Air America Dead in D.C.
Air America, the liberal talk network carried on WWRC-AM (1260), went from bad to nonexistent. After WWRC recorded a mere fraction of a rating point in the spring with syndicated shows from the likes of lefty talkers Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo and Stephanie Miller, Arbitron couldn't detect a measurable listenership for the station this time around.
But it isn't really fair to compare liberal radio to the highly successful conservative talk shows. The conservative side has a demographic that is able to listen: people going to work or people at work.
On the liberal side: pot-heads usually sleep in and would rather listen to music or watch spongebob squarepants...
5 comments:
I think the real reason that the liberal talk shows are failing is because they are so-o-o-o boring. I try to listen to some of these shows but I can't listen for more than 5 minutes because all they do is make fun of Bush and anyone that agrees with anything he says. To be fair, I can't listen to Rush Limbaugh for more than 5 minutes either. They all are too crude, loud, and bombastic. It seems there is almost nowhere to go to listen to unbiased discussion.
Hay thiers nothing wrong with spongebob squarepants . What air head America can't compete in the city with the most hot air around ?
when can we expect them to go off the air here ?
The other big problem...
For years the left had control of virtually all news media.
They had ABC, CBS, NBC. Then they got PBS. Then they got CNN.
They had the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Washington Times... Then had Time and Newsweek. They had the New Yorker, the Village Voice, and Vanity Fair.
And even on the radio, they had NPR.
Three big things happened:
First came Rush Limbaugh. And as he so eloquently puts it, he is equal time.
Then a decade later, Fox News and the internet both took off.
Liberals still have everything from ABC to the New York Times to NPR.
There is an overflow of information that caters to the left. The right is still catching up. But the trend is good for the right.
So, in a panic, the left, seeing it's total media monopoly quickly approacing evenness, decides that what it needs to do is counter Rush Limbaugh with liberal radio.
The problems are:
1) There is no need for more liberal media. There is no vacuum to fill. Conservative media have done well in the last 15 years because they were filling a void.
2) The left failed to realize that they already had a strong presence on radio with NPR. Liberal thinkers who want to listen to the radio will continue to listen to what they have known and respect, rather than tune in to some new flash with Garafolo.
3) Their target demographic is the younger, hipper crowd. Hence the presence of "talent" like Garafolo rather than seasoned news broadcasters. This fails for two reasons:
a) The younger, hipper crowd doesn't give a rats behind about partisan politics. They are listening to hip-hop stations if they listen to the radio at all. And most of them are migrating over to MP3 players, so there is no chance of them tuning into talk by mistake and getting hooked by an angry on-air "talent."
b) What makes conservative talk radio successful isn't just filling the void, but filling it with quality. As many conservative shows have come and gone as have remained popular. Some hosts don't have the talent. And to make it in radio with conservative news, you have to have two things: competence with the radio format and competence with current events. Take someone like Garafolo: she didn't spend decades doing assorted radio jobs like Limbaugh did before trying out her own news show. She went from being a two-bit actress and angry comic to trying to run a radio show. And just being liberal doesn't give you any gravitas on the issues. Rush isn't just conservative: he grew up in an extremely political family, surrounded by lawyers, and has been thick into conservative politics since he was a kid. Did Garafolo even notice that there were issues before Bush was, in her mind, "selected" President?
So we have liberal radio that, instead of filling a void is competing with other liberal media, and is run by inexperienced hosts who lack political skill. No wonder it fails. And unlike communism, it doesn't even look good in theory...
Air America has 'no audience' in D.C.
Rating service can't detect measurable listenership for liberal network
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Posted: October 21, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Air America's Al Franken
If Al Franken speaks on the radio, and no one is tuned in to hear him, does he make a sound?
That could be the question being asked these days in the nation's capital, where Franken's liberal network, Air America, has no measurable audience according to the Arbitron rating service.
But here in PDX...roaring rantings go figure!
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