Before I start:
Hey, Kos! Look over here! I was editing a diary and hit "archive," and now the diary is lost in some sort of archived purgatory. It had a few dozen comments on it, about Dean guest-hosting on CNBC, so I'd kind of like to retrieve it if possible. Can that happen?
Now on with the program:
Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn:
Chicagoan Fred Eychaner has long been a major Democratic fundraiser as well as a significant player behind the scenes in local media.
And, as Robert Feder reports this week, Eychaner has been reinvesting proceeds from his sale of WPWR Ch. 50 into buying up small area radio stations to be part of his Newsweb Corp. group.
That group now includes four FM and five AM stations on the local dial, which leads me to speculate in a hint-hint sort of way that one of them may soon become a home for the fledgling liberal talk network, Air America. The programming, featuring comedian/author Al Franken, was yanked from the local airwaves several months ago because of a contract dispute between the network and the owners of the station.
We can speculate what a "hint-hint sort of way" means, while at the same time, others are speculating that Clear Channel's 1690 WRLL will actually be the Chi-town station to make the switch.
Al Franken, meanwhile, wasn't so speculative on Monday's show about a couple other stations coming to the lineup:
We have Atlanta and San Diego joining us in a couple weeks now, on the 23rd.
Sales reps for 1360 KPOP San Diego are calling clients to warn them of the change, and Air America is being fed to KPOP's control board, but there's no word on what the Atlanta station will be.
Also, the FCC's website shows that 620 KPOJ, Air America's Portland, Oregon affiliate, has been granted its application to boost power from 5,000 watts to 25,000 watts. Because KPOJ is at such a low frequency, its coverage is already similar to 50,000 watt blowtorches KEX and KXL, so when it bumps up the power later this summer, it could have the best signal in the state. That would mean our legislators would be able listen in Salem and our liberal college students could get a decent signal as far south as Eugene.
In addition, low-power stations 590 KTHO Lake Tahoe and 1340 KTLK Santa Barbara have joined up with the network just recently.
Air America's New York and Portland ratings are helping it get more stations, and these are definitely not the only markets where there's buzz.