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Liberal Air America Radio stuck in cellar
The Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 07.28.05 | Beth Gillin

Posted on 07/28/2005 5:49:39 AM PDT by Prov1322

On March 31, 2004, Air America Radio, promoted as the liberal antidote to conservative-dominated talk radio, was launched with great fanfare and prolific media coverage.

Since then, it has generated headlines while losing some stations and picking up others. In April, it fired head writer Lizz Winstead, cocreator of Comedy Central's Daily Show, who is suing for back pay (including money she says she is owed for flogging Vermont Teddy Bears).

Her show, which costarred ex-rapper Chuck D, has been replaced by TV talkmeister Jerry Springer, who is mulling a run for governor of Ohio.

Now that it's possible to compare ratings for this spring to last year's start-up, it's clear that the network has yet to climb out of the cellar.

Air America's overall ratings, which rose initially after all the free publicity, faded before the November election and haven't recovered.

Still, it isn't yet time to call the coroner for Air America Radio, even though some conservative pundits are gloating that AAR is DOA.

"Air America is going to take a long time to grow ratings," said Michael Harrison, editor and publisher of the trade publication Talkers magazine. "People unfamiliar with our industry think ratings are like box-office receipts. But they're not. Radio ratings are slow to build.

"The network got an initial bump from the enormous amount of free press it got. There was a curiosity factor. Now it is settling in."

Air America's programming is now carried in part or in whole on 67 stations. Most are in smaller markets, such as Albuquerque, N.M.; Albany, N.Y.; and Reno, Nev.

Here, it doesn't even register a pulse. The flagship show, hosted by author and former Saturday Night Live comic Al Franken, airs from noon to 3 p.m. weekdays on WHAT (1340 AM).

Both WHAT and the show have fallen off the charts, according to radio-rating service Arbitron, meaning there were too few listeners to measure during the second quarter of this year - the so-called spring book. Franken's show didn't start on the station until Aug. 30.

Franken named his show The O'Franken Factor to tweak his archrival, populist pundit Bill O'Reilly, whose TV show The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel outdraws all other talk shows on cable, and whose nationally syndicated The Radio Factor, with more than three million listeners nationally, is tied for ninth place.

Measured season-to-season - the most accurate way to assess audience preferences, because listening patterns vary throughout the year - Air America has lost audience in major markets, including New York and Boston, since April, May and June of 2004.

Franken, best-selling author of such anti-conservative tomes as Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them and Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot, chose to go head-to-head with gabber Limbaugh in many markets. This, it turns out, was not such a good idea.

Limbaugh, still the giant among talkers, with 14.75 million listeners on 600 stations, has squashed Franken like a bug.

Franken's ratings have dropped 50 percent in Boston since spring 2004, and he is down 14 percent in New York, where his listeners now number fewer than 188,000.

"Talk radio is not for the faint of heart. You do not have impact over a short period of time," Jon Sinton, Air America president and head of programming, said in a phone interview yesterday.

Ratings for many conservative talk shows have dropped as well, editor Harrison said. "It's what happens after an election."

But while more seasoned hosts know how to shift the focus to other topics while awaiting the next election cycle, critics complain that Franken is still obsessed with bashing President Bush (when he is not baiting O'Reilly). In contrast to Limbaugh, who mocks his own pomposity, Franken comes across to critics as angry and not funny.

"Is Al Franken going to be the hottest thing in radio? I don't think so," Harrison said. "But it's too soon to say he's finished. A lot depends on how dedicated he is to the show.

"And I get the feeling he's not dedicated to radio broadcasting. He's dedicated to politics and his own celebrity. I think he'll drop out to run for office."

Or, perhaps, he will stay on the air while running for the U.S. Senate in 2008 from Minnesota, his home state. Air America signed Franken to a multiyear contract in November, the network's Sinton said.

Franken has been floating trial balloons about a possible Senate run from Minnesota, and he and his wife have bought a home there. In January the network will move The O'Franken Factor from New York to that state, an Air America spokeswoman said yesterday.

Franken, on vacation and finishing up a book, could not be reached for comment. His show is now "dark," meaning it's dishing up reruns in a "best-of-Franken" format. But a network spokeswoman said that this was only temporary, and that Franken would be back next week.

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Contact staff writer Beth Gillin at 215-854-2917 or bgillin@phillynews.com.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Front Page News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: airamerica; cellar; intoilet; libradio
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To: nutmeg

Please ping me.


61 posted on 07/28/2005 7:46:04 AM PDT by MoochPooch (A righteous person worries about his or her behavior, an extremist about everyone else's.)
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To: MoochPooch

I've added you to my FoxFan list as you requested.


62 posted on 07/28/2005 7:47:59 AM PDT by nutmeg ("We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." - Hillary Clinton 6/28/04)
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To: mainepatsfan
I tune in every once in a while to see if they are still on the radio here in Charleston. This area is very conservative, so I can't imagine someone continuing to float that station much longer.

I tuned in one day traveling with my wife, who doesn't listen to talk, and we were both incredulous at the crap Randi Rhoades was saying. If that is what passes for liberal or democrat information/news/entertainment, Lord thank you for making me a conservative.

63 posted on 07/28/2005 7:48:07 AM PDT by Lowcountry (RIP: Peterdanbrokaw)
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To: doug from upland

ROFLMAO! Needed the laugh to wake myself up (coffee isn't working).


64 posted on 07/28/2005 7:48:26 AM PDT by MoochPooch (A righteous person worries about his or her behavior, an extremist about everyone else's.)
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To: Lowcountry

They make Al Jazeera sound reasonable.


65 posted on 07/28/2005 7:49:24 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
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To: Final Authority

Or you could get XM radio and listen to America Right for the entire trip. Going to make the reverse trip (DC to NH) next month and am psyched about having XM with me the whole way.


66 posted on 07/28/2005 7:53:51 AM PDT by piperpilot
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To: Grampa Dave

Hey, where can I get one of those stickers? I see them everywhere here in TX and I'd like to really, really, really irritate my liberal co-worker.


67 posted on 07/28/2005 8:03:06 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Prov1322
It's amazing what happens when democrats tell us what they are for.

We simply go somewhere else.

Like Bush said, their only mode for survival is to be "anti-Bush". They can't really tell us what they want.
68 posted on 07/28/2005 8:03:57 AM PDT by Preachin' (Enoch's testimony was that he pleased God: Why are we still here?)
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To: Prov1322
Um, why isn't the New York Times, which has spilled tons of adulatory ink on the liberal radio network, covering this scandal on its front page?

If this were Rush's show, it would be front page news in BOLD headlines.

Luckily there is no bias in the MSM.

69 posted on 07/28/2005 8:05:05 AM PDT by softwarecreator (Facts are to liberals as holy water is to vampires)
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To: rlmorel; Holicheese; Shqipo
.....where?.....

Springfield, Taxachewzits.

I kid you not: I kept hitting the SEEK button again and again, and kept coming up with AIR AMERICA.......THAT and 'Salsa' stations.

Exasperating!

70 posted on 07/28/2005 8:05:33 AM PDT by DoctorMichael (The Fourth-Estate is a Fifth-Column!)
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To: Prov1322
boo freggin hoo!

hmm...I wonder why this is; shall we take a quick look??

-In the morning one of the hosts is Chuck D; former lead rapper of the group Public Enemy who were known for their Jew hating comments and antisemitic lyrics.....

-He's followed up by al Franken; most noted as the creator of "Stuart Smalley" and someone with verified and justified credentials to be a political pundit "(ha-ha)

-That's followed up by Randi Rodent, possibly the biggest BS artist on radio today. Of course she cut her teeth and proved her worth by doing webcasts from the basement of her house.

-They then finish the evening with Janine Garafolo, failed actress of the screen, failed actress of television and now looking to make it a trifecta on radio...

With all this wonderful talent is it any wonder??
71 posted on 07/28/2005 8:06:09 AM PDT by God luvs America (When the silent majority speaks the earth trembles!)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Certainly not THIS Dinkytown vote.


72 posted on 07/28/2005 8:08:46 AM PDT by Quick1
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To: Prov1322

Part of the big problem is that even in New York, the country's biggest market, their transmition is horrendous. I've made an honest attempt to listen to them, under the premise of 'know thy enemy'. I live 30 miles outside of New York City and cannot pick up their signal for more than two minutes at a time.


73 posted on 07/28/2005 8:09:07 AM PDT by jmc813 ("Small-government conservative" is a redundancy, and "compassionate conservative" is an oxymoron.)
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To: nutmeg

Thanks for the ping!


74 posted on 07/28/2005 8:10:49 AM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: Prov1322
"The network got an initial bump from the enormous amount of free press it got. There was a curiosity factor. Now it is settling in."

Settling in to a quagmire I'd say. I love using that word against THEM for a change.

75 posted on 07/28/2005 8:16:26 AM PDT by BushisTheMan
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To: Prov1322

We have a conservative station here which also owns another, smaller station. Recently they turned the smaller station to liberal and took on Err America. Our devout local lefties are thrilled, but the owner says he can't get any advertisers to sponsor the lefty station. I'm sure it won't last. The owner is not doing it for charity and when it doesn't pay the bills, Airhead America will be bounced.

Heheheh.


76 posted on 07/28/2005 8:17:25 AM PDT by EggsAckley
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To: Prov1322

Sell them NPR and PBS for $1, and let them run with it.


77 posted on 07/28/2005 8:19:49 AM PDT by SmithL (There are a lot of people that hate Bush more than they hate terrorists)
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To: Prov1322
If he can't make it in liberal land, he can't make it anywhere.

Limbaugh, still the giant among talkers, with 14.75 million listeners on 600 stations, has squashed Franken like a bug.

Franken's ratings have dropped 50 percent in Boston since spring 2004, and he is down 14 percent in New York, where his listeners now number fewer than 188,000.

78 posted on 07/28/2005 8:35:35 AM PDT by GOPJ (A person who will lie for you, will lie against you.)
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To: Spktyr

Cover all of it with your mouse, use the right button to copy it.

Then send it to yourself via email and then print it out.


79 posted on 07/28/2005 8:39:57 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (The civilized world must win WW IV/the Final Crusade and destroy Jihadism!)
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To: digger48
Didn't Garafalo say she wasn't bathing on a regular basis. That is strange behavior from some one that is trying to attract a following.
80 posted on 07/28/2005 8:41:14 AM PDT by oyez (¡Qué viva la revolución de Reagan!)
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