More Broadcasters switching to Progressive Talk
PagCal
Posted on Friday, February 18 @ 10:11:00 EST From The Associated Press
DETROIT -- The day before President Bush's inauguration, listeners
tuning in to the Detroit sports station WXDX-AM were suddenly greeted by
the sound of braying donkeys. By the time Bush was taking the oath of
office, the radio station had new call letters and a full schedule of
liberal talk shows.
WXDX-AM -- now known as WDTW-AM -- is one of 22 stations owned by Clear
Channel Communications Inc. that have switched to a liberal talk format
in the last year. This month, KTLK-AM in Los Angeles became the latest
Clear Channel station to adopt the format.
Those who track broadcasting trends say there's money to be made in
liberal talk radio. Todd Webster, a consultant for Washington-based
liberal talk show producer Democracy Radio, said Clear Channel is
expected to introduce the left-leaning format on 20 more stations by the
end of the year.
"There is a tremendous appetite out there for progressive talk," he said.
Webster said that even as recently a year ago, no one thought
Texas-based Clear Channel, a media conglomerate that owns 1,200 stations
-- including Twin Falls radio stations KEZJ-FM, KLIX-AM and KLIX-FM --
would ever become partners with upstart liberal talkers.
"There has been a tectonic shift in the industry from all of the big
brains and the head honchos saying, 'Nobody wants to listen to a bunch
of whiny liberals on the radio,"' Webster said.
The partnership might seem surprising because of Texas-based Clear
Channel's conservative reputation. Clear Channel CEO Lowry Mays and his
wife gave $65,000 to the Republican National Committee in the last
election cycle, and two-thirds of the company's federal donations went
to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
And last summer, a Berkeley, Calif.-based group sued Clear Channel,
which also owns an outdoor advertising business, after it refused to run
an anti-war billboard in Times Square during the Republican National
Convention.
The company also isn't seen as socially progressive. In December, Clear
Channel stations in Tampa, Jacksonville, St. Louis and Detroit awarded
breast enhancement surgeries to 13 women as part of the "Breast
Christmas Ever" contest; at the time, the company said it had no
oversight of the contests and didn't sponsor them. Clear Channel also
pulled talk show host Howard Stern off the air because of concerns over
mounting indecency fines.
The company says politics aren't involved in its decision to put liberal
talk shows on the air.
"I'm trying to identify needs in our various communities, whether it's
German industrial music or punk rock or progressive talk," said Gabe
Hobbs, vice president of news and talk programming for Clear Channel.
"That happens to be good business."
Hobbs said Clear Channel began programming offerings from Air America
Radio, which produces comedian Al Franken's three-hour talk show, and
Democracy Radio, which produces a popular show by liberal talker Ed
Schultz, because listeners were demanding an alternative to conservative
talkers like Rush Limbaugh during the 2004 election.
"The election dramatically raised everyone's interest in hearing
political talk," Hobbs said. "I think polarization is one of the facets
of any talk radio format, regardless of orientation."
Hobbs said liberal radio is actually a return to the days before
Limbaugh, when talk radio was dominated by left-leaning hosts like Alan
Colmes, who is now seen on Fox News Channel's "Hannity and Colmes."
Local station managers have the final say over the switch in
programming. At WDTW, General Manager Dave Pugh was eager to give
Detroiters a format they couldn't find anywhere else.
"We are a blue state and a blue region and it just made sense," Pugh said.
From Associated Press:
http://www.magicvalley.com/news/business/
index.asp?StoryID=7501
JPMorg
"PagCal" <pag...@runbox.com> wrote in message
news:js6dnRX3luK...@giganews.com...
Not at all surprising. Once they realized that liberals spend money too,
they bought into it. Late last Fall, a (very) conservative land developer
who owns a local station realized the profit potential: he dumped the
program schedule and picked up Air America. After a few weeks of the
all-PSA-all-the-time station breaks, he started getting major local
advertising on there. Even companies I'd only associated with conservative
talk radio started advertising. He's now adding a locally-produced liberal
breakfast show to supplement the Air America schedule.
Cheers,
Morgs
http://home.earthlink.net/~nomo1521/