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Her show, which costarred ex-rapper Chuck D, has been replaced by TV talkmeister Jerry Springer, who is mulling a run for governor of Ohio.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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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: goldstategop; All
This is the problem with Air America (With thanks to Eric Allie, Chicago who I think is the best conservative political cartoonist today) You can see his work at:

http://cagle.slate.msn.com/politicalcartoons

Their issue is that they are not original thinkers. They have no creativity. Look at Franken-the best he can do is try to spoof something that already exists, because he does not have the intelligence or imagination to think of something original, so he comes up with "O'Franken Factor".

This is the problem with the entire liberal part of the American political spectrum.

21 posted on 07/28/2005 6:25:04 AM PDT by rlmorel ("Innocence seldom utters outraged shrieks. Guilt does." Whittaker Chambers)
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To: DoctorMichael

As a resident of this irretrievably damaged state you refer to as Kennedyland, I know just what you mean. I do get a chance though to listen to Jay Severin, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, but Hannity is a rebroadcast. These are all on 96.9 FM Talk Radio. And I do have the Internet now...:)


22 posted on 07/28/2005 6:29:21 AM PDT by rlmorel ("Innocence seldom utters outraged shrieks. Guilt does." Whittaker Chambers)
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To: smiley
Air America needs to understand...there's no market in hate.

Sure there is...in the middle east....and that happens to coincide with their message.

23 posted on 07/28/2005 6:29:37 AM PDT by highlander_UW (I don't know what my future holds, but I know Who holds my future)
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To: goldstategop

"Could it be the message?"

Or lack thereof? LOL! I've listened in a few times. It's absolutely juvenile. There is no content whatsoever. Just whining and complaining, Bush bashing and the like.

The target audience sounds like it should be Middle/Junior High School boys.


24 posted on 07/28/2005 6:29:55 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Prov1322

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

***

YEE-HAH!


25 posted on 07/28/2005 6:40:50 AM PDT by fatnotlazy
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To: PJ-Comix

Isn't there some sort of financial scandal that Err America is now involved in


Liberal poverty groups diverted funds allocated for youth programs to Air America illegially.


26 posted on 07/28/2005 6:46:39 AM PDT by photodawg
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To: DoctorMichael

Where were you? I have to stand in the radio stations parking lot to get Err America. WRKO in Boston has great programing. RT. 84 in CT has its dead zones but I can always find something.


27 posted on 07/28/2005 6:51:32 AM PDT by Holicheese (Timmy like windmills!)
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To: Prov1322
I used to laugh and mock Err America, now I just feel pity for them. Al Franken-stein and Co. apparently don't have the slightest clue that the politics of hate they are so enamored with just doesn't play well with ordinary Americans. Their entire concept was doomed to failure from the very start, and it couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch.


heh heh heh...
28 posted on 07/28/2005 6:54:43 AM PDT by reagan_fanatic ("We must be tolerant and understanding of those trying to blow us to pieces" - Ted Kennedy & Co.)
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To: mainepatsfan
I wonder what percentage of their audience are conservatives just listening out of morbid curiosity?
I listen from time to time and it's some of the most ignorant, vicious, hate filled crap I've ever heard. I want to take a shower every time I tune in.

M. Savage was right - Liberalism is a mental disorder.
29 posted on 07/28/2005 6:57:53 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: reagan_fanatic
Their entire concept was doomed to failure from the very start, and it couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch.

They've certainly lasted much longer than I expected, but I was dumb enough to look at it strictly from a business perspective -- I completely misunderestimated how much money Soros, et. al., were willing to throw into this black hole.

30 posted on 07/28/2005 6:58:21 AM PDT by kevkrom (WARNING: If you're not sure whether or not it's sarcasm, it probably is.)
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To: Prov1322
I am shocked I tell you!

The only thing I'm shocked about is how this story got by the Inquirer editors. This is the same paper that published 21 straight days of editorials commanding us to vote for John Kerry.

Don't they know the template for Air America stories is to gleefully report how they're just $10 away from making Rush Limbaugh beg for his drugs from the gutter?

(Note: I'm not slamming Rush - just engaging in a little libspeak).

31 posted on 07/28/2005 6:59:28 AM PDT by CFC__VRWC ("Anytime a liberal squeals in outrage, an angel gets its wings!" - gidget7)
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To: reagan_fanatic

I used to laugh and mock Err America, now I just feel pity for them.

***

I can't even feel pity. :)


32 posted on 07/28/2005 7:03:36 AM PDT by fatnotlazy
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To: RexBeach

"If you hate America, you'll love Air America!"

Nope. If only 188,000 people are listening in NYC it is apparently possible to hate America and hate Air America too. It must really, really, suck.


33 posted on 07/28/2005 7:04:34 AM PDT by monday
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To: rlmorel; DoctorMichael
A little off the mark on this one. The only thing I'm going to miss when I leave Boston is the amount of conservative talk radio I have to listen to. I needed to get Sirius just to bolster the amount I'll be able to hear in Maine.

680 AM: Dipetro, RUSH, Carr, SAVAGE,JOHN BATCHELOR(the best).
96.9 FM: Junk in AM. O'Reilly, INGRAHAM, HANNITY.
1150 AM: Bennett, Gallagher,Prager, Medved, HEWITT.
34 posted on 07/28/2005 7:05:26 AM PDT by Shqipo (Finally leaving Massachusetts-- free at last, free at last!)
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To: kevkrom

You didn't get the memo? That only applies to the big, bad evil Republicans.


35 posted on 07/28/2005 7:05:39 AM PDT by pollyannaish
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To: monday

I have "sampled" it, as they say in the radio biz. It is dreadful radio.


36 posted on 07/28/2005 7:06:17 AM PDT by RexBeach (Pardon me, but is that a malaise sandwich in your pocket or are you just glad to be in a funk?)
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To: Prov1322
This can't be true! The DUmmies are saying that Air America is the fastest growing network in radio!

Unless, of course, the DUmmies are screaming in an echo chamber....echo chamber...echo chamber...

37 posted on 07/28/2005 7:07:39 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (Many Democrats are not weak Americans. But nearly all weak Americans are Democrats.)
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To: Prov1322
In contrast to Limbaugh, who mocks his own pomposity, Franken comes across to critics as angry and not funny.

An accurate description of modern liberalism.

38 posted on 07/28/2005 7:08:16 AM PDT by B Knotts
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To: RexBeach

I always thought Err Amerika was a ponzi scheme where successive investors replaced the initial investors.

Remember Algore was in this pyramid and was then bought out...


39 posted on 07/28/2005 7:08:22 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE!)
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To: AppyPappy

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

Check, please.


40 posted on 07/28/2005 7:10:09 AM PDT by Noumenon (Activist judges - out of touch, out of tune, but not out of reach.)
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