New liberal talker comes to Charlottesville, VA

The Charlottesville Radio Group, the very firm that airs a fair number of conservative talkers on WINA, including Savage and Sean Hannity, has launched WVAX 1450, progressive talk radio featuring liberal yakkers such as Al Franken and Lionel.

The Charlottesville Radio Group is owned by Saga Communications, a Michigan-based firm with radio holdings throughout the country. In addition to WINA and the new WVAX, the station owns Lite Rock Z95 and the rock station 97.5 WWWV.

Charlottesville Radio Group's vice president and general manager, Dennis Mockler, said the company is simply tapping into a market that's not being served.

"There's a lot of media companies out there in a variety of different forms, but really no local station targeted to the people with a liberal slant," Mockler said. "We saw a huge void."

(snip)

While liberal talk has struggled to gain traction in most markets, Charlottesville's reliably left leaning citizenry may prove more welcoming.

(snip)

Beyond Franken, the station's daily lineup includes Randie Rhodes and Ed Schultz. An hour of Schultz's program has been airing on WINA; the full three hours will air on the new station. Weekend fare offers more issue-oriented programming such as Mother Jones Radio and Ecotalk.

Note: Air America is listing KHRO (1650AM) in El Paso, TX and WBLF (970AM) in State College, PA as new affiliates, in addition to WVAX.