Texas station to carry Air America

[Ivan Sputnik]

A Corpus Christi station is about to switch to AAR:

"KCCT /1150-AM to adopt liberal talk show format

One week from today, KCCT/1150-AM will become the first station in Texas to stream Air America, a New York satellite network that features left-of-center perspectives from personalities such as Al Franken, Mike Malloy, Steve Earle and Janeane Garofalo."

http://www.caller.com/ccct/local_news/article/0,1641,CCCT_811_3513683,00.html

[oldleftguy]

1. Radio free Texas!

:bounce:

[CatholicEdHead]

2. Would have thought Austin

what are the demographics of the Corpus Christi area?

[freesqueeze]

5. CC Demographics

Here's some demographics for you:

http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=26309

CC is right next to South Padre, the Spring Break destination for Texas college students. Also, there is Aransas Pass, Texas' middle class vacation Mecca.

[mermaid]

6. Nahhhh...

the Media here is NOT representative of those who LIVE IN AUSTIN.

They play to the freaking Williamson County crowd, because THEY have M-O-N-E-Y.
They oughta just quit calling themselves Austin media, and start being honest, calling themselves "Williamson County" or "round Rock" or "Georgetown" or "Cedar Park."

Yeah, Austin American-Statesman, I'm talking about YOU!!
Yeah, NewsRadio 590 KLBJ-AM, I'm talking about YOU!!!

Ought to just start calling them "The Cedar Park Amurikan-StakesMAN" and LBJ would roll over in his GRAVE if he knew the crap these guys call NEWS that is being put out on a station that carries his name, and once was owned by the Johnson family.

Start calling it 590 KGWB-AM, Round Rock.

[Fed Up]

3. Is it true that many AAR stations bump Mike Malloy?

I read where Al Franken is the only host that is carried by all AAR affiliates, the rest of the hosts often get bumped for other non-AAR hosts.

Sadly, the same article said that Clear Channel bought a lot of the AAR stations.

It's disheartening to learn that so many AAR stations have very low power, especially at night. The Philadelphia station, WHAT 1340, is a real stinker. Thos stations only carry for about a 15 mile radius, if that. Meantime the right gets the big 50,000 watt blowtorches. What else is new, right?

[LTR]

4. Only a few stations carry the entire AAR lineup

WLIB in New York does, but pre-empts from midnight-6AM for their own ethnic programming. KTRC in Santa Fe, NM, WWTQ in Memphis, WWAA in Atlanta, and perhaps a few other stations carry AAR intact.

Many of the Clear Channel-owned liberal talkers carry other shows, including syndicated offerings from Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller, Lionel and others, and some offer local shows. I think this is a good move, since it allows station programmers to pick and choose from the best shows out there. AAR is not the beginning and end of liberal talk. Why shouldn't an affiliate be able to arrange the best schedule they can? And why not carry local shows?

Franken is carried on all AAR affiliates, with a few obscure exceptions (WJNO in West Palm Beach, FL carries only Randi Rhodes, one station in North Carolina carries one hour of 'Morning Sedition' and nothing else, and AAR's shows are split between two stations in Springfield, MA). AAR used to require full clearance, but backed down from that, and wisely, since it allowed them to expand and find at least partial clearance on some good signals. Malloy is carried on quite a few of them, including a few Clear Channel stations, though some CC stations (in more conservative markets like Cincinnati) carry Lionel instead. 'Unfiltered' gets the short shrift, since the 9-N shift is pretty crowded with offerings (Stephanie Miller and the soon-to-be-syndicated Jerry Springer). It airs on the fewest number of affiliates.

As for the strength of the stations, it's an FCC thing. For the most part, the big signals are often doing well in the ratings, and won't switch (i.e. WABC). That often leaves the weaker 1000 watt stations or the daytime-only stations (like Ann Arbor, MI). Obviously, they were desperate enough to flip to liberal talk first, so they took the plunge. Keep in mind, Rush Limbaugh started out his syndicated show on weak stations before moving up to the bigger signals. It took a lot of time to accomplish this, and moved even slower than liberal talk. Now there's no escaping the fat bastard.

Give it time, and you may see liberal talk shifting to some better signals. There are already a few big signals carrying liberal talk, including 1530 in Cincinnati, 940 in Miami, and a few others.