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Why Air America really struggled
Air America Host Thom Hartmann
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TEXT OF STORY
Steve Chiotakis: Air America Radio officially goes off the air later today. The liberal talk network helped launch Rachel Maddow and the political career of Senator Al Franken. But the network struggled financially throughout its nearly six-year run, and finally decided to pull the plug last week. Marketplace's Amy Scott took a listen and filed this report.
Air America Intro: Broadcasting from an underground bunker 3,500 feet below Dick Cheney's bunker, Air America Radio is on the air.
Amy Scott: Founding Air America host Al Franken has been off the air for three years. Thom Hartmann replaced him, before taking his show elsewhere. Hartmann says that was part of Air America's problem: constantly changing line-up.
Thom Hartmann: Each new management wanted to put their mark on the company by changing the program line-up, which is death in radio. Stability is everything.
The latest management blamed the economy and declining ad revenue across the industry.
Michael Harrison publishes Talkers Magazine. He says though conservative radio is hurting too, it's been more successful. It got a big head start.
Michael Harrison: It's hard in general to get anything off the ground in radio, regardless of what your format is.
Harrison, who calls himself non-partisan, says there is an audience for liberal commercial talk radio. He says nationally syndicated hosts like Thom Hartmann are all thriving without Air America.
I'm Amy Scott for Marketplace.
Being in the South, I never found AA on the dial, but through the wonders of podcasting, I was a loyal Morning Sedition listener in 04-05 until, like Hartmann said, AA shook it up and sent Marc Maron away, leaving Mark Riley behind and indistinguishable from the other AA hosts/shows: "Grr, I shake my tiny fist at that meanie George W!" Yeah. Ho hum.
The station sets the tone, so that's your baseline for staying or leaving. But the on-air talent keeps you there. Limbaugh, Maddow, Stern, even Ryssdal. Whatever you listen to, it's because they're serving it up to you.
Nobody listens to liberal radio? If that's true, that how did all this talent that came from this one station which you mentioned: Maddow, Miller, Franklin etc? They made it big from obscurity to national prominance from this little show.
When Air America started, it had firebrands: Excitement. Randi Rhodes, Rachael Maddow, Thom Hartman, Mike Malloy And the writers. Lots of people I knew listened to it. It had a major impact on national politics and made liberals realize they weren't alone. It broke major stories the NY Times somehow always missed.
Then Clear Channel, a very conservative corporation whose other stations reflect their politics, bought it. Suddenly boring Allen Combs is in drive time. Montel Williams, Ron Reagan, Al Sharpton all are hired. All basically sucked and tended to reflect Democratic party corporate politics rather than liberal. A decided shift rightward. All the original talent disappeared. Yet I would guess that these bigger names got bigger salaries. Gone was any real challenge to corporate America. It's pretty sad when the edgiest guy is Ed Shultz. Yesterday he talked sports. And ten times the number of commercials. I don't know what they were paid for the commercials. It's hard to find hard numbers. But if it was so little that they declared bankruptcy, why run them? Just to chase away viewers? This 'failure of Air America' started with Clear Channel. They gutted it.
To Mr. Reese, not everyone found Air America boring. Coming from the south, I would expect this attitude from someone like you. In the Portland, OR market, the AA station frequently ranked in the top 10 for Arbitron ratings. I also know it did well in other markets not in the south or midwest. Not all of us like being lectured to by the likes of Rush or Hannity which is the conservative mantra, shut up and listen. I have coworkers, always conservative who like to walk into a room and give their political opinion like they think we're all as in love with the sound of their voices as they are. Air America itself didn't succeed, but the people who passed through there such as Randi Rhodes, Thom Hartman and Rachel Maddow are on the air and doing quite well. So saying liberal talk doesn't work really isn't true, it just didn't work for AA.
I knew Air America was doomed from the very beginning. When the idea was floated, the press releases and stories gave NO CONTACT POINT worth beans to try to get involved or give feedback.
Liberals are by their nature forward looking and solution-seeking. They like interaction.
Air America was run top-down like a conservative military.
It was doomed because the management did not understand their audience.
I would point out that here in Richmond Va., on those RARE occasions that a news article looks at the ratings of All Things Considered ... its JUST as popular as Rush Limbaugh! yep, about 100k listeners for each last time I saw an article.
In South Florida, liberal talk show host Jack Cole "The Inquisitor General" got just as good ratings as Lush Rimbaugh.
Air America was really an example of completely botched management based on a total misunderstanding of the market.
Just because you might have found Air America to be 'vitriol' or 'boring' or 'tedious' dosn't mean many of us other fellow Americans did.
The radio hosts, like Thom Hartman, on Air America were basicly honest. There is no conservative web-site (like media matters that points out lies and fabrications of Limbaugh and O'rielly) etc. that points out any lies or fabrications or "mistakes" of the Air America hosts. It dosn't exist. Since it dosn't, all the detractors can say is that they are "boring" and say "vitriol" etc.
I and at least half of America will be sad for this loss of political input to American discourse and we will all together suffer this loss of honest perspective.
