air america

[Eli Polonsky]

> > From: Scott Fybush <scott@fybush.com>
> To: "Luke Steele" <earthradio@getgoin.net>,
> 	<boston-radio-interest@rolinin.BostonRadio.org>
> Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 14:50:49 -0400
> Subject: Re: air america
> 
> What stations like KCRW and WFUV and WXPN do is outstanding - 
> no argument  there. But their listenership doesn't come anywhere 
> close to what the big public radio news-talkers do. Within public 
> radio circles, it's well known that the news-talk audience gives by 
> far the most at pledge time, followed (distantly) by classical and 
> AAA audiences.

Also, it's unlikely that Boston could support a AAA Public Radio 
station like WXPN or WFUV, because in their respective cities of 
Philly and NYC, there are no commercial AAA stations. Many years 
ago, WXPN and WFUV essentially morphed their formerly eclectic 
non-commercial programming into that which is similar to AAA 
formats, and both with Class B signals, they both successfully 
filled that niche in both cities, preventing a commercial AAA from 
making a go in both those markets.

In the Boston market we have both WBOS and WXRV doing AAA, 
so there really isn't room for a non-comm to also do it. WUMB 
formats similarly to WFUV as to format elements, but niches their 
music in contemporary folk rather than trying to compete for AAA, 
which wouldn't be very viable with the commercial competion here.

Eli Polonsky