...or so conservatives hope you'll believe. While the official line of the right-wing is still that liberal radio can't succeed because nobody wants to listen to it, the intellectual masters at WorldNetDaily are already coming up with
new talking points, should the absolutely impossible success of Air America happen:
If Franken succeeds in attracting an audience that Arbitron can measure, he will be bringing additional listeners to the AM dial. This is exactly like adding a popular new store to a successful mall. Everyone wins. Folks who understand radio know that everyone on the dial hopes for the overall success of the dial, not just their own station. Sure we compete, but capitalists especially understand that rising tides lift all boats.
You see? If Franken succeeds, score one for Rush! It's just like when CNN chiefs celebrated the rise of Fox News.
But, in reality, there is no way Franken will beat Rush in the first ratings period. Even Randi Rhodes, who daily and handily beat Rush in her home market of West Palm Beach, Florida, has no chance when she first goes national on the new network. That's because every time a station changes formats, it takes a long time for them to build an audience. And the stations Air America will start on are pretty obscure, with most not even being in the English language.
The second reason Air America won't be an instant hit is that it will be on very few stations. Only four stations have been announced so far. New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami are important, but the vast majority of Americans are elsewhere. Conservatives will most definitely compare the total listenerships of Rush and Franken, and declare liberalism dead:
But it is more than likely than [sic] Franken will fail. [...] With all this hoopla and all this cheerleading from the bigs like the Sunday Times, if Franken still falls on his face, there will be no excuses. A lesson will be written in stone. That lesson: The left doesn't have a popular following, only special interests addicted to benefits or power or both.
[...]
The first set of ratings to judge Al by will be available in early July after a 3-month period elapses. Given the push he's getting from free ink, he won't have any excuse for not starting strong. If he can't make it here, he won't make it anywhere, and radio general managers and program directors know this and will watch the rollout closely.
[...]
If he ends up in the box marked Mario Cuomo, Jim Hightower and Mike Malloy, there won't be any excuses except this: The folks who care about reason and humor find neither in the whining of the angry left.
You can expect the Drudge Report to quickly post ratings for Air America and declare it a bust.
This is why it is extremely important, if you have any hope that a liberal talk radio format will be viable, that you listen, that you tell everyone you can to listen, and that you generate buzz by talking about what you heard on Air America whenever the opportunity arises.
Here are the stations:
WEBCAST: AirAmericaRadio.com
New York: WLIB-AM 1190
Chicago: WNTD-AM 950
Los Angeles: KBLA-AM 1580
Miami: WNMA-AM 1210
Phildelphia: TBA
Boston: TBA
San Francisco: TBA
More stations coming soon
I swear, I don't work for Air America or have any ties to it, but a lot is riding on this network's success. If it fails, it will be a very, very long time before a liberal radio format is ever tried again. If it succeeds, though, there could be a truthful, liberal Fox News Channel in our future.