Can a Lefty Get A Radio Signal?

So I'm bicycling around town the other day, listening to the local lefty radio station, and I pedal out from under the signal. One minute Thom Hartmann is there. The next minute he's gone, disappeared into a sea of static.

I own light bulbs with more wattage than that station.

It would be understandable, I guess, had I been biking through the bucolic tranquility of the Republican suburbs with their perfect cul de sacs and perfect people. But no. I was biking through the heart of the inner city, through a neighborhood zoned for light industry and single- and multi-family housing. Median family income: jack-squat.

If anyone needed to hear what Hartmann had to say, it was the folks in this neighborhood. But the best the FCC could do for liberal radio was this gerbil-on-a-wheel-powered signal coming in like Cold War era Radio Free Europe somewhere east of Moscow on a stormy night.

Meanwhile, up the dial, the right wing AM station comes in loud and clear. It's a small, privately-held corporate station, with a middle-of-the-road musical format FM station and the local ABC TV outlet under the same owership. The FCC license has been in the same family for three generations, and, until the end of the Fairness Doctrine, the AM station lurched along, playing second banana to one of those huge, 50,000 watt clear channel (as opposed to Clear Channel) stations.

But with the end of the Fairness Doctrine, the second generation rich guy owner veered right with a vengeance, airing Rush Limbaugh back when Rush used vacuum cleaner sound effects whenever he mentioned abortion, and flanking him with smooth-talking local righties. The white male audience was pretty much his, until sports talk radio came to town and Rush left for a local FM station.

You can tell a lot about a radio station by cataloging who advertises on it. The AM talkers in this market, both left and right, seem to be hamstrung in this department.

There are handfuls of loyal sponsors who either believe in the formats or actually want to reach the particular station's demographics. Then there are national direct response advertisers who formulaically buy unsold commercial time at a deep, deep discount. Any leftover unsold commercial time -- and there's plenty of it in this market (although that will change with the upcoming election cycle) -- is devoted to public service announcements.

So it's the left's underpowered, static-riddled David versus the right's clear-voiced Goliath in a battle that will never make big money for station owners. The real ad revenues are in the "offend no one" middle. This left-right talk is either a labor of hate or a labor of love.

I just wish the local lefty station could turn up the juice. Hey, FCC -- what's it take for a lefty to get a radio signal around here?

Comments

[cowboyjerkface]

I think the biggest reason right wing radio sells and left doesnt is that liberals have a far greater variety of things to do with their time as opposed to conservatives....just as the words suggest. I do not have time to listen to the radio and as sorry as I might be for that there are better things to do than listen to the on my free time.

[Pennies]

The Twin Cities Air America station squandered a great opportunity when their ratings spiked at 1.7 a year ago. They were actually beating the Patriot. Now they are down to .7 and ahead of one station (out of 25). They've come a long way from when they started but totally mismanaged mainly due to ego and inexperience.

[1will]

If anyone really wanted to hear the Lefty, Liberal, Progressive (or whatever title you're running from this week) drivel there would be stations supporting your views. That's the free market. There is no shortage of TV shows, websites and newspapers putting out your viewpoint so someone must want it in those formats. There evidently is little demand for those views on the radio.
Why is Air America, the Liberal flagship station, constantly in and out of bankruptcy? If wealthy libs didn't constantly bail them out they would be history.

[raker]

You're lucky to have any station at all. Boston lost Air America months ago. And XM's no alternative because they run Ed Schultz instead of Hartmann. A royal screw job.

[visadeclined]

Are we allowed to say that Air America is boring?

[jeaton]

You're absolutely correct, visa, AA is (mostly) boring. That's because it's the stock format of single hosts in 4 hour blocks with guests or listeners on the phone. Some of the original AA shows were interesting (Seder/Garafalo, Chuck D). Franken set the bar for boring. Hartmann is the smartest guy on radio, Maddow is the smartest gal, Schulz is Rush for the left, Randi wears thin after 10 minutes. AA is following the wrong model. Left wing radio needs to reinvent radio!

[1will]

For now.

[chinohillster]

Totally, totally DISAGREE...KPFK 90.7 FM, Lost Angeles, has the MOST POWERFUL TRANSMITTER WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI - KPFK's signal can be heard from SANTA BARBARA to SAN DIEGO - it's not due to TECHNICAL concerns that this PACIFICA station is MARGINALIZED, it's due to the entire WRONG-HEADEDNESS of PACIFICA!!!!

They preach to the choir (liberal, progressive urbanites) instead of GOING AFTER the people in ORANGE COUNTY and the INLAND EMPIRE who listen to CLEAR CHANNEL and VOTE REPUBLICAN! People who should be told WHY they have to live 50+ miles from where they work to be able to afford housing, why the freeways are so crowded and there's no decent public transportation, why their mortgages are stacked against them, how the Republicans are taking them to the cleaners by making the Mexicans their enemies and the big, evil boogeyman instead of the corporate leaders who earn _hundreds_ more than they do.

And so on, and so on.

When Air America and Pacifica realize they MUST APPEAL to the Clear Channel crowd, instead of writing them off - then the left side of the dial will be effective!

[DrVeruju]

Write the advertisers that you heard their ad on the Tom Hartmann show (even if you didn't) and went out shopping for their product.

[progres12]

Where, indeed, are all the "lefty" or progressive radio stations and personalities? I just drove across the US, over 6,000 miles, and as an avid AM/FM radio talk show scanner all I could find on these trips through the heartland were rabid right wing talk shows, religious right wing talk and praise shows, and country music stations (whose editorial content is usually right wing.) NPR as lefty? Give me a break! (my only John Stosselism for this post, honest) NPR is not "lefty", but it does provide the longest and most reasonable interviews and news debate shows of any radio station out there. Maybe THAT is the threat to all the right wingers who criticize it. One actually had to think. Instead, driving across America, I get my choice of Limbaugh, O'Reilly, the two dreadful Lauras, the seven-deadly-signs-of-evil religious shows, and a host of other right wing personalities. Where are all the thoughtful progressive radio personalities? You can point to the Internet, but let me tell you, millions of average Americans still get their news and views from radio, and they are treated daily to right wing views, and yes, outright lies.

[realitytrumpsbull]

Left, right, left, right, it's like Pvt. Coulter's first day in basic training(she'll
join the army right after the Rapture, there),
what I wish I could hear on the radio would be
some people that are DISaffiliated from the
major parties that actually maybe(I know this
is a long shot, here) had something INTELLIGENT
to say that's worth MY time, nevermind the airtime. Pandering would-be purveyors of the
magical Government Doughnuts but primarily
provide an advertising bed with their
propaganda, unfortunately both the AM and FM
bands have just about become wastelands, which
is why so many people have put MP3 players in
their cars so they don't have to listen to
the FOX version of Hitler's beer hall speech
anymore. And, that's being nice.

[TIME]

If one corporation owns to many licenses in a given area, it can black out voices it disagrees with, in that area they control.

With the polls telling us that the President and the Congress are disliked by 80% of the public; one has to wonder who is still listening (with enough audience to make a profit) to Rush, Michael Medved, Savage, Prager, etc....Do people listen to those they claim to disagree with?

Why is NPR labeled as lefty? Just because it allows a variety of different kind of voices?

If you surf the internet, on air stations, or blogs, the lefty material you will find, doesn't sound like what you will hear on NPR.

[AlwaysAmused]

HMM WHy should the FCC "provide" any station at all? NPR already provides a "lefty" perspective for free, the "Right wing" stations on the other hand can afford more pwerful transmitters because they have the audience.

If hartmann can't compete with rush in the marketplace why should the FCC intervene?

Air America had plenty of "wattage" yet no one listened. WHy should the FCC protect a company from competition?

[progressivegreg]

Always, I have to agree with your free market approach, however I respectfully disagree with your "lefty" label on NPR. It's thoughtful and requres thinking, unlike oreilly and rush blowhard so while it's not progressive it is for thinking people who like to hear both sides on issues.

[AlwaysAmused]

I disagree.

[Memphian]

The Air America station in Memphis went under about a month ago. Actually it changed formats to Fox Sports Radio. I have a friend who works at the station and she said when broadcasting AA they had hundreds of open ad spots each week. They just couldn't afford to stay open with that format.

[RDixon]

It doesn't take massive amounts of power to push a radio signal a long ways.

Until recently when I got DSL, I used a satellite connection for internet access.

The transmitter during normal conditions ran @ 1 watt and had no problems pushing the signal 23 thousand miles up to the satellite.
The frequency of the signal was 30 gigahertz.

I can generate more power than that by wearing wool socks and shuffling my feet across the carpet on a dry day.

Maybe it isn't the station that needs more power, but your receiver that needs more sensitivity or perhaps a bigger antenna?

[DrVeruju]

"Ground waves" that local AM stations depend upon get absorbed very quickly.

[Peabodies]

We have to win elections in order to change the FCC commissioners, and regain fair allocation of our PUBLICLY-OWNED airwaves. What's available on the dial in most areas of the country is, quoting Marshal McLuhan, a "vast wasteland".

[progressivegreg]

We progrssives (lefty's) have to let the advertisers on these little coffe pots know that we are supporting them because they're supporting our cause! Thom Hartmann constantly tells stations how to promote and SELL progressive radio. The local AM that carries Thom, precedes him with (are you ready?) Glen Beck! I cannot imagine that a Beck listener will stay tuned for progressive talk (and thought unfortunately) I assume the numbers for Thom Hartman here in Grand Rapids, Mi. will allow them to justify dropping progressive talk, the company that owns WTKG also carries Rush (phony soldiers) limpbaugh on their 20,000 watt radio station ugh! Kudos to Air America though, they offer a great internet stream and offer all three hours. WTKG, carries the first two and then switches to Dave somebody a christian financial anylist. Of course this is west Mi. home of Pete Hoekstra and Vern Ehlers a couple of neocons who don't even have to campaign to win every election for the house!!