| The drugster. Image from source, LA Times. |
KTLK-AM out of Las Angeles has been my primary home. From that station, I can listen to The Stephanie Miller Show (highly rated in LA, by the way), and The Randi Rhodes Show. The rest of my listening day is really just filler, since I don't much care for Ed Schultz, and since The Thom Hartmann Program is on at the same time as Randi. But now that's going to change.
For some reason, KTLK is being changed to a conservative station, in liberal Los Angeles, California, which already has talk radio on KABC, KFI, KBRT (Christian talk), KOSS, and KRLA. KFI (which currently airs Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity) will change to all local talk. This leaves my programming up in the air again. Allegedly, this is to somehow boost KTLK's ratings, when in fact it will lose its entire current audience, and apparently absorb most of KFI's. Since both radio stations are owned by Clear Channel, I'm not sure I understand what they're doing, besides killing two stations and alienating their audiences.
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| Stephanie Miller is much more entertaining than a drug-addled gas bag. |
I know that radio is a fickle business, and that KTLK has managed to stay in one format for quite a while, despite shake-ups with Air America, Nova-M, shuffling lineups caused by time-slot changes, and other issues. And I also know that every station, pretty much, has an audience that feels alienated by every format change. I think this move is for the sake of movement though. KFI is already owned by Clear Channel, and already runs the shows that are shifting to KTLK. How can bumping both sets of audiences, and then paying a whole new roster of local hosts be more cost effective and profitable?
I will be sniffing the air for whatever station picks up Stephanie Miller and Randi Rhodes. If the LA market doesn't offer a suitable alternative, I'll take my listening ears elsewhere. And you know what? If that station offers something better than LA has on from 9-noon and after 3, I might just stick around for that too. And I really hope it's not Clear Channel.
[Excerpt]
Clear Channel moving Rush Limbaugh from KFI to revamped KTLK
Rush Limbaugh's radio tirades will have a new home on Los Angeles airwaves next year. KFI-AM (640) is losing the conservative host's three-hour show, long a fixture on the station, to KTLK-AM (1150), which owner Clear Channel is hoping to pump up as an outlet exclusively dedicated to right-leaning chatter. . .
Read more at: Los Angeles Times
I can't stand Rush Limbaugh or his cohorts...This is depressing. I would love to know where to find a Progressive station in LA Orange County area...there are none....NOW
ReplyDeleteI cannot fathom the change, I first read about this on talkers.com. I know Randi got a reprive from clear channel, I am glad but I would like to know the real reason for that whole ting. Thom Hartman must know something about the hidden gears because he has been making adjustments for some time. To bad the fair and balance federal laws were taken down by the Clinton administrration de-regulated radio and tv. What we need is a progrssive collective. A radio empire owned by our community. Rush what a pile.
ReplyDeleteAren't you aware that Air America, Franken, Bill Press, Steph Miller were the progressive collective. It never went anywhere because people are tired of hearing it. I tried listening but I couldn't stand all the non-info. All they have to offer is bad mouthing the right and agreeing with the present Administration. As far as fair and balance is concerned, it is. You don't have to listen you can always change stations to find one that appeals to your logic and reasoning. It's called 'free will'.....no one forces you to listen. If you don't like it, change stations or go make a pie.
DeleteBill Press and Stephanie Miller were never on Air America. It never went anywhere because it has never been given a fighting chance. AA was started by a conservative who didn't know the radio business, who knows, maybe to "prove" that it couldn't work.
DeleteAs for "All they have to offer is bad mouthing the right and agreeing with the present Administration." Well, that is EXACTLY what right-wing radio does in reverse. I disagree that it's a straight analogy, though.
The point is, conservative talk radio is 90% of the market. Conservatives are NOT 90% of the market. Conservative talk is kept afloat by huge foundation money more than it is by local advertising. It's overwhelming the radio market because it serves the ends of those who fund it, not because it's all anyone wants to listen to. There ARE no liberal stations to switch to on the radio.
Where to get liberal opinion? How about ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, PBS, most print media in the U.S., most news magazines in the US..
ReplyDeleteOne reason liberal talk radio I failing is that they don't eat their young. Conservative radio will take on GOP leaders but liberal talk radio won't go after Obama and the democrats. How many of them actually called ObamaCare a failure and then compare that to what most Americans think.
But anon does have a good idea, why don't liberals buy their own stations, put on their own shows and take full responsibility for them?
Because that is not the liberal way, they need to rely on others to do things for them.
..any media that does not bash Obama non-stop is called "Liberal Media". It's all racist period.
DeleteDan, I know that is the prevailing conservative opinion, but I don't think it's objectively true. I think conservatives would call any news that isn't canted rightward--by definition--leftward biased. In fact, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS etc. often try to present "both sides" in order to avoid the bias label, even if it's a situation that does not have two equally-weighted sides.
ReplyDeleteThere are two points to your charge to take into account, one is that virtually all media is owned by 6 huge corporations. They're not necessarily liberal biased (Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, really?), they're PROFIT-biased. The other point is that while journalists in general may have a liberal world-view, the typical news outlet, their "bias" is slightly left-of-center (gays aren't demons, abortion IS legal, religion and state are separate), more a reality-based view, if you ask me.
But there is no counterpart to FOX "News." MSNBC comes from a liberal perspective, but it does not set entire news cycles, and bleed into other media the way FOX does. It doesn't create whole controversies that leach into real life, and CONGRESS! There is no counterweight to right-wing talk radio. There is no left-wing Rush Limbaugh.
If the media was REALLY saturated with liberal opinion, there wouldn't be constant mentions in the right-wing blogosphere of Air America Radio (which has been gone for five years), or how paltry MSNBC's ratings are, as proof of the failure of liberal opinion. AAR and MSNBC wouldn't stand out at all as liberal opinion, it would be part of the chorus. It's not.
I think that liberal social causes (abortion, gay marriage, secularism) DOES turn up more in non-news arenas, probably because creative people tend to be more liberal. And I think it more accurately reflects America in general. I think when tv shows and movies try to depict conservative social causes, it comes off as corny, preachy, overly-moralistic, stick-in-the-mud fuddy-duddiness. You know I'm right. "The Waltons" and "Little House on the Prairie" are long gone. Rick Santorum's movie tanked. It's not entertaining!
THIS IS CRAZY TALK!!! there are already too many neo-con radio stations on the radio in LA. anyone who can look at this move, and still claim a LIBERAL BIAS in the media, is a fool. neo-cons have the market cornered in talk radio.
ReplyDeleteThis is so depressing.I'm so sick of HATE Radio.No diversity, just pure hate. We have KKK leader and bloated druggie Rush leading the loathsome pack with Hannity, Beck,spewing all hate all the time.Such nasty garbage!
ReplyDeleteThe worst part is, the hate is totally unbolstered by facts. It's a hate stew made of conspiracy theories, half-baked, badly-formed opinion, shoe-horned-in talking points, bad analogies, false equivalencies, and outright lies. It's a poisonous broth, to be sure.
ReplyDeleteKTLK is not a very station overall because of the way it's run. I'd rather see someone else besides Clear Channel carry the progressive programs. To show you how they run KLTK, I like to listen to Clark Howard, who deals with consumer issues. The 17 minutes between 20 after the hour until 37 after the hour, KTLK runs 3 minutes of Clark Howard dand 14 minutes of commercials. Since I turn off the radio when the commercials start, I often miss the rest of his show because i forget to turn it back on.
ReplyDeleteThe dirty little secret of radio, Anonymous, is that it is almost half commercials. Which is jarring on KTLK, because half of the commercials are PSAs. EVERY radio show seems to go like this: News/weather/traffic/commercials from the top of the hour until :07ish. Show intro and music tip :08. First segment ends at :17ish. Commercials until :23. 2nd segment until :29. Commercials until :35. Third segment until :48. Commercials until :53. Fourth segment until :59. All together, if your average show is 30 minutes of actual show, you're lucky. And now that they include IN SHOW advertisements, along with musical bumpers, theme songs, promos for books, tours and other show products. . .you're really down to less than 60-75 minutes of actual radio program in the space of three hours.
ReplyDeleteIt's really no wonder that people don't want to listen to the format. Couple the brevity of the program with some really awful commercial (often for awful products), and I've almost talked myself out of listening! :)
Management at KTLK was glad to see Thom Hartmann go and wouldn't re-air his broadcasts despite the support from his listeners. This was a long time coming. The old saw "all politics is local" even applies to radio stations. Thom and Randi outperform conservative hacks and yet the big money behind those hacks handily subsidize them, and they aren't sponsors, they're think tanks.
ReplyDeleteLike the OP states, Thom can be heard on KPFK now and Randi can be heard on "I heart Radio".