So how is Air America Radio, and progressive talk in general, really doing? Michael at blatherWatch has the scoop on both the numbers and the politics… and contrary to the doomsayers from the right, it’s looking pretty good.
Here in Seattle, KPTK 1090 continues its very respectable with growth:
Anderson mentioned mention several cities where the format has shown great success. Seattle’s newly talk-formatted KPTK, doubled in the Winter book, Portland’s KPOJ AM grew 1000% in audience share.
I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to 1090 going local.
One thing I’d like to see is a stronger signal. It really starts dwindling once you get past Redmond to the east.
But certainly the travelling national shows have really helped grow awareness around the country. It is quite amazing how the audiences have grown in just one year.
Hooray!
Regarding the signal, it is pretty erratic. Although it can be difficult south of Tacoma at times, I can still recieve it in Ocean Shores when I am visiting.
And BTW, I first heard of Horesesass.org from the AM1090 forum!
Cheers!
I’ve been listening to AAR from day one (primarily via the internet, and now podcast, even after local stations finally appeared). Their shows have definitely gotten stronger as their hosts gained experience and got into their groove. I listen almost exclusively to their morning shows – the Rachel Maddow Show is without peer ( her previous show w/ Lizz Winstead, Unfiltered, despite the dig in blatherWatch’s rundown, was one of my favorites), while Morning Sedition sometimes makes me cry from laughing so hard. Their other shows boast a wide variety of styles and tastes, and are usually interesting on some level. Franken gets the best guests, but while I’ve always been a fan of his satire, as a radio host he’s tiresome. The only show I can’t take for more than a few minutes is Randi Rhodes, who set the tone during her first AAR show by shouting down Ralph Nader until he finally hung up on her – if you approve of that kind of disgraceful behavior then you’d probably like her show.
You lefties should be proud; liberal radio getting listeners in Seattle ought to be the easiest thing going…
Go read the report; AM 1090 basically stealing from Kiro; who cares which liberal station still adds to no growth.
that said, i’d say the success of kvi and ktth points to these 2 statiosn being the only local media for us; no papers and no TV for our side. Bingo kvi and ktth fil the void.
There are some key things to note here: AA is doing better than the Flimbaugh brand at this same stage. Also, the righties so fear AA, that they spend a great deal of time, energy, money and attention trying to “talk” it to death. In other words, they HOPE it will go away. The right can’t stand AT ALL the fact that we have a voice. They liked it a bunch better when the GOP got the only say. AA adds stations every week. Not to mention, they are popular on XM, Sirrus and online.
It’s only a matter of time before the tide turns. People can only take so much of the faux patriots on the right wing radio.
As for KVI – KTTH – KTTH is a wisp of its former self. Fracturing the market as it does, it does more good for the left than the right.
Now we need a national cable tv network that is as openly biased to the left as Faux News is to the right.
Here in San Francisco the lefties listen to KQKE-AM 960 on the AM dial. When in SF, I spun through it once by accident and listened. I was sadly disappointed. Sorry, their format isn’t for PacMan. I understand it’s only doing so-so here. I think Michael Savage even beats AA and Sean Hannity together in share points.
Borders, Language, & Culture, where is Air America talking about that? It’s “We Hate Bush, We Hate Republicans, We hate anything to the right of Howard Dean”. Sorry, but the country was not built on hate.
PacMan
For you libs so eager to point to your facts; go look at the 1.5 share, about 1/2 of the big boys.
I think you’ll do better, but your media needs are arleady fulfilled by kiro, the tv statsion, the pi and times.
Daniel, 1090 has always had a marginal signal. They are located on south Vashon Island and are very directional both day and night. If you listen closely at night, you can hear 1090 in Tijuana, a station that Seattle’s 1090 must protect.
They should broadcast from one of those powerful Mexican stations and explain it away as a NAFTA thing. Free enterprise, the market, all that stuff….
I am excited about AA’s expanding market share. It shows that freedom of expression is alive and well. If this trend contines AA will break 100,000 listener in no time. Heck if they can hang on and get another 19,900,000 listeners they may even beat Rush!
You will not hear about this on that radio station nor anyting good going on in the world. All I hear everybody’s gloom a doom if Bush or Clinton does anything great for this country.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06.....oref=login
What? No comments from Roger Rabbit aka DON? Don, are you pretending to be busy on fathers day?
Sorry to bust your little brass ones here morons, but AAR is just losing money left (pun intended) and right. I heard AAR was created to dump Soros money to fund the campaign for Hillary for the next 3 years. LOL How pathetic you lefty’s are. You are losers and you are losing badly. Cheating is the only way you can win.
http://www.businessweek.com/ma.....tm?chan=tc
says: “Harry Thomason, a Hollywood director and longtime friend of Bill Clinton’s, confirmed to BusinessWeek that Clear Channel has had talks with the former President about his own show.”
I’d love to hear you lefties spin it if ex-Pres. Clinton signs with the “Wal-Mart of radio”. Money talks guys. If AAR was going places Clinton would be talking to them and not Clear Channel.
HA HA HA Clinton, the liberals #1 hero. Boy if that is not a sign AAR is hurting what is? Franken, Garofolo and Rhodes aint cuttin it huh?
Slick just can’t get enough of himself. talk about a disgrace to the Whitehouse, will slick be broadcasting live from his re-created oral office in his Little Rock library? he can have an all female crew sitting on his lap as he says “talk into the mic”
All liberals have to do to make Rush’s ratings go up is to just be themselves.
NO, not that mic, THIS ONE.
Monica honey pass me that little blue pill.
KPTK also carries Ed Shultz, which is not an Air America Program, but he still is progressive(and a good diversion to Dori Monson when Dori rants too much!).
I first stumbled on it during the Apple Cup.
#18; Does progressive just mean liberal; that’s the word you guys use and i think its just a nicer sounding word for lib/lefty
righton @ 19
Progressivism is not a synonym for liberal.
The following Wikipedia entry has a pretty good discussion of progressivism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.....ted_States
A brief excerpt:
uh, zip? This may surprise you, but I believe at least HALF of the AA stations are owned by Clearchannel.
21
Jerry Springer adressed a conference of Clear Channel execs, just after having a nice conversation with Sean Hannity minutes earlier.
What Springer does on Radio is radically different than what he does on TV.
dj; wikipedia is not a source.
I challenge you guys; that is, the word progressive was almost never used up till a year ago. And I know its history, LaFollete, etc as a US political movement in the early 20th century.
But in the last year or so, the left decided left sounded bad, or wasn’t as slick sounding as “progressive”
Not a speck of difference between your avg Lib or Dem or Progressive of 2005.
Spin baby spin
righton @ 23
“wikipedia is not a source.”
What the fuck are you talking about? Of course it is a source; it is one with limitations, however. I read the article and find that it is “pretty good.” Not great, but good enough to provide the gist of the difference between the terms “liberal” and “progressive” (which was what your question was about).
“I challenge you guys; that is, the word progressive was almost never used up till a year ago. And I know its history, LaFollete, etc as a US political movement in the early 20th century. But in the last year or so, the left decided left sounded bad, or wasn’t as slick sounding as “progressive””
Ok. Here goes. I was reading the Progressive Magazine in the late 1970s. (I believe it dates back to the 1950s). Sooooo. . . perhaps it is because I grew up in a liberal hotbed of a city in the Midwest, but the term “Progressive” has been a pretty regular part of my vocabulary since the early 1970.
Don’t like the way the word is used in contemporary political discussion? Tough! Whether you like it or not, the word conveys a widely recognized meaning (like “neocon” does). The language doesn’t stop evolving because righton is a linguistic antediluvian dipshit.
Righton, you get too much of your information from neo-con barf-fests. Try doing a little thinking for yourself and research outside of talk radio.
Hmmm, the 50’s? I recall McCarthyism. The leftist movement was alive and well in the 50’s, so you admit you’ve been allowing yourself to be brainwashed by the Kommy’s all these years.
tj @ 21
Oh well you’d better tell the kool aid drinkers at this site:
http://www.prometheusradio.org.....heet12.doc
They seem to regard Clear Channel as the devil’s spawn. I hope they don’t listen to AAR.
ProudAss @ 25
“The leftist movement was alive and well in the 50’s, so you admit you’ve been allowing yourself to be brainwashed by the Kommy’s all these years.”
Nope. The Progressive Magazine was around in the 50s. I wasn’t.
dj; i learned about progressive movement when i was a history major; I would only use wikipedia as source for nerd related things, certainly not for items w/ a political slant (as you can see, the notion of what’s a progressive is a political question as well as a factual one.
I’m too lazy to dig up my books; but go look at the 1910 to 1920 era; one thing you all forget is the progresssives drove introducing referendums, figuring letting the people take charge is good. Now of course in Wa state you all hate them, and our regressive state legis cynicaly uses “emergency” powers to override the peoples will
I’m waiting for Wm Safire or other language wags to note the sudden flurry of use of this word. Again I think you all use it cuz it sounds better than liberal.
dj; first link in google search http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1061.html
you already HAVE local talk radio. Haven’t you heard Mike Webb? He’s always angry and repeating leftist mantras. And you’ve got Dave Ross, the leftist who keeps denying he’s one. But we know he is.
You Bushonians are indeed morons! Air America, which is based here in NY, is about as “liberal” as Time magazine. BUt compared to the rest of the mindless KVI style crap out there, well, it’s a start. Randi Rhodes IS obnoxious–but then, this is New York.
73 Seattle….
spanking redraw Libya obstruction ream about