Posted on 03/18/2010 7:49:39 AM PDT by FourPeas
Financed by some, but clearly not enough, liberal fat cats hoping to provide a countervoice to right-wing radio, Air America lurched to life amid chaos and suspicious bookkeeping that nearly sank the network in its first few months. Flouting received radio wisdom that one strong host creates the strongest listener identity, Air America began with teams in each three-hour time slot....
[snip]
So why is poli-talk radio so dominated by Limbaugh, when the country is not? Because even for people who don't agree with him, he can be monstrously entertaining; he makes great radio. He and his clones may dominate as a radio format and energize the conservative base and annoy liberal politicians, but their success is not a reflection of the mood of the country at large. And in the ratings, the whole contingent of the radio right is outpointed by NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
I admit to listening to All Things Considered (From One Point Of View) at times to hear how the liberals are spinning the news. When in the right frame of mind, it can be quite entertaining, if not absolutely silly. Air America? After hearing a few excerpts on the web, I'd had more than enough of their "ilk."
In the ratings, NPR is higher than Rush Limbaugh? Are they serious? I thought NPR ratings were a fraction of most commercial radio stations.
Or, is this story a plant to plant the seeds that NPR is where good liberals who used to listen to Air America should listen?
Its simple. If you want to know what liberals think, turn on any of the major news networks. If you want to know what conservatives think, listen to Rush. Liberals are about 20% of the country, Conservatives are about 40%. Those numbers tell the tale.
Does the fact that they pilfered from charities mean NOTHING?
Air America failed because its core listeners already have NPR, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, Time, Newsweek et..... They entered a very crowded field for the left wing audience. Rush and Fox do so well because they have little competition for the right and the right of center.
I'd bet there are very few places in the U.S. -- and Puerto Rico and territories -- where you're not within a couple of miles of an NPR station. Then apply a multiplier for them being 24/7.
They did it for the children. Wait . . .
And for the truly open minded, few though they may be.
Liberals on radio messageboards deny that NPR is left wing...a few yrs ago one NPR show, think it was morning edition, decided to put a conservative segment on for seven minutes per week. There was outrage, and it was dropped. Not so fair and balanced.
In Boston NPR station WBUR does get good ratings, and the other NPR station, WGBH, just moved its classical programming to another station so they could jump in to news/talk. But conservative talk does surprisingly well, with WRKO, WBZ (at
night),WTKK, and now Clear Channel has launched Rush Radio 1200 (Beck, Rush, Hannity, Levin). It should do well.
Clear Channel tried libtalk on the station that is now Rush Radio and it failed. It was off a couple years till someone bought time on a weak sports station and now they pay to put on left talk shows. It does not show up in the ratings...in Boston. CC had also tried libtalk in Providence and New Haven; when that bombed the stations switched to conservative talk and sports.
Typical bit of libtalk—after the man crashed his plane into the IRS building, leaving behind mostly left wing diatribe on a website, one libtalk host said “So we have our first teabagger terrorist”
The article mentioned how Franken said his mission was to defeat GWB. Mission NOT accomplished. He was in Boston to do his show for what they thought would be Kerry’s victory.
A couple days later, you could tune in and hear Franken’s
molasses-laden voice (that description came from a liberal on a messageboard believe it or not!) with boring discussion on how what they considered voting fraud
Great moments in libtalk history: 3/31/05. Air America’s Jon Sinton tells the Boston Globe that “in five years we’ll be on 600 stations” (like Rush). They got maybe 5 dozen at peak, and 5 yrs later they are gone
Ever try to listen to Air America? There is nothing coherent about it. You may not agree with Rush, et. al. but at least there’s a rational arguement going on there (for the most part).
Hannity I can’t listen to. He’s our version of what goes on at Air America.
Because a Marine sniper with a 100x scope would be hard put to even see such a miniscule target?
Now THAT’S small.
Never tried to listen to Air America, although I heard a few snippets here and there. Frankly, I doubt any of the stations in my area would play such drivel. Oklahoma’s not exactly a liberal place.
I feel the same way about Hannity. I can’t listen to him. I always figured it was a New York cultural thing.
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