The Liberal Talker Rankings

This has been a turbulent year for liberal talk radio. The year started with 61 stations reaching 80 million potential radio listeners and ended with 80 stations reaching 109 million potential radio listeners. Despite all of problems associated with the Air America Radio Network’s bankruptcy filing in November and Clear Channel’s bizarre decision to drop lib talk in five markets, the format has actually increased its potential coverage by 36% over the past year.

However, as we enter the New Year, you get the impression that the lib talk universe is going to change dramatically. There are several questions that will probably be answered in the coming weeks and months.


 Will Air America Radio Network emerge from bankruptcy? And if yes, in what form?

 Will Al Franken give up his prime AM slot on AAR and run for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota?

 Will the Democratic Congress push for some changes in broadcast regulation, and reverse the trend towards deregulation?

TR will be covering, these and other issues in the coming weeks and months. However, before the landscape of the liberal talk hosts and liberal talk stations changes, we thought it would be interesting to present the year end rankings of all the syndicated talk show hosts.

Whatever, happens to lib talk in the coming year, it is very likely that syndication will continue to dominate the market. (Syndicated programming accounts over 90% of the hours of lib talk on radio.) However, somehow we suspect that the list of top syndicated lib talkers will be very different on December 31, 2007.

So we have put together listing* containing virtually all of the syndicated lib talkers who broadcast on weekdays. You will notice that the hosts are rated by the percentage of the total audience that they reach. Furthermore the positioning of the hosts is based on all radio listeners, not the so-called money demo, i.e. adults 25-49. You will have to go to other sources e.g. trade magazines or the host's websites to find specific data concerning ratings, shares, aqh's and cumes. Here is how the 17 syndicated hosts finished off 2006:







The number one lib talker is Ed Schultz. With about 100 affiliates, Schultz’ show is carried on 20 more stations than the number two talker, Al Franken (so it appears that, the station clearance advantage, is the basis for Schultz’ slim 1.5% lead.). And now that Franken is sounding like he’s hanging up his microphone, it looks like we will have a new runner-up in the near future.



Miller, who moved from tenth to fourth over the past year, doubled her affiliate count and easily had the fastest growing lib talk show. Despite reducing her show from four to three hours and losing some coverage, Randi Rhodes held on to third place in the survey. From what we hear, Randi's show does very well in money demo and she even beat Sean Hannity in that demo in key markets, including New York, throughout 2006.

AAR’s Sam Seder, led the second tier, closely trailed by Rachel Maddow. Thom Hartmann made an impressive surge from 2% to 5.2% in 2006. The iron made of lib talk, did this by increasing his ratings in Portland and increasing to his coverage to over a dozen stations. The remaining 11 syndicate talkers only accounted for 16% of people that listened to lib talk in 2006. Last place, in the survey is Nova M talker, Mike Malloy. This is because he has only a handful of affiliates and a lousy time period.

The battle of late night hosts was a three-way contest between Alan Colmes, Lionel, and Jon Elliott. Elliot wins this battle.The San Diego based host succeeded Mike Malloy, who was dumped by AAR three months ago. He appears to have secured the late night slot on the liberal talk network.

You may wonder why late night talkers are found at the bottom of list. It is because late night, especially overnight (after midnight) is a lousy time slot and gets lousy ratings. The reason for this is that driving is significantly reduced during the evening hours. (remember about 45% of talk radio listening is in the car.) Also, most people are watching television at this time. That's whythey call 8pm to 11 pm "primetime".

Seven of the 17 syndicated talkers attracting 34.4% of lib talk radio listeners are not affiliated with the struggling AAR network. This number has doubled in the past year. This is good news for lib talk, because it demonstrates that the format can survive even if AAR crashes and burns. TR will closely follow the performance of lib talk hosts over the coming year.

A new survey will be released in early February and every three months thereafter.

*These estimates, pertaining to characteristics of the talk radio audience across America, are excerpted from Talking Radio’s in-house, non-scientific study. It is drawn from interviews with listeners of general news-talk radio across the United States supplemented by input from talk radio programmers, hosts, sales personnel, and radio station in-house research in addition to occasional studies provided by academic institutions.

Maria Leavey Touched Many

I met Maria Leavey at talk radio meeting sponsored by Democracy Radio, three years ago. We remained in touch since that time by phone and email. I would contact her when I wanted to find out what was going on in the talk radio business. Maria was one of those people who knew what was happening, you might call her a "political insider." Needless, to say I was shocked and saddened when I found out that she had passed away suddenly last week at her home in Arlington, VA.

I thought of how lucky I was to know her. Then I read several of tributes to her life that have sprung up over the past few days on blogosphere. I realized at this point, that Maria was not just my source, but was a tireless activist who helped so many people make connections with Washington politicos and media types --usually not looking for compensation or some personal recognition. I realized that she was a lot bigger person than the petit dark heared woman that my fading memory preserved.

I started searching Google, looking for a picture of Maria. I didn’t find a picture, but I came across so many thoughtful and personal remembrances. I became aware that Maria was very involved in the life that she chose to live, even if it didn’t produce financial benefits, or. for that matter, enough money to purchase health insurance.

I came across the obituary in the Washington Post by Matt Schudel. Matt called Maria, a "behind the scenes force for liberal causes who had an uncanny ability to bring opinion makers together with Washington's political elite." I realized then that this modest woman living in a small Arlington, VA apartment, who always had time to talk with me, was a real player in the Washington scene. Here’s some more from WP obit:

Ms. Leavey arrived in Washington in 1993 but, unlike other well-placed media figures, she never held a staff position with a major newspaper, television or radio outlet. Nonetheless, while working out of a small apartment in Crystal City with an outmoded computer, she managed to build contacts at the highest ranks of Washington's political circles. She was a consultant for Howard Dean, now chairman of the Democratic National Committee, during his 2004 campaign for his party's presidential nomination. She worked with senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) long before Democrats regained control of the Congress in the 2006 election. She launched a monthly breakfast for liberal-leaning journalists, bringing them together with high-level newsmakers, including Dean, Senate Majority Leader Reid, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and even Grover Norquist, a leading Republican strategist.
The petite, dark-haired Ms. Leavey was known to bake cookies for everyone from political leaders to her mail carrier, and people of all political persuasions were charmed by her refreshing absence of guile.

I also found the remembrance posted by Cenk Ugur of The Young Turks to be especially poignant. Cenk called Maria "a quiet American hero" Cenk said that "she was a champion of progressive causes…not some rich benefactor; she was a hard worker who did all the little things that were absolutely essential. The "Young Turk" recalled a meeting that he had with Maria several months ago.

I remember one time when she had us over for tea. She had gotten us into yet another conference and helped to set everything up. And instead of asking for anything back, she went out of her way to make sure she had us over for a little food she prepared. It's not like she was showing off, her apartment was humble and she showed us the old computer she got all her work done on and that always gave her trouble. And that afternoon we sat and talked about how important it was that the right ideas prevailed in America. There was no gain for her, no angle. She just really wanted to make sure the country was headed in the right direction. She actually cared.

We cannot second guess, the choices that Maria made during her life. But you can’t help but wonder if she would be alive today if she was able to afford health insurance. Blogger and friend Matt Stoller speculated on this, in his the personal remembrance he posted on his blog:

That lack of health insurance is probably why she died, suddenly, at age 53. Her family had a prior history of heart problems, but I assume she couldn't get the regular check-ups that are necessary in such a situation. Maria wasn't the type of person who would demand something for herself; she just sacrificed rather than put her allies in an uncomfortable situation. This was the case even with health insurance. She had many invaluable skills, but getting progressives to value her wasn't one of them.

Talk show host and blogger Taylor Marsh was one of several bloggers that described a personal experience with Maria, that led to doors opening and new opportunities. Taylor opened a blog entry entitled "Farewell Maria" by writing "This has been such a momentous day. But as it is with life, amidst great moments of triumph and joy often comes a bolt from the blue to remind us of how precious life is, as well as how fleeting and fickle. It was that way today. A great heroine of the progressive movement is gone."

Taylor who does a weekly internet talk radio show, also related how Maria helped her to get her show off the ground. Here’s what she wrote.

As most of you know, I am on a seemingly never ending journey to get my radio show back on terrestrial radio. Maria Leavey understood that dream of mine and never hesitated to lend an ear or send an email of news about progressive radio, good or bad, and usually about dirt that wasn't being printed, just to give me a heads up.

As I read the many tributes and remembrances regarding Maria’s untimely passing I couldn’t help but notice that there were few links to her postings over the past few years. Then I was really not surprised by this. Maria preferred to work behind the scenes. She avoided the limelight. She didn’t have a blog or a lengthy paper trail. However, her writings do show up – usually as comment on someone else's blog. Here’s one that I found in the Washington Monthly blog where she was defending right wing media critic David Brock.

James Warren's determination to find fault with The Republican Noise Machine by David Brock has forced him to present arguments that are either specious or irrelevant ("What Ailes Us," September). If the invisible hand of the media market were the ultimate arbiter of content, as Warren suggests, then we would all be listening to Howard Stern and watching pornography. One also does not have to assume a sinister conspiracy to accept Brock's documented description of organized cooperation among partisans of the right to bend the means of communication to their ends. Even Warren admits their success. Further, while it is probably true that most people get their information from local news and newspapers, the news agenda is set by a national press increasingly intimidated by the threat of being labeled liberal. Finally as Warren surely knows, the efforts of Michael Moore, MoveOn.org, and their ilk can hardly compare to the decades-long, billion-dollar industry that promotes the other side.


Just like Maria, not tooting her horn. Just defending one her many friends.

Goodbye Maria. I’m going to miss you. I am not alone.

Ready to Rumble in Boston and Columbus

The Air America Radio Network launched in handful of markets in April of 2004. After one year, the fledgling liberal talk network served 53 markets with 44 stations reaching a potential audience of 99,667,000 radio listeners. (AAR has an additional 25 stations that are not rated. These stations are not included in this analysis.)

By the end of its second year in existence, AAR reached its high point in coverage serving 70 markets with 59 affiliated stations reaching a potential audience of 110,307,000 radio listeners. Since that time, in early 2006, AAR has lost nine affiliates and 15,766,000 potential radio listeners. This represents a loss of about 15% of its coverage.

And the bleeding continues as we enter 2007. Unless, something dramatic happens this weekend, one of AAR’s oldest affiliates, WTPG in Columbus, OH will be flipping to conservative talk on Monday. That will result in the loss of another 1,382,600 potential radio listeners.

Few observers suspect that the switchouts will stop in Central Ohio. With the future of AAR still in doubt and the likely departure of the network's top talk host Al Franken, the first part of the new year could be very dicey.

The good news is that AAR does not dominate the lib talk market like it did a year ago. Right now Ed Schultz, who is syndicated by Jones Radio, is the number one lib talk host. Another Jones yakker, Stephanie Miller has added dozens of new affiliates this year. Also, added in the mix are syndicated talkers like Bill Press, Mike Malloy, and Peter B. Collins. Finally, there are more local liberal talkers now than there were a year ago. And of course, there is Alan Colmes if anyone is listening.

TR will be closely following the trials and tribulations of lib talk over the coming months. There are active campaigns in about half of the markets that have lost their local affiliate over the past year. We have identified campaigns in now underway in following markets.

Boston
Columbus, OH
Dallas

Two of these markets – Boston and Dallas – have already lost their local lib talk station. The other market – Columbus, OH – is scheduled to drop lib talk on Tuesday.

TR has identified two other markets where there are organized campaigns to get a local station to pick up lib talk programming. In Milwaukee, a website has been set up to generate interest in bringing AAR to Milwaukee and in Cedar Rapids over 300 people have signed an on-line petition to to demonstrate support for the format there. (In nearby Quad Cities, the local AAR affiliate switched to Christian talk two months ago.)

Following is the status of the two most active campaigns – in Boston and Columbus – to restore lib talk on the radio airwaves.


Boston

What happened?

On December 21, Clear Channel flipped WXKS/WKOX to Spanish, leaving Boston – arguably the most liberal big city in the country without a lib talk station. Like usual, CC’s embattled station management used the "B" word when contacted by scores of angry radio listeners, who wanted to know why the change was being made. "It’s a business decision, nothing personal" callers were told by Michael Crusham, CC’s Boston market manager.

What has happened since?

A group was formed called, "Save Boston’s Progressive Talk" headed up by Robin Bergman, a local businesswoman. A website and petition drive has been initiated. (As of today over 1,100 people have signed the petition.) The group met last Wednesday at Panera’s Restaurant in Watertown. They will be holding another meeting at Panera’s on Monday.

Position Statement

Our voice, the voice of Boston, Eastern Massachusetts and Providence, RI was once at AM1200 (WKOX) and AM1430 (WSKS). Now it is silent, and thousands of Progressives in the Boston, Fall River and Providence area are left without an outlet for our political and social thought. While the region has over ten conservative talk radio stations, truly media saturation, the population is left without balance. At 12 noon [on December 21, 2006], Clear Channel changed AM1200 and AM1430 content to Spanish music. How does the bluest city in the bluest state in the union lose their progressive talk station? Well, lack of passion or dedication to the product/format, lack of local programming, lack of local advertising, a weak radio signal (which Clear Channel boosted AFTER the format change even though Boston Progressive Talk listeners had begged for the advancement for two years), a station basically set to "autopilot" in operations, and deliberate and conscious neglect by Clear Channel are big reasons. Progressive Talk listeners in the Boston, Fall River and Providence area are large, passionate, dedicated and hungry for a radio station that reflects their thoughts and values. If given a "real" chance a Progressive Talk radio station would flourish. Loyal listeners are meeting, brainstorming and planning for the future at groups.yahoo.com/group/Save_progressive_radio_boston
Join US!


Columbus, OH

What happened?

WTPG will switch from lib talk to conservative talk on Tuesday unless, a very active protest group can convince CC otherwise. Again CC’s management uses the "B" word to defend their bizarre decision to add another conservative talk station to the market – they already offer right-wing talk on WTVN.


What has happened since?

A group called "Ohio Majority Radio" has been formed with backing from some of the activists associated with successful campaign in Madison, which convinced CC to restore lib talk to WXXM. A website and petition drive has been initiated. (As of today over 2,000 people have signed the petition.)

A rally will be held Monday at the Statehouse in Columbus. Tentatively scheduled to appear at the rally will be Franklin County Commissioner, Mary Jo Kilroy, Ohio State Representative Dan Stewart and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman. Also, participating in the rally will be Stephanie Miller, who will be devoting the final hour of her show (11 am to 12 noon) to simulcast with Columbus rally. Following the rally there will be a funeral procession from the Statehouse to the offices and studios of Clear Channel in Columbus.

Position Statement

On December 23, 2006, the Columbus Dispatch reported that WTPG-1230am Progressive Radio would be changing formats on Monday, January 9th. Instead of Stephanie Miller, Al Franken, Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes and Rachel Maddow, Columbus will be subjected to the likes of Jim Quinn, Laura Ingraham and Michael Savage. The station will get new call letters, WYTS and will be promoted as "the Talk Station in Central Ohio" Bruce Collins, the local program director at Clear Channel, the owners of WTPG, says: "Whether it's politics or sports, financial information or general advice, central Ohio listeners will have the opportunity to talk about it on Talk 1230." Here in Ohio, we ARE the majority. In Ohio in 2006 almost 55% of the votes cast for statewide and legislative races were cast for Democrats. In Central Ohio that number were over 58%. And while Ohio turns blue, Clear Channel decides that they "cannot sell" progressive radio here. They've pulled out of Cincinnati and are leaving in Columbus. We have to show that we want progressive radio in Columbus and other places in Ohio.

The tactics being used in Boston and Columbus are very similar to the successful tactics used by activists in Madison over the course of their successful campaign to save the WXXM "the Mic." In Madison they employed a web page, a petition, community meetings, and even a funeral procession. The result was that Clear Channel wisely decided to acquiesce.

TR will be following the events in Boston and Columbus, so check back from time to time for updates. Also, if you have access to a lib talk affiliate or to internet streaming tune in to Stephanie Miller's show on Monday from 11 am to 12 noon for live coverage of the rally Columbus.

Hopefully, it won’t be "Goodbye Columbus" for lib talk on the radio.

Was Up with Greenstone?

What's going on at Greenstone Media? In the past week, at least two top executives of fledgling women's talk radio network have resigned or been fired. Last week it was reported that Edie Hilliard, Greenstone's original president was replaced by Nancy Vaeth-Dubroff. Now today's edition of Allaccess.com reports that the network's programming exec, Dan Larkin, is also out.



Greenstone is conducting the highest profiled talk radio network launch since the start-up of Air America Radio network almost three years. The venture appears to well funded and the backers represent a who's who in the women's movement led by Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinhem. While their sharp website doesn't list affiliates, TR has identified about a dozen stations that have picked up Greenstone's all female talk radio line-up

Anyone know was up?

There's Bad News and Good News in Boston

It’s good news and bad news for liberal talk radio listeners in Boston. The bad news is that last week Clear Channel dropped lib talk from their badly engineered duo of AM stations WXKS and WKOX and started broadcasting a Spanish language format called the Rumba. The move replaced Al Franken, Randi Rhodes, Ed Schultz, and Stephanie Miller with salsa, meringue, bachata and reggaeton music.

The good news for lib talk fans in Beantown is that WTKK the third ranked talker in market has upgraded a popular one PM hour show hosted by the liberal pairing of Margery Eagen and Jim Braude to a three hour slot from noon to 3 PM. The loser in this equation is centrist talker and sometime guest on MSNBC’s Hardball, Mike Barnicle, who gets cut from three hours to one hour and Bill O’Reilly, who get bumped to evenings. Rumor has it that O’Reilly is really pissed off.

Meanwhile on Boston’s number two news/talk station --WRKO, it appears that the station will be filling the AM slot, formally hosted by right wing wacko John Depetro, with former speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Tom Finneran—who happens to be a Democrat.

In a separate move, moderate conservative talker Todd Feinburg has been bumped from his nighttime slot and replaced by two far right syndicated talkers – Michael Savage and Jerry Doyle. This move appears to be more a matter of money than politics.

Liberals in Boston should be very pleased with the elevation of Eagen and Braude. The pair has been on the air together for more than 7 years. Eagan is a Boston Herald columnist and Braude is a New England Cable News host. They are funny, definitely left of center and very locally focused. According to the Boston Herald, WRKO was trying to woo the popular duo away, before WTKK made them an offer that they couldn't refuse.

One person, who is not happy with the changes in Boston, is conservative talk radio blogger Brian Maloney – The Radioequalizer. Maloney posted a scathing critique on his blog today accusing WTKK management of making a "self destructive kick."

"If former House of Representatives Speaker Tom Finneran is in fact hired to take over morning drive at the station, despite having no experience holding down a daily talk show, expect WRKO's remaining listeners to take a hike." Maloney blogged.

The whole shake-up at WRKO, probably wouldn’t have happened, if popular morning drive host John DePetro didn’t lose his cool one morning by calling Grace Ross, a gubernatorial candidate a "fat lesbian." DePetro’s politically incorrect comment cost him his job and opened the door for Finneran.

It is expected that Massachusetts’ newly elected Governor, Deval Patrick will be a frequent guest on Finneran’s morning show. Ironically, Patrick has frequently clashed with the mostly conservative talk radio hosts in the Boston market.

Meanwhile, the movement to reactivate a lib talk station in Boston is gathering steam. I just checked the petition and noticed that almost 1,000 people have signed it. There is also a website titled "Looking for Boston’s Progressive Talk?" and Yahoo message board called "Saving Progressive Radio in Boston."

Clear Channel management might be enjoying "the Rumba" right now, but as the pro-lib talk movement heats up in Boston, they may be forced to do the Madison Shuffle.

BREAKING NEWS

Lanfer Returns to Talk Radio

Katherine Lanpher, who will be remembered by lib talk fans as Al Franken’s co-host during the first year and a half of the shows existence, is back on the radio. The news was announced today in following AP story:

Magazine publisher Meredith Corp. said today it has reached an agreement with XM satellite radio to take its popular More magazine to the airwaves in an hour-long weekly broadcast beginning later this month."More Time" will debut at 4 p.m. on Jan. 16 on XM's "Take Five" channel. The broadcast will focus on health, fashion, beauty, travel, entertainment and other features directed toward women aged 40 and over."Our goal at More is to keep dreaming up ways to connect with our readers," said Peggy Northrop, editor-in-chief. "Mid-life women love to talk to each other — about what's happening to our bodies, what we want to do with the rest of our lives, whether we can really wear miniskirts again. Those conversations make perfect material for broadcast."She said guests will be featured on a variety of topics and listeners can call in to comment.Radio personality Katherine Lanpher, formerly co-host of "The Al Franken Show" on Air America Radio, will serve as host of "More Time."

AP, January 4, 2007

Cat Fight Scheduled between

Marshall and Coulter

TR will try to keep on the scheduled appearances of talk radio hosts on network TV and cable news channels. We will make a special effort to do this when the talk show host is a hottie, like Leslie Marshall, who hosts a daily show on WWKB in Buffalo.

ENTERCOM Talk WWKB-A/BUFFALO host LESLIE MARSHALL is gearing up to debate ANN COULTER on CNBC's KUDLOW AND CO. on JANUARY 12. The battle between liberal talker and conservative firebrand is scheduled for the 5p ET hour.

Allaccess.com, January 4, 2007

Lib Talk is a Big Hit in Cyberspace

Liberal talk radio attracts less than 10% of political talk radio listeners. The vast majority of talk radio listeners – almost 80% -- are tuning into stations offering non-stop conservative talk radio. In fact, over half of all radio listeners do not have access to a lib talk radio station. However, while right-wing talkers like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham clearly dominate radio airwaves they hardly show up in cyberspace.

Like most bloggers who cover the talk radio business, I spend a lot of time surfing the net and posting on bulletin boards and blogs that cover talk radio. On most of these outlets the discussion is not about Limbaugh’s falling ratings, Hannity’s move to replace Limbaugh as top dog, or a profile of the fastest growing talk radio show. (I bet that you don’t the show is hosted by Mark Levin.[pictured on right])

No, the vast majority of talk radio blogging focuses on liberal talk in general and Air America Radio in particular. In fact, a highly unscientific analysis conducted by yours truly found that the topic of liberal talk radio accounts for over 80% of all the discussions on talk radio blogs and bulletin boards.

For example, on radio-info.com, the number one radio industry discussion board, there have been 11,062 posts covering 979 topics over the past year on the News/Talk board. This is one of the most popular boards on this huge site which currently includes about a half million posts. There are probably about two dozen regular posters who show up on this board. About a third of them are liberal, a third conservative, and the rest middle of the road or apolitical. However, 90% of topics discussed on News/Talk board are about liberal talk radio. The usual subjects, e.g. the Air American bankruptcy, Al Franken – missing is action, and the half-dozen stations planning to drop lib talk.

For example, I did a Google search for ["liberal talk radio" blogs] and four of the top five listings were, not surprisingly, liberal blogs – Liberal Talk Radio, probably the best blog covering talk radio, Libradio, a blog set up by two liberal talk hosts in Nashville, TV, Blatherwatch, a excellent blog about talk radio in northwest, and the Huffington Post, popular liberal political blog. The one conservative blogger who shows up in the top five is the Radioequalizer, hosted by that ubiquitous gadfly, Brian Maloney. It is not surprising that the Radioequalizer winds up in the top five. A quick check of Maloney’s blog shows that 90% of his entries focus on liberal talk.

However, when I did a Google search for ["conservative talk radio" blogs] three of the top five listings were liberal bloggers – Brian Fleming's Weblog, the Huffington Post, and Liberal Talk Radio. The two conservatives that showed up were Radioequalizer (probably the most prolific blogger on the subject of liberal talk radio,) and Michelle Malkin. Michelle hosts a blog on covering a wide range of conservative issues, but most of her talk radio entries are about (you guessed it) liberal talk radio.

So why is that most of the discussion on the net about talk radio is about lib talk? Why are more people interested in what’s happening to Al Franken than Rush Limbaugh. Why are 90% of the talk radio listeners tuned in to right wing talk and about the same percentage of bloggers and posters focused on lib talk?

There is a source for coverage of conservative talk radio. I just go my November issue of Talkers Magazine, (predictably two months late) They have a picture of Glen Beck on the cover and two stories on page one deal with conservative talkers. – "How the John Kerry Gaffe Story Really Broke" and a feature on "White House Radio Day" which was dominated by right wing talkers. I looked through the whole issue. There is nothing on the AAR bankruptcy and they do not seem to be concerned about whether Al Franken is missing in action.

Clear Channel Caves

to Protestors in Madison

There's lots of speculation in the talk radio blogs and bulletin boards about what motivated Clear Channel to cave in to community pressure and keep the lib talk format on their Madision station WXXM-FM 92.1 "The Mic."

Some say that CC just "gave in" to the overwhelming community support, which included a petition drive (with over 5,000 signatures) community protest actions, advertiser appeals, and statements by prominent politicos. On the other end of the spectrum (the right-wingers that is) the sentiment is that it was just a stunt by CC to promote the station. Actually, while I don't think this is the case, there is no doubt that "the Mic" received a lot of local and national attention after CC announced that they were pulling the plug on lib talk.

Another theory, espoused on the talk radio blog Liberal Talk Radio is that there was a rivalry between two CC management groups. This theory sees the Madison management group, led by Jeff Tyler, Madison vp operatons winning out over the regional management group in Cincinnati, which is headed up by CC vp Darryl Parks.

In any case, alls well that ends well. Also, in month where there has not been a lot of good news for lib talk, the turn-around in Madison bodes well.


Here are some comments from various message boards and blogs about the expected demise of
WXXM:

"The 'petition and protest' is only the 3rd stage in the Progressive's acceptance of the death of AAR. When this fails, they will quickly move on to the 'bitter and buying into the conspiracy theories' stage, and then, finally, 'back to NPR with the tote bag'. wow. 4,500 signatures and only 30 liberals show up? makes you question the validity of those 'signatures'. I sure would be concerned about those... moonbats unhappy with the format change."

"The Mic's" site has a countdown to how many days Bush has left in office but the station's progtalk format will be gone long before that...Darn capitalist system...a station actually has to make money?

"And whether liberals like to admit it or not, most people with a liberal political attitude aren't all that interested in hearing liberal political talk on the radio. In order to be a liberal, one has to believe in sitting back and letting the government take care of your needs, while you enjoy your bread and circuses. It makes perfect sense that liberal listeners would prefer to ignore politics and listen to sports talk."

"Enough with the petitions... really."

And here's what Brian Maloney -- the Radioequalizer-- had to say

"Determined to save their failed liberal talk radio station, Madison's so- called "progressive" community has already resorted to several of its usual noisy "hey hey, ho ho!" tactics. With those efforts having so far failed to convince station management to keep "The Mic" as a libtalker, given weak ad sales and mediocre ratings, activists are now looking to escalate their campaign."

Handel Loses His Handle

What is about talk radio hosts, that they are always getting in trouble? Is that they are pampered by radio station management, sucked up to by adoring fans, or just plan bullies that have exchanged the playground for the airwaves. It is such an interesting topic that I have created a blog profiling the many incidents of talk radio hosts behaving badly Although I try not to cross post too much, I decided to share this one with my readers here at Talking Radio. It involves the number one local talk host in the country. His name is Bill Handel and he is the morning host on KFI-AM in Los Angeles.

Over a million listeners tune into Bill Handel's morning show each week. That's a big audience and has no doubt contributed to Bill's inflated ego and hair trigger temper. So it is not surprising that Bill lost it when he had a confrontation with Jamie White, a dj on KYSR, 98.7, another Clear Channel station that shares the cramped studios at the station groups LA headquarters in Burbank. The following story by appeared in Radio and Records on line news feed last Friday morning.

Handel vs. White/The CC-LA Throwdown

KFI/Los Angeles personality Bill Handel got a little hot under the collar with Jamie White, morning hostess at Clear Channel clusterpal KYSR (Star 98.7), on the air this morning. Handel, who occasionally brings his kids to work, went into Star's studio and began yelling at White live, allegedly because she threw his kids out of her studio.According to a clip that aired on KTLA-TV this morning, White opened the exchange by telling Handel, "I just pointed at your kids with my orange flute and told them don't come back." Handel angrily responded, "If you ever talk to my kids that way again, Jamie, I am going to kick your ass. You are not allowed to talk to them! Are you telling me they can't be on the fifth floor?"White shot back, "I'm telling them they can't be right there," to which Handel yelled, "You have such goddamn losing numbers on this loser show. Shut up! You don't talk to my kids that way." Handel also shouted, "Don't you touch me!" which suggests that someone was trying to force him out of the studio -- right before he dropped a couple of f-bombs on his way out.

When I read this story, I first thought that Jamie was a guy. Why would Handel threaten to kick a girl's ass. So I naturally had to check out the You Tube clip which contains a photo and all the juicy details of the early morning confrontation. By Monday, a somewhat chastened Handel apologized for his outburst and has been suspended for a week by KFI. The details of his apology and suspension were spelled out in an article in Allaccess.com yesterday.

Handel Gets Week's Suspension For On-Air Tirade

The great CLEAR CHANNEL/LOS ANGELES battle of titans has resulted in a one week suspension for Talk KFI-A morning star BILL HANDEL, to be served upon his return from his previously-scheduled two week vacation. HANDEL, in an incident that landed on local CW affiliate KTLA (TV)'s morning news show and, subsequently, on YOUTUBE, burst into Modern AC KYSR (STAR 98.7)'s studios and yelled at STAR morning host JAMIE WHITE for throwing his twin daughters out of her studio and threatening "if you ever talk to my kids like that again, JAMIE, I'm going to kick your ass." HANDEL also dropped a pair of "f-bombs," but STAR says that they were caught by the delay system and did not air (the KTLA tape appears to have come from a pre-delay skimmer tape). In a statement, HANDEL apologized for his outburst, saying "I want to apologize to JAMIE and her team for my behavior and how I handled the unfortunate incident this morning. It was simply a reaction of a dad who was protecting his children. I lost my temper, I lost my cool."

This isn't the first time that Handel's outrageuos behavior has got him in trouble with KFI management. A few weeks ago, when he joked about a stampede that killed scores of Arabs in Saudi Arabia, he was forced to make an apology when the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) complained.

Newsweek Article Rips Air America Radio

An article in the current edition of Newsweek paints a blistering portrait of Air America Radio. Citing sources ranging from the bankruptcy report to the disparaging statements of former AAR executives and staffers, the article’s only positive statement is contained in opening paragraph when the writer, Matthew Phillips, acknowleges that are “reports of potential buyers ranging from a group of investors led by two Showtime executives, to a small obscure media company.”

"AAR had confirmed “that a letter of intent has been signed by an undisclosed potential buyer, and that negotiations have now turned to drafting a purchase agreement to divvy up the $20 million of debt the broadcaster owes to a roster of more than 100 creditors.”

From that point on the article recites a littany of complaints about AAR. Many of them well reported on this blog and in other sources over the past month. The article includes the some of messy highlights from the bankruptcy statement

A look at Air America’s bankruptcy filings offers insight into an impatient network that seemed bent on catching up to such industry mainstays as Rush Limbaugh practically overnight. Air America certainly spent like the big boys. Included among its $4 million of assets is a combined $1.2 million in broadcast and recording equipment, computers and office furniture. It still owes $327,000 in back rent on the sprawling 2,200-square-foot studio in New York's Chelsea area it built in 2005, as well as $1.4 million in wage and severance claims to on-air talent and high-priced executives. Franken alone is owed more than $360,000.


The article also criticizes some of AAR’s other well known problems such as the large salaries paid to "stars" like Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo, that there never was a realistic business plan, that pay checks were bouncing, and that morale at the network was eroded when executives decided to cancel popular shows like "Morning Sedition" and the "Mike Malloy Show."

However quoting a named source, former AAR producer Martin Lynch and a unnamed former AAR executive, the Newsweek expose also reveals some lesser known observations about the beleaguered liberal talk radio network. Lynch claims that programming shakeup at AAR was a key factor in the networks demise.

"That was the straw that broke the camel’s back," says Lynch. "They cut the legs out from under us and upset a lot of listeners. The next quarter’s ratings were nonexistent, and we were getting a lot of angry letters from listeners saying we’d canceled their favorite shows. From then on we knew we were done for."

Lynch also cited the morale problem among low-paid staffers.

"We were getting paid peanuts, sometimes not even that, while these executives were making six figures and up."

Probably the most damaging statement in the article is attributed to a unnamed former AAR CEO. Your guess is a good as mine about who that might be. I just have hunch his initials are DG. The source states:

"There was never a realistic business plan that appreciated the difficulty of building a 24/7 radio network from the ground up," He said that in the beginning, the network was plagued by infighting between those who saw it as a political cause that would take years of dedicated subsidizing, and those who saw it as a viable business venture capable of turning a profit off the bat. "The latter group of people were deluding themselves," he said, noting that the programming costs never came close to matching up with revenue opportunities, particularly as companies such as Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Visa and Exxon began pulling advertising from Air America affiliates…It was doomed by their lack of realism."

Ironically, it was Michael Harrison, usually a gadfly about liberal talk radio who struck the most optimistic note.

"This has nothing to do with the viability of liberal talk radio," Harrsion said. "It has to do with them not running an effective business model and with people like Al Franken not living up to the hype. If they’d hired broadcasters instead of a bunch of comedians, they would have had a chance of succeeding."

The Radio Equalizer is Wrong About Madison

I have tried to avoid the tactic of taking on other bloggers here, but can’t let remarks posted by well known right blogger Brian Maloney (pictured on the right) go unanswered. In a post yesterday on his blog, Maloney made the following comments (in italics) about the moves now underway in Madison to protest the decision of Clear Channel to dump lib talk on WXXM (The Mic.) They plan to replace it with a line-up consisting of high school sports and Fox’s stable of national sportscasters. Like most right-wingers, Maloney has a hard time dealing with the concept of a protest movement initiated by angry radio listeners. And why not? Over 90% of talk hosts in U.S. are conservatives.

Determined to save their failed liberal talk radio station, Madison's so- called "progressive" community has already resorted to several of its usual noisy "hey hey, ho ho!" tactics.far failed to convince station management to keep "The Mic" as a libtalker, given weak ad sales and mediocre ratings, activists are now looking to escalate their campaign.

Failed! You’ve gotta be kidding. WXXM has tripled its ratings since switching to lib talk two years. The conservative station in Madison, WIBA, has experienced a 20% loss in their ratings over the same time period. "Weak ad sales" is just a cop out.

In addition to enlisting the help of US Senator Russ Feingold (D- Wisconsin) and other Democrat Party honchos, lefties are hoping a planned "funeral procession" stunt on Wednesday will do the trick.

Why not? Do you expect them to just roll over and keep quiet. They’re keeping the pressure on a huge national radio conglomerate that wants to replace lib talk on WXXM with high school sports. They’ve aleady collected petitions with over 5,000 signatures and held a rally attended by over 500 people. They are doing the correct thing by keeping the pressure on the media giant from San Antoine.

And while they point to The Mic's supposed strong ratings, one question hasn't been answered: in a city as far to the left as Madison, why hasn't their libtalker been number one with a bullet?

Since converting to lib talk in September, 2004, WXXM has moved from number 21 to number nine in the ratings tripling its share of Madison’s radio listeners from 1.3 to 3.7. During that same period of time WIBA, who’s blowtorch signal reaches Milwaukee has dropped from number two to number four. One thing is clear – WXXM is on its way up and WIBA, also owned by Clear Channel is on its way down.

Lib Talk Supporters Keep Up the Pressure in Madison

For those of you in Boston, Cincinnati, and New Orleans who have lost or will soon lose your Air America station follow the lead of a determined group of activists and lib talk fans who are keeping the heat up on the beleaguered Clear Channel managers in Madison regarding their plan to switch WXXM-FM 92.1 from talk to sports on Jan 1.


That’s right . Madison, arguably the most liberal city in the country east of San Francisco, is going to be without a liberal talk outlook because Clear Channel, in their infinite wisdom, has decided that what the people of that town really want is more coverage of high school sports and rantings from Fox Radio’s Jim Rome.


The Capitol Times in Madison reports today that the group opposing the plan to drop lib talk is planning a funeral procession on Wednesday in their effort to keep the pressure on CC management. Here’s the first few paragraphs of the article

By Kevin LynchDecember 16, 2006
Efforts to resuscitate the progressive talk radio format of "The Mic" WXXM-FM/ 92.1 have failed so far. Concerned listeners now plan a "funeral procession" as the Jan. 1 end of the format nears. The march will begin at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Brittingham Park near the intersection of South Park Street and West Washington Avenue and head down Fish Hatchery Road to the Clear Channel Madison offices. A 420-page petition of more than 5,500 signatures to keep "The Mic" on the air will be delivered to Jeff Tyler, Clear Channel vice president of marketing, by activists Valerie Walasek, Gary Tipler and businesswoman Barbara Wright.Despite the petition and a rally at the High Noon Saloon on Dec. 12 to demonstrate advertising support for the station's political talk forum, Clear Channel still plans to change the format to sports talk with an emphasis on prep sports and the University of Wisconsin. It also will feature syndicated sports personalities Jim Rome and Dan Patrick. In an interview with The Associated Press published in The Capital Times on Wednesday, Tyler said Clear Channel would explore ways to continue progressive talk in Madison."Our company sales team embraced the station, the format and enthusiasm we all had for the station and its role in the community," Tyler said. "However, there are many advertisers, local and national, who have been at conflict with the programming or stay away from controversial programming."The station has cancelled its local progressive talk shows, but it still airs programming from Air America, and other nationally broadcast talk hosts, including Al Franken, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Rev. Jesse Jackson, Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller.

Click here to read the entire article

What does it take to convince the goons from San Antonio that their decision to drop lib talk in Madison is not going very well. The lib talk supporters have submitted a petition containing over 5,000 signatures, they had a rally last week attended by over 500 people including the former Mayor of Madison and several business owners who said they will not be advertising on any Clear Channel station. Also, the story has been covered in all Wisconsin media including a widely distributed AP story.

What part of running a station don’t these people understand. WXXM has doubled its ratings since switching to lib talk two years. Conversely, the conservative talk station in the market has seen their ratings decrease by 20% over the same time. CC’s market manager in Madison, Jeff Tyler, complains that it is hard to sell advertising on the station. One finds that hard to believe considering the ratings growth and the demographics in Madison.

In any case, don’t expect the lib talk supporters to give up. They appear to be very well organized and motivated.

Stay tuned

Don't Mess with Madison

I knew the situation in Madison was getting fired up when the story was picked up the Associated Press. That means that story appeared in probably over 100 papers including virtually every daily in Wisconsin. It even was a featured on ABC, Channel 7 in Chicago. And why not? This is biggest listener revolt effecting the radio business in many years. Probably the biggest insurrection since the Dixie Chicks fiasco three years ago where Cumulus and Clear Channel had to deal with a ton a negative PR when they dropped Dixie Chick songs from their country music stations.

The Madison situation is different. First of all, it involves a format change. (The "Chicks" were just banned on some stations.) This is something that stations do all the time. Sometimes a few people grip, maybe even write a few nasty letters. But this is Madison – one of the most liberal, and activist minded cities in the country.

Last night over 500 livid supporters of "The Mic" WXXM crammed into a Madison bar/restaurant –including a former Madison Mayor --to express their dissatisfaction with Clear Channels decision to drop lib talk and change the stations format to Sports. Ironically, much of the programming will be provided by Fox Sports. (which of course is owned by Rupert Murdoch) This despite the fact that there is already a sports station – WTSO – in the market.

CC’s lackey in Madison, market manager, Jeff Tyler told the AP reporter that "the station is making money but has consistently ranked dead last out of 14 Madison stations who report earnings." First of all, I thought "making money" was good. Also, Tyler was dead wrong in saying that WXXM was "dead last" in ratings. According to the most recent Arbitron ratings, WXXM recorded a 3.7 share, which makes them ninth out of the 14 rated stations. What is even more significant is that since the WXXM changed to lib talk about two years ago they have doubled the stations ratings showing increases every month. The conservative talker WIBA featuring the usually line-up of right wing talkers like Limbaugh and Hannity, while ranked number four has lost 20% of its audience over the past two years.

What CC is going to find out with their brazen move in Madison is that removing a liberal talk station is not like dropping and oldies or standards station (which is ironically what they did when they rolled out lib talk on two dozen stations over the past two and one half years.) Yes, the likely demise of Air America Radio will create problems for CC and other lib stations and owners, but the alternative – bailing on political talk in bluest of cities in a very blue state represents an even bigger problem.
If you want to keep "The Mic" in Madison join over 5,000 other people and the sign the on-line petition.

No Nude Photos of Coulter and Malkin




Sorry, I was forced to remove the nude pictures of Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter. I've replaced the deleted nude photos with these head shots (pun not intended) I will keep searching the net trying to find a site that that contains these photos and will publish links if I able to do this.

The Deflating of Air America

Good News and Bad New for

Air America

This has been a rough couple of weeks for lib talk in general and Air America Radio in particular. The bad news is that five stations have dropped lib talk since AAR filed for bankruptcy about a month ago. – WYOS in Binghamton, WSAI in Cincinnati, WXXM in Madison, WSMB in New Orleans, and WKBF in Quad Cities. The good news is that these stations only account for 4.6% of the AAR’s coverage and less than 1% of the lib network’s ratings.

Meanwhile, the wait continues on whether AAR will be able to secure new management as they attempt to get out of bankruptcy. The Court has given current AAR management an extension on their deadline to come up with a management plan as they continue to operate with $2.7 million loan. A report yesterday in the highly unreliable Radio Equalizer blog stated that a new management team headed up by two executives with Showtime Networks -- Mark Greenberg and Roy Langbord -- and former AAR CEO Doug Kreeger (see photo) was attempting to buy the struggling liberal network. Nothing has come across on this rumor today, so I guess we will have to wait until next week for an update.

Meanwhile over a dozen AAR affiliates have shaken up their program line-ups over the past two weeks. The shake-ups involve rescheduling lame duck Al Franken to late PM and giving the coveted time period to either Ed Schultz, who is now broadcasting live from noon to 3 pm EST. or in some cases to Thom Hartmann. The trend appears to be dropping AAR or downgrading AAR hosts and replacing them with hosts associated with other syndicators.

In a related development WHJJ in Providence has dropped two local liberal hosts – 13 year veteran Arlene Violet and Howie Bart, replacing them with syndicated right wingers Sean Hannity and Quinn & Rose. This appears to be nothing more than money saving move by Clear Channel which has been cutting staffers all over the country since they announced their plan to go private two weeks ago.

Finally, as if anyone was surprised, Radarline has confirmed that Al Franken will be leaving the lib talk network before the end of the year. Attributing their report to a "knowledgeable radio source" the Radarline piece goes to state that the source "expressed doubt that the new [AAR] owner could afford to employ Air America's two biggest names—Franken and Randi Rhodes. According to the bankruptcy filing Franken is owed $360,749.98 by AAR.

Air America Radio Still Deflating

Things are really heating in lib talk world. AllAcccess.com reports today that next move in the Air America bankruptcy story will be a hearing in Bankruptcy Court tomorrow (Thursday) at 10a. Included in the matters to be heard a Motion for Relief From the Stay filed by AAR flagship WWRL-A/NEW YORK which is a licensee ACCESS.1 COMMUNICATIONS.

Another day another line-up change is announced. Again AllAccess.com reports that Clear Channel lib talk station WWRC (AM 1260) in Washington will be dumping the Young Turks and picking up Jones talker Bill Press, who appears to be on a bit of role since AAR meltdown. The change will take effect on Monday, December 11.

Meanwhile, the on again off again saga of whether WKOX/WXKS in Boston will be dropping lib talk seems to be leaning in "off" direction. It was reported in Boston Globe today that Clear Channel, VP of programming Jack McCartney said that "Air America is history in Boston." You note that McCartney did not say lib talk was history – only Air America. So I guess we will have to wait and see on this one.

Finally, a rumor is circulating around several talk radio boards concerning the future of KTLK in Los Angeles. According to the rumor, which apparently was started by an unnamed source at Jones Radio, KTLK will soon be switching from lib talk to Spanish. Since KTLK is one of the affiliates that was being compensated by AAR, it is not surprising that they are not very happy about the bankruptcy filling. In fact, the AAR bankruptcy filing lists KTLK as one of their creditors noting that the CC station was owned $558,000.

The Deflating of Air America Radio

This is an interesting time for Liberal talk radio. Let’s look at what has happened in the past month. It all started with announcement that Air America Radio was filing for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy filing, which was published on the Smoking Gun website, listed debts of over $20 million and assets of under $5 million. The ink had yet to dry on the bankruptcy story when other cards started to fall.

Two new syndication companies were formed. Nova M, a entity created by AAR founder Sheldon Drobny and Phoenix talk show host Dr. Mike Newcomb started with an LMA in Phoenix, KPHX and an O & O in Little Rock KDXE. They made a bold move by signing Mike Malloy, who was unceremoniously canned by AAR last month. Democracy Radio founder, Tom Athans, heads up another venture –Talk USA Radio --. Not much is known about this venture, but remember it was DR that actually recruited and launched Ed Schultz, who is the number one liberal talk host.

Speaking of Ed Schultz, in anticipation of the demise of AAR, he announced earlier this week that he is moving is show from the 3pm-6pm to the coveted Noon-3pm slot. Rumors are swirling that despite what happens to AAR, Al Franken is going to give up his show in order to run for the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota. Apparently, Schultz figures he should get first dibs on Franken’s spot.

As I write this piece on Monday, December 4, I get the feeling that I am covering an event that is unfolding all around me. I know that more will be revealed tomorrow and still more by end of the week. I have no doubt that the liberal talk radio landscape will be very different in 2007 – and that’s only three weeks away!

Meanwhile, back to the story. Stations that carry AAR programming are starting to get nervous. Yes, they have Schultz, Miller, and Press, but AAR talkers still fill most of time on these stations. Four lib talk stations have either dropped the format or intend to do so in the coming weeks. They are WXXM in Madison, WSMB in New Orleans, WYOS, in Binghamton and WKBF in Quad Cities. None of these stations have indicated that their programming change was motivated by AAR’s problems, but one can read the writing on the wall.

More significantly, several lib talk stations are already revamping their program schedules, WCPT has moved Stephanie Miller into Franken’s slot and moved Franken to late afternoon when this daytimer’s signal starts to fade. KQKE in San Francisco, WXKS/WKOX in Boston, and WARF in Akron have dropped Franken, At least Franken will be carried on many stations when he does his farewell broadcast in few in a weeks. Jerry Springer announced today that his show will end on Friday. Jerry has been losing affiliates on regular basis since Stephanie Miller moved in on his time spot and AAR put him on the Taxi Squad. As of his sayonara announcement, he was carried on two major stations WCPT in Chicago and WSAI in Cincinnati.

So with Springer out and Franken probably out what is left at AAR. There’s Randi Rhodes, who is isn’t the personification of a team player. My hunch is that she will survive the demise the AAR and reemerge with one of new syndication outfits or possibly with Jones where she would teamed up her nemesis Ed Schultz.. The rest of the AAR talkers are probably headed for the unemployment office.

AAR critics like Brian Maloney, the Radio Equalizer and Michelle Malkin are ecstatic that the liberal network is coming undone. That might be true, but liberal talk radio is far from dead. With a handful of syndicators vying to provide talent for current and prospective liberal talk stations the lib talk format is alive and well. Remember before NBC, CBS, and ABC there was the Dumont Network.

Talk Radio will do Fine if Rush Leaves

Notwithstanding Rush's contribution to the growth of talk and it's impact on "saving the AM" band, if he were to quit tomorrow, within a month the 500 plus talk radio stations carrying his show would adjust and carry on with some other right wing blow hard. I am sure that Premiere has several scenarios in place to deal with demise of Rush. The good news is that when Rush moves on, there will probably be an increase in local talk, as major talk stations try to lock in the high ratings they are currently getting from the early morning local talker.

Remember, the majority of stations that carry Rush also have a strong local talker leading in to his show. Despite this ideal situation, and the fact that Rush is carried on the strongest AM talker in most markets, his ratings have declined in the last half dozen years and his spot time has lost about half of its value.

When Rush moves on, there will not be a meltdown like we've seen with CBS stations trying to replace Howard Stern. Six months after Stern's departure, "Free FM" stations are getting shares that are only fraction of what they got for Stern's show. They are also spending a fortune to try to program this format. According to CBS President Rob Barnett they have hired over 30 hosts to incumbate the new format. The same will happen when Phil Hendres hangs is up in about a month.

Six months after Rush leaves the air, his time period will continue with virtually no ratings lose. In fact, if local talk starts appearing on former Rush stations, ratings will probably increase.