Atlanta, Air America Radio, Al Franken

ADIOS, ATLANTA

Air America Loses Major Market, Franken Remains





As we first reported in March, Air America Radio is kissing Atlanta goodbye.

With the exception of Al Franken, the liberal radio network's talkers will soon be without a home in the area, after a new owner took control of WWAA-AM. Plans for the outlet were announced today.

While running Air America programming, the station was perpetually stuck at the bottom of the ratings cellar. So far, an attempt to find a new home for the network has failed.

Now under the control of area businessman Joe Weber, WWAA will run his unusual music mix, in addition to Franken, according to the Atlanta Journal- Constitution's Rodney Ho.


In an interview with former AAR executive Jon Sinton, Ho is fed a record- setting amount of corporate manure (thanks to Pat Riotic for the tip):

Joe Weber, who recently purchased WWAA-AM/1690, will be migrating his eclectic music format (everything from Pavoratti to Springsteen, Beethoven to Aretha) from 1160 starting Monday June 12. 1690 has run liberal talk show syndicate Air America the past couple of years. Weber is planning to keep only Al Franken from noon to 3 p.m.

He says his focus is on mornings and drivetime and by keeping Franken, he hopes to grab a few of those Air America fans. This does mean no more access to Rachel Maddow, Janeane Garafalo, Jerry Springer and Randi Rhodes unless you have XM Satellite radio or you can listen online. 1160, which Weber also owns, will simulcast until he creates a new format there. He wouldn’t say what he’s going to put there.

Jon Sinton, Atlanta-based president of Air America, said he’s seeking a replacement station in the area but doesn’t have a deal set with anybody yet.

In 2004, a group of liberal investors created Air America as a counterpoint to the conservative talk show hosts that dominate the airwaves such as Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham. Besides well-known non-radio types such as Franken and actressa and comic Garafalo, Air America included acerbic Randi Rhodes and former WSB-AM talker Mike Malloy, an Atlantan who is heard at nights.

The network struggled through financial and management problems in its first year and is not yet consistently cashflow positive, Sinton said. “Having started a bunch of radio stations, I know you need at least 36 months to build a business,” he noted.

Nationally, Air America is now up to about 88 affiliates, reaching two-thirds of the American population, up from 48 percent a year ago. It draws more than 3 million listeners a week. Among its strongest cities include Portland, Miami, Boston, Los Angeles and Denver where major radio companies such as Clear Channel, Entercom and CBS are able to promote the network, Sinton said.

WWAA-AM ranked 28th in the most recent spring Arbitron book, tied with conservative talk station 920/WGKA-AM, but Sinton noted that the average Air America’s listener spends far more time with the station than typical radio listeners.

For the record:

Jon Sinton is a former Air America executive who now works as a consultant for the firm. He is not the current company president.

Air America's previous corporate parent was created in 2003, making the outfit about three years old. Sinton's "36 months" are just about up, yet things are getting worse, not better.

Here's a funny line: "...is not yet consistently cashflow positive..." Let's see a single month that came anywhere near "cashflow positive"!

We've already debunked the "88 affiliates" nonsense, placing a true figure in the low seventies.

Of the cities listed, only Portland is a source of bragging rights for Air America. Boston's a particularly bad example: it generally hovers at or near last place there.

Sinton excuses the bad ratings this way: "...but Sinton noted that the average Air America’s listener spends far more time with the station than typical radio listeners."

If it had a high rate of Time Spent Listening (TSL), however, that would bump up WWAA's overall ranking, as TSL is a component of ratings statistics.

Ouch!

ALSO: At Newsbusters, 15 seconds of Al Franken.

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Road signs: David A Lunde for the Radio Equalizer