People who died, people who lied and people who just don't think straight

While spending the weekend crankin' the Beatles remasters (just added "Sgt. Pepper" and "The White Album" -- which is really kick-ass! -- to my collection), I have really just taken a passing glance at all the other meaningless stuff going on in the world.

Yeah, there was that lunatic fringe protest over the weekend, with a few thousand gullible lemmings doing the bidding of egotistical and uninformed AM radio disc jockeys and big D.C. lobbying firms, who use a tragic anniversary for their own ego trip. Guess the turnout wasn't as good as they expected, since the budding cult leaders in charge of this silliness have been circulating lies and bogus photos of the event.

Who's the liar now?

So, to those of you feeble-minded fools who are content to be Glenn Beck's bitches, let me ask you all something. Do you all feel better about yourselves, or do you now feel like the naive suckers you really are? Is Guyana next?

Anyways, here's the nooze:

Person who died

Sadly, we bit farewell to a punk-era cultural icon. Jim Carroll, the poet and punk rocker who wrote "The Basketball Diaries," and songs such as "People Who Died" (c'mon, you've heard it!) died this past Friday of a fatal heart attack at the age of 60 attack.

Carroll was a fixture of the New York art scene in the 1970s, and hung out with the likes of Andy Warhol, Patti Smith, Larry Rivers and Roert Mapplethorpe. Carroll also published several poetry collections, and his 1980 album, Catholic Boy, has become rather iconic, though he didn't enjoy a necessarily long career as a recording artist.

He is probably best known for his autobiographical tale "The Basketball Diaries," written about his high school days. It was published in 1978 and became a movie in 1995, in which Leonardo DiCaprio played Carroll.

Person who cried

Geez, those Republicans must be pretty hot under the collar these days. Not easy to be lumped in with a bunch of liars, hypocrites and crybabies. And it even sucks on the state levels, too. How so? Even a gubernatorial candidate in Virginia can't refrain from losing his cool.

Bob McDonnell is said to be rather level-headed, but the stress must be making him crack. In a WTOP live radio interview last Friday, he dropped the F-bomb:

Mark Plotkin (host): "So no tax will be raised during your four-year term?"

McDonnell: "I'm going to find other ways to be able to fund transportation. I've outlined twleve fucking funding mechanisms that are creative, that are entrepreneurial."

And if that wasn't enough, he and Rep. Joe Wilson rudely jumped on stage at the MTV awards Sunday, both exclaiming Beyonce should have won. Oops, sorry. Different asshole.

Something tells me Republicans, between McDonnel losing his cool, Wilson's obnoxious heckling, and Glenn Beck's head about to explode, seriously need to all lighten up. Why do you all have to be so angry? Why can't you be more like... like... James Traficant?

Person who's brain is fried

Damn, I wish I would have known about this sooner. The infamous and legendary James Traficant, with a radio show? That's must-listen radio!

The shamed former Democratic congressman is fresh out of the federal big house, after doing a multi-year stint for corruption and wearing a really bad hairpiece. And today, he did a fill-in stint on Youngstown, OH talk station WKBN. So far, it's not a permanent gig, but is sounds as if the idea is out there. Besides, a total arrogant douchebag like Traficant would fit in well with other douchebags who's shows air on the station, including Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage.

And certainly a permanent radio gig would keep Traficant away from running for Congress yet again, which is something he has indeed toyed with.

Hey, we favor Democrats around here, but good grief! The guy's nuts. Which makes him the perfect guy to host a radio show. Hey, if a nuthouse escapee like Glenn Beck can do it...

Station that (kinda) died

Portland, OR-area fans of Stephanie Miller will now have to hear the podcast instead, as her old affiliate there, KCMD, has done yet another reshuffling, bringing in a revised format featuring mostly lower-tier syndicated talkers. The new station has the ridiculous moniker "Freedom 970", yet it relies primarily on piped-in right-wing squawkers who like to brainwash people. Black is white, right is left...

The station is undergoing a bit of a reshuffle, as it changers owners from CBS to upstart Alpha Broadcasting. And considering that CBS hasn't figured out what the hell to do with it after all these years, they've opted for a robo-format of obscure wingnuts.

Well, there's still the liberal station in town, KPOJ, and that station is still drinking KCMD's milkshake, and likely will continue to do so.

Ladies and gentlemen... the Monday update

Yet another historic anniversary on this day. Forty-five years ago, on Sunday February 9, 1964, Beatlemania officially began, as the Liverpool band took the stage on The Ed Sullivan Show, in front of 73 million Americans, then a record audience. Not bad for a British rock band nobody had even heard of more than a month prior.

Otherwise, here's a little roundup of what's going on, including a few things I've forgotten to write about...

Roots Up Radio hits the web

Many apologies for the delay in bringing up this one. I just plain forgot. Winter must be freezing my brain too.

Anyway, following his departure from WXXM Madison, Lee Rayburn has resurfaced via a new online project, Roots Up Radio, which launched on Inauguration Day. The new venture is described as "a new-media collective of community broadcasters from across the country."

Joining him will be Jeff Farias, formerly of KPHX in Phoenix, who's show will run 7-10ET. In addition, other hosts, including KTLK Los Angeles' Bree Walker will soon join the venture.

Roots Up Radio was founded by Joe Connolly with the intent of giving local broadcasters a forum they have lost as media corporations have grown and local programming has given way to syndicated hosts.

"Most of the hosts are veteran broadcasters," Connolly said of his planned Roots Up Radio lineup. "With all the change happening in radio, most stations seem to be run by one or two people now and there's not a lot of support for local points of view. That's what we're trying to provide."

Bye Bye, Obama 1260

As of today, liberal talk on WWRC (1260AM) in Washington, DC is no more. Replacing it is business talk, which was tried years ago on the same frequency and failed, along with many, many other formats. As they say, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Oh well.

For those of you needing at least some kind of liberal talk fix, Ed Schultz has been moved over to sister station WTNT (570AM). And to their credit, they are airing the show live from 12-3P.

Bill Press has a Washington Post op-ed about the format change here.

And for those station programmers that can't figure out how to attract ratings with progressive talk, perhaps they should talk to whoever's running similar stations in Madison, where WXXM had a phenomenal book, or even Portland, where KPOJ is currently the #4 station overall in the market, with a 4.3 share. Oh wait - the tighty-righties are saying nobody's listening. Yeah, whatever.

It was 45 years ago today...

Oh yeah - Here's video of The Beatles' first appearance on Ed Sullivan. Enjoy!

Another video can be found here.

KPOJ rolling in the dough

So much has been written about how difficult it is to find advertisers for progressive talk radio, and the viability of advertising on stations carrying the format. KPOJ in Portland, one of the most successful and well-run stations carrying the format, has shown that it can indeed be done, and the station is featured in an article for industry trade publication Advertising Age due to a rather unique advertising strategy, utilizing 'keywords' and advertising on the station's website and combining it with on-air advertising:

Type the word "bread" into a search on KPOJ's website, and you'll be instantly directed to an ad for Dave's Killer Bread, a cleverly named local bakery from a local ex-con.

For paid search, advertisers normally turn to the likes of Google or Microsoft for buying time with a radio station or TV network, but for Paul Miraldi, Clear Channel's VP-marketing, the tactic was a new way to show off the unexpected results of an online video his Portland team had taken of the baker.

"He'd been trying to get on-air for awhile, but I don't think he knew the power of radio," Mr. Miraldi said. "So we edited down a piece, they liked what they saw, we put it on the site and watched Dave's Killer Bread rake in the dough."

Shameless puns aside, Dave's Killer Bread did see a 23% sales lift after the campaign went live. But paid search is just one of the online marketing tactics Clear Channel is employing for local radio stations and their uncertain status in a viral marketing media climate.

And they say liberal talk radio is advertiser unfriendly. Needless to say, it can and does work.

Air America 2.0: But will it float?

Over the last week or so, there's been a lot of talk about the 'new and improved' Air America Radio. With a new web presence, new personalities and shows, and a new lineup, they obviously expect great thing to come of it.

Yesterday was a good start, as they launched the new website and logo with a press release, and even featured an in-studio chat between New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former rival Mark Green, now president of Air America. The meeting of the former political foes was packed with New York-area reporters, and will air sometime next week.

But the question lingers in the back of everyones' minds: Is this whole 2.0 thing really going to work?

Lionel was the first addition, and a very controversial one at that. After a fairly successful run at late night radio syndication via WOR Networks, he moved his show over to Air America and late mornings. The goal obviously was to help the network gain new affiliates, or even bump time slot rival Stephanie Miller from a few. Less than a week into it, the results have been disappointing. Not only has Lionel not gained many fresh affiliates, he lost roughly a half dozen that carried Seder on delay. The only station he seems to have been added to is WINZ in Miami, on delay from 6-9P ET. Lots of stations still list him on their website schedules for his former show, but it is unknown if they are still running his new Air America show in those time slots. And judging by the response on various blogs, message boards and even Air America's own site, listeners are very vocal about "The Lionel Show."

Of course, time will tell if the show will grow and expand, and its up to Scott Ellberg and David Bernstein to make this happen. Particularly since predecessor Sam Seder actually improved his ratings on flagship station WWRL in the most recent Arbitron book.

In regard to the other changes, so far the only one that seems to be working is the move of Jon Elliott to three hours later. This was one move that made sense on paper, since it carves out a new shift for the network (Midnight-3A), gets him out of the way of Mike Malloy's 9-Midnight show, and many of Elliott's affiliates delay him to a later time slot anyway. In essence, Elliott's new shift is nearly competition-free, since Lionel is now gone from late nights and FOX News Radio's Alan Colmes wraps up his show an hour into Elliott's.

As a result, Elliott's flagship station, KLSD in San Diego, will now carry his entire show live, immediately following Malloy's, which gets a full three hour clearance starting Monday. Elliott has also been picked up by KQKE in San Francisco, KKZN in Denver, KPHX in Phoenix (ironically), KPTK in Seattle, KPOJ in Portland, KRXA in Monterey/Santa Cruz (which carries the straight Air America feed in overnights anyway), and other stations.

"The Air Americans" is the other new show coming to Air America. Basically, the Mark Riley-anchored show is a hodge-podge of various hosts at the station, including correspondents Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Mike Papantonio, David Bender and Laura Flanders. The four hour show essentially replaces two cancelled ones: "Politically Direct" (who's host Bender stays with the new show) and "EcoTalk" (which was going to die anyway). Thus far, no affiliate has announced their intentions of picking up "The Air Americans" and rumor has it not many people in the building are optimistic about its chances. Furthermore, there's a chance that WWRL may not even carry it, which in effect would kill the show, given that Air America all too often seems to be a bit too New Yorkish. Buzz about "The Air Americans" is not good. Nonetheless, they will promote the hell out of it, and even have some strong guests lined up.

For the weekends, the network has said very little about the changes and new shows that will debut. The only one we've really heard anything about is Seder's new Sunday show, but that's due to obvious reasons.

So, will Air America 2.0 be a success, or will it be yet another bit of bad luck for the much-beleaguered network? Only time will tell. Should be an interesting few weeks, so stay tuned.

Malloy's addition highlights changes at KPOJ

Portland's KPOJ, perhaps the highest rated liberal talk station in the country, is undergoing a slight makeover, one that will put Thom Hartmann's syndicated show in a live slot and add Mike Malloy to evenings.

First, as previously rumored here, Malloy will finally be coming to the Portland airwaves, as his syndicated show will air on delay from 9-midnight starting April 9.

And Hartmann, who does a local morning drive show for KPOJ in addition to his nationally syndicated one, will have his load lightened a bit with the addition of occasional fill-in host Carl Wolfson, where he'll share time with both Hartmann and Heidi Tauber. In addition, KPOJ will finally carry Hartmann's national show live immediately following the morning show, from 9-noon. Previously, the national show aired on delay in the late evening hours.

As a result of the shuffling, the Sam Seder double play that the station had aired for the last few months will cease, as Seder's show (if it's still around) will air once a day on delay from 6-9PM.

The rest of the lineup, consisting of various Air America Radio shows and Ed Schultz, remains unchanged.

Is this lineup set in stone? Of course not. Nothing in radio ever is. And the station itself leaves the door wide open for future changes. As always, stay tuned.

Malloy coming to XM Radio

The comeback juggernaut of Mike Malloy is still chugging along, as the Nova M Radio-syndicated nighttime talker has added XM Radio to his growing list of affiliates.

Malloy's show will debut on XM effective March 1. What is not known is what channel he will be on, but the assumption is that it will be on XM167, aka the "Air America Radio Channel". The online on-air roster for XM167 currently omits all Air America shows airing after 9PM.

The addition of Malloy's show to XM167 is another step by XM in fleshing out a distinct lineup to go along with the Air America Radio programming. Yesterday, they moved Ed Schultz' show to a live slot there, bumping Thom Hartmann. As of now, no further changes have been publicly announced, though rumors have been flying about what XM will do, if they do anything at all, about other liberal talk shows, from the likes of Bill Press and Stephanie Miller. Some are saying they'll be added to XM167, which will further wipe out Air America programming on the channel. Still, there are no details available regarding any kind of contract Air America has with XM, as far as exclusivity and the direction of the channel.

Could there be a second liberal talk channel added, to accomodate the JRN programming (Press, Miller, Schultz) and other talkers like Lionel? After all, XM currently has two full-time conservative talk channels, with a couple more that incorporate conservative talk shows throughout their respective lineups. And there certainly appears to be enough shows to flesh out a second channel, with some rather creative scheduling, but as far as we all know, there are no plans for a second liberal talk channel. First and foremost in everyone's minds is the recently announced merger proposal that will unite XM and Sirius. However, considering all of the government agency approvals this bid will go through, and the technical aspects of the merger, a union of the two companies will not happen until later this year at the earliest.

In addition to picking up XM, Malloy gains two more affiliates, as KGOE in Eureka, CA and KTNF in Minneapolis both pick up the show. On KGOE, his show, which runs from 6-9PM on the West Coast, would replace or displace either Clark Howard's personal finance show or Jeff Rense, currently on from 7-10PM. KTNF will air him on delay from Midnight-3AM weeknights. As for future affiliates, one could possibly be KPOJ in Portland, which is currently running a replay of Sam Seder's show in the 6-9PM slot. Considering they are already running Seder in the late morning slot, this would appear to be an obvious place to add Malloy's show. They are hinting at further changes, so who knows?

The post-Franken shuffle, Part 2

Though yesterday was the last day of "The Al Franken Show," his individual affiliates are still adjusting their on-air rosters as they carry on toward the future.

Last week, a few stations announced their intentions as to what they would carry. Today, there's a few more.

Two stations that will not be a part of the future of liberal talk include KCTC in Sacramento, which has officially announced their pending flip to sports effective February 26. As reported earlier, KFPT in Fresno will be sold, and will likely be flipped to sports once the sale is approved in early Spring. In the interim, they will likely fill their schedule with whatever Air America Radio is offering in the time slot, which starting Monday will be Thom Hartmann.

In Rochester, WROC moves Ed Schultz and Randi Rhodes into live afternoon slots, followed by a simulcast of WROC-TV's evening news (WROC-TV is seperately owned), followed by Rachel Maddow until 8PM. The station adds Democracy Now from 8-9PM, followed by two hours of Lionel and a simulcast of WROC-TV's late news. Lionel gets a replay for the late-night hours.

Air America gains a new affiliate as WWKB in Buffalo gives Rhodes a live clearance for her afternoon show, following Schultz. Miller's morning show gets an evening replay. The station's schedule is still in a state of flux, as they seem to have four hours of airtime (currently devoted to replays) to fill. Look for more additions (hopefully) soon. Local (or at least somewhat local) talker Leslie Marshall is no longer there, due to budget cuts, and is currently exploring other opportunities.

At KPOJ in Portland, Sam Seder fans will be elated to find out that his show is added from 9AM-noon (which will likely piss off Ed Schultz, who is still on a delay from noon-3PM). Not only that, but Seder also gets a weeknight replay, from 6-9PM. This move sounds very temporary, and they're promising more changes to come. The station has been rumored to be working on a deal to pick up Mike Malloy's show, possibly for the evening timeslot.

WCHL in Chapel Hill, NC moves Schultz live to the 12-3PM shift, followed by Randi Rhodes live.

Hartmann will get a few new affiliates, as he is added to San Diego's KLSD, Denver's KKZN, Los Angeles' KTLK and WNYY in Ithaca, NY live effective today. He'll also be on Washington, DC's WWRC. KABQ in Albuquerque, and Miami's WINZ on delay, following Ed Schultz. WPEK in Asheville, NC will also add Hartmann, starting next week.

WXXM in Madison is going live with much of their new schedule. Schultz gets a live clearance, followed by Rhodes and Maddow live. Hartmann is added for nights.

Quite a few stations have not announced what they are doing, either over the air or on their websites. Actually, it looks like some stations have forgotten they even have websites, as they are horribly outdated. Unless Jerry Springer is still doing a radio show and we just don't know about it.

Finally, Armed Forces Radio will replace Franken's show with that of even more inoffensive Alan Colmes. They also air Schultz' show, or at least an hour of it (as they tend to do with most talk programming). Which begs the question - why does AFN carry talk shows in the first place? Quite frankly, if I were currently serving in the military overseas, I'd rather listen to music. But I guess that's just me.

Radio stations do the post-Franken shuffle

Latest update 2/13

Following the announcement last week of Al Franken's pending departure from Air America Radio, stations carrying him have begun making plans for the post-Franken era.

So far, KTNF, WROC and KYNS have announced some or all of their schedule changes, with Thom Hartmann and Ed Schultz being the big beneficiaries.

Starting February 19, Randi Rhodes fans in Chicago will be pleased as WCPT will give her a live clearance, from 2-5PM weekdays, in place of the delayed Franken. The nine-hour morning-early afternoon bloc of JRN programming, featuring Bill Press, Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz remains unchanged. Following Rhodes will be a delay of Thom Hartmann's show. Since WCPT is a daytime-only station, the station signs off at sunset. However, they do program their webstream during the off-air hours. And with this, they'll add Mike Malloy live from 8-11PM, giving Malloy another stream for his fans to hear him. In addition, as the warmer months and longer days of summer approach, Chicago area listeners will be able to hear the early part of his show on 850AM until sign-off.

At KPHX in Phoenix, Franken is gone from the schedule as of next Monday (2/11). The station will Hartmann live in middays, followed by Rhodes, Peter B. Collins, Mike Malloy and a delayed airing of Miller's show in the late night hours. The station fills out the overnight/early morning hours with EcoTalk, Rachel Maddow and Bill Press.

WPEK in Asheville, NC has acknowledged Franken's departure, but the well-rated daytime-only station has made no scheduling announcements. It is very likely that the two hour shift currently allocated to Franken will be turned over to Rhodes, who is currently on for only the following hour.

Franken is almost completely gone from the schedule of WNYY in Ithaca, NY. They are carrying Hartmann live in the midday slot. Although the station carries Press and Miller, they do not air Schultz' show, which airs on WENY (1230AM) in nearby Elmira.

Portland's KPOJ hasn't set their lineup yet, but are taking suggestions on their website. Same goes for WROC in Rochester, which will move Schultz into the live slot being vacated. KPTK in Seattle will move Rhodes into Franken's delayed 5-8PM shift, followed by Malloy from 8-11PM. No word on the 11PM-2AM shift being vacated.

Nothing is really known about KOKE in Austin. The sole remainder of the Texas Pro Radio network, which once had stations in San Antonio and Dallas has a website that is currently under construction, and rumors abound that they will move away from syndicated programming, including Air America, and add more local liberal talk voices. We'll keep you posted on further changes. As for other liberal talk stations in Texas, they don't seem to be taking the format seriously. KCCT in Corpus Christi does not have a website, and has reportedly preempted Air America shows with infomercials. They do, however, carry some local talk shows. And KHRO in El Paso, which had been rumored to be dropping the network a few months back, is still airing it (allegedly). Their website consists solely of a link to Air America Radio.

WVAX in Charlottesville, VA is carrying Hartmann in place of Franken. They also air Rhodes and Maddow live, followed by an evening delayed broadcast of Schultz in the evenings. The station carries quite a bit of live programming, as it also airs Mark Riley, Press and Miller in the mornings and Lionel at night.

WKVT in Brattleboro, VT will replace their delayed airing of Franken with a delayed airing of Miller, from 7-10PM ET.

And KTNF in the Twin Cities, which last week announced that they would move Hartmann to afternoons and add Rachel Maddow to the roster, responds to listeners' demands and adds a delay of Malloy's show to the 12-3AM shift, starting February 19.

Denver's KKZN will carry Hartmann, and the relatively successful station is also looking to add another local host, in addition to current morning talker Jay Marvin.

WMLB in Atlanta, which carried the entire Air America feed under its former WWAA call letters and retained only Franken after a format change last year, will not replace his show with any other Air America programming.

Over at XM, Schultz will be moved over to the Air America Channel (ch. 167), meaning that Thom Hartmann will not be cleared, at least not live, by the satellite radio provider. Whether this has something to do with Hartmann's deal with and (partial) clearance on Sirius Left is unknown. And whether this will ruffle feathers with Air America, who currently have an exclusive deal with XM, is also unknown. And then there's that vague "Malloy coming to XM" rumor...

As for other stations that are still carrying Franken, including the few remaining stations that carry the straight Air America feed, it is likely that they will just carry his replacement, Hartmann in that slot. Some stations could go with Schultz, who airs at the same time.

Ratings Roundup Fall 2006: Part 2

In part one of this report, LTR analyzed how progressive talk radio stations did in in the recent Arbitron ratings book in the midwest. In this installment, you'll see how stations on the 'Left Coast' did.

KTLK in Los Angeles is still holding steady with a 0.8, up a tenth of a point from the Summer book. They are tied with Salem's conservotalk KRLA, ESPN's KSPN and KTNQ, a Spanish-language news/talk station. Los Angeles, like many other large markets, is a highly competitive market. The news/talk competition is very fierce, with even larger players such as CBS' Free FM affiliate KLSX and their two all-news stations (KCBS and KFWB) not very far ahead of KTLK. San Diego's KLSD is on the rise again after sliding a bit since last fall. In market #17, it moves up almost half a point to a 1.9 share.

Up the coast in Santa Barbara (market #211), KIST, which was recently sold to a local group, is doing very well, tied for 7th place overall with a 3.4 share. Further north, in San Luis Obispo (#172), KYNS, a well-run small market liberal talker that will soon add Mike Malloy to the lineup, holds steady tied for 16th place with a 1.7 share. KFPT in Fresno (#66), recently sold by CBS to local Peak Broadcasting, holds steady with a 1.0, no change since Summer, but more than double what they had last Fall. According to radio industry site AllAccess, KFPT could soon be sold again, with former general manager Chris Pacheco rumored as the buyer. Whether this sale will go through, or if this means a change in format remains to be seen (thanks for the tip, Jim).

In the Monterey Bay area (#80), a market whose sole dominant talk station is high-powered KGO, located roughly a hundred miles away in San Francisco, KRXA is relatively unchanged in the book, as it drops a tenth of a point to a 0.6. They are up a fifth of a point since last Fall. Low-powered KOMY, which carries a mash-up of several Air America Radio shows, infomercials, and whatever else, and recently switched to oldies, is a no-show in the book. Incidently, in response to my article from last week regarding KOMY and their format switch, I got an email from owner Michael Zwerling, which will be posted here shortly. Trust me, you don't want to miss this!

Speaking of the Bay Area, KGO maintains its two decade grip as the top overall station in the market with a rather centrist-leaning talk format. Liberal talker KQKE is tied at #26 overall in the San Francisco (#4) book, and holding at 1.1, which is just a tenth of a point lower than its conservative sister, KNEW. The Quake also has a 1.1 share in neighboring San Jose (#35). In the North Bay, the station has a very strong showing in the Santa Rosa (#119) book jumping all the way up to #12 overall, rising from a 1.0 in the Spring to a 2.5 for the Fall.

In the battle of the Sacramento (#27) liberal talk stations, KCTC, the Air America affiliate, drops slightly to a 0.8 share. KSAC, which airs a mostly liberal talk format, slides to the near bottom of the ranked stations with a 0.4.

The northwestern has been one of the strongest areas for the liberal talk format. Portland, OR (#23) is no exception. Since its debut almost three years ago, KPOJ has been one of the strongest stations in the format. Fall was especially good for them, as they rise all the way up to #5 with a gain of almost a full point, at a 3.7 share. In Seattle (#14), KPTK, a strong performer in some daypart breakdowns, holds at a 2.0 from the summer in this highly competitive talk market. They are down slightly in comparison to last fall. BlatherWatch, a Seattle talk radio blog, claims that conservotalk station KTTH got a huge boost in the recent book, thanks mostly to Rush Limbaugh, who doubled his local ratings from over a year ago (and I assume BlatherWatch's Michael Hood is using last fall as a comparison). Thom Hartmann, who had dominated the 9AM-Noon timeslot in comparison to all other area talk stations throughout the past year, dropped to #2 behind Limbaugh. Hartmann is still the most-listened to host on KPTK. Ed Schultz tied with Sean Hannity among all listeners in the recent Seattle book, though he did reportedly beat him in some demographic breakdowns. In general, conservotalk fared rather poorly in Seattle this past fall, with Limbaugh being the sole exception.

On the other side of the state, KPTQ in Spokane (#93) holds somewhat steady, rising from a 1.0 to a 1.3 share. In Eugene, OR (#150), KOPT continues its rollercoaster ride, from a 2.4 last fall to 3.4 this past spring and back down to a 1.9 for this past fall. Whether this has to do with the erratic nature of twice-yearly Arbitron ratings reports in small markets (in Duluth, MN, KQDS jumped from 0.9 to 2.1) is unknown.

In Anchorage, AK (#172), KUDO, which is owned and backed by IBEW Local 1547, comes in with a 1.3 share. KUMU in Honolulu (#63), which carries a hodgepodge of mostly delayed talk programming including Air America, Stephanie Miller, Schultz, and various non-political talk shows, rises slightly to grab a 0.7 share.

Coming soon, we'll give you the lowdown on other parts of the country. As always, stay tuned!

Mike Malloy bringing "truth to power" to more affiliates

The Mike Malloy Show continues to grow, little by little.

As of last week, Malloy is on five affiliates - flagship KPHX in Phoenix, KQKE in San Francisco, KPTK in Seattle, KSAC in Sacramento and WINZ in Miami. This week, he adds San Diego's KLSD to the list, which will air his show live starting at 6PM. The bad news is that they'll only carry an hour of it, since KLSD is also the homebase of Air America Radio night guy Jon Elliot. Elliot's show originates from KLSD, so he is a priority for the station. Nonetheless, San Diego listeners now have the opportunity to listen to Malloy on their radios.

KPOJ in Portland is rumored to be Malloy's next affiliate. This is not official, though. KPOJ currently runs Sam Seder's show from 6-9PM and Thom Hartmann's nationally-syndicated show on delay from 9-midnight. Hartmann currently hosts the station's locally-oriented morning show.

And KDXE in Little Rock, currently operated by Nova M Radio, may start carrying Malloy soon, as they iron out some technical issues. According to Aldous Tyler at NonStop Radio, Nova M may pull out of their deal with KDXE this spring, due to a myriad of technical issues with the facilities. Whether the station keeps its liberal talk format remains to be seen. As always, we'll keep you posted.

Speaking of Nova M, they have recently redesigned their website, and added more user-friendly features such as message boards, and more streaming and podcasting links. You can see it for yourself here.

Radical Russ is the next "Progressive Talk Radio Star"

Congratulations are in order for "Radical" Russ Belville of Portland, OR, who has won a national contest to find America's next Progressive Talk Radio Star.

The contest was sponsored by Clear Channel Radio, The Center for American Progress Action Fund, Jones Radio Networks, and Media Syndication Services, Inc.

Belville, who won a local contest sponsored by Clear Channel progressive talker KPOJ (620AM) in Portland, went on to defeat Curtis Hannum of Boulder, Colo., in the finals of the contest, a two-hour broadcast in Washington, D.C. hosted by veteran television broadcaster and nationally syndicated radio host Bill Press.

Judges for the final broadcast included Product First syndicated talker Ed Schultz, Melody Barnes, executive VP for Policy at the Center for American Progress; Paul Woodhull, founder and president of Media Syndication Services; Jessica Sherman, VP of Affiliate Sales for Jones Radio Networks, and Bill Hess, program director for Clear Channel talk WWRC (1260AM) in Washington, DC.

As the winner, Belville will now get an opportunity to develop and host his own syndicated radio show in conjunction with the contest's sponsors.

Liberal talk radio stations shuffle lineups

UPDATED 9/18. All times local.

In response to recent lineup changes at Air America Radio, several affiliates have announced their own schedule changes.

First, Clear Channel-owned KTLK in Los Angeles has adjusted its on-air roster, picking up Rachel Maddow's new evening show for 6-8PM and picking up WOR Radio Network's Lionel for 10PM-1AM. Cary Harrison's local show moves up the schedule to the 8-10PM slot.

Further north, after conducting an online vote on their updated lineup, KQKE in San Francisco, also owned by Clear Channel, adds Stephanie Miller to weekdays, airing an hour of her show from 6-7AM, displacing the locally-produced "The Progressive News Hour". The Quake will air the last two hours of Al Franken's midday show from 10AM-12PM followed by Ed Schultz live, add "EcoTalk" in the 6-7PM slot. Thom Hartmann's show, which has experienced great success in West Coast markets, will air delayed from 7-10PM, and Lionel comes to the station for the 10PM-2AM shift, including a repeat of one hour of the three hour show. Mark Riley's one hour show will follow at 2AM, and Bill Press is added live 3-6AM. Air America's new morning show, The Young Turks, will not be picked up by the station.

Entercom-owned KCTC in Sacramento lists Peter Werbe in the live 7-9PM slot, followed by a replay of Franken's show from 9PM-12AM. Press will air live 3-5:30AM, followed by the local morning show, "The Morning Retort", hosted by Scott & Sims.

And CBS Radio's KPTK in Seattle also shuffles it's schedule, The new weekday lineup adds The Young Turks (who had been on weekends) to weekdays live 3-6AM PT and Rachel Maddow live 3-5PM. KPTK moves Al Franken's delayed show to 5-8PM and Randi Rhodes 8-11PM.

Dave McDonald, senior vice president and market manager for CBS Radio's Seattle stations, said he's pleased to be able to add Maddow's show to the lineup. The new lineup also helps KPTK shift more of its programming to live, he added.

KPTK listeners have also expressed their disappointment over the loss of Mike Malloy, whose show was dropped by Air America, McDonald said.

In Portland, KPOJ substitutes live airings of Riley and The Young Turks for the current Air America Mornings bloc from 2-6AM. Seder's new show will air on delay around the time of the Majority Report's former shift, from 6-9PM. And following the success of Hartmann's local morning show, KPOJ adds his national show to evenings, delayed to 9PM-12AM, and taking over Malloy's former shift. Maddow follows from 12-2AM.

Meanwhile, on the opposite coast, WINZ in Miami picks up Maddow for 9-11PM and moves Sam Seder from overnights to the 11PM-2AM shift. The rest of the schedule remains unchanged, except for the shortening of Rhodes' show.

At WXXM in Madison, Maddow, "Politically Direct" with David Bender, and "EcoTalk" with Betsy Rosenberg will be added, along with a few other changes.

KTNF in Minneapolis/St. Paul adds Press for mornings, following Riley. Hartmann's show is also added, airing from 6-9PM, bumping Rhodes to 9Pm-12AM. Seder's show airs on delay from 12-2AM. The station does seem to remain open to Malloy's return, if he indeed does.

KKZN in Denver/Boulder CO adds Maddow from 7-9PM, followed by EcoTalk 9-10PM, Politically Direct 10-11PM, Werbe 11-1AM, and a replay of Franken from 1-3AM. Riley airs live from 3-4AM and The Young Turks air 4-6AM, followed by local host Jay Marvin. The rest of the schedule remains the same.

As reported earlier, KRFT in St. Louis, currently airing Franken's show, adds Randi Rhodes to the 3-6PM shift. St. Louis listeners can see Franken as he does a live broadcast from St. Louis on Tuesday 9/19.

KLSD in San Diego updated their own schedule, picking up Maddow for 6-7PM, sending Jon Elliott back to weekends and airing Werbe evenings 7-9PM. A Franken replay airs from 9-10PM, followed by The Lionel Show. Mark Riley and The Young Turks air live during the early morning hours. Seder's show will air on weekends as 'best-of' programming.

In Columbus, WTPG picks up The Young Turks for mornings. Maddow gets the 6-8 shift, followed by Politically Direct and EcoTalk. Fans of Rhodes will be disappointed, as her show moves to overnight hours (3-5AM) in a surprise move.

WXKS/WKOX in Boston adds Riley and The Young Turks for mornings and EcoTalk from 9-10PM. The 10PM-12AM shift is undetermined, but for now, Werbe will have the shift.

The WHMP trimulcast in central Massachusetts is also altering its lineup, moving Maddow to evenings. Stephanie Miller debuts on the station and picks up Maddow's previous timeslot, 10AM-12PM.

KPHX in Phoenix will air the straight Air America feed live for much of the day, outside of Mike Newcomb's morning show. Hartmann will air from 9PM-12AM in delay.

In the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area, WHLD adds Seder to mornings and will also air Franken, Rhodes and one hour of Maddow live. Democracy Now follows at 7PM, followed by various non-commercial shows, including Flashpoints, Building Bridges, Uprising Radio, Counterspin and others on a daily rotating basis.

Chicago's WCPT switches out morning shows, adding Bill Press. Jerry Springer remains in his mid-morning shift. The station is a Class D AM station, meaning it signs off the air from sunset to sunrise.

WRVC in Huntington, WV adds a second Air America show to the lineup, as they bring in The Young Turks for morning drive. The station currently carries Franken, as well as Ed Schultz. The rest of the schedule is heavy with local programming and ESPN Radio and other sports programming.

And syndicated host Lionel picks up a few new affiliates, including the aforementioned KTLK and KQKE. He also lands on WKJK in Louisville KY, WWKB in Buffalo NY, WHNZ in Tampa FL and WCRN in Worcester MA weekdays and WOND in Atlantic City NJ, KTLK-FM in Minneapolis MN on weekends. It should be noted that WKJK, WHNZ, WCRN and KTLK-FM air predominantly conservative talk shows.

And what about Jerry Springer? The bankruptcy rumors this week claimed that Air America and Springer have parted ways. It looks like the previous story about Springer being taken off the main Air America feed and shuffled to their syndication arm is actually correct, at least according to Springer's Cincinnati sales team in The Cincinnati Post, who claim that almost all their 50-some affiliates are staying with the show, while Springer will be dropped at the New York affiliate in favor of Seder. Whether Springer actually has 50 affiliates (I count twenty or so at most, and this is a very old list) is probably something that can be debated. Nonetheless, Jerry is still out there, plugging away, and will likely stay at WSAI in Cincy.
be

Need a talk radio job? KPOJ/Portland is hiring

Here's the listing. I assume it's KPOJ, and it looks like they're looking to add a local show.

Date Listed 02/01/2005
Job Location Portland
Salary Not Stated.
Education Required None
Experience Required At least 3 months
Minimum Age 0
Hours Worked Per Week 40
Shift Day Shift
Duration of Job Full Time , more than 6 months
Additional Requirements None

REQUIREMENTS: Experienced progressive talk radio host.

JOB DUTIES: Host a live, local radio show. Deliver interesting, entertaining and relevant programming to progressive listeners. Discuss both national and local issues.


Equal Opportunity Employer.

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!

Portland advertisers see an opportunity in alternative to conservative talk radio

Insurance agent Tom Hasselstrom likes to call himself a red-meat-eating, gun-toting liberal. He never dreamed of advertising on any of Portland’s talk radio stations until the “progressive” talk format on KPOJ (620 AM) was launched last spring.

“The advertising is definitely paying for itself,” says Hasselstrom, whose commercials have aired since May on KPOJ. “I’m not a big advertiser, but I wanted to advertise on the station and give it some support.”

Hasselstrom, a retired chief warrant officer who served for 20 years in the U.S. Army, says his ads are attracting about three new clients a month to his Farmers Insurance Agency in Hillsboro.

(snip)

Last year, when KPOJ still was in its music format, total listeners numbered about 33,000, according to the Arbitron radio ratings service. Now, the station’s audience is almost 127,000.

(snip)

Ad revenue, which averaged about $25,000 a month before the changeover, now is in the $200,000 range, thanks in large part to election-year ads.

(snip)

If John Kerry wins the presidential vote, there’s speculation that Franken and some of the others might leave — figuring their job is done. Would listenership fall off as a result?

As one radio consultant explains: “George W. Bush winning didn’t hurt Limbaugh any. Talk -radio isn’t going anywhere no matter who’s in the White House.”

KPOJ is banking on it.

Who says liberal talk radio can't succeed?

Ratings Roundup: Portland, Rochester

KPOJ-AM in Portland is still going strong, increasing their overall number from 3.7 to 4.0 and seventh place in the market. However, they slide slightly in the 25-54 demographic, going from 3rd place to a still respectable 6th, behind a bunch of music stations, which traditionally do better during the summer. In that demographic, they are by far the top talk station in the market. Overall, they are behind sister station KEX-AM. All in all, they do the best of all the talkers in the so-called 'money demos'. Also worth mentioning is that they're beating KXL-AM, home of Randi Rhodes' nemesis Lars Larson. Bragging rights potential there.

In Rochester, WROC-AM is steady overall in the summer ratings, their first with a liberal talk format. They hold at a 0.7, which is decent considering Entercom blew the entire station up and started over with new talk hosts and a radically different political orientation. We'll see what happens here.

The Honolulu book was also released, but analyzing KUMU-AM's overall performance when all they have in liberal talk is Franken live in morning drive (this is Hawaii, after all) and Randi Rhodes on tape delay in the evenings would be migraine inducing. I won't even bother, except to note the overall rating slides a half point to 0.7. Honolulu is a terrible market for talk radio. Take the ratings for what they're worth.

From another blog: More Good Ratings for Air America

Also posted here:

http://nuisance.blogspot.com/2004_10_01_nuisance_archive.html#109830072265748013

Much of this has been covered on this site, as it pertains to the new ratings book. A few highlights, and some personal commentary:

No summer ratings are out yet for Portland, but a Clear Channel executive who spoke before Al Franken's recent live show in San Francisco said that the trends (preliminary ratings data released only to industry insiders) showed that the summer numbers for KPOJ were likely to improve on the blockbuster spring ratings. WHAT in Philadelphia carries limited AAR programming on a weak signal, and also had no AAR for most of the summer. It still doubled the low ratings number from the spring.

Hmm... This should be interesting. Will KPOJ take the whole market? The Portland book will be released on October 29, but the book is currently under what's called an 'embargo', meaning it is only being released to subscribers and not to the general public. This happens occasionally when a non-subscribing station uses Arbitron data in it's sales presentation, a serious no-no. What then usually happens is that Arbitron freezes everyone out, except for stations that pay for the service. Whether the books is unembargoed by next week is anyone's guess, but I'll dig up any numbers I can find.

The only exception was Albuquerque where KABQ showed no ratings change at all. I have no information on whether the key demographic numbers have improved.

So far, there has been no full ratings book showing KABQ-AM. There have only been trend reports. And there is also a KABQ-FM, which airs a music format. The AM did not show up in the ratings trend report, but it could make an appearance in the new one, also out on the 29th.

It should be noted that the ratings listed here are 12+, i.e. all listeners 12 or older. These ratings are available for free on the internet because they don't really matter. What advertisers look for is specific age groups, especially the 25 - 54 grouping. Arbitron publishes these numbers for paid subscribers only, but they aren't on the net and are difficult to find out; Arbitron doesn't like having them publicized. It is known that, generally speaking, Air America has so far done much better in the 25 - 54 demo than in the published 12+. Conservative talk radio has a large 55+ audience so does better in 12+ than in 25 - 54. So if you see an article
that cites the published 12+ numbers to prove AAR is failing, know you are being
spun.

That's the thing about radio ratings. Almost anyone can claim to be a winner. But demographics are what really rule radio. As I said before, nobody buys ad time based on overall ratings. They buy based on age or gender. So if they want to target guys, they go after rock and sports stations. If they want females, they go after stations with names like 'Mix' and 'Lite'. If they want younger listeners, it's CHR and hip-hop. Listeners over 55 fill out their diaries, and AM stations airing 'adult standards' do show some decent numbers, but ad agencies don't really covet this age group, making them a somewhat tough sell. And quite a few advertisers on older stations are a bit undesirable (restaurants often stiff on the bill). Conservative talk radio is slowly heading in this direction. Their listeners are little-by-little getting older. And they don't pull in much of an under-40 audience. Could AAR and liberal talk be changing this? It seems like liberal talk is a format that is actually pulling in some younger listeners. Over time, this could give them an advantage over conservative talk.

*** Incidentally, there is one AAR-related story in yesterday's ratings release. The Arbitron book for Springfield, MA (#81) was released, and shows WHMP/WHNP hanging in there. Their schedule is a bit of a mish-mash, with the station only airing Franken (on tape delay in PM drive) and 'Unfiltered' live. The rest of the schedule consists of live shows and syndicated fare like Bill O'Reilly. I've heard from a few people that Hannity is still airing on the station, but it is not shown on the station's website. The ratings have improved significantly since spring, when the two AAR shows were added. And where else can you hear Franken directly follow O'Reilly?

*** Speaking of Franken, he'll be on Howard Stern's show next Monday (10/25). Mark your calendar.