Saturday, September 16, 2006

Women's Radio Network Launches

A new Talk Radio Network for Women (Run by Women) has launched and has programming on a few terrestrial stations and the internet. You can check it out at Greenstone Media.

Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda are principles in the new network and Gloria was on Bill Maher last night and announced new network.

Predictably, the right wing (Radio Equalizer, to whom I won't link) has accused them of being another Air America.

On Bill Maher, Steinem emphasized that the new network is not just for women, but expects its programming to appeal to women and men both.

I'll be adding a link to the AARLinks home page.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Mike Malloy Update

Mike Malloy is still working on finding a new home. He's updated his web site to report on progress, but there are no details.

New AAR Schedule

According to a post at Air America Place, this is the current new schedule for AAR.

5-6 AM Mark Riley (apparently he's not wanted at WLIB now that they have gone gospel)
6-9 AM The Young Turks
9 AM-Noon Sam Seder (Jerry Springer will still go out through AAR syndication)
Noon-3 PM Al Franken (Thom Hartmann through AAR syndication)
3-6 PM Randi Rhodes
6-8 PM Rachel Maddow
8-9 PM Politically Direct
9-10 PM Eco-Talk
10 PM- Midnight still up in the air. No replacement for Malloy has yet been selected (how about bringiing Malloy back?)
The Al Franken repeat will move up to Midnight.


This was as of Wednesday. Young Turks, Sam Seder, and Randi Rhodes are confirmed per what I have heard from their mouths or their website.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Status of Air America Radio

Not that I really know much more than you do if you read a lot of blogs. But this is a summary of what I have gleaned over the last few weeks. I'm going to skip the links to stuff because I don't have much time right now; I may update this and fill them in tonight.

A few weeks ago the right blogosphere was rife with rumors that AAR was having financial problems and would finally die. Of course they have been plugging these rumors since the beginning (no one listens, they are broke, etc) so I treated them as the BS they are. These started after Mike Malloy was let go and during the period that AAR was evaluating programming and deciding on the fall lineup.

Then yesterday (Sept 13) there was a post on Think Progress blog that broke the story that AAR was going to restructure and would "declare bankruptcy" on Friday. This brought forth the trolls and a lot of sad lefties who didn't understand that bankruptcy is a tool used by corporations to solve their financial problems and doesn't necessarily mean someone is going out of business (see Airlines to understand what I mean).


AAR has denied the bankrupcy rumors and is moving ahead with their new schedule in bits and pieces. Hopefully they will make an announcement about the new schedule on Friday. Here is what I've been able to figure out (all times are Eastern):

The Young Turks will fill the 6-9 am slot. Then Sam Seder will have a show from 9-12 (apparently with a new name). As near as I can tell Al Franken and Randi Rhodes will keep there existing time slots from 12-3 and 3-7 respectively. The 7-10 pm slot is unknown to me as is the 10-1 pm slot, but I suspect Rachel Maddow may have some part in one of those shows.

Jerry Springer and Mike Malloy are out.

No information on Thom Hartmann but I have heard nothing about him changing his status.

So, in conclusion, until we hear more I think we can assume that AAR will still be around. The Internet/XM schedule will change some. Local affiliates may dink with their schedules (my local AM station has already done that, a year ago, and has Stephanie Miller and Thom Hartmann in the morning; Ed Shultz in his live slot at noon, then Al Franken delayed in the 3-6 slot and Randi delayed in the 6-10 slot. I guess they were doing Mike Mal

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Advertising on AAR

Based on my observations of AAR from the beginning and listening to most of the programming from the beginning, I think that restructuring and bankruptcy filing will be a good thing for AAR.

AAR is essentially a network, which doesn't own stations itself, but relies on local stations to carry its programming. National advertising is expensive for advertisers, and most of the advertising on the local stations is sold locally. A lot of XM advertising is generated by XM (again it's that national thing that is expensive).

I've always considered that many of the advertisers are "bottom feeders" who are akin to spam on the Internet. I suspect that many of them advertise on the conservative talk stations also.

The left blogosphere has done a much better job of attracting left advertising but it's probably related to the price.

At any rate, the new AAR lineup that is coming will probably work better on many stations. If we could just find out who will be on in the evening slots. . .

Crossposted at as a comment on Daily KOS on the Blog.