Why did Mike Malloy get fired?

[King Coal]

I'm sorry fellow DU'ers. I've been out of touch. I fell out of the back of my van and landed on my head about a month ago and I am just recovering. I'm too damn tired to read through a bunch of threads. Would one of you be so kind as to fill me in?

Thanks

[LoZoccolo]

1. How many of us work for Air America Radio? n/t

[Canuckistanian]

2. Lots of speculation, not many facts

All we know is that Mike was let go for "financial reasons". AAR has never made an announcement.

[King Coal]

3. Well that's a strange way for a radio station for truth to behave.

Thanks, a lot BTW,

[FogerRox]

4. Solidarity

[Canuckistanian]

14. I stole the graphic from ralps

Hope she doesn't mind!

[Selatius]

5. He was not "economically feasible"

Certain business owners were not happy with the profit margins and wanted to cut expenses. Malloy said so himself, I believe.

[Amy6627]

6. We it looks like it was for financial reasons. But it was very abrupt

and sudden. He doesn't eliminate the possiblity of him being outspoken about Israel and 9/11. I guess we probably won't really know the truth.

[napi21]

12. I suspect it wa combination of both.

I don't know any more than you do, butIFAAR is trying to cut costs,youusually look at the most. That would be the net of ad dollars in and expenses out. We may not think so, but 10PM to 1AM is not the highest volume listners, even though we hare at DU listen all the time. I don't know if theycan even watch or know how many streamers there are!

I think we'll hear the truth sooner or later, but untilwe hear from Mikefirst hand, speculation is all it is.

[Eric J in MN]

19. AAR knows how many people stream from the main website.

They require people to provide their age to access it.

I don't know if they try to keep track of how many people stream at affiliate websites (like "Air America Minnesota.")

[LTR]

40. Webcast Metrics measures streaming audiences

Kinda like Arbitron.

For the month of June, AAR ranked #10 in total streaming from their website. This does not take into account any streams from outside their own site.

http://wmetrics.andomedia.com/home/templates/wcmt_template.asp?articleid=36&zoneid=3

They have been bouncing around the Top 10 since their debut.

And the AAR site is in good company too, since there are some pretty established webcasters there, some with established names (like ESPN and ABC) and all with multiple channels (except ESPN). I should note that the entry for ABC is for ALL of their streaming stations combined. So AAR does pretty well as far as webcasting goes.

[Eric J in MN]

45. Is that saying that about 5,000 people listen to the AAR stream

...on an average day?

[LTR]

46. AQH is Average Quarter Hour

Average amount of people listening every 15 minutes.

Cume is total for month.

[Eric J in MN]

48. I'm surpised at how low the number for each station is.

The #1 station group, (Digitally Imported Network - www.di.fm, www.sky.fm), seems to only have 37,332 listeners within an average 15 minutes.

Why aren't there over a million people listening to the most popular internet radio station?

http://wmetrics.andomedia.com/home/templates/wcmt_template.asp?articleid=36&zoneid=3

[LTR]

51. Too many choices for streaming audio

There's a lot of options out there, and many of the most successful webcasters, though they program niche formats (like club music for DI), do have lots of competitors (I prefer Soma.FM myself, especially the "spy music"-oriented "Agent 128K").

Plus, streaming audio is still in its infancy. It's still not convenient for most to listen, as streaming audio is still locked to the desktop or laptop. Not very easy to listen to in the car, where most radio listening occurs.

Newer Wi-Fi capabilities in the coming years could change all of this, along with better sounding audio streams (which sound less like AM radio through a telephone). Someday, streaming audio will scare the bejezus out of terrestrial and satellite broadcasters.

[FlavaKreemSnak]

16. If he said things that sounded critical of Israel's operations in Lebanon

The most likely thing is that it caused money problems because people would not want to contribute or advertise or anything because we have unconditional support for Israel and criticizing it is considered anti-Semitic.

[gully]

22. So does Randi Rhodes.

She's still employed? Hopefully she'll remain so.

[onenote]

27. could you point me to where Malloy said that this was the reason

All I saw was that he acknowledged that it was a financial decision.

[FlavaKreemSnak]

28. I don't know if he ever said that was why. I am saying that anybody

who is on a radio station or something like that, if they say things that sound like they might be being critical of Israel then that is something that the managers will have to take into consideration because no radio station etc wants to get a reputation for being anti-Semitic. And how critical is critical enough for that is not like one set thing you can say. Maybe how something will sound to you may sound different to somebody who gives a lot of money to a radio station, and sometimes one person saying something may sound different than when another person says it. This is because they haven't made like set rules yet, but there was an article about the anti-Semitism czar or something a few months ago where he was saying the same thing that it was a fine line and that he hadn't made the rules yet.

But this thread is not about what Malloy actually said, it is about what people think, and somebody said something about how he had maybe sounded critical of Israel and also maybe said some controversial things about 911, which is also a touchy subject because that is considered threatening the state.

[onenote]

30. But if Malloy thought that was the reason, wouldn't he have said so?

He's not the shy, retiring type.

[FlavaKreemSnak]

31. OK Two things. One whether he thought it or not

doesn't have to do with what somebody else involved might have thought. And maybe they would not tell him. So that could be the reason and he doesn't know. Or maybe even if he suspected it was either Israel or 911 that he had said stuff about but didn't know which one. The other thing is that even if he is not shy and retiring, these are both very touchy subjects so even if he did know he might also know that it would be a good idea to just say whatever he did say, because once you get to that point of having called so much attention to yourself about a subject that is that touchy and you don't know who might be involved etc you will probably want to not keep pushing it. I mean I don't know about his personal life, but maybe somebody that doesn't have any family or anything might want to talk about it more than somebody who did, and maybe he does have one.

[Junkdrawer]

47. But he's now the "looking for a new gig" type and he's not stupid. n/t

[MADem]

7. According to his website, the decision was "financial."

However, as you can imagine, the theories here abound. Everything from "He was too liberal and spoke truth to power" to "The Clintons/DLC did it" to "The Jews did it because they wanted to silence him about the Hizb'Allah - Israel war."

I imagine if there's any new information, he'll put it on his website. There are a shitload of angry campers here, though, so you touched a nerve (it's been thread after thread for the last day -- astounding amount of clutter).

Personally, I think (and my opinion means diddlyshit, I know nothing either) that AAR wants to do some outreach to the mushy middle in the run-up to 08, they needed those hours, and Malloy's vitriolic and aggressive approach wasn't helpful to their theme that 'the GOP is meanspirited, Democrats are reasonable.'

Sorry about your fall. Hope you get well soon.

[King Coal]

9. Thanks MADem. I'm on the plus side.

[gully]

23. You may have hit the nail on the head.

AAR wants to do some outreach to the mushy middle in the run-up to 08, they needed those hours, and Malloy's vitriolic and aggressive approach wasn't helpful to their theme that 'the GOP is meanspirited, Democrats are reasonable.'

Could it have been an "election" decision? If so their train of thought is absurd.

[Eric J in MN]

24. I think they're just trying to save money.

Sam Seder isn't in the mushy middle, and he's getting a better time slot by the end of September.

[gully]

25. Could be?

I don't know much about the business or what drives AAR. Glad to hear SS is doing well though.

Thanks for the info.

[pstokely]

37. Then why did they sign Malloy for 2 years before firing him?

[onenote]

38. Has anyone confirmed that he was re-signed?

I've seen the statement made,but haven't seen a link

[geomon666]

49. They told him the contract was on the way.

They made him believe it so much he announced it on the air...and then they fired his ass.

Totally disgusting business practices.

[MADem]

34. Election 08, I think. But I have no inside info, or anything like that

Look, the most adamant lefty is going to vote for the Democrats on the ticket. Continuing to target them is preaching to the choir. The odd ones that do the bullshit protest Green/Treehugger/Mystery Group Party vote are assholes who cut off their noses, and everyone else's, to spite their faces (and everyone else's faces, too!) and are not reliable anyway.

There's this HUGE bunch of Mushy Middle people who don't really know jackshit. They are the bunch that need to be reached, while they're sitting at their lousy late night job, or driving that cab, truck, whatever, trying to stay awake on the swing or graveyard shift. The material needs to be engaging and interesting, to keep them awake and listening, but not MEAN so as to turn them off.

Someone funny and fun, left of center with an engaging schtick could bring those clueless types around and into the fold.

[babylonsister]

8. OT, but I hope you're feeling better, King Coal.

What a freak thing to have happen to you. Take care!

[tridim]

10. Molly wants to know too..

See my sig.. BTW, Cathy was fired too.

[uberblonde]

11. I don't know why you all think this is so unusual.

On-air talent gets fired abruptly all the time - usually, the day they return from vacation. It's even openly joked about in the industry: "What happened?" "I went on vacation."

Plus, wasn't their flagship station in NY just bought? They usually restructure when there's new owners.

[Eric J in MN]

20. I don't think it has to do with moving on the dial in New York City.

New York is a big market, but it's one of dozens of AAR markets.

[Solo_in_MD]

13. The public position is economics

and the behavior give that story credence. However there is (and always will be) the Tin Foil Hat crowd who are convinced there are other motives.

Media is a hard numbers business. I could readily believe that he was dropped over his numbers.

[saracat]

15. Me too but I have been jumped for daring to say that!

and for saying that AAR should still be supported! Some still don't understand that regardless of its slant it takes money to keep a radio station on the air. My bet is Mike didn't attract the advertising dollars.And though his some of his listeners might not think that should be important , it is. Ranting about the Bush Crime Family is NOT going to get a major company to align itself with you.It is fun for us to listen to but it doesn't bring home the bacon.

[Junkdrawer]

17. "Tin Foil Hat crowd" huh?

"Media is a hard numbers business." Care to explain el Rushbo's 250 million dollar salary? That's a whole lot of copies of Verbal Advantage.

[Eric J in MN]

21. Rush Limbaugh is the #1 radio talk show host.

Bigger than Howard Stern. Bigger than Sean Hannity.

[Junkdrawer]

26. Seen this?

Al Franken Whips Rush Limbaugh in Arbitron Ratings...

No doubt Air American Radio has been having its troubles as it seeks to establish itself. This has particularly come in the form of money. However Air America Radio has achieved great success in its first Arbitron Ratings... Al Franken has soundly trashed Rush Limbaugh among the most coveted demographics.

In New York during the time when Al Franken's show, "The O'Franken Factor" is broadcast in the same time slot as Rush Limbaugh , Franken beat Rush among 18-54 year olds.

From the Chicago Tribune...

in New York, where Air America still broadcasts over WLIB-1190 AM, the network beat Limbaugh's station, Disney-owned WABC, among both 25-to-54-year-olds and 18-to-34-year-olds during the 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. period. In the 25-to-54 demographic, WLIB garnered a 3.4 share to WABC's 3.1; among 18-to-34-year-olds, WLIB won sevenfold with a 2.9 share to WABC's 0.4.

In Chicago, Air America Radio was on only 28 days before a billing dispute knocked it off the air. Still, Franken turned in a very strong showing against Limbaugh. While on during its short time period on WNTD, WNTD went from a 0.1 percent share to a 3 percent share among 25 to 54 year olds. It stands to reason that should Air American find another broadcaster, they can continue their success in this market and continue to pull listeners from WLS-AM which airs Rush Limbaugh's show.


http://www.rushlimbaughonline.com/articles/airamerica1.htm

When Media's object becomes propaganda, it's not about ratings - it's about message.

Now, it can still be about economics. Just one example: Take Big Oil. Huge, multi-billion dollar quarterly profits. How much do you think they are willing to spend to forestall a windfall profits tax?

[onenote]

29. don't fool yourself. Limbaugh's much bigger than Franken

Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I think it sucks. But even in NYC Limpballs beats Franken. Sure Franken wins in the 18-34 and 25-54 demos, but those are the smallest portions of the talk radio market, representing just 10 percent of the total audience (talk skews much older). With respect to the other 90 percent of the audience, sadly Limpballs wins. And overall, the stats I've seen indicate that Limpballs has an weekly audience of around 13.5 million listeners, while Franken checks in at less than 2 million. Talk radio really is dominated by RW'ers and AAR clearly has changed that.

[Junkdrawer]

32. The other thrust of my posts is that "economics" can be wider than...

a station's bottom line. Especially when media conglomerates are formed to promote political agendas.

Oh, and how many listeners did Limbaugh have two years into his talk career?

And, as for 13.5 million vs. 2 million; how many stations for Limbaugh vs. how many for Franken?

[LaPera]

41. Poor Howard is stuck in Never-Never Land on Sirius!

Not much he can do about it...Not that I care, even for a moment.

His ego made his bed!

Fuck Hannity and Limbaugh too.

[Solo_in_MD]

35. Limbaugh's number are huge

Whether we like it or not, he has a much larger listener base. He can charge much more for his ads and take home huge amounts of lucre. If he was not, he would be off the air. It really is hard numbers biz.

[LaPera]

42. Still, not like the once were!!!

[eridani]

43. But what ARE the numbers?

And what are the finances? Nobody seems to know.

[Eric J in MN]

18. Most people who listen to the radio do so between 7AM and 7PM.

Mike Malloy was on the AAR stream starting at 9PM Eastern.

He was on in Minnesota and some other markets on tape-delay starting at midnight.

It's always going to be an issue for talk-radio of what should be done during the hours when few people listen. Is it best to pay someone like Mike Malloy to get people to tune in? Best to run repeats?

AAr had the same issue with Sam Seder, who is mostly on after the prime listening hours, but decided to move him to a better time slot: 9AM-noon Eastern.

[MamaBear]

33. Mike evidently spoke with the Sacremanto affiliate today

This was posted at Bartcop today: (http://www.bartcop.com)

Subject: Malloy talked with Sacramento affiliate today

Hey Bart, I'm listening to Mike talk to our Air America affiliate here in Sacramento...

He said that it WAS a financial decision...one of the big wigs wasn't seeing a big enough return
on their investment apparantly and was looking to cut expenses (maybe he shoulda tried Haliburton??)

Mike says that that Laura Flanders will be taking over his spot and since Flanders comes with her
own sponsors, Air America doesn't have to pay her...as Mike said, it took them about 7 seconds
to make the decisions to can Mike- who was the lowest paid in the bunch by the way...

He mentioned the lack of radio background that more than one of the CEO's have. Goldberg, who
came from the record industry, screwed up things pretty bad, thus was given a nice golden parachute
in Mike's words, and they brought in a guy who's from the freakin' cosmetics industry (oy, my head is
starting to hurt)...

He was asked if there was a chance that his stance on certain political issues (Israel, 9/11) played a
factor is his being fired. He didn't dismiss it, but I didn't get the feeling from him that that was a main
reason...he said that it was important to discuss those issues especially cuz they're politically taboo
- what a concept, eh?

He says there's no chance of him coming back to Air America- even if they begged him.
They embarrased him, let him talk about his upcoming renewed contract and return to NYC,
then finds out ON HIS WAY TO WORK that he's fired.

He was on our affiliate for an hour, took some calls, ranted a bit with our local hosts, and it felt like
our own little personal Malloy show- as good a swan song as anyone could hope for, I guess...

Anyway, I just wanted to give you a head's up from what I heard this morning... I'm pissed off to be
sure and sent a comment to AA saying so. Way to be an example of how a liberal/progressive radio
network deals with employment/business issues- fire him on his way to work...assholes.

Cheers and best Bart,
xoox
Fran
Sacramento, CA


Fran, thanks for that.

BTW, in Northern Manhattan tonight, AM 1600 is bearly hearable above the static and interference. So the "flagship" station hopefully broadcasts in the other direction, or it can't make it out of its home borough, let alone its home city.

[pstokely]

36. "financial reasons"

[King Coal]

39. Thanks for your responses, everyone.

[TheWebHead]

44. I kind of saw this coming

the week Laura substituted for Mike and she used the Radio Nation bumpers instead of Mike's bumpers. That was the test run. Not to mention there are a lot of issues with Mike. Whether it was sarcasm or not, I didn't like the constant usage of "negros" --sometimes worse, or "the queers", walking a tightrope on advocating violence, having contempt for any Democrat slightly to the right of Dennis Kucinich, etc.

[B Calm]

50. Because AAR management expected their lowest paid and best talent

to do their job. They not only expected Mike to put on a great show each and everyday, but they also wanted him to to the sales part too. AAR incompetent management fires him and abandon half their listeners for profit. We as the majority need to be loud and negative towards AAR's stupid decision to fire the KING of TALK and get this AAR management removed!!

[NYCGirl]

52. Now you're just delusional. "Do the sales part"?

BTW, Howard Stern is the "King of Talk" — he has ratings Mike Malloy could only dream about.