Talk tidbits

Lots of things going on in liberal talk radio, so I thought I'd catch up with some of the small stuff.

1. First off, Air America has received a $13 million cash infusion to help them as they are starting to expand at a strong rate. According to the Chicago Tribune, the network also announced Wednesday that Rob Glaser, the chairman and CEO of RealNetworks, will take over as chairman of the board of Air America, and that Doug Kreeger, who has served as acting chief executive since May, is stepping down. His replacement has not been named.
Glaser, New York investment banker Eugene Keilin and other investors have recently committed $13 million in new financing, Sinton added. He also said the network has signed on Geico and American Express as advertisers.

2. AAR has signed two of it's highest profile hosts to new contracts. Al Franken was signed to a new two year contract, with an option for a third. Randi Rhodes signed a three year contract as well. Financial terms were not disclosed.

3. KABQ-AM in Albuquerque is making some noise in the ratings. The station, which flipped from a Spanish-language format on August 30, makes a stronger showing in the latest Arbitron ratings trend report, showing an increase from 0.4 in the Summer ratings period in it's previous format to 1.1 in the August/September/October overall (ages 12+) ratings. No information on demographic breakdowns, as I understand is not done for trend reports. But it is a nice jump, and brings KABQ up from obscurity. Congratulations, and look for the full book sometime in January or February.

4. KPOJ-AM in Portland, OR has finally completed it's much-ballyhooed power increase, upping the signal to a strong 25,000 watts. The signal now goes all the way up to the Olympia/Seattle area in the north, and covers much of the state.

5. And finally, thanks to all who sent me the many positive and informative emails. I regret that my time to respond has been lacking, as I have been pre-occupied with my job outside of this site (advertising on this site has earned barely enough to buy a can of soda from a vending machine, so I must pay the bills somehow). And of course, the job carries with it some pretty long hours. Fret not, as this site will not go away anytime soon, and I try to update it daily, provided there's anything to report. As always, stay tuned!