Air America's flight plan is still changing (had encouraging ratings)

[papau]

Two months after its launch, Air America finally has some encouraging ratings, and as Al Franken,anounced Wednesday, he is now receiving a paycheck,.. - granted the Wednesday check was the first in a few weeks.

http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/ehIV0H5DEY0G2B0F1jD0Af



Air America's flight plan is still changing
The liberal network alters its business model and woos the industry.

By Elizabeth Jensen, Times Staff Writer

NEW YORK — When Air America's Al Franken discusses his fellow talk radio hosts, he's almost always baiting them for their conservative stances. But during a recent speech to a convention of skeptical radio hosts and executives, the liberal Franken struck a different tone. He was not only self-deprecating, but even gave grudging respect to archrival Rush Limbaugh.<snip>

Talkers magazine publisher Michael Harrison, who organized the New Media Seminar in late May, said Franken's more humble keynote speech was a smart move. "He could have had a disastrous encounter face to face with the powers that be in the business. Instead, he very cleverly and skillfully won a lot of friends," Harrison said. Franken forged common ground by talking about such dear-to-radio issues as the 1st Amendment and the Federal Communications Commission, and insisted that liberal radio hosts aren't anti-American. "This is the first time he conducted himself like a member of the broadcasting community rather than a politician," Harrison said.<snip>

The "trend numbers" he referred to — which Franken also loudly touted in public appearances in New York last week — are an extrapolation from listener data collected by the ratings firm Arbitron, though not Arbitron's official twice-yearly audience survey. In New York during April, its first month on the air, Air America attracted more listeners in the 25-to-54-year-old demographic from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. than did WABC, where the popular Limbaugh is heard. Air America also beat WABC among the 18-to-34-year-old group. That's specifically intriguing to many in the business since talk radio typically draws an older audience.

Air America had encouraging ratings in the evenings as well, when Janeane Garofalo is the host. But the morning drive-time numbers — a particularly lucrative time period for radio stations — weren't as strong. The network had similarly encouraging results in Chicago, but it's no longer heard there after a dispute with the station group it leased time from. Internet listening also has been heavy.<snip>

But many in the radio industry said Air America's business model was simply wrong, noting that the plan to buy stations or lease airtime wasn't practical because there aren't enough outlets available. One program syndicator said Air America's absence from another major industry convention, held by the trade publication Radio & Records in February, was widely seen as arrogant. <snip>

[LTR]

1. KPOJ Portland

Went from a 0.3 overall share to 3.7 in last month's ratings trends.

That is almost unheard of for an AM talk station.

[JimT]

2. Chicago?

I'll be more encouraged when they (hopefully) reappear in Chicago.