Posted on 01/12/2005 1:09:21 PM PST by rface
Ushered out the door will be the Rush Limbaugh Show, Bill O'Reilly's Radio Factor, the Howie Carr Show, the Clark Howard Show and the Lars Larson Show.....In their places will be the Al Franken Show, the Ed Schultz Show, Unfiltered News with Rachel Maddow, the Majority Report with Janeane Garafalo and Sam Seider and the Randi Rhodes Show. Alan Colmes will round out the new lineup.
BRATTLEBORO -- After years of airing conservative radio talk shows, program directors at a local AM station have decided to spin the dial towards the left. Starting next week, listeners tuning into WKVT-AM 1490 will hear an all-new lineup of daytime programming taken from Air America Radio, a progressive talk network.
"This is basically going exactly from the right to the left," said Peter Case, the station's program director.
Ushered out the door will be the Rush Limbaugh Show, Bill O'Reilly's Radio Factor, the Howie Carr Show, the Clark Howard Show and the Lars Larson Show.
"We're in a liberal area and here you've got all these right wingers on the air," Case said about the shakeup. "It was just something we felt needed to be done."
In their places will be the Al Franken Show, the Ed Schultz Show, Unfiltered News with Rachel Maddow, the Majority Report with Janeane Garafalo and Sam Seider and the Randi Rhodes Show. Alan Colmes will round out the new lineup with a news-based program, Case said.
With the exception of Colmes, all of the new shows come from Air America, which was launched in March 2003 as an alternative to conservative dominated AM talk radio.
In two years, Air America has incorporated 41 affiliates across the nation and two satellite radio stations. In the Northeast, the network broadcasts on nine stations, including WTWK-AM in St. Albans.
Case said the idea to bring on a lineup of shows from the network was being considered by the station late last year.
Ironically, on the morning that station officials were mulling the switch, he received an e-mail from Christian Arvard, a graduate student at the School for International Training, who put in a request for the Air America programs.
"I just thought given the environment here in Brattleboro, that this is something that people would want to listen too," Arvard said.
Arvard then contacted several local activist groups about the programming, urging them to write similar requests to the station to balance out the conservative viewpoints.
"In the e-mail, I said we had abandoned the airwaves to the right and now let's take it back."
A short time later, Case said he received a veritable barrage of e-mails and phone calls requesting Air America, prompting the change in programming sooner than originally anticipated.
"Since we made the announcement, we've received probably 120 e-mails thanking us for making the switch," he said.
WKVT is owned by Michigan-based Saga Communications, Inc., according to their Web site. In total, the company holds broadcast properties in 24 states, including 53 FM and 26 AM radio stations, three state radio networks, two farm radio networks, five television stations and three low power television stations.
Case said the 1,000-watt WKVT has about a 15-mile broadcast radius in the daytime, covering from Bernardston, Mass. to the south, and Chesterfield, N.H., to east, over to Wilmington in the west and Putney to the north.
Case is optimistic about the change, which he feels will better suit the station's audience, but knows some people will be disappointed by the change.
"We'll lose a few listeners, but in the end, we hope to gain a few," he said.
Much of Vermont is blue. The only thing I'm surprised at is it took them so long to turn back the dial.
What perfect liberal timing, just as the New YTork City flagship station for Air America loses 15% of its already small audience and crashes to the number 24 rank among NYC stations (slightly better than the all-polka station).
Dollars to donuts says another, better coverage station picked them up ... what are the chances?
This may as well be that radio station's obituary. Death by suicide.
I predict already that ratings will fall off. The station manager should be fired today.
Hilarious! The Battleboro Reformer: Where the News is....the News!
Keep an eye on the ratings and watch them crash!
Some line from Napoleon about "never stopping your enemy when he is making a mistake.";>)
They must feel guilty about having high ratings and want to change that.
And this is in Vermont? I'm surprised!
They can't afford El Rushbo. Simple as that.
Airhead America picks up a market and it's breaking news. What does that tell you?
FOR OCT-DEC, JUST RELEASED ARBITRONS NY CITY... RUSH LIMBAUGH PULLS 6.2 SHARE AT NOON, 6.3 AT 1 PM ON WABC WITH ALL LISTENERS AGES 12+... 2 PM HOUR DIRECT RADIO MATCHUP.... LIMBAUGH 5.3 SHARE, BILL O'REILLY 2.0 SHARE ON WOR, AL FRANKEN 1.8 SHARE ON 'AIR AMERICA'... MORE
Guess LIEberals dont make good business people.
One would think a better study of the local market would have been undertaken, rather than the whimsical "I just thought" of a radio employee. I wonder how many of the e-mails received were from local folks, and not spammed in from out of town DUmmies. Whatever.
The Brat Reformer makes Air America seem like part of the VRWC. In fact Marx himself would cringe.
Does anyone have the complete numbers for NYC in Arbitron showing the drop (not just the drudge tease)?
I'm not surprised. From what I've heard of Franken, which admittedly isn't much, the guy has no chops.
I think the ratings reflect that as people realize he has little more than "Bush lied" and "Halliburton=bad", they move on. The novelty value expires quickly.
I'm sure there's a 50,000 watt powerhouse in Boston that penetrates that area.
who would have thought that this was already posted!
Vermont? We're talking about an AM Station in Vermont???
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I predict the current population of "listeners" will be tuning the dial elsewhere. The "new" lefty listeners will only appear if the station management has done an effective job of marketing to let the lefties know where to find the new leftist programming on the radio dial. That assumes that they would be interested to switching their current radio preferences.
Well, I hope it persuades the Republican Party to write off the Northeast and concentrate in winning over the Middle West. Let Vermont be the Mississippi of the 21st Century.
Didnt know Rush was on in Vermont. Well all 27 people who listen to that station must be happy.
Janeane Garafalo. I`m still trying to find out why this idiot has even one ounce of credibility in anything even remotely connected to the media, never mind a media involved in politics. Al Franken, OK, he`s a clown from SNL, but what is this Garafolo deal? Is this just some skank they picked out of a crowd at some cheesy mall?
Doesn't WKVT carry the news about the CBS fiasco? If they do, they deserve what they get. Lower revenues from advertising and lower listener base. They must still be suffering from Kerry loser syndrome.
I have satellite radio and have tuned into Err Amerika. Before the election, every show was about how bad Bush is. Now that the election is over, the morning guys sound like a FM morning show (really stupid stuff) with the occasional "Bush is bad, ok" reference. Extremely unentertaining. Fortunately, the commercial breaks on Fox news are short so I tune there relatively quickly.
To carry any show from Air America, you have to contractually agree to have their entire 24 hr line up. Its all or nothing with Air America.
bttt
Agreed!
Is AA still paying to have their show broadcast ?
The chances are excellent. If I owned a rival station in the area I would jump at the opportunity.
Wonder how long they'll stay in business.....
Anybody else wonder what the hell "International Training" is?
http://www.sit.edu
Their student example had a "5 year plan". They offer Masters degrees in "Conflict Transformation" and "Social Justice in Intercultural Relations" among other things, such as Education and Sustainable Development.
I'd be willing to bet that people in that area who want to hear Rush and the others were listening to some 50,000-watt station not this 1000 watt hobby station. Brodacasting the lefties just might improve their ratings --- for a few weeks, but probably cause a lot of their current advertisers to walk.
1000 Watts....This must be a Campus radio station for the local Jr. College.
I don't know the Brattleboro area, but I wouldn't think conservative talk shows would do well in Vermont. Liberals think that Rush is the devil, and they wouldn't want their friends to catch them listening to him.
It remains to be seen whether Air America will do well. Some of my Vermont friends seem to be willing to put up with some pretty bad drivel, but I shouldn't think all Air America all the time would keep even the most extreme leftist listening for long. Boring.
- - - - - - - - - -
Wed Jan 12 16:31:41 2005 Eastern time
| Search radius: | 30.00 km |
| Center lat / lon: | N 42 50 51.00 W 72 34 56.00 |
| Lower Frequency | 530 |
| Upper Frequency | 1700 |
WZBK AM 1220 kHz ND1 Nighttime D B PLAN KEENE NH US PLAN -- 0.146 kW 57227 24.86 km 15.45 mi 68.10° SAGA COMMUNICATIONS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, LLC WZBK AM 1220 kHz NDD Daytime D B LIC KEENE NH US BL -- 1.0 kW 57227 24.86 km 15.45 mi 68.10° SAGA COMMUNICATIONS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, LLC WZBK AM 1220 kHz ND2 Daytime D B APP KEENE NH US BP -20041101AEM 1.0 kW 57227 24.77 km 15.39 mi 68.02° SAGA COMMUNICATIONS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, LLC WZBK AM 1220 kHz ND2 Nighttime D B APP KEENE NH US BP -20041101AEM 0.146 kW 57227 24.77 km 15.39 mi 68.02° SAGA COMMUNICATIONS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, LLC WHMQ AM 1240 kHz ND2 Daytime C C LIC GREENFIELD MA US BML -20031112AJB 1.0 kW 25834 28.90 km 17.96 mi 185.87° SAGA COMMUNICATIONS OF NEW ENGLAND, LLC WHMQ AM 1240 kHz ND2 Nighttime C C LIC GREENFIELD MA US BML -20031112AJB 1.0 kW 25834 28.90 km 17.96 mi 185.87° SAGA COMMUNICATIONS OF NEW ENGLAND, LLC WKBK AM 1290 kHz DA2 Daytime B B LIC KEENE NH US BL -20000810ABY 5.0 kW 36833 24.80 km 15.41 mi 63.67° SAGA COMMUNICATIONS OF NEW ENGLAND, LLC WKBK AM 1290 kHz DA2 Nighttime B B LIC KEENE NH US BL -20000810ABY 5.0 kW 36833 24.80 km 15.41 mi 63.67° SAGA COMMUNICATIONS OF NEW ENGLAND, LLC WTIJ AM 1400 kHz ND1 Unlimited C C APP ROXBURY NH US BMP -19950627AD 0.63 kW 26351 29.11 km 18.09 mi 68.48° HARVEST BROADCASTING WTSA AM 1450 kHz ND1 Unlimited C C LIC BRATTLEBORO VT US BL -- 1.0 kW 67763 3.13 km 1.94 mi 35.90° TRI-STATE BROADCASTERS, INC. WKVT AM 1490 kHz ND1 Unlimited C C LIC BRATTLEBORO VT US BL -- 1.0 kW 57781 0.00 km 0.00 mi 0.00° SAGA COMMUNICATIONS OF NEW ENGLAND, LLC WIZZ AM 1520 kHz DAD Daytime D B LIC GREENFIELD MA US BL -19800819AB 10.0 kW 54779 27.21 km 16.91 mi 184.07° P. & M. RADIO, LLC *** 12 AM Records within 30.00 km distance of 42° 50' 51.00" N, 72° 34' 56.00" W ***
Why do we even have a Vermont, or Massachusetts, or Maine? There should be a way to evict these pitiful blue pits so they can be free to adopt any perversions their hearts desire without disgusting the rest of us.
He may very well be talking about turnover of their ENTIRE listenership.
At any rate, I wonder if this is one of those stations that doesn't sell any advertising to speak of. We've got one here in IA. 50,000 watts, clear-channel, locally-owned, and they run it like a hobby. Tony Snow, Rush, Hannity, Bruce Williams, and practically no local ads, ever. Just network ads and PSAs. Go figure.
I know...it's so obscure!
What a dreadful lineup! I don't think I could bear listening to that station.
...assuming the station has advertisers. Check out my #46.
Maybe it's not a business, and just someone's expensive hobby.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.