Why doesn't Philadelphia have any liberal talk radio?

[Quixote1818]

That makes no sense to me. Isn't Pennsylvania a blue state? Who is preventing liberal radio from being broadcast in that city?

[bbernardini]

1. Actually, Pennsylvania is kind of purple.

The ends are blue, but the middle is pretty red. I suppose that the stations with more power reach out into the red suburbs and are trying to please that audience.

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. Station Owners.

Seems they have decided that a saturated conservative market is a moneymaker. :think:

[Hawaii Hiker]

3. Philadelphia is EXTREMELY blue

I mean, the city went for Mondale in 84, Dukakis in 88, etc. though Republicans won the state those years, the Philadelphia area is very Democratic one...


Gore & Kerry had 80% of the vote in Philadelphia county in 2000 & 2004...NO DEMOCRAT will lose Philadelphia, that is as close to a gaurantee that there is in politics, though some parts of the state are red, Philadelphia county & Allegheny County (in Pittsburgh) are very blue areas....

http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/ElectionsInformation.aspx?FunctionID=0

[SoCalDem]

4. Clear Channel, maybe? Or over-consolidation of radio stations?

It's like that here in LA too.. ONE AM station (crackly and hard to hear..pre-empted for sports, and off the air at sundown) is all we get on the regular radio..

BUT flip through the stations and you will get SEVERAL stations carrying Hannity, Rush, Ingraham, Savage, O'Reilly, etc..24-7..no static..

[bunkerbuster1]

5. Same reason Atlanta doesn't.

The answer is here:

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/06/pdf/talk_radio.pdf

[pwb]

6. liberals don't listen to A M radio.

[Giant Robot]

7. Camden sucks all the life from it?

:shrug:

[krispos42]

8. Why, because there is no market for it

You see, the 55 or so percent of this country that is progressive and are Democrats, well, they are all Amish and don't actually own radios or the internetz or anything like that.

Just ask Rush.

:sarcasm:













The reason there is no liberal radio in many blue cities is becauses liberals oppose things like giant media/corporate conglomerates. I think 90% of media outlets in this country are owned by less than a dozen corporations, maybe less than a half-dozen. If Democrats get heard, their taxes might go up, they might actually have to do real, independent news, and their media monopolies might be broken up. Therefore, media conglomorates won't support liberal radio.

Here in the Cities our local AAR affiliate is independently owned and operated, thank God. Despite Air America Minnesota doubling in ratings and the conservative FM station losing ratings, they (the conservative talk) are still on the air and on corporate welfare.

[librechik]

9. there obviously are no liberals in Philadelphia, otherwise there would be

:sarcasm:

how long do they expect us to swallow this crap?

[dancingme]

10. I can't stand Philly talk radio

I live in Philly suburbs and have a 45 minute commute to and from work. Radio is all conservative - and Smerconish claims he is not conservative but he is. It's horrible.

[RamboLiberal]

11. Pittsburgh is almost the same - we only have "The Lone Liberal"

Lynn Cullen on some little 5000 watt station - WPTT 1360 am with Thom Hartmann following Lynn. And Chris Moore gets a little 4 1/2 hour slot late Sunday afternoon on KDKA. Otherwise it's one vast Wingnut wasteland. And while Pittsburgh is probably not quite as blue as Philly, it's still mostly blue.

[deadmessengers]

12. It's very simple, actually.

Liberals are, generally speaking, less favorable to the corporate special interests than conservatives. Corporations aren't going to want to fund a talk show that opposes their interests. And, without corporate sponsorship by way of advertising, you have no revenue with which to support a talk show.

It's not about ideas, it's not about fairness, and it's not even about the political slant of station owners. Under the current licensing structure, station owners are going to use their licensed slice of the public airwaves however they want, and they're going to do it in the way that makes them the most money - and that means RW talk radio, all the time.

And THIS is why we need the Fairness Doctrine.

[KG]

13. the same reason they boo santa?

:hi:

[dancingme]

14. Go Phillies!

:hi: