AIR AMERICA RADIO...TURN ON, TUNE IN, DROP A BRICK ON BUSH

AM or FM?

Local Air America deal fails


By VICKI HYMAN, Staff Writer


If Air America Radio would play anywhere, it would play in Chapel Hill. And until late last week, it looked like it would.

related

New liberal network takes on conservative kings of radio





When managers at WCHL 1360 AM, the Chapel Hill talk radio station, heard about a liberal talk radio network, they were intrigued.

"We do know that we have a fairly progressive audience," said Christy Jones, WCHL general manager. "Certainly not everyone, but of all places in this area, Chapel Hill would be the place where that programming would meet a receptive audience."

But Air America works on an affiliate model, in which it looks for low-rated stations to take a full menu of programming, instead of syndicating individual shows to fill certain blocks of the schedule.

WCHL wanted to broadcast only "The O'Franken Factor," with Al Franken, and "The Majority Report," featuring comedian Janeane Garofalo.

"We obviously can't just disregard all of our local programming," Jones said.

Until Friday, WCHL thought it could come to an arrangement with Air America, but the deal fell through.

Curtis Media Group, which owns the Triangle's top-rated news/talk station WPTF 680 AM, never planned to seek Air America programming. Phil Zachary, the company's executive vice president, said he has doubts about it.

"It seems like it is programming that is created in response to programming that was created in response to a liberal media that I'm not sure exists," he said.

WPTF airs 10 straight hours of conservative and libertarian talk, starting at noon with Rush Limbaugh. But Zachary said he isn't closed to liberal programming -- or, at least, programming hosted by a liberal. He is interested in commentator Alan Colmes, who hosts a syndicated nightly current affairs radio show as well as co-hosts Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" with conservative Sean Hannity.

But Zachary is most interested in radio that entertains. "Some of the really good conservative talk show hosts -- Limbaugh, Hannity -- they're such good entertainers that they keep you engaged in the programming even if you don't agree with it."

Rhodes, Air America go on today

By Thom Smith, Palm Beach Post Staff Columnist
Wednesday, March 31, 2004



Watch out! Here comes Air America. The new liberal talk radio network that's intent on challenging the Rush Limbaugh-led conservatives hits the airwaves today at noon with Al Franken's O'Franken Factor.

Most Americans, however, won't hear Franken, Janeane Garofalo and Chuck D -- at least for a while. The only debut markets are New York, Chicago, L.A., Inland Empire, Calif., Portland, Ore., XM satellite radio and the Internet.

Oh yeah, and from 3 to 7 p.m., the Palm Beaches! Randi Rhodes' Air America show will be broadcast on WJNO-AM 1290, the station she left last month after 10 years. Rhodes, the only real radio veteran on Air America, will anchor the all-important afternoon drive slot. She has a special arrangement with WJNO, which will carry only her show from the Air America network.

Who woulda thunk 22 years ago that a Brooklyn-born rock jock getting a job in Seminole, Texas -- Bush country -- would be back in big, bad New York with a nationwide audience?

"I swore I would never go back to New York unless I could live in Manhattan... on Park Avenue... and now I do," she said. "Ooh, ooh, ooh. I finally, finally make man money. It's been a long haul. I never got paid what the guys got."

The hard work, in and out of the studio, has paid off. Although Rhodes won't utter her first Air America words until 3 this afternoon, she's been national for nearly a year and a half on the Internet.

When John Manzo arrived as program director in late 2002, he introduced her to cyber radio. In a matter of weeks, Rhodes, live and archived, was available on the Internet. She set up her own toll-free number, formed a production company, built a listener database and started a newsletter. (For streaming audio, go to www.wjno.com or www.therandirhodesshow.com.)

She believes she has struck a nerve. Calls to her toll-free number "come from everywhere. Even in Kansas, and they ain't Democrats in Kansas," she said. "And it's not Democrat in northern Idaho or in northern California. We're getting calls from Silicon Valley, from traditional Republican bases. One listener calls from Spain. The timing couldn't be better."

Air America was founded by a team of young investors who believe half of the political radio market is untapped. The venture, Rhodes says, is powered more by Good Old American business sense than by ideology. The startup team includes a writing staff (mostly comedy writers), a booking staff, a producing staff and a staff of sidekicks.

Rhodes is taking Manzo, 30, along as a producer. She will have writing help from none other than A. Whitney Brown, former writer and commentator on Saturday Night Live.

"Whitney's a great guy, no ego, just funny and dry," Rhodes said. "I'm more in your face, he's under the surface. The two of us really work well together."

But he won't be on the air. As usual, Randi will fly solo, ready to show the Air America audience what has attracted listeners to WJNO for a decade: a voice that affirms their beliefs, which don't fit into the conservative spectrum.

Says Rhodes: "It was wild what I was hearing, over and over -- 'I feel sane, but no one articulates what I feel is going on. No one is validating me.'

"I believe I can talk to and for these people."

XM Satellite Radio and Air America Radio Launch Exclusive Nationwide Progressive Talk Channel Starring Al Franken, Jeanene Garofalo and Chuck D.
Monday March 29, 11:22 am ET
XM and Progress Media Further Political Discourse Through Humor, Insight and Intelligent New Voices


WASHINGTON and NEW YORK, March 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR - News), the pioneer and leader in satellite radio, on Wednesday, March 31, debuts XM America Left, Channel 167, a new talk radio channel dedicated to progressive political viewpoints. Broadcasting coast-to-coast from its headquarters less than a mile from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, XM provides the highly-anticipated Air America Radio with its first national platform. XM's fast-growing nation of more than 3 million listeners now can tune in daily to Air America's talented and opinionated on-air personalities including popular satirist Al Franken, comedienne Jeanene Garofalo, hip hop icon Chuck D. and environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. New channel XM America Left complements XM's other talk programming which features more conservative on-air talent, including Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and Ann Coulter.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000724/XMSATLOGO )
"We are excited to provide a national audience to progressive superstar Al Franken and his spirited cohorts at Air America. Challenging our listeners, and giving them the best and broadest choices possible is our daily mission at XM. Where else are you going to find Al Franken and Bill O'Reilly, or opera and punk for that matter, living under one roof," said Hugh Panero, XM President and CEO.

"We cannot think of a better way to bring our important message directly into the cars, homes and minds of Americans than broadcasting on XM Satellite Radio," said Mark Walsh, CEO of Progress Media. "There is a great underserved market of Americans who want to hear compelling and funny talk voices expressing viewpoints long absent from the radio airwaves. Air America on XM will go a long way to correcting this imbalance at a particularly opportune time."

America Left's daily program schedule includes the Air America lineup and the popular shows of progressive talk radio personalities Ed Schultz and Alan Colmes.

Morning Sedition 6:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time
Unfiltered w/Lizz Winstead and Chuck D. 9:00 a.m.
Al Franken Noon
Ed Schultz 3:00 p.m.
Randi Rhodes 6:00 p.m.
Marty Kaplan 7:00 p.m.
Jeanene Garofalo 8:00 p.m.
Alan Colmes 10:00 p.m.


XM is home to more than 120 original, award-winning channels of talk, commercial-free music, sports, children's and comedy programming. Included in the program line-up is XM's exclusive 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week NASCAR Radio channel, the daily destination of tens of thousands of this election year's highly-coveted "NASCAR Dads."

I read somewhere that they think this effort will lose money for the first two years. Apparently someone is providing a huge bankroll for them.