Clear Channel adds liberal programming

[wyldwolf]

Proving that some companies put profit above party loyalty (ha ha!)

Some Clear Channel Communications Inc. radio stations are switching to a liberal talk format, Broadcasting & Cable said Tuesday.

The company said it would change four stations -- including stations in San Diego and Ann Arbor, Mich. -- to progressive talk within 60 days. The stations will carry Air America Radio's Al Franken and Randi Rhodes, as well as other syndicated talkers and local hosts.

In certain local markets, listeners are clearly finding progressive talk radio entertaining and informative, said John Hogan, Clear Channel chief executive officer. We've been delighted with the ratings generated by our progressive talk radio stations.

Clear Channel's Portland, Ore., outlet, KPOJ-AM, went from No. 26 to No. 3 among adults 25-64 after switching to progressive talk earlier this year.

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=341271a2ab30042c

[TaleWgnDg]

1. does this mean that Clear Channel execs will . . .

stop contributing to the RNC and Cheney/Bush? or other rightwing causes? oh.

[Sugarbleus]

2. Great news!!! woooooohooooooo thnx n/t

[Doctor_J]

3. the first harbinger of a tidal wave, IMO

hate radio is just about played out. We will rule the next generation.

[lazarus]

4. heh

We've already got a full AAR station here in San Diego. Guess which one I'll be listening to?

[rednek_Liberal]

5. That reminds me.. time to open Real_pLayer...

and get mY Lib On.

[Pallas180]

6. That's telling of how Americans really feel. They've been feeding

us a steady diet of wacky religion, drug addict rush, and far right
exremism for 12 years,.....when a stateion goes from #26 to #3 when
they serve up "librul" or more common sense talk radio - non hate filled - there's a lot of people who obviously have been parched.

[comradebillyboy]

7. clear channel bring air america to albuquerque

starting tomorrow.

[blueblitzkrieg]

21. YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.....

do you know what station???

edit: n/m it's KABQ-AM (1350)

[AmandaRuth]

8. does anyone know who/where i could write

to clear channel about bringing a station to Seattle? I am know nothing about the industry, so i am not sure. I guess what i am asking is, who would make decisions about programming changes?

[ellie]

9. Sweet!

I will be able to hear Air America from Ann Arbor! Yippee!

[rocktivity]

10. Randi Rhodes says that CC told her they would NEVER syndicate her

So I doubt that they've suddenly been bitten by the profit bug. I suspect that they see the writing on the wall and want to get their programming looking a little more "fair and balanced" in case President Kerry develops a yearning to engage in a little media "reform."

:headbang:
rocknation

[Tabasco_Dave]

11. Wow democrats own radios

Democrats listen to radio
Democrats listen to advertising
Democrats have money
Democrats buy things
Democrats buy cars
Democrats buy food
Democrats buy houses
and C.C. just discovered this.

[calimary]

15. Welcome to DU! Yep, sometimes people have to be hit with the

proverbial 2 X 4. It's been a Noisy Minority that's held sway, gaining its early momentum by riding in on Reagan's coattails. I think it just may not have occurred to anybody that anything else was marketable, because they just figured nothing else was out there.

Why might they make that mistake? Because one side of it is pretty much all they heard, once the Fairness Doctrine was banished in the late 80's (87, I think, late in Reagan's presidency). Nobody felt like they had to provide equal time, or that they better provide equal time. That takes a little extra work, and not many people feel like doing a lot of extra work. Which could be because they already have a plate that's full to overflowing of an already busy job, trying to juggle family and expenses, and sometimes the care or monitoring of an elderly relative as well.

This miscalculation is beginning to be rectified because we in the previously Silenced Majority are no longer silent. The bullying and "you're unpatriotic! 9/11!" slander has ebbed, counterbalanced by a growing upset with the war, as the casualties mount increasingly publicly toward 1,000, considering that the war was built on lies. We are more vocal, and MUCH more has gone wrong besides that to be more vocal about. Our focus, energy, unity, and growing numbers are beginning to get a LOT of attention. Remarkable reports on CNN, no less, about the march - to my surprise, Wolf "Monica" Blitzer made a separate remark about specifically how peaceful it was. The reporter on the scene echoed that, adding a note about the remarkably few arrests considering the volume of people there. She further said it was "EXTREMELY peaceful," stressing "extremely." And it wasn't as though there were 237 people out there all day today, okay? A crowd TWO MILES LONG? That's some BIG numbers of people. People who obviously, vocally, don't like the Pox "news" network, which implies that they'd be interested in something different from that. Uh - what's left out there - OH! LIBERALS! Wow - wonder whatever happened to them? Might be a neat new thing...

...to go from 26th to THIRD place in the ratings. Numbers, guys. I suspect that, because of the NYC protest today, EVERYONE is going to be a LOT more conscious of HOW MANY of us there are. I think some of them are truly stunned. Further, they were, deep-down, assuming that a crowd of any size meant there'd be violence and mayhem. Again they proved decisively of just how completely clueless they are about life outside the bush-Beltway. Completely clueless. They geared up for the completely and flatly wrong alternatives. I wonder if the media reaction on election night will be like that...

[UdoKier]

12. Like...DUH!

The funny thing is, a lot of these ClearChannel A-holes actually BELIEVED their propaganda that "liberal radio isn't commercially viable".

I'm old enough to remember when ther still were a significant number of lib radio talk shows - as late as the mid eighties. They did fine, but when Clear Channel bought everything up, the packed every hour with Limbaugh clones. which was a funny thing to do, since Limbaugh's ratings were never all that spectacular in most markets...

[Eloriel]

13. Well, I have mixed feelings about this

On the one hand, great.

On the other hand, more of what I keep seeing throughout our culture and especially our politics, elucidated most ably by Lenin in this quote:

The best way to control the opposition is to lead it ourselves. -- Lenin

Again and again throughout our history (the People's history), whenever we have made our voices REALLY heard, we thought we won. But we didn't. We didn't win at all. We simply got mollified and, ultimately, co-opted. I frankly think this is probably yet another example: let them THINK they're getting the goods. That'll shut them up, and they can go back to sleep.

[Kimber Scott]

14. And what SHOULD we do?

I don't get it.

[linazelle]

16. You have to wonder just how "liberal" these new shows will be

Clear Channel--home of the Dixie Chick ban--is suspect in my eyes because they've refused to air Randi's Show even though they air all other Air America shows on XM Radio.

XM Radio is much better in terms of reception and receiver design than Sirius but I cancelled XM Radio and got Sirius letting XM know that it was because they don't air Randi Rhodes and Air America's full lineup. The customer rep told me they get lots of the same comments. Maybe somebody's listening now.

[wyldwolf]

19. "liberal" meaning Air America

Plenty liberal for me.

[dbt]

22. RE: The Dixie Chicks ban:

While Clear Channel stations were busy banning the Chicks, Clear Channel was equally busy promoting Dixie Chicks concerts. Or hedging their bet, whichever way you want to look at it.

:freak:
dbt

[doc03]

17. Believe it or not there is an openly gay liberal talk show host

on Clear Channel WWVA in Wheeling, WV.

[KharmaTrain]

18. More Good News For AAR Should Be On The Way...

The trends, or the first month, of the new ratings period just ended and I'm told the AAR stations in Miami & Portland are doing extremely well (both Clear Channel) and WLIB in New York is showing well as well. These reports are for the top markets, and sorry, no specific...just quick reports from those in "the know".

I still think AAR needs to make it's programming available on a "strip" basis. Right now they want affiliates to take all shows all the time...this cuts down on independent owners who may want to carry one show or another. If some of these shows were available that way, there'd be a lot more AAR programming around the country. I know of some college stations that have expressed interest in AAR programming, but since they can't air commercials, that's prevented them (now they could run the programming commercial free if underwritten, I'm sure)

There's still expectations that more Clear Channel and possible another large chain will start flipping AM stations to "Progressive" or "Liberal" talk as there's now reems of research that is showing the huge potential of the audience (it's showing very strong numbers in 18-34...an audience hate radio does poorly in) and this can be turned into advertising bucks. Time will tell if this trend continues. My magic 8 ball says it will.

[Cascadian]

20. Now if we could get an affiliate in Seattle

For some strange reason, I doubt that is ever going to happen. Seattle radio kind of sucks except for KEXP which is publicly supported indy music station here and of course Mike Webb on KIRO. KUOW, the NPR station is good also but mostly Seattle radio sucks.


John