Danny Goldberg : Air America CEO

[Moochy]

XM deal, Jerry Springer replacing Morning Sedition, Handing over programming to clear channel on many stations. Ignoring listener feedback, for some purported "big name draw" of Springer. AAR is supposedly getting bigger advertising because advertisers are stupid and think Springer will get better ratings. (check the arbitrons, he's sucking eggs)

Anyone else think he's made some horrible decisions?

these folks do:
http://shows.airamericaradio.com/ms/node/486

Oh well, the good news for me, is that all our liberal progressive eggs aren't in the AAR basket. Plenty of folks have posted good alternatives that are actually alternatives, not mainstreamed corporatist BS.

Thom Hartman for the AM, and Morning Sedition on podcast, Mike Malloy on webcasting.

And for those who think its better to just shut up and listen to Jerry, do you *actually* like Jerry or are you just tolerating him for some supposed benefit ? You know, the middle americans who are being converted by his moderate boring show?

I think the real reason he's on, is because he wants to reform his public image in advance of a resurgent political career. AND AAR is getting more advertising, despite lower ratings. (1.1 & 1.2 now in SF & NY)

[K-W]

1. Your criticisms arent accurate.

They replaced unfiltered with Jerry Springer, and you seem to be leaving out the fact that unfiltered was not getting good ratings, and was barely still a show.

Jerry springer is not a "purported" big name draw. He is a big name, whether he draws is still to be seen.

Clear Channel has always had the control over thier stations programming, they were handed nothing. They have chosen which of AAR's content to purchase. There is nothing wrong with this arrangement. AAR cant insist that stations it doesnt control air its entire schedule as is.

It is far too early in Springers show on AAR to draw conclusions. They certainly gave Unfiltered more time than you are giving Jerry.

[Moochy]

2. Far too Early?

Jerry Springers show, you like it? (not trying to bait anyone here)

on edit,
Unfiltered I never listened to, so why is that relevant to Jerry Springer? Morning Sedition's time delayed show to the west coast, 6am - 9am was replaced by jerry in some markets, and Stephanie miller in others.

AAR didnt stand up for Morning Sedition, which is a great show.
Jerry Springer has more name recognition, but I challenge anyone to say that its a better show than Morning Sedition.

[K-W]

3. Its only been a few months.

And I dont get to listen to him often enough to have much of an opinion.

[Moochy]

4. Hear me now believe me later

Don't have to trust me, but yeah it's bad, especially in comparison to a quality show with bits, guests, and topics that don't hurt your brain.

Danny Goldberg is selling this "moderate" crap to the advertisers who buy the ads on clear channel stations. Thats the transfer of "control" I'm referring to. AAR is no longer a package deal, it's clear to me, and others as well that CC is out to "tone down" the "seditious" programming coming out of AAR.

This morning on a repeat show, Jerry was entertaining the right winger Klein's accusations that Hilary is a Lesbian. Jerry said well lets say that these accusations are 99% false. He later upped it to 100% false.

[K-W]

5. If you dont like the show, dont listen,

but stop trying to make this into something bigger than it is.

Jerry Springer is a progressive. If he isnt your kind of progressive, deal with it. Not every member of the progressive community is going to agree with every other member.

"Danny Goldberg is selling this "moderate" crap to the advertisers who buy the ads on clear channel stations. Thats the transfer of "control" I'm referring to. AAR is no longer a package deal, it's clear to me, and others as well that CC is out to "tone down" the "seditious" programming coming out of AAR."

I assume you have some internal memos from AAR to prove that they are selling themselves as moderate to advertisers?

So the transfer of control you are referring to is not actually a transfer of control? Why didnt you just say the truth in your original post? I guess "decided to allow syndication of individual shows" doesnt have the same zing as "transfer of control to clear channel"

You are taking two obvious business decisions and implying a motive that there is no evidence whatsoever of.

1. They replaced unfiltered, a show that was not doing well, and that only had one full time host remaining with a nationally known name.

2. And after initially getting thier full content on the air in a few markets, they switched thier model (as everyone knew they would eventually) to allow for individual syndication.

There is nothing sinister about either of these moves, which btw did not happen in any relationship to each other.

How can it possibly be clear to you that this is an attempt to remove seditious messages from AAR when there is no evidence whatsoever of such an attempt?

[Moochy]

6. Right, I shouldnt post I'm sorry

but stop trying to make this into something bigger than it is.

Yeah, I'm part of some bigger nefarious effort to get Morning sedition back on the air in my local market.

Jerry Springer is a progressive. If he isnt your kind of progressive, deal with it.

I thought I was, by posting on DU my problems with the recent decisions?

I'm not claiming to have any inside memo. I'm just not pleased with the trend I see, and wondering if others have similar feelings about AAR's CEO.

And getting rid of "seditious" material was a pun on Morning Sedition.
Sorry for leaving out the :sarcasm: icon.

Sure, we lowly citizens don't have all the info, but so what?

So the transfer of control you are referring to is not actually a transfer of control? Why didnt you just say the truth in your original post? I guess "decided to allow syndication of individual shows" doesnt have the same zing as "transfer of control to clear channel"

Yeah I'm going for ZING.. gimme a break, why do you have to assume I'm trying to be disingenious?

For me, Unfiltered was a non-issue. I guess the East coast time zone trumps the rest of the country, and I was ignorant of the fact that unfiltered filled the timeslot Jerry Springer replaced.

I now see your point about Jerry vs. Unfiltered show.

[K-W]

7. Please post, disagreements and critism are part of the deal.

"Yeah, I'm part of some bigger nefarious effort to get Morning sedition back on the air in my local market."

If that is your goal, you are going about it all wrong. AAR has no control whatsoever of which shows programmers want on airtime it doesnt own.

The person you should be attacking is whoever makes the programming decisions for the local station.

"I thought I was, by posting on DU my problems with the recent decisions?"

You thought you were dealing with the fact that you dont like your local stations choice of programming by writing a dishonest hit piece on an AAR executive?

"I'm not claiming to have any inside memo. I'm just not pleased with the trend I see, and wondering if others have similar feelings about AAR's CEO. "

If you dont have proof why did you make the claim?

"Sure, we lowly citizens don't have all the info, but so what?"

All the info is not required, but you have provided not one piece of information to backup your claims.

"Yeah I'm going for ZING.. gimme a break, why do you have to assume I'm trying to be disingenious? :

Because you were being disengenous. No power was handed over to clear channel. AAR offered up its programming for individual syndication. Some of the stations that purchased thier content were clear channel.

"For me, Unfiltered was a non-issue. I guess the East coast time zone trumps the rest of the country, and I was ignorant of the fact that unfiltered filled the timeslot Jerry Springer replaced. "

It has nothing to do with the east coast.

The person you are critisizing did not replace Sedition with Springer. That was the programmer of your local station that AAR does not control. The fact that your local programmer thinks Springer will outsell morning sedition has nothing to do with any policy at AAR, if they didnt sell individual programs, they would never be a national product.

[Moochy]

9. Actually glad to hear that :)

Just wanted to be clear I'm not inferring "nefarious" intent to the CEO. Clearly my orignal post was not a hit peice. Others were mad about the XM deal, and I am personally mad about Jerry Springers show even getting a timeslot.

I posted the link to the morning sedition blog as evidence of others being upset with the recent changes too.

I don't like the decision to sign Jerry Springer. I'm entitled to that opinion, and I think that many who say they like him only say that for the "big-name" value he's supposed to add to AAR's lineup.
Others are obviously welcome to disagree, I just havent' seen anyone defend his show, other than for the nice treatment of right wingers who call in, having some positive impact on fence sitters. (but never the posters, it's always for the benefit of their right wing neighbors)

And, yes I've contacted the local programmer of KQKE and got the same form mail that everyone else got saying how exciting jerry springer show is going to be. It sounds like there may be a change to Stephanie Miller in the AM slot that Jerry Springer now occupies. (6am to 9am) so , who knows maybe speaking out in droves has had the desired effect? :shrug:

Anyways thanks (really) for pointing out the innacuracies in my original post, I was not trying to write a hit peice or a slanderous thing inferring nefarious intent.

My two peices of evidence re: Goldberg's recent bad decisions are not anything that requires memos or internal communications.

1) XM satellite deal, irked alot of sirus aar listeners.
2) My first hand knowledge of Jerry Springer's show, which has been about 4 seperate shows.

And as far as power being handed over to CC, I mean that if AAR used to be a package deal, but now it's a la carte. That's a less powerful syndication model that allows local stations alot more control over who they run, what time delays.

[K-W]

15. Your original post...

suggested that Danny Goldberg was making decisions to moderate the tone of AAR to appeal to advertisers and prime a political career. I think that qualifies as a hit piece considering that there is no evidence of that, but I have no desire to argue over labels.

"And as far as power being handed over to CC, I mean that if AAR used to be a package deal, but now it's a la carte. That's a less powerful syndication model that allows local stations alot more control over who they run, what time delays."

That is a tortured justification for your original statements about Clear Channel. It is not a less powerful syndication model, that is nonsense. The term powerful doesnt even apply.

And it doesnt allow local stations anything. Basically there are two types of stations that AAR broadcasts on. There are stations that AAR purchases air time on and stations who purchase AAR content.

At first AAR needed roots. They had to create a market. They did so by purchasing air time in major markets and airing thier own lineup. During this time they insisted on a full schedule because they needed the foundation.

This was never going to be a permanant condition, because simply purchasing air time is not a viable business model in radio. If they wanted to make money and expand they had to switch to a standard syndication model.

That is why that change was made. You cant go to stations across the country and say "We will only let you purchase our programs if you let us control your station"

[Moochy]

17. Small clarification : Jerry's Future Political Career

"suggested that Danny Goldberg was making decisions to moderate the tone of AAR to appeal to advertisers and prime a political career. I think that qualifies as a hit piece considering that there is no evidence of that, but I have no desire to argue over labels."

The political career in question is that of Jerry Springer. Sorry for the sloppiness, and hit-peice tone. I read the morning sedition blog and saw alot of folks feeling similarly, that Springer was to the right of the mess of a show that was Unfiltered.

You obviously know more about the radio market than I do, and I appreciate the info you've posted.

I think that the NPR should be more like the BBC, with firewalls for content. I'm physically pained by listening to commmercial radio advertisements, so in many ways I'm not their target demographic. So I am admittedly biased against the entire model of commercial radio.

At first AAR needed roots. They had to create a market. They did so by purchasing air time in major markets and airing thier own lineup. During this time they insisted on a full schedule because they needed the foundation.

I did not know thats how they started. By power I mean just that, I thought that AAR had more "power" when what it sounds like they were doing was just buying whole blocs of airtime. I mistook that "power" as evidence of their upper hand in negotiating radio deals with local affiliates.

[K-W]

18. Fair enough, sorry if I was too harsh

I get frustrated with alot of pointless AAR bashing, which I now see was not your intent.

[madfloridian]

10. Springer is part of AAR.

It was not a local station decision. He is part of the AAR team.
They did replace the other show with his show, AAR did.

I have Sirius, so I either change over or not to XM.

Not trying to argue about it, except Springer is part of the AAR team, not just a local decision. I can't listen to him, and I tried before the switchover.

[K-W]

12. You misread this thread.

The issue is that that Moochy's local station replaced Morning Sedition with Jerry Springer. This was NOT an AAR decision. AAR replaced Unfiltered with Springer.

[Moochy]

14. Self Edit (re: Moody Moochy)

and K-W what punny thing can I do to your name... (I got nothing btw)

Regarding the fredudian typo moody vs moochy on edit, thanks I am a bit moody this morning though, why? Because I missed my Morning Sedition!

:D

I'll take back what I inferred about nefarious intent to tone down or moderate the political tenor of AAR. Goldberg is mereley operating in the commercial radio market, which is, inherently nefarious. IMO.

[K-W]

16. Ive already told you my familiarity with his show.

And my mistake with your name was purely accidental and I corrected it.

[NashVegas]

8. Goldberg

Wrote a book a couple years ago about how Democratic leadership was ignoring the youth of America and leaving them apathetic. I didn't read it, but saw some of his articles at the time that summed it. He failed to point out any correlation to the current state of the entertainment industry, of which he has generally been one of the 'good guys,' which is blatantly based on people ditching their ethics and art to get a fucking hit.

[Dawgs]

11. I get very little political talk from Morning Sedition on my 45 minute...

drive to work in the morning. Jerry is at least all political talk. I can listen to the local pop station if I want to hear lame attempts at comedy. I listen to AAR for political talk, not for anything else. There are some mornings when I have not heard one comment on anything political. And, as I've said, it takes me up to an hour each day to get to work.

[iconoclastNYC]

13. I don't know what show you are watching.

I've listened to AAR from day one. Morning Sedition has a lot of political talk.

I highly doubt there has been any morning when you didn't hear anything political on Morning Sedition. All thier comedy bits are about politics. The whole show is about politics.

If you hate comedy so much turn on NPR.

[Moochy]

19. The two shows today... Ambassador Joe wilson vs. Joe Klein's lies

Here's the promo from AAR site:

Morning Sedition
Your daily wake-up call, with a healthy shot of laughter and a thorough look at the day's news, with Marc Maron and Mark Riley.
Monday Guests: Ambassador Joe Wilson, at the center of the CIA leak firestorm, Ambassador Wendy Sherman on the North Korea talks, and author Barry Yourgrau, author of 'Nasty Book'


vs.


Jerry Springer, The Voice of The Middle Class, is also a voice of reason in turbulent times.
Monday: The Best of Springer - Rove smears Wilson, Klein smears Hillary, and thoughts on the Supreme Court nominee