The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney

06 October 2005

Misleading Franken Ad Published

COSMIC MYSTERY

'Intelligent Life' From Air America?



Proving Al Franken and Air America Radio really do believe the radio industry is full of chumps, this ad ran in Thursday's edition of Inside Radio, a trade publication faxed each morning to executives:



What's wrong with it? Aside from the obvious cracks we can make about "intelligent life" and "Air America" appearing in the same universe, let's look at the blunders individually:

---
Shown next to him is Franken's departing co-host Katherine Lanpher. She's ditching the program entirely to write a book. Ever hear of a leave of absence?

--- Without noting the show's already been cancelled there, it brags about supposed ratings growth at Providence's WHJJ-AM. As previously reported here, station management indicated to the media that Air America was a disaster in Rhode Island.

--- While the cited Cincinnati ratings growth is possible (breakdowns of this nature are proprietary information), WCKY's overall standing is nearly the same as a year ago, among all listeners 12 and older (per Radio & Records, a 1.0 audience share last year, now 1.1).

If Franken's exploding while the station is stagnant, other Air America programs heard on WCKY must be suffering terribly.

--- Radio's oldest ratings trick is employed in the Los Angeles figure, where it doesn't take much to register huge percentage gains, when starting from tiny numbers.

--- There have been two monthly ratings trend updates since the Spring 2005 Arbitron figures cited. Did things improve, or deteriorate?

Conclusion: any industry executive fooled by this ad has clearly been living in a cave for some time.


Meanwhile, check out this gem (a featured event pick-of-the-week) from the intellectually dishonest Seattle Weekly:


Dennis Kucinich: The Ohio congressman and 2004 presidential candidate discusses the effects of the Iraq war on working-class families; he's joined by Air America's Rachel Maddow and several reps from Gold Star Families for Peace. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., 253-471-1123. $15 (suggested). 7 p.m. Sun., Oct. 9.


Of course, what you'll never read about in the Seattle Weekly: the effects of Air America on inner-city families, especially those whose children are Boys & Girls Club members. Maddow has yet to address the scandal in a public forum. So much for her credibility.


We're back to regular publishing today, after a nasty Blogger outage yesterday shut it all down. Luckily, we're moving soon.


Franken Avoids by David A Lunde.

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2 Comments:

  • It's just a matter of time before advertisers start suing AAR for overstating listenership.

    By Blogger Lidsville, at 06 October, 2005 10:03  

  • They included Lanpher because they needed some sweet, swingin' librarian eye candy.

    The biggest insult here should be the headline. Surely Al Franken isn't the only intelligence to be found on radio.

    By Blogger LonewackoDotCom, at 06 October, 2005 13:42  

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