Chapter 7: Air America demise leaves WVAX in lurch
Air America, launched by the likes of former funnyman Al Franken, was supposed to be a progressive counterpoint to conservative talkmeisters like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Instead, the radio network abruptly pulled the plug January 21, leaving a lot of dead air including a big weekend hole at Charlottesville station 1450 WVAX.
"Our weekday line-up–- Monday through Friday 6am to 1am–- is not going to be affected at all," says WVAX boss Jim Principi, "with the exception of 9pm to 10pm, Hollywood Clout."
Principi, the general manager of the Charlottesville Radio Group, which also includes WINA, 106.1 The Corner, Z95.1, and 3WV, says the hole can be plugged with an additional hour of progressive talker Ed Schultz.
"What's primarily affected is our weekend line-up," concedes Principi. Charlottesville listeners are losing The Lionel Show, Montel Across America, and the program from a conservative president's none-too-conservative son, the Ron Reagan Show.
"We're looking at options," says Principi. "We've got a slew of things that we have at our disposal. We need to check clearance and technical capability." By Monday, he says, he'll have a better idea.
Air America launched in 2004 with Franken, now the U.S. senator from Minnesota, to carry liberal voices across the land. In a statement on its website, the company says it will pursue Chapter 7 bankruptcy and blames the economy, crushing debt, and "audience fragmentation as a result of new media technologies."
Yet those factors haven't slowed Limbaugh, Beck, or locally, conservative host Rob Schilling.
Could the election of Barack Obama have been a factor in Air America's demise? "In the talk radio game," says the New York Daily News' David Hinckley, "it's bad when your guy wins."
16 comments
Talk radio is an inherently repetitious medium. That's why sports talk and conservative pundits do well.
"Money talks and BS walks............." Even George Soros doesn't want to save this one- he is a businessman and would be in it for the money for sure- and he knows a losing business opportunity for sure.
That is change I can believe in.
I've never listened because the station is too weak, and AM is too prone to interference.
Liberals don't need talk radio to formulate cogent, intelligent arguments. Ditto-heads, on the other hand, are lost without the regurgitated talking points fed to them by their opinion-leaders - hence the success of conservative talk radio.
Sad thing is that Republicans just do talk radio better than Dem's and that's for a whole lot of different reasons- very little of those reasons having to do with politics.
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha- GASP ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha--ha-ha-ha- Whew! Boy that was funny!
Wipes tear from eye...
WBF,
If you're such a great thinker, how come you're slightly modifying arguments already made above?
Crap, meant "reasonably discuss this."
Jim,
Although I generally agree with Oxi-Rush, I added additional insight.
I know. Reading comprehension is not your forte.
Thanks Chicago Boy! Your barb single-handedly disproves Tom's argument that liberals are the ones with "no ideas to talk about," and "no ability to actually discuss the many facets of an issue." Congratulations!
I suppose Tom was correct in one of his assessments - that liberals typically don't have a taste for "angry, hate-filled speech, without any real content." No argument here! Though the ditto-heads I know eat that stuff up!
By the way, we're still waiting for you to make your first "sentient point."
If Hinckley were right, talk radio would have died from 2000-2008! What a bunch of crap. Progressive ("Liberal") radio didn't work, because they have no ideas to talk about, no ability to actually discuss the many facets of an issue. It's even boring for liberals to hear nothing but angry, hate-filled speech, without any real content. No audience=no advertisers=no network; that's the beauty of capitalism. Don't know who Mike Stark will be able to listen to.
Typical progressive, don't make any sentient points, just say I'm too smart to listen to you and you're not smart because I say so.
Did Oxi-Rush lose his job at Air America or did he just lose his buzz in Massachusetts? Both? Too bad.
How about a sports station that actually PLAYS sports? We have two stations that TALK about sports; but don't carry actual games! WINA carries all of the UVA sports but no one carries NFL, baseball, etc. I know for a fact those games are available for barter (run the network spots for free and no fees - so don't say rights fees is the reason). The daytime station in Earlysville carries some daytime baseball games if you happen to be one of the 12 people who live in Earlysville. But wouldn't it be nice to have a local station carry baseball all through the spring and summer; even at night? No one's even carrying the SUPER BOWL for gosh sakes!
It's like a guy that brags about how good a lover he is, but doesn't actually know any girls.
WBF,
Unless you're ready to take this off the internet and out to a bar (first one's on me, you like scotch?) I'm done. There simply isn't the space on the comment page of a news story to reasonably discuss you. We can even figure out whether my refusal to further engage you on the internet makes me the smartest internet commenter ever, or the most gigantous internet wuss ever lol.
Oh, on topic: 1450 probably can survive in this town without Air America. Air America probably wasn't going to survive in this country without many more Charlottesvilles.