A Good Year for the Outlaw

A recent discussion at The Blogfather’s Site  centered on an idiotic plan by some Democrats to invoke the “Fairness Doctrine” in an effort to stifle guys like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Air America, the failed, for all intents and purposes, left leaning radio network, was mentioned in the discussion.

As a guy who’s been in and around radio for almost 30 years now, this is my take on why Air America is not cutting a wide swath of success

The problem is plain and simply the size and scope of the attempt. Air America tried to start, from scratch, a network with all-day programming. They didn’t have a proven track record, they didn’t have a money making leader, they just went whole hog from the get-go. Can’t do it.

Most broadcasting companies that carry some form of talk programming pick and choose shows, deal with several “networks” and syndicators, and have folders full of contracts from all of these people as they piece together their radio station. It is virtually unheard of for a talk station to just take 24 hours of one network and throw it on. So it was a doomed effort from the start, in my opinion. Do I think it was viable and a voice for the left was needed? Absolutely.

But it was just too bold. The folks behind Air America should have started by creating one solid show, and then worked the phones like madmen to get stations to pick it up. That’s what Limbaugh and his people did in 1987. His people sold one show. The radio stations that picked it up then decided whether it was live or delayed. Same thing with Beck. Same thing with Hannity. Same thing with most all of the talk shows available today. They have a syndicator (most of these syndicators now represent several shows) and where one station may run, say Limbaugh, Hannity, and Michael Reagan, another may run Limbaugh, O’Rielly, and Beck.

The stations that concern me are the ones that run that absolutey dangerous, scary moron Michael Savage, but that’s another story. 

Another area I disagree with was Air America’s plan was the “star” status. Al Franken? Good choice. Al is smart, he’s funny, he gets under people’s skin (the left’s version of Limbaugh, BTW, who I think can be very funny when he wants to be). But Garafolo? A reach. And a bad one at that.

But, back to the main point. They should have started with one show. Franken, Michael Moore, even Olbermann, whoever, and then they should have built on that show. By trying to sell an entire network, they were asking stations to drop everything they already had on air, PLUS they were limiting the affiliates options on when to carry the shows.

If they would have had the one show, my guess is they could have sold it to three times as many affiliates. It may have aired live in some cities, it may have been delayed in others. But they took that choice away. So, now you’ve got the one show, it’s doing well in several markets. THEN you build and add a second show.

They tried to make a huge footprint in the sand, when all they needed to do was get one toe toeprint first.

Sure, many stations are owned by people that wouldn’t waver from their all-right wing, all-the-time ways. But savvy owners and GM’s would’ve taken a Franken show, for instance, and slotted it right between Limbaugh and Hannity, and created a buzz among their own audience in their own city. And those stations would have benefitted financially, which would in turn lead other GM’s in other cities to take notice and do the same. The exceedingly large companies, like Clear Channel, would have stuck the show in a few test markets to see how it sold, and if it did well, they’d have mandated other markets clearing the show. That’s the way it works. An aside: Clear Channel owns (or owned, I’m not sure if they still do) two AM talk stations in Fargo, and had right wing talk on one, and Air America on the other. Then, they promoted them against each other. That’s how to make it work for you.

Air America was a good idea, but suffered from a poorly executed plan, and they tried to “win the race on the first lap”. It can’t be done.

That’s my take.