I think. I hate that it's tape delayed.

[ramapo]

9. It looks like a mix

Most of the stations are low power with spotty coverage of their markets. KBLA might be the exception. So it depends on the directional attenna pattern of your local station, if you're fortunate enough to have one.

Here in the NY market, AA is carried by WLIB. WLIB has a good signal to the east but only a fair signal north and west. It only gets worse at night when the propogation changes and WLIB's signal competes with those from halfway across the country.

The only positive is that the reduced coverage makes the airtime less expensive to lease. I understand the deal in NY is that AA pays WLIB for use between 5AM and Midnight.

Looks like there may be different deals at each station. KCAA appears to only be carrying the Franken show.

If you want more info on a station check out the FCC database...
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/amq.html

[mouse7]

13. I get a good signal on Portland KPOJ

I live almost on top of downtown by Knob Hill. Can't really tell you how the rest of town is getting the station, though.

[Robbien]

15. The one in Chicago is strong

or at least it is on the north side. It is great to get in the car and have the radio on am 950 taking the liberal voices along with me where ever I go.

[alcuno]

19. Isn't it amazing? To listen to liberal radio whenever you want?

It is SO amazing. I'm north of Chicago and it sounds fine. I'm still getting over the shock that it's on at all. I used to gear my Sundays around Ski and Skinner on WLS. After a few years, they were gone. I've also been locked in to WNUR on Saturdays from 9am to 1pm. Now there seems to be radio I can listen to all the time. Truly amazing. Now I know some how the East Germans felt.

[never cry wolf]

32. I am in south Arlington Heights

Near I-90 and it is a very weak signal here. Plus, I hate how they have it on a one hour delay, makes no sense to me. Please all Chicagoans and other central time zoners (twin cities?) write and ask them to go live over the air.

[rucky]

17. KPOJ (Portland) is weak

I drive under a tree & get fuzz. But I live in the hills - may be better in the valleys.

[Seeker30]

18. Comes in nice and clear on satellite radio

Channel 167 on XM

[Spirochete]

23. I can't get it at all

on my home receiver. I can get it in my car just fine. But I'm over in Vancouver. Maybe reception isn't so good over here.

[CalebHayes]

24. gee, I thought about trying to get them in at night...

I'm in Olympia,WA. I guess its not even worth it.

[stevedeshazer]

26. You should be able to get it

Try your car, if you have one. Daytime would be better than night.

It's worth it.

[KharmaTrain]

22. Size Is Deceptive...Maybe This Helps...

All stations broker, or sell the airtime to Air America. This isn't illegal, actually very common...a method most commonly used by religious groups (K-Love as an example). It's a safer way to set up a network without the overhead of owning stations until a revenue base is built up. Hopefully enough spots are being sold at the outset to cover the uplink, studio and air time. If this is the case Air America will be around for a nice, long time.

Expect the pooh-poohers to bash the number and size of the stations, but that really doesn't matter as these signals cover the 3 largest markets, and if interest continues, other markets will follow. Also there's the internet and satellite signals that also are measured and hopefully will help in the network's sales and marketing.

These folks are trying to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time. So far, I've been impressed with what I hear and it's just a matter of time to see how well things work.

One thing listeners can do is investigate their local markets...poor performing AM stations are ideal targets that may be interested in clearing some or all of AA's programming...especially if you'll spend a couple bucks a week to sponsor it. (hint hint).

[LTR]

29. Leasing radio stations is very common these days

Chances are, there are probably a few weak AM stations in your market that engage in this.

How it works is that a typical struggling AM station (and there are TONS of them) will run out of programming ideas, since most everyone listens to FM or the big 50kw AM news/talk behemoth. AM has been pretty desolate since music migrated to FM in the 70s. So said AM station will allow groups to lease time. These groups are often religious or foreign language broadcasters.

Enter Air America. They go to a struggling AM, offer some decent money to take the reigns of the station, pay rent, and take care of the programming/ad sales. Almost like infomercials/home shopping on the low-power TV stations in town. Win-win situation for all. AA has the programming, and the outlet to broadcast it from, and the owner doesn't have some worthless AM station dragging down the local broadcast group's other, more successful stations. And people actually realize the station exists.

Syndicated shows sometimes do this (O'Liely, for example). They also barter, where they offer the show for free, but sell all/most of the commercial time. The big guns like Stern and Lowbrow charge huge sums of money to carry their shows.

It's a common practice, and one that AA can really take advantage of. Nice business plan.

As for Clear Channel, I assume they just got tired of micromanaging their little obscure talk station (I saw their previous lineup, and one must be pretty desperate to run Imus), and they decided to turn it over to AA. They still get paid, and it may even give them a little more cred with the left (in case their worst nightmare happens and Kerry actually gets elected). No big loss for them.

As for those annoying K-Love stations, that is something else entirely. K-Love is an outfit that takes advantge of a FCC loophole and puts up 10-100 watt transmitters that blanket whole markets, while providing no local content whatsoever. Pretty annoying, and borderline illegal.

[KharmaTrain]

30. Well Put & Ahem...Amen...(K-Love Rant)

You have the scenario right on the "money"...and AA stands in good stead since it is starting so small.

There are a ton of Clear Channel, Infinity & Disney dog AM signals...many that are now being fed the right wing drivel...mostly since there isn't much of anything else out there. AA just needs to get enough money in to pay the board ops and the air and satellite time and things could work very nicely for them.

If the network draws any numbers (especially 18-34) on any of the signals, especially Portland or Minneapolis, look for Cheap Channel to roll the dice a little more and stick the network on in other markets...ones they all but dominate, like Cincinatti, Detroit, Atlanta and so on. The advantage of AA is Franken runs in middays...so it can be "stripped" on News/Talkers, like Rush is...and on daytime only signals.

On to K-Love...and other religious hucksters (Family Radio, Moody, American Family)...these scams should be investigated by a future, Democrat FCC. These companies not only operate under the guise of non-profit religious organizations, but get special treatment at the FCC for getting licenses to spread their propoganda, sell their snake oil and then sell air time.

It's public airwaves not only abused for profit, but also with little to no accountability and accessibility. These are public airwaves used for religious purposes...clearly a violation of the seperation of church & state...and food for a nice discussion in the Media area, if anyone's interested...

Cheers!