Air America, et al..

[Scott Fybush]

>Then when AA came around, they decided that they might as
>well make 1200 into the west suburban companion AA signal
>to 1430, but if they had been granted the Newton site a
>few years ago, it's perhaps possible that we might have a
>completely different type of talk station on 1200 now.

Indeed. And as I've said before here, I have doubts about the conventional 
wisdom that says liberal talk should do best in liberal markets.

I'm just back from San Francisco, which is as blue as it gets, and ABC's 
KSFO (huge signal, very right-tilting talk) and CC's KNEW (more than 
adequate signal, right-tilting talk) are still doing quite well out there, 
attracting very loyal and passionate listenership from the conservative 
minority there that feels disenfranchised by ABC's mainstream talk behemoth 
KGO and most of the rest of the political dialogue in the region.

CC's other talker, KQKE 960, with a respectable signal but no local weekday 
programming (it's the usual CC libtalk mix of AA, Schultz, etc.), has a 
much tougher fight ahead of it, what with the really lefty stuff on 
Pacifica mothership KPFA, the moderate-to-libertarian local talk lineup on 
KGO, the huge ratings KQED's NPR programming draws, and so on.

Point being, I don't expect huge numbers from "libtalk" in places like 
Boston, San Francisco or New York. I'd love to try it somewhere like Fort 
Wayne, where there's a passionate (and fairly affluent) left-leaning 
population that's distinctly in the minority but substantial enough to 
yield a few share points to whatever station can speak to them in a way 
that the existing talker (the once-great full-service WOWO) no longer does.

s