Posted on 02/17/2003 11:14:18 PM PST by kattracks
WASHINGTON, Feb 18, 2003 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- A group planning a liberal-leaning radio network says the idea hasn't caught on in previous attempts because it wasn't marketed properly and wasn't entertaining enough.
Now venture capitalists from Chicago and an Atlanta radio executive are behind an effort to start just such a radio network that would offer an alternative to conservative talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh.
"We believe this is a tremendous business opportunity," Atlanta radio executive Jon Sinton said Monday. Sinton, who would be the network's chief executive, added, "There are so many right-wing talk shows, we think it's created a hole in the market you could drive a truck through."
The group, led by Anita Drobny, consists of investors who have financially supported Democratic candidates. Hoping to start the network by this fall, they are talking with comedian and author Al Franken about working with the network and hope to attract other entertainers and political guests.
Their group will be called AnShell Media L.L.C. and they are initially investing $10 million while hoping for assistance from like-minded entrepreneurs.
Sinton said those who lean to the right are great at haranguing Bill and Hillary Clinton, but those who lean left have better connections to the entertainment world in Hollywood and New York.
"We want to take an issue and make it funny and engaging," he said. "Our intent is to engage and entertain as a way to enlighten, engage in skit comedy, parody, political satire."
Sinton said earlier programs have failed because they were placed in time slots between more conservative programming and weren't entertaining enough. Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo also tried his hand at a liberal-oriented talk show.
Sinton said he's confident he can come up with solid content for his network.
"My business strategy is that there are underperforming radio stations in all the markets. These underperforming stations are looking for a compelling broadcast day," he said.
While questions have been raised about who could be host on a liberal talk show, the bigger question may be the difficulty of mobilizing an audience for such a show.
A sign of the liberal dilemma is the code word that they like to use to describe themselves these days - "progressive" - which allows them to avoid the word "liberal," which has become almost an epithet when used by conservative politicians and pundits.
"Part of the impetus for this angry conservative bent of talk radio is the notion that the press is unfair, that it's part of a liberal establishment conspiracy," said Tom Rosenstiel, director for the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
"Progressives historically don't run in a pack," Rosenstiel added. "There's a kind of independent streak to the left wing in America that there isn't in the right wing."
Communications specialist Kathleen Hall Jamieson, who was involved in a study of talk radio in the mid 1990s, said the conservative radio audience is easier to mobilize because it is more likely to see liberals as very distant from their own views. And there are more people in polls who identify themselves as conservative than identify themselves as liberal.
"The search for the liberal equivalent of Rush Limbaugh may be misunderstanding how Limbaugh starts from a natural advantage," said Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. "His audience is already polarized. The liberals don't need a host, they need a different audience."
By WILL LESTER Associated Press Writer
What a load of crap. If getting your news every day from the New York Times and Tom Brokaw for 20 years isn't running in a pack, then I don't know what is.
Anyone want to venture a few million's worth of capital on that theory?
Funny, that's the same thing they keep saying about "socialism." It's not that it doesn't work, it just hasn't been implemented by the right people yet.
Exactly. And many, many other examples come to mind. You know...all those people who get their voting instructions year after year after year from Kweisi Mfume, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton. Or how about the "peace" marchers who show up at a set location on the day they are instructed to recieve a pre-printed protest sign from the local communist party espousing freedom for Mumia and no war in Iraq. Leftists are drones and what these fools who are trying to give them a radio network do not understand is that they already have one. It's called Pacifica, and its on the fringe of society because that is where these people operate and thrive.
Wrong
They failed because a multi-hour liberal discussion cannot last for any length of time void of moral substance.
Liberals will dump complex issues into the blender of idiocy, add a dash of delusional self-righteousness, and spoon out the pablum of stupidity to feed the lowest common denominator that comprises their slack-jawed zombie followers.
Interesting, however, that our democratic republic has stood the test of time and proven to be the most powerful and free nation history has ever seen, despite the fact that the wrong people have controlled it at times. Give me freedom over socialism anyday.
DEMOGRAPHICS - DEMOGRAPHICS - DEMOGRAPHICS
A liberal for profit network cannot possibly succeed for one simple reason - DEMOGRAPHICS.
The only way that liberal talk can stay on the air is if it is supported by the government, like NPR.
Even if they could get as many liberals to listen to Bill Klinton as listen to Rush, they would still lose money. Think about it. Who are conservatives? Conservatives are people who work for a living and call in on their cell phones, while driving their SUV's to a business meeting and therefore have discretionary income. Who are liberals? Liberals are primarily deadbeats who live on the dole and call in from their home phone, while waiting for the Bold and the Beautiful on television and have little, if any discretionary income.
Now I ask you, "If you were an advertiser (of anything besides beer) and had to decide where to spend your radio advertising dollars, would you spend it on a program whose listeners were proven buyers with significant discretionary income or on a program whose listeners were primarily strapped for cash and spend what little money they have on a 12-pak of beer every day?" Think about it...
OK, those are rather radical stereotypes. But, you get the idea. To make a profit, every one of the liberal programs would have to have three or four times as many listeners as a conservative program, simply because of the large disparity of buying power of the listeners. Advertisers who advertise on the liberal programs will expect much lower rates, based on those DEMOGRAPHICS.
End result?... Failure of the liberal network.
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