Daily Kos

Its Official: Air America back in Los Angeles

by tk421

Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 09:02:07 PM PDT

Its official Air America is back in Los Angeles.
Air America will come back to Los Angeles on Feb 3rd on 1150 AM XTRA/KXTA (Coverage map here)

The article about this is located here (LA Times Calendar Section). The article requires a 7 day trial after which you are automatically billed so I am not going to do it.
If someone would post it here we would all be greatful.

I know its not much but I figured everyone would love to have something happy to think about tommmorow.

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  •  funny how some newspapers (none / 0)

    don't want your eyes on their Internet ads

    by Tom Kertes on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 08:38:46 PM PDT

  •  Yes (4.00 / 3)

    RADIO
    Air America flies back to Southland
    The liberal radio network returns Feb. 3 after a troubled tryout nearly a year ago.

    By Steve Carney, Special to The Times

    Air America Radio, the liberal talk network that was dismissed, derided and unceremoniously yanked off the air in Los Angeles two weeks after its April debut, is returning to the airwaves here -- this time under the aegis of the nation's largest radio chain.

    Clear Channel Communications is announcing today that its KXTA-AM (1150) will switch to "progressive talk" on Feb. 3 and carry the network whose lineup includes comedians Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo, as well as left-leaning hosts from other syndicates.

    "We have the Rush Limbaughs and the Sean Hannitys now, who have moved pretty far to the right. So there's all this constituency to the left of that," said Gabe Hobbs, vice president of news, talk and sports programming for Clear Channel, which owns eight stations locally and more than 1,200 nationwide. "To me, there's a hole big enough to drive a truck through."

    KXTA will feature Franken, the political satirist and "Saturday Night Live" alumnus weekday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon. He's followed from noon to 3 p.m. by Ed Schultz, a North Dakota Democrat whose own national show is distributed by Jones Radio Networks.

    A burly, garrulous ex-football player and ex-Republican, Schultz said his migration to the left started in 1998 when his future wife invited him for a meal at the homeless shelter where she worked. Now the 17-year industry veteran out of Fargo is one of the leaders of a hot trend in liberal talk.

    "A year ago they were laughing at us; now they're signing us up," he said. "The Democrats have been correct on the issues. They just haven't had somebody say it like I say it."

    With Washington, D.C., Detroit and Cincinnati switching formats this week, Clear Channel has progressive talk on 22 of its stations, including others in San Francisco, Boston and Miami. They all use the bulk of the Air America lineup but also substitute other programs, such as Schultz or former KFI-AM (640) and KABC-AM (790) host Stephanie Miller.

    The KXTA change comes as part of a reshuffling by Clear Channel. It had been simulcasting sports talk on KXTA and XTRA-AM (690), a station out of Tijuana. Now sports moves to KLAC-AM (570), which already carries Lakers games. The adult standards on KLAC -- Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Norah Jones -- head to 690.

    After a long and well-publicized incubation, Air America debuted last March 31 on six stations, including KBLA-AM (1580) in Santa Monica. Only two weeks later, a billing dispute knocked it off that station for good, and an ensuing management shakeup revealed the network's finances weren't as rosy as they had claimed. To critics, it was proof the venture was doomed.

    Franken had to forgo his paycheck for a while, but in December he signed a contract for at least two more years. And the network now airs on 46 stations, nearly half of them Clear Channel owned.

    The Clear Channel-Air America pairing might seem like strange bedfellows -- after all, the Texas-based behemoth distributes Rush Limbaugh and other conservative-talk heavyweights. Free speech and consumer advocates have criticized its size and hardball business practices, and as having a too-cozy relationship with the Bush administration.

    But "radio companies are not political parties," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, the trade journal of talk radio. "Their motivations are ratings and revenue."

    In San Diego, where Clear Channel switched its KPOP-AM (1360) adult standards station to progressive talk on Aug. 23, the ratings went from a 1.6% share of the audience to 2.6%. In Portland, Ore., KPOJ-AM (620) went from 0.4% to 4% after dropping oldies. The Denver sports outlet improved from .5% to 1.5%, and in Miami, a station that didn't register at all in audience surveys, had a 1.2% share after switching from sports to Air America.

    "Even the bad publicity when they were in trouble turned out to be a good thing for them in the long run," Hobbs said. "They've done a good job of branding themselves as the Kleenex or Coke of progressive radio."

    by HL Mungo on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 08:57:51 PM PDT

    •  asdf (none / 0)

      "KXTA will feature Franken, the political satirist and "Saturday Night Live" alumnus weekday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon."

      Wonderful!  I remember last time we had AAR here in LA, Franken ran from noon-3 (his slot in ET) and we couldn't call in while the show was going on.

      I know what the radio in my office will be playing now.....

      Join the Matthew 25 Network and help Democrats win the next generation of evangelicals.

      by mistersite on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 09:06:40 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      •  No Randi Rhodes? (none / 0)

        I think I've heard of other Clear Channel stations doing this lineup. I still might listen to the streaming version. Was trying to get a transplanted New Yorker to turn off 790 and 870 today. She is conservative but has the Rhodes accent. Good news but would prefer Randi.

        by HL Mungo on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 09:11:52 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

        •  I think (none / 0)

          I think she is on after 3pm would be my guess thats what they have been doing with the other stations. But thats just a guess.

          by tk421 on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 09:16:50 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

        •  Randi Rhodes (none / 0)

          Randi Rhodes and Ed Schultz are on live (on different networks) at the same time, from 3pm to 6pm, ET (Rhodes is also on from 6pm to 7pm).

          Clear Channel carries both shows, but usually delays Randi until after Schultz.  In the Pacific Time Zone, that means Schultz from Noon to 3pm, with Rhodes running from 3 to 6 or 7pm.

          Clear Channel typically also carries one or two other Air America shows on its "progressive talk" stations, but I don't think it carries Unfiltered anywhere.  So Los Angeles will get Franken, Schultz, Rhodes and one or more of these Air America shows:  Morning Sedition, Majority Report, and Mike Malloy.

          by NYLefty on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 09:43:35 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

          •  PLEASE not Mike Malloy (none / 0)

            I enjoy Air America quite a bit, streaming it while browsing every day.  I think Al is funny, informative, and rational.  Mike Malloy is informative, I'll admit -- once you get past his screeching exterior.  He gives me a headache.  Calm down.  Stop screeching.  You sound like Savage.

            by texasD on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 10:42:58 PM PDT

            [ Parent ]

  •  I've Cancelled My Subscription... (none / 0)

    and still have access. Not as much fun as free cable. But I still love the outlaw thrill.

    by HL Mungo on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 09:01:15 PM PDT

  •  That's good news for LALAland (none / 0)

    We already have Air America here in San Diego on the amusingly-named KLSD.

    (LSD = Liberal San Diego, they tell us.)

    And yes, like the LA station, KLSD is also a Clear Channel station.  Go freakin' figure.

    So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause.

    by MJB on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 09:38:42 PM PDT

  •  We need... (none / 0)

    Air America in Boston.

    Why the heck isn't one of the most liberal cities in North America not included?

    "Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

    by Jonathan4Dean on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 10:19:36 PM PDT

  •  AM 1150 is one of the strongest signals in LA. (none / 0)

    It's the current home of XTRA Sports 690/1150, the premier sports talk radio station in LA. Everyone who is a sports nut (including me) listen to it.  XTRA Sports is moving to AM 570 on Feb. 3rd, and Air America is taking its place.  This could not be better for Air America.  You can hear 1150 AM clearly in every part of LA.

    Alternative rock with something to say: http://www.myspace.com/globalshakedown

    by khyber900 on Wed Jan 19, 2005 at 11:27:23 PM PDT

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