[rambo47]

I read an article in the Wall Street Journal detailing the woes of AirAmerica and all the behind-the-scenes lying that went on with investors and potential investors. They're off the air in Los Angeles and Chicago, things still look grim financailly, but a reorganization plan is in place and a whole new crew is running the company.

This is the time they should be having the most success. Election polls show a close race and the country seems more polarized than ever over the issues and the men behind them. So who is listening?

[boots]

Originally posted by rambo47:
I read an article in the Wall Street Journal detailing the woes of AirAmerica and all the behind-the-scenes lying that went on with investors and potential investors. They're off the air in Los Angeles and Chicago, things still look grim financailly, but a reorganization plan is in place and a whole new crew is running the company.

This is the time they should be having the most success. Election polls show a close race and the country seems more polarized than ever over the issues and the men behind them. So who is listening?

Never listened to them. Don't listen to Rush either. I don't need the hyperbole and hate from either side.


edit: Unless it is satire/humor...then I like Franken and Miller.

[Zimphire]

Is it even still around?

[MindFad]

I listen to Air America pretty much daily, for about the past 5 weeks. I really enjoy the O'Franken Factor most of all the shows. Randi Rhodes's show is good, too. And Majority Report ain't bad, either. Those are about the only shows I catch. Sometimes What Else Is News, before Majority Report.

Ratings are really good so far, so that's good for the network. Hopefully it holds steady. And there's nothing hate-filled about the shows at all, which is a good thing.

[chabig]

Originally posted by MindFad:
Ratings are really good so far

That must explain why they've gone off the air in Los Angeles and Chicago, and why they're in financial straights.

[chabig]

BTW, here's the article,

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/busin...lash-financial

Chris

[Zimphire]

Originally posted by chabig:
That must explain why they've gone off the air in Los Angeles and Chicago, and why they're in financial straights.

Yeah.. really good ratings.

[MindFad]

I wasn't talking about their financial woes. I was talking about their ratings. That would be why I said ratings, I guess. Anyway, supposedly their financial troubles are stabilizing, and they are more big advertisers. I hope it works out for them, as I like the shows.

Anyway, ratings. They're certainly not doing bad. It's just a matter of keeping those numbers up there. Good luck to them.

By John Cook
Chicago Tribune staff reporter
Published May 27, 2004

Despite ongoing financial woes, Air America Radio appears to have garnered a significant audience during its first month on the air, particularly among the younger listeners sought by advertisers.

An analysis of recently released figures from Arbitron, the radio ratings service, showed that in New York Air America beat Rush Limbaugh's station among 25-to-54-year-olds during the period that Limbaugh and Al Franken, the host of the flagship show "The O'Franken Factor," go head-to-head.

In Chicago, even though the network was available for only 28 days in April, Air America increased the average share of 25-to-54-year-old listeners on WNTD-950 AM from a 0.1 percent share in February to a 2 percent share in April.

Air America was pulled off WNTD-950 AM due to a billing dispute. The network is seeking a new home in Chicago.

"We're actually doing very well despite everything we've managed to do to ourselves," Franken said on Saturday in an address to the Talkers Magazine New Media Seminar in New York.

He was referring to the network's failure to meet payroll earlier this month and the departure of no fewer than six key executives in its first eight weeks on the air.

"If this is how we're doing now, imagine what things will be like when we actually know what we're doing," Franken said.

The April audience estimates, which are the first data indicating whether or not Air America's brand of liberal talk radio can find an audience, come from a third-party analysis of Arbitron data, called "extrapolations."

Insiders cautioned that, while it is standard to use extrapolations as a guide to the performance of a station, they are preliminary and prone to a certain margin of error.

"They're like a second-inning score in a baseball game," said Tom Taylor, the editor of Inside Radio, a trade publication. "But you have to say that the visitors are on the scoreboard."

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., a period that includes Franken's show, WNTD pulled in 3 percent of 25-to-54-year-old listeners in Chicago. That number puts the fledgling network in the same league as WGN-720 AM, which scored a 2.1 percent share of the same demographic, according to the extrapolation of April figures. WLS-890 AM, which airs Rush Limbaugh during the same period, beat WNTD with a 4.8 share.

But in New York, where Air America still broadcasts over WLIB-1190 AM, the network beat Limbaugh's station, Disney-owned WABC, among both 25-to-54-year-olds and 18-to-34-year-olds during the 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. period. In the 25-to-54 demographic, WLIB garnered a 3.4 share to WABC's 3.1; among 18-to-34-year-olds, WLIB won sevenfold with a 2.9 share to WABC's 0.4.

Copyright � 2004, Chicago Tribune

[finboy]

Originally posted by MindFad:
Randi Rhodes's show is good, too. And Majority Report ain't bad, either.

didn't he play guitar for Ozzie?

[MindFad]

Randi's a woman.

[PacHead]

Originally posted by finboy:
didn't he play guitar for Ozzie?

I don't exactly follow big-hair bands and heavy metal, but I believe he died a few years back in an accident.

[placebo1969]

Originally posted by PacHead:
I don't exactly follow big-hair bands and heavy metal, but I believe he died a few years back in an accident.

He died in a plane crash on tour with Ozzy in 1982

[itai195]

Never listened to it, I'd imagine they have an station around here... but my radio listening is pretty much confined to commuting, and there are already other things I like to listen to.

[zachs]

I listen to the web stream occasionally...mostly Al Franken. Some of his stuff is really great.