we got sirius radio network specifically to hear Air America so when we came across a blog yesterday filled with irate people who did the same thing only to find out that the Sirius network dumped Air America (or vice versa) and that Sirius has joined XM as being primarily right wing satellite radio.

Has Air America been relegated to LA A.M. radio yet? We just never seem to get it anywhere else. I'll have to link to that blog, if I can find it, apparently Air America is just blowing off the thousands who lost coverage and are complaining.

i got lucky. i have xm, so it is still there, and also in la am. they are pretty good. its a shame they arent on both satellite providers but it is inevitable since these two companies are in competition.

does sirius still have left wing talk?

Steve -- Air America runs on AM 1150 in LA. The only reason I realized that was because it used to be a sports station and just happened to be programmed in my car's radio.

While it's AM, the signal is much stronger than the original station it ran on, before it got yanked during the company's early financial troubles.

"Right-wing radio focuses on attacking Americans ... Left-wing radio focuses on attacking policies"

Since this in itself represents an attack from the left against people on the right, it would be amusing were it not so sad.

I'd like to think that someday "we" can move beyond this finger-pointing and discuss the issues rationally, but partisans on both sides would rather attack the other side.

Sigh.

P.S. For those lamenting their inability to get Air America, you can get most shows Air America shows time-delayed via podcasting. The page I just linked mentions that iTunes won't handle the URLs, but individual shows are still available there, like The Al Franken Show.

Slowly, but surely, times are changing.

An increasing number of Americans are beginning to realize that they have had their fill of authoritarians and their hateful rhetoric.

I think you're absolutely right about how, "The ad hominem attacks by right-wing talkers on other Americans have become tiresome, non-entertaining, and frankly un-patriotic." And you and I are obviously not alone in that sentiment.

Developments such as this one are indicators and predictors of a significant backlash against the popularity of authoritarian ideology and its anachronistic prejudices.

I fully understand how difficult it is to resist the temptation to gloat about news like this rather than to simply report the facts and let them seep in so that moderate folks do not become turned off due to their perception of bias.

But that is how it must be done to ensure that the focus continues to remain on policies, not personalities and partisanship.

I can dig where some of you are coming from, but personalities so easily get so tied up into the mix. For example, a major thrust of Al Franken's show is to counter what he sees as many of the unfair attacks by the right, namely by Rush, Hannity, O'Reilley, etc. So it becomes, by its very nature, a personalized and partisan situation.

The Left's position here, as I see it, is that it has been the whipping post of right-wing radio for going on twenty years now, so there's nothing to be done except to fight back.

How 'bout we just don't listen to talk radio, period?

Discuss.

i used to feel that way, when right wing radio was the only thing out there. aar is fun to listen to sometimes.

Phillip: thanks for the useful links.

I don't think there's anything wrong with "talk radio," per se... it gets a bad rap when the shrill-ometer and the spin-ometer goes through the roof.

But one of the things that can happen, and that happens with regularity, is that the things that right-wing radio talks about will bubble up into the mainstream media... which can also be fine. But it can also be bad, dangerous, damaging.

the same goes for left wing radio. except the right wingers were up in arms about bill clinton's sex life. the left wingers are now up in arms about karl rove's breach of national security.

Amazing figures. I wonder what's keeping them listening. As an occasional Air America listener I find it hard to believe that they could actually gain audience share. Franken is the most boring man on the radio and Randi Rhodes is so annoying I want to switch to megabitch Dr. Laura just go get something else on the radio.

BB

One, those figures are not accurate... I've reviewed the data.

Two, liberal talk radio doesn't attack? Gee, the oxycontin crack must be a policy issue. Or Air America's continue bashing of Catholics.

Bashing of Catholics? Proof.....

Or, if not proof, then at least a more specific descripting than "continued bashing," please.

No, there is misplaced punctuation in that sentence.

Instead of

Two, liberal talk radio doesn't attack? Gee, the oxycontin crack must be a policy issue. Or Air America's continue bashing of Catholics.

Two liberal talk radio doesn't attack Gee. The oxycontin crack must be a policy issue Or Air? Americas continue bashing of Catholics.

Hmmm....

T[]o liberal talk radio: Do[]n't attack Gee The Oxycontin. [C]rack must be a policy issue. Or Air? Americas continue bashing of Catholics.

Yeah, you're right. More fun.

the fact that limbaugh is addicted to oxy is not an attack, its a fact.

Billy, the fact that the dishonorable Democrat Senator from (insert your state here) repeatedly votes against America's best interests is not an attack, it's a fact.

Not really, of course, but the point is that attacks can take the form of factual statements, too. This post is full of attacks on Americans, while decrying attacks on Americans. Like I said, it would be funny were it not so sad.

You don't know a bloody thing about how Arbitron numbers work, do you? Limbaugh is beating Franken like a redheaded stepchild in LA. And the bulk of those 67 stations currently broadcasting Air America were underperforming, low wattage niche channels owned by the black beast of commercial radio, Clear Channel, who actually charge Franken & Co. for the air time on a number of them. If their ratings don't improve, Clear Channel will switch formats to something else, and Air America will be SOL.

you posted to rush limbaugh's press release. thats real credible. the fact remains aar is up 140% in LA. why would clear channel drop a station that in 3 months gained that much? do they want to fail?

We still don't have Air America in Milwaukee, just American Air, and oxycontin

you may not have american air for long if they go the way of united. oxycontin, you will continue to have, as long as there are rush limbaughs out there feeding the demand.

Radio is a notoriously difficult medium to break into. So gains over time will signal that AA is here to stay.

One major point is that if you are Clear Channel in LA, or elsewhere, and you own a station sitting on a 0.3 for years, and then flip it and it jumps to 0.8 overnight, canning the station is the last thing on your mind. Quite the oppositte, which is why AAR is popping up everywhere.

Those are Arbitron's numbers, billy, Premier didn't make them up. Those AAR numbers are "up" if you compare them to the dead air that was found on that spot on the dial before the change; that's why they flipped those stations to Air America in the first place. CC will give them some time, but if they recreate their abysmal performance in NYC, CC will wash their hands of the experiment and try something else.

give them time. its apples and oranges. rush has built an audience over 20 years. The fact that his owner shows arbitrons comparing him to a year old station says more about rush than aar.

I believe Air America is here to stay, and that the content will continue to improve over time. It's a more interesting listen now -- for the most part -- than it was in its earliest days.

Rush has been around for more than 20 years - their first album was in 1974 - but they are more libertarian, I thought, than conservative.

I think prog rock, by its very nature, is beyond mere ideology

But there is one similarity - both talk-radio and prog rock goes on and on and on.

:-)

billy, Premier doesn't "own" Limbaugh, they handle distribution of his show...and pay a pretty penny for the right to do so. AAR, on the other hand, is paying Clear Channel to carry their broadcasts on a number of those two-bit, 1K watt stations, and as recently as this past December needed another infusion of invester's dollars to keep their joint operational.

I'm not about the politics, I'm about the business, and AAR's model is hemmoraging money, have a nearly nonexistent advertiser base, and their fate is almost completely in the hands of Clear Channel, one the charter members of the VRWC, like Limbaugh and O'Reilly, that Franken & Co. announced they were taking to the airwaves to do battle with in the first place. They may stick around in one form or another, trying to "fight the good fight," but the war is over and they lost.

AAR also robs underprivilidged kids and old ladies.

"he war is over and they lost."

you sound like all the other right wingers who keep eating their words every time they knock aar.

that other conspiracy theory you quoted only shows that the same crook, Evan Cohen, who almost sabotaged aar in the beginning, is, well . . ., a crook. that has little or nothing to do with aar.

If Air America wants to stay around they need to get some more entertaining liberals on the air. Rush may be a pompous windbag, but he is at least occasionally amusing. Other conservative hosts like O'Reilly and Boortz are genuinely entertaining and have some actual relevant ideas. Franken is a blowhard who talks like he's lecturing retarded children. The other two Air America hosts I've heard - Rhodes and some guy - both come off as shrill and non-entertaining.

I know there are liberals out there who are both articulate and interesting. Give Jim Hightower or Molly Ivins or Kinky Friedman or Ed Koch or Alec Baldwin a show. They'd at least be enjoyable to listen to.

To succeed, AA doesn't actually have to beat Rush, they have to beat NPR. They can't pull away a conservative audience, so they have to make inroads in the liberal and moderate political audience and those folks are listening to NPR, not Rush. They need to provide a better, more entertaining product that appeals to liberals than NPR does or they're sunk.

Dave

garafolo and seder, mike malloy, and morning sedition are real good. i agree with dave, franken is a bit of a bore and so is springer. ed shultz is moderately entertaining.

but to call ed koch a liberal is like calling rush limbaugh a socialist.

I don't know if Air America's ratings are up or not, but Yahoo! reports that Limbaugh is beating Franken more than 10-to-1. Is this something we should be proud of?

Rush Limbaugh Continues to Consistently Beat Liberal Talkers at Ratings Game
Monday July 25, 9:13 pm ET
- Numbers Don't Lie -


LOS ANGELES, July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the Arbitron Spring 2005 ratings survey for Boston, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Washington D.C., Mr. Rush Limbaugh consistently continues to beat liberal talkers. In Boston, Mr. Rush Limbaugh's Persons 12+ audience is 16 times larger than Mr. Al Franken's audience and for Adults 25-54, his audience is 11 times greater than Mr. Franken's. Heard Monday through Friday on WRKO-AM from noon - 3 p.m., "The Rush Limbaugh Show" scored, among Persons 12+, a 4.5 share with an average quarter-hour audience of 34,200 listeners. Among Adults 25-54, he has a 3.5 share with an average quarter-hour audience of 14,800 listeners. Mr. Al Franken, who airs at the same time on WKOX-AM in Boston, has a Persons 12+ share of 0.3 with an average quarter-hour audience of 2,100 listeners. With Adults 25-54, he has a 0.3 share with an average quarter-hour audience of 1,300 listeners. Mr. Jerry Springer also airs on WKOX-AM, but his audience totals did not meet the minimum reporting standard set for that market by Arbitron.
In addition to Mr. Limbaugh and Mr. Franken, below are numbers for liberal talker Mr. Ed Shultz, who broadcasts in a different timeslot:




Host Share Avg. Quarter Hour Rank (all AM/FM
(Persons 12+) (Persons 12+) programming-
persons 12+)
Rush Limbaugh 4.5 34,200 8
Al Franken 0.3 2,100 43
Ed Shultz 0.3 2,300 43

Host Share Avg. Quarter Hour Rank (all AM/FM
(Adults 25-54) (Adults 25-54) programming-
adults 25-54)
Rush Limbaugh 3.5 14,800 11
Al Franken 0.3 1,300 44
Ed Shultz 0.4 1,800 35

On social issues Koch is as liberal as they come. Don't hold the fact that he's sensible on other issues against him.

IMO Air America would actually do better to get some hotheaded libertarians and moderates on the air than to stick with hard-left liberals. The category of people they're drawing on has a tendancy to whine rather than entertain.

Dave

" hotheaded libertarians and moderates"

agreed on that one, they need more of those.

The ad hominem attacks by right-wing talkers on other Americans have become tiresome...

This comes a few paragraphs after the author writes: "...another right-wing nutcase tried to make the silly comparison between Air America..."

"Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot," by Al Franken. Haha, gotta love the sober and oh-so temperate left.

Come on tick, you know that ad hominem only counts as a bad thing if it's a right winger making the comment.

Dave

140% of almost nothing is still almost nothing Nevertheless I applaude your success. Everyone needs a bit of comedy relief during the day. What about the ratngs in areas other than those highly infected with liberalism?????

"Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot," by Al Franken.

The title parodies Limbaugh's style of political discourse. Or are "feminazis" and "envirowackos" not meant as personal attacks? Al wasn't trying to be "sober and oh-so temperate."

Really, I'd LIKE to believe that some liberals were coming along eating Rush's lunch for him. Some real market competition would motivate him to step up his game.

Nonetheless, these numbers sound extremely heavily cherry picked. Does the entire 24 hour Air America day get the fourth part of listeners that Rush gets in three? That would be a pretty significant accomplishment.

As a proud Al Sharpton voter and VRWC OG, I wish Al Franken et al success.

And don't be such a whiner, Bicho.

Of course, the funniest jokes come from the radical, not the liberal, left. Part of the reason I'm not much interested in AA.

Hey, just a moment...AA??? Cripes, what kind of initials are those for an ostensibly entertaining network?

bah...

i know ya can get ratings..

let me have some airtime!!!

mwahahA HAHHAhhhahaHAHAHAHAH ahhahhaaaa

that thought should scare some folks

as for how AAR is doing etc...still way to early to tell, but the numbers and grow so far are encouraging that there will at least be other voices out there

mebbe it's just me, cuz i am a senile olde Fool...but i think there is a direct corallary between the removal of the "equal time" policy tyhat governed our airwaves, and the kind of commercial hate spewing we have seen on AM radio for more than 15 years now

just a Thought...

your mileage may vary

Excelsior!

Gonzo Marx sez: "let me have some airtime!!!"

Whoo, that one made my heart sputter like Dick Cheney. Had to get my nitroglycerine.

Gonzo, I'm scared of u!

big Al,

to quote a great, green philosopher and Jedi Master...

*you should be*
Yoda

Excelsior!

"And don't be such a whiner, Bicho."
- Al Barger

Couldn't be whining nearly as much as Rush did, back when he requested (and received) his medical deferment for an ingrown hair on his bummy, thus successfully dodging the draft and evading service in Vietnam.

I guess that explains Al's defense of Limbaugh...the old "Chickenhawks of a feather, flock together" syndrome...

Gonzo, I love you in a platonic virtual sense, but I must call you on your Star Wars quotage...

Yoday says:

"You will be... You will be," as Skywalker looks on, slightly creeped out.

Meanwhile:

WHAT in Philly is off the charts! Literally: they don't get enough listeners to make the chart.

And, WLIB's NYC ratings are even lower than they were when that station broadcast Caribbean news and music.

And, what about that $500,000 that a non-profit organization reportedly loaned to Air America? The organization and the loan are currently under investigation. Has AAR returned the money?

Much more at the link.

This 'news' is wholly at odds with actual numbers Air America is producing, indicating it is more a niche market phenomena. In fact, AA can't even make a decent showing in liberal NY, and only tie Savage there.

More importantly, the network is currently under investigation from defrauding a children's center of almost $500,000, and in the process may see some of its executives go to jail.

Air America is boring. I am not into politics at all, so I don't care which party either one is for or against, but if you want to rate shows for pure entertainment value, sorry, but Al Franken sounds really whiny and annoying, and Janeane Garofolo is annoying because she sounds so dumb. On the other hand, Rush Limbaugh is actually funny, and you can tell that he is a professional in broadcasting; his show sounds polished. Like I said, I don't know or care who is right regarding the facts of the points they are trying to make, so I don't listen to any of them very much. But when I am trying to find something to interest me, more often than not, Rush Limbaugh cracks me up, while Franken, etc. don't sustain my attention or leaves me scratching my head, wondering what the heck they're talking about. I hope this opinion from a different perspective proves helpful...

I remember when I listened to Rush Limbaugh while I jogged in LA and it was disheartening to hear the radios in passing cars matching my signal - so many of them, including delivery drivers who I knew were being duped by the phony populism. So it is especially heartening as I do my 10 miles each day, to hear increasing numbers of car radios tuned into the channel I'm not glued to: Air America's KTLK. It is leading the revolution.

I usually can only listen to the radio when Rhandi is on, and I find that she may not directly attack Americans, but she certainly does a good job of stating that everything that is wrong with the country is somehow linked to the Bush family. She certainly likes to build a big conspiracy theory.

So the question goes, why do I listen? Because I want to know what lies and misconceptions are being passed along by the left. I listen to rush to know what lies and misconceptions are being passed by the right. And then I form my opinion based on what should be in the middle. I don't necessarily vote on the democratic side just based on all the damage that was caused by that party over the decades they've been in power. I think things work better when we have a balanced government. No one party with ultimate control. Each party checking the other, and compromising. Whats lost in both conservative shows and Liberal shows is the fact that we are one country, one people and no one side or person has all the answers

Air America Radio is stuck in the ratings cellar

BY BETH GILLIN
Knight Ridder News Service

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

Since then, it has generated headlines while losing some stations and picking up others. In April, it fired head writer Lizz Winstead, co-creator of Comedy Central's "Daily Show," who is suing for back pay. TV's Jerry Springer, who is mulling a run for governor of Ohio, is now in her slot.

Now that it's possible to compare ratings for this spring to last year's start-up, it's clear 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. "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 carried in part or in whole on 67 stations. Most are in smaller markets, such as Albuquerque, N.M., and Albany, N.Y. (Locally, it airs on KTNF-AM, 950.) The flagship show, hosted by author, former "Saturday Night Live" writer/comic and Minnesota native Al Franken, airs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays.

Franken originally named his show "The O'Franken Factor" (now "The Al Franken Show") to tweak his archrival, populist pundit Bill O'Reilly, whose TV show "The O'Reilly Factor" on the Fox News Channel outdraws all other cable talk shows and whose "The Radio Factor" draws more than 3 million listeners nationally.

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 "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, whose ratings have dropped 50 percent in Boston since spring 2004; he is down 14 percent in New York.

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 shift the focus to other topics while awaiting the next election cycle, critics complain that Franken is still obsessed with bashing President Bush. In contrast to Limbaugh, who mocks his own pomposity, Franken comes across as angry and not funny, critics say.

"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. Air America signed Franken to a multiyear contract in November, the network's Jon Sinton said.

Franken has been floating trial balloons about a possible Senate run, and he and his wife have bought a home here. In January, the network will move "The Al Franken Show" from New York to Minnesota, an Air America spokeswoman said last week.

Seems Karl Rove is planting unsubstatiated stories.

Funds of a Bronx Youth Group Allegedly Lent to Air America
The top executive at a Bronx youth organization said yesterday that the former director of Air America Radio received more than $800,000 in loans for himself and the radio network from the nonprofit organization while serving as its development director.

Some of the transfers, according to the president of the Bronx-based Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club organization's executive committee, Jeannette Graves, occurred when the development director, Evan Montvel Cohen, who for a time served simultaneously as the liberal radio network's director, appealed to the organization for two loans worth $35,000. Another member of the executive committee said Mr. Cohen told the executive director of the organization that he needed the money to pay for chemotherapy for himself and other medical expenses for his ill father.

Seems Karl Rove is at it again

Funds of a Bronx Youth Group Allegedly Lent to Air America
The top executive at a Bronx youth organization said yesterday that the former director of Air America Radio received more than $800,000 in loans for himself and the radio network from the nonprofit organization while serving as its development director.

Some of the transfers, according to the president of the Bronx-based Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club organization's executive committee, Jeannette Graves, occurred when the development director, Evan Montvel Cohen, who for a time served simultaneously as the liberal radio network's director, appealed to the organization for two loans worth $35,000. Another member of the executive committee said Mr. Cohen told the executive director of the organization that he needed the money to pay for chemotherapy for himself and other medical expenses for his ill father.

Go ahead and criticize America for not having the intelligence to embrace Air America, but just stop this uneducated and/or deceptive attempt to spin the ratings.

If my audience has gone from 1 to 100, the percentage of increase is 10,000%.. big deal! I still only have 100 listeners!

This trick is nothing new...Radio stations with microscopic audiences have been using this "percentage increase" game all the time to hide the truth forever.

If you can handle the truth just do a Google search on "Limbaugh ratings"

There would not be a Air America without Rush Limbaugh. This man started the talk radio craze. There wouldn't be a talk radio if the major networks did not predominately lean left. Talk radio gave conservatives a place to here news and talk about issues other than the major networks. I don't understand the left being so upset all the time. I listened to Air America once and I couldn't believe all the half truths and leaving out certain information just to make your point (their side). I already get this in regular network news. That's the biggest reason why I don't think its going to work, you can hear the same info by watching ABC,NBC,CBS news. I watch Fox News because, I do get to hear both sides of the issue and make up my own mind. With newtwork news, I get the same old slant. Thank goodness for talk radio no matter who it is. I personally like Michael Medved's show. No screaming or attacking, mean spirited overtures. He talks about issues and explains his side like a teacher. Give me a show that talks UP about our nation, not find every possible fault we have. I'm proud of this country and where we are today.

"Give me a show that talks UP about our nation, not find every possible fault we have."

yes and that is probably why you listen to rush. he loves this nation so much he attacks the single biggest group of people (democrats) as being traitors, he hates the judiciary and its constitutional decisions, he hates the media, hell after yesterday's attack on Paul Hackett, he hates the troops too.

what exactly about america does rush like besides his cheap oxycontin? i cant find much.

Hey, Oxycontin is NOT cheap. Just easily available if you doctor shop to get multiple prescriptions.

Dave

another thing rush hates. drug re-importation, although clearly it would save him in the pocketbook.

The reasons for the shift are not clear...

For me, it's pretty simple: Right Wing radio makes me feel physically ill. Air America (and Ed Shultz) make me feel inspired.

Inspired to do what?

They both iritate and bore me by turns.

Dave

Hey, Air America's up 1,000,000% in the ratings in Laurel, Indiana.

In Comment 52, KL summed Air Idiot's problem up in a nutshell: they're amateurs. Randy Rhodes, the only experienced broadcaster in their entire lineup, is basically ignored in all the press coverage and publicity campaigns AAR produces in favor of the hackneyed Franken and Garofalo. In their disastrous early days, she was heard on her show moaning for ever throwing in with the group, then she decided "what the hell?" and went off her rocker, declaring everything happening that she considers bad, including the weather, is all because Bush and his family rule the planet, and their Sith Lord Rove travels far and wide brutalizing all enemies real or imagined.

She's the only one in their lineup I can't handle for more than twenty minutes before punching up another station.

The conservative echo chamber believes Air America Radio is going down like Jeff Gannon on an overnight press-pass to the White House.

Translation: JEFF GANNON IS A FAGGOT! Question: why do you always bring up or allude to Gannon's sexuality? How utterly hypocritical and bigotted of you.

Right-wing radio focuses on attacking Americans (i.e., liberals, democrats, gays, muslims, and hippies).

Well, it is quite obvious that you don't listen to "right-wing radio" for you to say this. What did you do? Pause just long enough from talking about Gannon's sexuality to tune into some local guy and consequently base your entire opinion on what little you heard?

Left-wing radio focuses on attacking policies (i.e., the war in Iraq, the budget deficit, the environment).

Right...you mean when they are not talking about killing the U.S. President? Or is that be considered "attacking policies" in your world?

The ad hominem attacks by right-wing talkers on other Americans have become tiresome, non-entertaining, and frankly un-patriotic. This may be one of the reasons many people are starting to tune them out.

Uh huh. What was that you said about Jeff Gannon again? Don't choke on your hypocrisy. You've got plenty of it.

Defend AAR when you hear this nonsense. I called 920 AM in Atlanta yesterday (Sat 8/6) when the host, who happens to be the chairman of the Cobb County GOP, mentioned the debt thing and the ratings. I gave him the facts and , of course, he cut me short but not before I got my nessage out. I gather the ratings are only so-so here in Atlanta but this is the deep South where conservative talk has dominated on at least 3 large stations for 20 years. Use the facts against them - GOP policies do not work.

To use the facts against them you'd have to have facts which were actual 'facts' not manufactured spinfacts to support your positions. One of the main reasons why the left has been hurt so badly by the expansion of alternative media is that the more people get to explore and analyze leftist policies and their version of 'facts', the more obvious it becomes how contrary to truth and good sense most of what the left believes is. Frankly a good portion of it is downright crazy.

Dave

I'm Christine Craft,lawyer and radio talk host at KSAC(air america affiliate) in Sacramento.

I love Air America!!!though I have no direct connection to it..I work for a local owner.

I have staged several full o'fun protests against the boobengrabber(arnold) and the bush regime..proving that you can express your politics and have fun at the same time.

My two hour show has the highest ratings on this Air America affiliate..better than the network folk...but I would not do nearly as well without the AAR shows..especially my fav of favs..Randi Rhodes who comes on right before me...like rock and roll liberal talk is here to stay!!!

by the way..I gave Rush his first job in television....right here in Sacramento..He was very funny then..not so surrounded by sycophants or drowning in drugs..I liked him then..not for his politics..just for himself..before he got figuratively too large for his own britches.

Dave Nalle -

Ed Koch is NOT a liberal, he's more like a NYC version of Zell Miller.

O'Reilly has never had an idea you can't also get from the neighborhood drunk.

KL - "Like I said, I don't know or care who is right regarding the facts of the points they are trying to make"

Please get out of my country.

DAVE NALLE - "how contrary to truth "

"We know for a fact there are weapons there." - Ari Fleischer, Jan. 9, 2003

[edited]

Re comment #71;

Christine, I'm curious, since you knew Limbaugh behind the scenes...was he as big a hypocrite in real life as he is in his celebrity personna?

Can I get my $875,000 back? I just need to pay my bills and let some kids play basketball. That's all.

I guess filling your coffers and broadcasting the vicious and hurtful content you do means more than keeping kids off the street. Of course, the more kids that are on the streets are the more kids who can grow up and depend on welfare, thus strengthening the Left's strangle-hold on the inner-city. Remember, give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day... but teach a man to fish, he'll eat (and vote Republican) for the rest of his life.

p.s. I could fart into the microphone everyday at drive time and pull a 0.8; calm the hell down. Rush drops from a 4.6 to a 3.9, and you think it's a sign he's fading?! Air SCAmerica would KILL to pull a 3.9. And just look at where some of the "67" AAR stations are...
Anchorage, AK
Missoula, MT
Brainerd, MN
Binghamton, NY
Brattleboro, VT
Burlington, VT
Huntington, WV
Ithaca, NY
New Haven, CT
Petoskey, MI (There's a Petoskey, MI?)

Add 2 Boston Stations to that and yeah... you have a REAAAAAAL radio juggernaut on your hands.

Get over yourselves.

Air America seems to be getting its sea legs.

At the big ballyhood startup I thought it was awful-Limbaugh-left radio. But they seem to be learning how to do radio.

Unfortunately I live in the number 3 radio market and they are running on a 12 watt dawn-to-dusk coal-fired radio station.

Fortunately I have Air America screaming in loud and clear on my XM satellite radio.

Here's some advice to XM: Lose Alan Colmes.

My advice to Air America: Lose Mike Malloy and give Rachel Maddow more air time.

It is great to read about the stats on Right Wing talk radio vs Air America Radio. The (wrong) right would have us all believe the opposite---that Rush Limbaugh, Coulter, and all the other vicious diatribers are more popular than Air America and its variety of hosts. Thank you for the numbers that show the real story. I will use these in the future.

Rita, did you miss that the numbers show Air America much less popular than right wing radio, and that just to get any positive news at all the author of this piece had to distort, misrepresent and present selective and incomplete data?

Dave

Okay, so this is like the most recent update on ratings, right? Not that I don't like hearing good news about AAR, but is there some way to knock the July 2004 story out of the top spot on the search engine? Thanks for putting out a current picture of the ratings.

What someone said about the need for AAR to be honest about its lack of success is quite true. Look, when AAR started it was all about America being split 50/50 between the left and right, so why shouldn't a liberal station do at least as well as conservative talk radio. Now it's a year and a half later, plenty of time even in radio, and you just gotta admit that by ANY standard, AAR is not coming close to challenging conservative talk radio's commanding market position, nor is it about to do so in the the near future. Not even close. Why? Lots of reasons, many of which are addressed here. I understand how many people really like AAR, and want it to succeed, but you just simply can't take much heart from their performance thus far - and you certainly cannot rationally claim that they have been a success. You j-u-s-t can't. Not with a straight face anyway. If you do make that claim then you are going to have no credibility with anyone. For example, you can't put out a press release claiming success where you take a station in a large market from a 0.3 to a 0.7 (or 0.8). And you sure as hell can't completely omit from your press release the ratings from your flagship New York station, which went from 1.2 playing island music pre AAR to a 1 share with AAR (and that's in blue state New York!). So...why not be honest about it, and admit that what's been tried hasn't succeeeded? (and maybe try something else?). B

Air America's primary on-air personality is a comedian...seriously. That's the left's best thinking when it comes to political discourse.

Bates, the single best news commentator on TV is a comedian too - John Stewart. What's your point?

Dave

hey this post back again? there is new data they are up to .9 now in la. not huge but still growing each quarter. i think aar will be around for a long time, despite the misinformation out there.

A recent poll aired on abe radio tells us that 45% of liberals believe in ghosts which 23% of conservatives do the same.

After listening to Randi Rhodes, I understand why.

Jd

I recently tuned into the middle of an Al Frankin rant about someone lying. On and On and On he went. Who is he talking about, I wondered? It was Bill O'Reilley. Again I wondered.."why?"

By the way, where is the democrat hate unit on Tom Delay these days? It seems they've moved on to the next Republican-we-love-to-hate du jour that can give them maximum traction in their never-ending quest to bring down the country.

no aar is just trying to bring republicans down (not america). they want to bring people like you down. it is necessary to bring them down before America can rise up to the stature it deserves to be on and that it had under President Clinton.

After listening to The Randi Rhodes show I can see why AAR has virtually no ratings. Her 4 hour hate filled rant each day is enough to make me wonder how she is even on the radio. I'm not a fan of Limbaugh or conservative radio, but AAR's lineup of hatefull talk every day would wear anyone out fast

RE: Post #68.

Jeff Gannon is a PROSTITUTE! I think that's the point. If his website had advertised his services as a gigolo to women I think he'd still be lampooned.

He's a mouthpiece and a plant for a party full of people who condemn homosexuality as unravelling our Christian society, yet he's an internet prostitute!

Perhaps the post should have said "going down like Jeff Gannon FOR a White House press pass". Who'd he have to "accommodate" for that pass? I think it was Karl.

I love it when the Right tries to sound outraged as if they repect the dignity of gay people.

when you have no listeners, and you get one listener, you have a 100% increase in audience. When you have 50,000 listeners and get 25,000 more, you get a 50% jump. I would certainly hope that AAR would have an increase since they are relatively new. They will have a steady increase (i dont know how you can definatively say those listeners are coming from Rush's audience), but their business model is where the problem is. AAR acutally pays airwave stations to play their programming. That is what is attractive to these small stations they are eating up. They only make money on the national advertising they bring in.

AAR pays over a million dollars a year to broadcast in LA. Ask Rush how many stations he pays to air his broadcast. None. They pay him. If you think you need to pay stations to carry your programming, there is something wrong.

"America ride up to it stature during the Clinton years" ??? What, seriously WHAT? Does that mean getting attacked and not doing anything, or maybe it means giving nuclear energy to N.Korea so they can build bombs. OH, I know the world liked us better, right? Yeah because we were weak on the military. And I dont need France's approval while they are kicking back millions to Saddam in oil for food. France thinks they are the smartest, with high unemployment and riots. What a JOKE.
Clinton rode the wave of Reagan and Bush Sr. in the economy then he blew it all up at the end of his term by raising taxes. Luckily Bush lowered taxes when he came in or we would be in a serious mess.
Clinton supporter: No, I just like that all of hollowood went to DC and stayed with clinton, it was sooooo cute. We had no worries then, we didnt care al quida was mounting an attack to bring down the towers, we were just into ourselfs. GET A GRIP.

No Bob. Clinton bombed the shit out of Osama. Bush just spent all his pre-9/11 time on vacation. What did he do to combat terrorism then? Cut the CIA's budget! And the tax thing? That surplus vame AFTER Clinton raised taxes on the top 1%, thus stabilizing the economy.

Another refugee from radicalsville.