It seems that the Righties are attacking Air America (again). They have questioned (again) if the Liberal Radio Station is hurting, because the flagship Station WLIB in New York saw its ratings drop from
1.4 to 1.2.
To many, including myself, I found this to be slightly disturbing. I started to wonder if one of our most powerful tools in fighting Bush & Co. was all just a dream. So I decided to look into and see if there is anying to worry about. What I found is not only are we doing great, but we may be on the verge of a breakout that will make the Brownshirts, Bushbots, Righties, or what ever you want to called them go into shock.
The issue is, like always, the Righties are not looking at the entire picture and are only focusing on one piece of the puzzle. While they are doing that our poltical air horn is spreading across the country and even <gasp> to some Red States!
First, let's start with the first thing that should scare the shit out of the Right,
the Wall Street Journal (Yes, them), reported that Air America was back in fighting form.
...with an infusion of new financing and new management, the radio network has won high ratings in some of its local markets and has garnered the support of radio-industry giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. It has signed three-year contracts with its top two stars, Al Franken and Randi Rhodes, and raised an additional $19 million from private investors. People familiar with the situation say Air America is also finalizing a deal that would get it back on the air in Los Angeles via KXTA-AM, a Clear Channel sports station.
Then I was in even more in shock when the Moonie Washington Times was admitting that Air America and Liberal Radio in General was having success.
Companies such as Air America and Democracy Radio are enjoying market success with such talk-show hosts as Al Franken, Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes and Janeane Garofalo. Clear Channel Radio has moved into the progressive-talk arena, with three of its stations -- in Cincinnati, Detroit and Washington -- switching formats in the past month.
Gabe Hobbs, Clear Channel Radio vice president of programming, news/talk/sports, told United Press International progressive talk is experiencing vigorous growth, largely because the recent round of the format's expansion took place during the contentious election year of 2004.
"People had a heightened interest in electoral politics," he said, "and we used that opportunity to fill a need and launch a new format."
Hobbs said talk stations typically take 18 months to two years to become established, but progressive talk is connecting considerably faster for Clear Channel.
"Our stations are getting there in 30 to 90 days," he said. "That's remarkable considering most of the talent, no one knows who they are."
So I decided to dig into what ratings that I could find. I was able to get my hands on the ratings of 23 of Air America's 48 Stations. Overall, I would say not a bad average amount of listeners, especially that we are talking about a network that will celebrate its first birth March 31st (ironically my birthday)
A Few Markets of Interest
. Share AQH
Albuquerque 1.9 12,147
Ann Arbor 2.2 6,490
Boulder 1.6 34,229
Madison 2.9 13,288
Portland, OR 3.7 71,691
Sacramento 1.6 27,429
San Diego 2.3 57,130
AQH: The statisical average number of persons who listened to a station for a minimum of five minutes within a given week.
Now, what was really interest was the big pop many of these stations received after being on the air for two 3 month periods. Case in point, KABQ in Albuquerque went from a market share of 0.4 to 1.9, KKZN in Boulder went from 0.9 to 1.6, and WXXM in Madison went from a 1.9 to a 2.9 share. Now correct me if I am wrong, but those first two stations are in RED STATES, maybe there is hope.
The last thing that gave me hope was how Air America was doing over the internet. Fourth overall in streaming - with an AQH of 196,459.
Unfortunately, I could not get numbers from either Sirius or XM Radio, to see how Liberal / Air America was doing there. This is how I listen to it, even though it is broadcast locally.
So is it no surprise that Clear Channel (yes, that Republican pimp) is looking at rolling out even more liberal stations this year? Republicans always said that market forces will drive people. Well apparently it is driving them for some reason to liberal radio.
Now, Air America is in 11 of the top 15 markets. We have yet to tap into no. 3 Chicago, no. 5 Dallas, no. 7 Houston, and no. 13 Puerto Rico. Now I don't know if we will be able to crack Puerto Rico, but Chicago, Dallas, and Houston are doable. If we are in those three markets, by July 4th, Air America is here to stay. The Righties can keep lying to themselves, they are good at that.