credit where credit is due

[Donna Halper]

Since several nice folks on this board are always quick to write how 
Air America is a failure, may I point you to the Springfield MA 
book?  My theory has always been that niche formats succeed in 
certain markets.  WHMP (Northampton/Springfield) dumped nearly all of 
its right-wing talkers over the past year and moved to a combination 
of AAR and Jones (Thom Hartmann, Stephanie Miller, etc).  I notice 
their numbers have gone from a .08 to a 1.6  ... Okay fine, it's not 
top 5, but in a market dominated by 5 colleges, I think they made the 
right move and it seems to be paying off-- they run a lot of local 
features, lots of local news, and progressive talk, and every time I 
listen to them, they are nearly sold out.