On Mike Malloy, AAR, and the other left radio personalities.

[reprobate]

I've been a listener to AAR since it's beginning, but I'm getting just a bit weary of the decisions of it's management.

I simply cannot listen to Al Franken anymore. His inability to enunciate a sentence without breaking it up with ummmmmm's and aahhhhhhhhh's sets my teeth on edge. I keep wanting to scream at him "Finish your thought, Franken. Then hesitate." Plus he's simply too proud of himself. I's vote for him if I were in his district, but I will not listen to him on the radio. It's my feeling that this is why his TV show died.

I do like Randi, and she does have a lot to say for us, but she has the annoying habit of talking over her callers. I want to hear dialog, not diatribe. Otherwise, I think she's great.

Thom Hartman is one of my favorites, when he's on, and Sam Seder is great too, but I miss Janine Garafolo.

But here's what this is all aimed at: With the internet now ubiquitous, why are we tied to the RF bands, whether it be AM, FM or satellite? All of the left talk hosts are, I believe being streamed on the net. The only reason to be tied to RF today is if we're traveling, otherwise the net has it all.
And with long range wireless connectivity not far away, even that won't be a problem.

The fly in the ointment of course is finding them all at the right time.

I have a picture of an internet site that would stream them all, some live, some delayed, some only parts of their live program, but all available to anyone in the world who wanted to hear them. Yes there would be some legal issues. I'm not an attorney, didn't even play one on TV, but I have the feeling that the issues would involve copy write, and advertising on the radio stations.

These issues I'm sure could be solved. Possibly a subscription site could raise whatever is necessary to solve them, since most solutions today involve money.

It's my feeling that with one place available to access ALL the left talk shows, we could have FAR more effect than just one main network and individual stations. And with the ability of our computers today there's nothing to say we couldn't record them for later listening when we were available.

I'd like to hear your opinions on this. Is it possible? Is it feasible?

Could it be done? How?

[patrioticliberal]

1. I tried this post yesterday

Just wait until people give you a link to RadioPower, Stephanie Miller, Pacifica, Democracy Now, Bernie Ward and Ray Taliaferro (ABC DISNEY will NOT let you broadcast their shows), (even HORN), etc. Instead of actually reading what you have to say.

And then there will be the people who will just say, Too expensive to do that, yadda yadda. The right wingers have their own online stations - where do you think Jeff fucking Gannon hosted a show? Righttal.com . Liberals? Nah.

[patrioticliberal]

2. kicking for you..but don't expect a substantive conversation.

[mitchtv]

3. Sounds good

I nominate Bernie Ward and Ray Taliaferro at KGO-AM 810 two of the best.
A brilliant idea.

[patrioticliberal]

4. Oops...forgot to warn the poster of this as well.

BERNIE AND RAY ARE ON ABC/DISNEY
They can NOT be broadcast on any other online network without permission - which you will not get.
White Rose Society tried to do that and got a CEASE AND DECIST letter from ABC/DISNEY.

[mitchtv]

13. I knew there was a reason

ABC , of course

[never_get_over_it]

20. And since

KGO wouldn't let whiterose continue to archive Bernie, we should all contact them and MAKE them have their damn archives available for more than just 24 hours - I am on the east coast and Bernie starts at 1:00 AM for me and working for a living precludes me from staying up all damn night - so I catch Bernie and Ray on archives as much as I can - but it is sometimes difficult to get it in within the 24 hours - also very often their archives are screwed up - I have written both Bernie and the guy who told whiterose to cease and desist - to please do something to improve the archives to no avail - hell I didn't even get the common courtesy of an answer....

Maybe we should just flood KGO's email until they improve the archive situation....I could use some help from you guys.

on edit - I've called the comment line several times also

[Gregorian]

5. I thought Bartcop would be a huge success.

But he limited it to a treehouse of people. It's about money. Bart wants the listeners to pay a fee, which I did. I prefer that to commercial radio. But there is more to it. There is the willingness and ability to grow. I won't listen to AAR because of the frequent commercials. Call me names, but I'm sure it has not only a big effect on the number of listeners, and the content of the shows. I would wager that the financial reason Malloy was set free over was nothing more than sponsor complaints. I know most of their sponsors are worthy.

It takes a group of people to pull this off. That is where the money flows. And the big names demand big bucks. That is probably why we haven't done this yet. I thought Soros and his ilk would have seen to it that we had a voice.

I think this is a very important issue.

Let's not forget that we have Democracy Now. It's primarily news, but it's valuable.

But if I hear you, it's a verbal forum that we need. That's what AAR is supposed to be. And it's good. I don't think the left is the kind of group who want a "Limbaugh". We're too diverse.

In fact, if all we had was a place to broadcast the debunked right wing media lies, we'd be doing better than what we are doing.

I don't know. I'm just blabbing like I do best, on DU.

[GreenTea]

11. Bart is funny, somewhat moderate (UGH) but he only seems to average

about a show a month...Mostly of TV & radio shows most can find for free anywhere on the net...or stuff one has already heard...he a stubborn fuck as well...I now breeze through his redundant site every couple of days and I am amused less and less...But that's how he makes his living--so cheers---he gives it his best shot--is very sharp and perceptive about many things but a dunce about others...

[patrioticliberal]

6. kick

[gully]

7. I love Franken. And, I think Mike Malloy should still be with AAR.

We all have different taste in hosts I imagine.

[patrioticliberal]

8. That's not the point of his post.

[mitchtv]

15. the OP needs info that most of us cannot give

[gully]

22. I was responding to the initial statements he made.

I do think his idea is a good one. Note the title is about "personalities" to which I was responding.

[Cleita]

9. I like Franken's guests.

Like today, although it was a rerun, his guests were talking about the globalization NAFTA problem and why and how we could fix it. It was a very interesting show and I don't remember the names of the guests because well it's one of those senior moments thing, I will eventually look them up and read their books on the subject. But Franken is a good interviewer and gets the best information from his guests l believe without interjecting too much of his opinion.

[Mythsaje]

10. I tend to think that Hartmann's the best of them...

I've heard Sam too and I like him. I think Thom is one of the best debaters in the business--he regularly dismantles RW arguments with ease.

[Montauk6]

12. I'm not quite sure I'm following you and patriotc but I'll give it a shot

OK.

For me, the website that TOTALLY changed my life a couple of years ago and became one of my most valued bookmarks is this site here:

http://www.geocities.com/liberalprogressivetalk/

This site turned me on to Nate Clay, Bernie Ward, Ray Taliaferro, Ike Newkirk, Mike Webb, Meria Heller, Bob McChesney, and Randi Rhodes (PRIOR to Air America!)

Then, of course, much praise and huzzahs are due to Mr. Burch and his invaluable archives at White Rose Society. Here I learned of Lizz Brown, Enid Goldstein, Guy James, Thom Hartmann, and the Cup-a-Joe guy.

Prior to discovering these treasure troves, there was Neil Rogers (though the emphasis is more on humor than politics) and RadioLeft.com.

Let's not forget RadioPower.org which does a great job in providing access to great shows such as The Young Turks and the aforementioned Hartmann.

My point is, I suppose, that, yes, a megasite compiling all the progressive talent would probably be convenient but I'm not sure if it's not being done, to some extent, already. Also, in all this "name-dropping," you'll notice that, with the exception of Randi, these are all non-AAR shows, which goes to show that, while I'm offended by the sacking of Malloy but, at the same time, don't want to see the demise of the station, should the worst case occur, there are plenty of alternatives to choose from—but I'm sure many of you knew that already. :)

[reprobate]

23. Thank you for the link, Montauk6. You're right. I didn't know about them.

Though I do believe that one site with the ability to stream the shows from at least that day at any time of the day would be a powerful force.

[PresidentWar]

14. PODCASTS

That's where things are going. Why? Because people are more and more mobile these days. They might not sit long enough at a desktop to be getting into a standard netcast. iPods make it possible to listen to what you like whether you are walking, jogging, biking, or in your car, bus, plane etc. You have a shot at a much bigger listener base. And of course the coast is miniscule compared to competing on the radio waves.

I envision a new Liberal/Left broadcasting entity that produces a number of regular podcasts on different areas of it's concern (maybe General News, Economy, foreign policy, Cultural Issues, humor etc) all of course tied to that organization.

I don't see why we have to battle the hatewingers on the same tired old turf. Let's make our own. After all, we are more creative.

[Charlie Brown]

16. I've never cared for talk-radio of any variety

It's designed to reinforce what people already believe, by repeating the same things again, and again, and again.

I blame the talk-radio phenomena that began with conservatives in the 80s for ruining radio in the US. There's no more time for local entertainment programming, dramatizations, or variety (unless it's a university station); just stuff-shirts telling people what they are supposed to believe. Talking heads like Limbaugh, et al have monopolized local radio-stations and turned them into propaganda outlets.

I'm glad AAR exists, as a counter to all the hot-air from the right. It's not my cup of tea, though.

[davidwparker]

17. I agree with this except for the need to stay on satellite radio. I don't

understand why it's so important to build up a lot of AM stations. AM? Wasn't that so 70's? When I travel to Durham, I can't pick up the AAR affiliate there. Maybe the wind wasn't blowing in the right direction.

Satellite, streaming, podcasts are where it's at today. Apple makes it so simple with it's software to create you own (video) shows.

[KharmaTrain]

18. AAR Is Suffering From Radio's Collapse

Once again, I'll post this (probably no one will care...as usual)...Radio is suffering from a disasterous time...losing revenues and audience. A lot of it is their own doing...as large corporations like Clear Channel and CBS/Infinity bought up most of the radio markets and introduced banal formats and long commercial breaks. Listeners went for alternatives like IPODs and Satellite radio and advertisers found greater bang for their advertising dollar on television...especially local cable TV, newspapers and the internet. Overall revenues for most radio operations have fallen an average of 10-20 percent each of the last 5 years...and its taking its toll.

AAR's caught in a Catch 22. They're trying to survive in a radio landscape that is downsizing...both in audience and revenue. The network has stagnated and suffers from poor signals...in many cases depressing the ratings as the AAR station doesn't cover the entire market. Here in Chicago, the AAR station is a joke. It only operates during the daylight hours, lacks any local programming, does little promotion and suffers from mismangement. In other markets AAR stations suffer similar fates. I used to listen on 1530AM from Cincinatti at night, but the format was moved to a smaller signal, thus there's no AAR programming on the dial in the third largest market at night.

Radio is going through changes and it's the blind leading the blind. Digital is coming in and the major broadcast operations can't figure out a standard to use. They continue to downsize and outsource operations...cheapening the product further...depressing their property values...which in turn could be real trouble for AAR as Clear Channel decides to shut off poorly producing signals and only keep the most profitable ones going.

Unfortunately AAR has run into its own problems...some which have been documented on here...and the network has done little growing over the past year. The hope was by now AAR would rival other networks, but it hasn't and has struggled to keep going...and thus has had to cut salaries and personalities in an effort to keep going. While Right Wing hate radio has worked to set up a lot of local programming, AAR and Progressive talk hasn't...thus if this network goes down, so does the major outlet for Progressive voices.

Personally, I get tired of too much AAR. While its fun to hear some good booosh bashing or catch some "outrage" about the latest Repugnican scam, it offers little information...that I find on Public Radio and where I gladly donate money. AAR is a commercial venture and has to make it in the marketplace of dollars as well as ideas. There should be plenty of companies that would support this network, but it appears that's not the case. If there's a downfall here, it's the "blue" companies that haven't supported this network...or the network's fault for not reaching out to these people (I get different stories from everyone in "the know" I talk to about this).

Is Progressive Talk radio feasible? I would hope so, but I have my reservations. For several years, I attempted to coordinate and even finance several talk stations/programs and it was like herding cats. Each host wanted to do their own thing and in many cases Progressive shows were more concerned about what other shows were doing rather than trying to work together. Sadly, beyond kind words, real support is lacking and its a shame as there are many, many good voices that are out there that should be heard and aren't. Hopefully future changes in radio and technology will bring about changes in this area as well.

Peace...

[PresidentWar]

19. Thank you for posting this.

And it's nice to see the thoughts of the few here who actually understand radio, for a change. I worked in the medium for several years, and although I still love it on a basic level, I couldn't stand the industry any longer. Inept managers, stupid and backstabbing salespeople, hosts getting fired without so much as 20 minuts notice, fighting the FCC and local chronic complainers, advertisers with zero talent demanding to do their own spots, bleh....that was enough for me.

I would love to see this medium go into the realm of podcasts, not only because the potential audience is so much larger than the standard radio one, but because at this point there is soooo much more freedom in it. Granted, it may not LAST, but we need to strike when the iron is hot. Let the hatewingers have their AM radio, and bleat to their angry beta-male masses during their trips back and forth to the auto store. We can expand on new horizons while they do so.

[KharmaTrain]

21. I've Had Over 30 Years In The Biz...

Oh do I wish for the days when the Programming Dept. was fighting the Sales Dept. (which I despised at the time)...at least there was some creative competition involved there. Today that doesn't even exist. Radio is what a good friend once called "Pork Belly Futures"...where large corporations overspent to drive up property values that in-turn drove up their stock prices. It was a great ride...nearly 15 years...while it lasted, but now the bill collector is knocking at the door...paying high interest rates for the creative financing that allowed these companies to gobble up their competition with less and less revenues coming in. If it wasn't for computer techology...that eliminated the need for "live" bodies at most stations, many of these operations would have gone down years ago.

Podcasts aren't radio...just as much as listening to a tape isn't listening to radio. It's a great options for those with IPODs, but most people aren't interested in being their own programmers...they're looking for the radio stations to do that. There is and always will be a market for good live and local radio talent and programming...just few outlets for them to get on or flourish these days. Greed drove many of the smaller retailers that used to be the prime revenue sources for radio to advertise in local papers or on cable TV...and the need for coporations to maintain artifically high license values or face complete financial collapse.

I've stated many, many times...always to deaf ears around here...Progressive Radio needs to coordinate and organize better. Hate radio comes from several sources and is funded by other revenue sources. AAR is a lone wolf that is fighting tough time and even tougher market conditions. It doesn't have the luxuary of a Salem that funds its hate shows with dollar-a-hollar right wing preachers or Cheap Channel that can off-set a loss by Rushbo with one of their other subsidiaries.

As an "old hippie", I started in the age of Underground/Progressive Radio...we grew it on small FM stations using creativity and cooperated with other stations that helped spread the message and format across the country. My hopes have been to relive those days again.

Cheers...

[Stardust]

27. Bob Kinkaid was saying that Rush is financed by RW individuals

and orgs, that there is simply no way his Swedish Mattress sponsors and their ilk could support his $29M a year salary. It really discouraged me because the Left doesn't seem to have those kind of benefactors. We're doomed...we'll never make it.

[KharmaTrain]

30. I Was There At The Start

Yeppers...Rush had several sugar daddys. The deepest pockets belonged to Ed McLaughlin...who plucked Rushbo from Sacramento and helped finance the "EIB" and his rise to "fame". The game was simple. Most AM stations were starting to downscale and get away from music programming. McLaughlin offered Rush for next to nothing as well as a pretty generous revenue sharing deal with key stations to make sure the show got on. My bets are the "shared revenue" came right out of McLaughlin's pockets that were fed by the RNC, Scaiffe and other groups. With the rise of satellite, it was more profitable for stations to dump their local programming, hook up to the "bird" and pay some kid minimum wage to run the controls. That was even further streamlined with better puters and more deregulation.

Rush's biggest coup was getting picked up by ABC owned stations. Many of these stations were consulted by guys in McLaughlin's pocket. At the time, the pitch was how talk radio was boring...and how Rush would be "controversial"...as to be more amusing than political. They used the gimmick of being an "entertainer" (the same one Faux later used) to bypass any criticism that this was anything more than an expansion of "free speech", just as much as Howard Stern was.

Eventually when Rush got 200 affiliates on board...most were AM stations with less power than your blow dryer...the agencies took notice and this was when they started buying and Rushbo and his cronies could start living the good life. This template was then repeated with Hannity, Savage and others...cheap programming...and in many cases the only programming now available.

Cheers...

[quiet.american]

24. Has anyone mentioned whiterosesociety.org ?

They come very close to doing what you're describing.

[troubleinwinter]

25. EXACTLY!! "Over 8 Million Hours of Liberal/Progressive Talk Radio"

http://www.whiterosesociety.org/

[patrioticliberal]

26. Not a streaming station though..24/7 of everyone

[FogerRox]

28. Bens Whiterose comes closest at this time. Time will tell...

[LTR]

29. Forget more streams, all you need is a portal

Someone mentioned "Liberal/Progressive Talk Shows". It's a good site. Another one is this one, though it links only to AAR affiliates which may or may not air other shows. Not to toot my own horn, but I have a blog with lots of links too (check the banner below this post). AAR affiliates, non-AAR liberal talk stations, webcasters, public radio, etc. I have been working hard to create as extensive a list as possible.

You don't need yet another stream. There's already plenty out there. All you need is a place to find them all.

I do think once Wi-Fi becomes more widespread, that terrestrial radio will have to sink or swim. Once you can listen to virtually whatever you want in your car, this is going to increase competition. But this is years away, and terrestrial radio will still be around (including AM).

Once wireless streaming becomes doable, depending on the technology that will make this easy for people, you'll see sites that can cater to all of this in a more effective way.