Tired of wingnut blather radio?
You can bring Air America Radio to your local community, no matter how conservative.
For instance, six concerned citizens of Baton Rouge, deep in rethug territory, were able to get a local station to convert to Air America — by gathering only 1,000 signatures on a petition.
For the recipe on how it was done — and how you can easily convince one of your local stations to convert to the fresh air of entertaining truth, go to the link, or the recipe, below:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/18/144723/171
RECIPE FOR BRINGING AIR AMERICA RADIO TO YOUR COMMUNITY:
Step one: Check to see if AAR is already broadcasting in your area by visiting their web page at http://www.airamericaradio.com/stations . (Even if there is an affiliate station near you, it may not broadcast to all of your area.)
Step two: Determine the lowest-rated radio stations in your area by going to http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRRatings/DefaultSearch.aspx?ShowAll=yes, which lists all the radio markets in the country. (The lower the number, the lower the rating–the ratings are actually percentages of the total market in that area.) When you click on a market such as “Cleveland,” you can see the ratings for all the stations in that market. (Note: To identify the geographical area for each “radio market,” visit this web page http://www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/mktdefs.asp).
Step three: Find the mailing address and other contact information for the lowest rated stations in your area. This could be a handful of stations or a few dozen–its up to you.
Step four: Call up the station managers and express your interest having an AAR affiliate station in your community, and find out who has the authority to change the station’s formats. This may be the station manager or some one higher up on the corporate ladder. Be polite. Do not make it into a protest.
Step five: Once the decision makers are identified, ask the decision makers if they are receptive to the idea of switching to AAR and what factors would influence their decision. Try to be helpful to them.
Step six: Based on your conversations with station’s corporate decision makers, identify a few stations that seem to have the best chance of becoming an AAR affiliate station. If decision makers do not convey any real interest in switching, you will probably have a very hard time convincing them to switch regardless of what you do.
Step seven: Let the stations know that other people may be writing to them to demonstrate support in your community for progressive radio. (Again, don’t turn this into a protest of the existing format. Keep your relationship with the station friendly and helpful.)
Step eight: Determine the number of Kerry voters in your area by checking with your county auditor, secretary of state, etc. This can help you make the case that there are listeners in your area for AAR. Regardless of where you live, there will almost certainly be thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Kerry voters in your local radio market.
Step nine: Organize an effort for people to write letters to the decision-makers of these low-rated stations. An example is below.
Step ten: Print a copy of this article about a Portland station that successfully transitioned to Air America Radio and include it with the letter to each station manager. http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=26823
Step eleven: Ask other local democratic and progressive groups to help write letters.
Step twelve: Keep in contact with the decision maker for the station. After the letters start coming into his/her office, call her/him and ask what she/he thinks of the support for AAR in the listening area.
Sincerely,
Bryan E. Burke, and Tobe from Spokane
Eastern Washington Voters
P.S. Here is a sample letter.
Dear Station manager,
I am interested in listening to Air America Radio in Spokane, and so are others. Over 143,000 people in Spokane and the surrounding counties voted for John Kerry in 2004. These voters could become KAQQ listeners.
October ratings have positioned KAQQ at number 21. Certainly you have a much better understanding of ratings than myself, but from what I gather I think KAQQ can follow the success of KPOJ in Portland Oregon. KPOJ is a Clear Channel owned station that has recently become an Air America Affiliate. http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=26823
According to Pete Sculberg, “Since KPOJ switched from oldies music to the new Air America network last March, the progressive format has made the station one of the most listened-to in Portland, and advertisers are following.” Mike Dirkx is the operations manager at KPOJ. He is available to discuss the transition his station has made.
PLEASE RECOMMEND THIS DIARY TO GET THE WORD OUT!
PLEASE RECOMMEND, SO WE CAN GET THE WORD OUT!
Thanks.
A while back, we heard from a diarist (can’t remember who) who had dealt uncomfortably at family gatherings with a right wing jackass brother-in-law. This guy was always running at the mouth about the latest crap he had heard on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show. But at the most recent gathering, he instead started talking about all that he had now learned from Air America Radio, and how wrong he had been! That diary really opened my eyes to how important this network could be, beyond preaching to the choir.
This past weekend, I went to visit a friend in central Illinois. On the way back, I fought highway hypnosis by scanning for AM talk. For a little bit, I listened to Rush, and it was actually somewhat enjoyable because he was complaining that “the Democrats may appear clueless, but it’s starting to look like they are actually getting pretty effective at blocking the Bush agenda”. Mwahahahaha.
But of course there was only so much I could take, so I scanned on down the dial. To my great surprise, I came across Marty Kaplan’s AAR show! Apparently the “Quad Cities” on the Iowa and Illinois border (you may recall that Kerry and Bush were there on the same day last summer, and some enterprising bank robbers took advantage of the situation to rob several banks that day as well) has lost a country station–as I learned after a little Googling–but gained “Progressive Talk 1270”.
I hadn’t listened to AAR since losing my broadband connection several months ago. It sounds like they are really hitting their stride. I was very pleased to note that they (or at least Kaplan) don’t seem to be obsessed only with doing anti-Bush stories (those are fine in moderation, but get boring when it’s all you hear). There was a neat little story about “Lebowskifest” (a sort of Trekkie convention for fans of the movie “The Big Lebowski”) that brought vivid images and more than a few smiles.
But the segment that really made my hair stand on end was an interview with former Jane’s Addiction and Porno for Pyros frontman, not to mention Lollapalooze founder, Perry Farrell. I have fond Lollapalooza memories, having gone to the show, in various cities, the first five years of its existence. I was looking forward to going again last summer, when it was suddenly announced that it was cancelled due to slow ticket sales. I remember thinking at the time, “That’s bogus–I hadn’t bought my tickets yet, and I never buy them this far in advance! How do they know how many they’d sell by the show dates?”
Farrell dropped a bombshell in this interview. According to him, ticket sales had been fine. The real problem, he said, was that he had been working closely with the Kerry campaign to register voters and urge young people to vote Democratic. Clear Channel had owned 90% of the tour, and they pulled the plug, he strongly implied, because of this political affiliation.
I was of course incensed by this. So I was surprised to learn from this diary, and from a little extra research, that Clear Channel has adopted the AAR format for many of its underperforming stations. Not sure what to think now–except that this definitely indicates that AAR is not afraid to step on corporate toes, or they would have presumably squelched the Perry Farrell interview or at least edited out the Clear Channel reference. I wonder what Clear Channel bigwigs think about it, or if they even know?
Clear Channel has made it clear that they’re in it for the money, and Air America is making them money, hand over fist.
Reviving stations that were underperforming to become top stations in that market.
So yes, if you want Air America in your community, find an underperforming station that Clear Channel runs (see above diary), start a local petition and voila! The voice of reason will prevail.
I live about an hour south of the Quad-Cities, but don’t read the QC paper or watch TV news, so I had no idea about AM-1270 switching from country to progressive talk. Upon reading your post, I immediately ran down to the kitchen to see if my north-facing clock radio could pick it up.
With bated breath I scrolled around between the “12” and “14” until I heard a voice from . . . the Sierra Club! Hallelujah! I can hear!
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
You’re quite welcome! Wow, that’s really cool–I was so pleased to discover that station, but bummed that I couldn’t give them (and their sponsors) regular support (I live in Missouri, too far away I think though it might be worth a shot on a clear night). So it’s great to hear that I ended up gaining them a new listener, essentially by accident! 🙂
I tried to find an email address for the radio station so I could give them some props and encouragement to keep it going (though I suppose ratings will be the bottom line), but came up empty. If you come across an email address or something while listening, send it to me, would ya?
It never ceases to amaze me how possible it is to change things, if one is just willing to have a plan and do some work.
For all of our ranting about the failures of the corporate MSM, we often forget the importance of local media. Here in Austin, Democracy Now! is carried by a small radio station that is primarily aimed at the African-American community, KAZI. Since I set devoted a radio button to KAZI so that I could listen to DN!, I find I listen to that station at other times, too. So they’ve not just gained a listener when DN! airs, but at other times too.
I’m not that big a fan of AAR, but I’m glad that it’s there for those who like the talk radio format.
I am a huge Amy Goodman fan and DN! is great for folks who are looking for a bit more of a low-key alternative news source. Perhaps some who read your diary can use a modified version of this approach to get Democracy Now! in their area, either on the radio or on a local access TV channel.
I supposedly have Air America Radio in my community. My local station broadcasts Air America content but not what I want to hear. They replace Air America shows with Stephanie Miller and Ed Shultz in the daytime. I like Stephanie and Schultz is OK, but I’d like to hear Randi live. The station runs part of of Randi’s after Schultz at 6PM. They run Garafalo and Seder at 10PM and they don’t broadcast Mike Malloy (my favorite) at all!
So I decided to get Sirius so I could hear the whole Air America lineup. XM runs a schedule sort of like my local station, but with Alan Colmes replacing Mike Malloy. Then Air America made an exclusive deal with XM and their shows are off Sirius completely. So I got XM radio, thinking they would start to broadcast the whole Air America schedule. No dice. They run the morning shows and then Ed Schultz till 5PM, then Randi Rhodes till 7PM, then Garafalo and Seder, Alan Colmes. They have only part of Mike Malloy’s show on from 1-3AM.
I feel as if I’ve been screwed by Air America. If I want to hear the shows I want to hear live, I’m back to streaming on the internet. I’ve complained to XM and Air America and have been ignored. It’s still nice to have SOME left leaning radio, but I sure do miss hearing the whole Air America schedule, and I hate Alan Colmes being on in prime time!
Unfortunately, Air America doesn’t have control over what a station plucks from their schedule.
They started with the idea of buying stations so that their whole schedule would be aired, but the money wasn’t there for them to do that.
However, give ’em credit — rather than just starting with one show, they had the vision of creating a liberal network — and that vision has now infected radio with the idea that liberal talk works!
Other liberal talk shows are springing up like mushrooms, or like the Colmes show, getting a boost from Air America.
I live in Los Angeles, but the Air America station is apparently too weak to reach my part of it, so yeah, I’m still listening via streaming. In Los Angeles, no less!
I understand that stations are going to pick and choose from the schedule, but my gripe is with the exclusive deal with XM. If they were going to do that, they should have insisted that XM carry the whole schedule, as Sirius did. Meanwhile, I’m out several hundred dollars because I wanted to hear Air America radio. I also heard that part of the XM deal was that the website has to stop the free stream. I don’t know if that’s true or when it takes effect.