870 The Voice has flipped to ESPN

[sandyd921]

AM 870 "The Voice", Portland's Air America station, has flipped to ESPN. I listened a lot in my car. It will be a loss for me, although I also have a Sirrius satelite radio in my car (has Talk Left but not AAR).

http://ltradio.blogspot.com/2007/06/wlvpportland-flips-to-sports.html#links

[Shorebound]

1. Switch

I'm not sure I understand this. Southern Maine should have been a natural place to find an audience for Air America. From the story at the link it sounds like the station didn't know how to sell the product.

[sandyd921]

2. That's apparently been the problem

with a lot of the progressive talk stations around the country that have been flipped. The owners or people running the operations have no particular committment to the format and seem to be clueless about how to sell it. It's all about advertising profits and somehow they think they can't snag big accounts. I guess they're under the impression that liberals/progressives don't buy cars or major appliances, shop, go out to eat, garden etc., etc.

It was apparent for a long time that Nassau Broadcasting didn't have a whole lot of interest in the format in that they never developed any local programming. They tried to flip the station once before but a group of listeners organized and they relented. I'm sure there are people out there who will be POed this time. We'll see. Maine certainly does not have a surplus of outlets for progressive/fact-based broadcasting and IMHO we need it, not only in Portland but in Lewiston, Augusta, Bangor, etc.

http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/headlines04/1003-21.htm

[mainegreen]

3. The loss of Al Franken had a lot to do with it. n/t

[sandyd921]

5. Progressive talk is more than Franken

There are actually a lot of other shows, many of which have as many (or more) fans as Franken did. Personally Franken was not my favorite. I enjoyed him at times, generally when he did the show with a live audience, but at other times I found him a little too low-keyed for the medium. I (and lots of other people) love the Thom Hartmann show. Hartmann replaced Al (although Thom's show actually predated Al and AAR). He is not only brilliant, but offers tremendous insight for progressives while doing a very entertaining show. He is doing quite well in the time slot in many markets.

Besides Thom, others are fans of Rachel Maddow, Ring of Fire, Laura Flanders, etc. I stream progressive talk and enjoy listening to Stephanie Miller (the Portland station didn't have her) as well as others. On the other hand, AAR has made some big mistakes (I consider getting rid of Morning Sedition and recently Sam Seder to be among those). But nationally, along with other initiatives like Nova M radio, it has at least given progressives an initial toehold in the development of a broadcasting infrastructure, and for that reason it is something that progressives should value and nurture.

I think that the lack of progressive radio in Maine will be (is) a significant gap in our progressive media infrastructure. The Portland station was low-powered and I myself could only get it when I was in my car (and only when I was driving south of Augusta). I long for the day that there is progressive radio in Bangor, Lewiston, and Augusta, as well as in Portland. It would be tremendously helpful in the coming senatorial campaign and in other campaigns and activist efforts. I would actually like to see stations that go beyond simply playing the AAR feed, and that actually develop local or state programming. Hopefully there are others besides me out there who have a similar vision.

[mainegreen]

6. Just FYI the local college station, WMPG carries Democracy Now at noon,

and often covers the elections in great depth. 104.1 and 90.9 FM, it's a very great and liberal station for the Portland area. (Can you tell I'm a big supporter of it?)

[high density]

4. Well that's not surprising really

Their signal was horrible. 870kHz is full of noise from cable systems and etc when driving... I thought it was painful to listen to it because their transmitter is so weak.

[sandyd921]

7. Anyone who has an interest in getting progressive talk back

and maybe even getting new progressive talk stations should go to NonStop Radio. This group has been set up to provide support to people in communities that have lost their progressive talk or want to establish new stations. You can let Aldous Tyler who runs NonStop know that you are interested in helping and he will help to link you up with others.

NonStop Radio: http://www.nonstopradio.com/