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If You Can’t Make it Here, You Can’t Make it Anywhere

Liberal Air America radio station gone from Liberal Austin air waves

UPDATE: Welcome Michelle Malkin readers!

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“Definantly liberal talk radio” Air America is no longer on the air in uber-liberal Austin, Tx.

Air America, the home for defiantly liberal talk radio, has quit Austin’s air waves, though it can still be heard online or on XM Satellite Radio. Its previous broadcasting home in Austin, KOKE 1600 AM, has started following a Spanish-language format.

It’s not like there’s a dearth of spanish-language channels on AM radio in these parts — just turn your dial to AM, and then hit scan. You’ll usually get 4-5 Spanish-language stations in a row before encountering the rare English-language channel…and then you’re most likely listening to Sports Talk radio.

Apparently the radio station owners decided it was more profitable to compete against a plethora of other similar radio formats in this market than it was to be the only player in the market for liberal talk radio:

Dave Kaufman, Air America’s vice president of affiliate relations, said Monday the shift happened last week as part of an expected change in station ownership. “Definitely disappointed,” Kaufman reacted. “Whenever we lose any affiliate, it’s disappointing. This was an affiliate better than many, not as good as others. And in a state capital, it’s tough” to take the loss.

What should be a tougher loss to take is the knowledge that Austin is a very Liberal city with a giant market of young, educated liberal college students.

If you can’t make it here with Liberal radio, then you probably can’t make it anywhere (which the national market is bearing out, too).

A dismayed blogger dug up Arbitron ratings suggesting low listener-ship on the Austin outlet: “Can’t even pull 1 percent in Austin, TX? Amazing but true. don’t ask me why. This is a city that is overwhelmingly Democratic, but the right-wing talk radio stations in town consistently get much better ratings.”

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Posted by Robbie Cooper on Monday, October 22nd, 2007 | Trackback |

10 Responses to “If You Can’t Make it Here, You Can’t Make it Anywhere”

Maybe it’s not good radio?

Left by Preston on October 22nd, 2007 at 8:47 pm

Admittedly, I’ve never listened to a single second of Air America — the AM radio reception on my motorcycle is horrendous…

Left by Robbie on October 22nd, 2007 at 8:54 pm

Is Garafolo still on Air America? I know I find her unlistenable- I don’t know who else they have on air.

Left by Preston on October 23rd, 2007 at 2:09 am

I’m not sure about Garafolo — last I heard I think that Randi Rhodes is their “top” personality.

Left by Robbie on October 23rd, 2007 at 10:32 am

I heard about a month ago some lefty airhead on Air America call soldiers that are coming back from Iraq “phony” if they didn’t support the war.

Left by Roger Dawson on October 23rd, 2007 at 11:57 am

AirAmerica is mild sauce in Austin compared to AlexJonesAmerica, which is smoldering hot.

Left by ralph on October 23rd, 2007 at 12:43 pm

Roger — I think you’ve got the story a bit confused. The radio personality that referred to “phony” soldiers was conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Rush wasn’t referring to soldiers who don’t support the war as “phony soldiers” (as the left alleges), but rather referred to actual phony soldiers, specifically Jesse Macbeth.

The left really does have a Phony Soldier problem. It’s just not the Rush Limbaugh problem that they fabricated.

Left by Robbie on October 23rd, 2007 at 1:10 pm

Alex Jones and his disciples are completely off their rockers. There’s not a single intellectually honest person who buys into that crap.

Left by Robbie on October 23rd, 2007 at 1:11 pm

Clearing The Air in Austin…

The Statesman (bugmenot) is reporting that Air America has been ditched in Austin in favor of Spanish speaking programming: Air America, the home for defiantly liberal talk radio, has quit Austin’s air waves, though it can still be heard online……

Left by Keep Austin Corporate on October 23rd, 2007 at 1:38 pm

Austin isn’t the only liberal enclave where Air America Radio has floundered. It also disappeared from the airwaves in Burlington, Vermont. And the network’s other Vermont affiliate, WKVT in Brattleboro, carries only Air America’s two biggest stars, Thom Hartmann and Randi Rhodes, opting instead to carry syndicated liberal talkers Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz.

Truth is, Air America in particular and “progressive talk” in general isn’t faring well in the radio ratings because the audience for talk radio is itself made up overwhelmingly of middle-aged, white, Republican, conservative males, according to a 2004 study by the Pew Research Center.

So the right-wing radio talkers are in fact, “preaching to the choir.”

Moreover, only 17 percent of Americans overall listens to talk radio, which airs overwhelmingly on the AM band, while more than 80 percent listens to FM radio.

Only one talk show — George Noory’s overnight “Coast to Coast A.M.” — can successfully compete against FM. And that’s because “Coast to Coast A.M.” avoids politics altogether and focuses instead on offbeat subjects, such as spirituality, UFOs and extraterrestrials, the paranormal and ancient prophecies (It helps that Noory’s show airs on the overnights, for the format would never work during the daytime hours).

Left by Skeeter Sanders on November 20th, 2007 at 12:04 pm

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