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!
