Air America Can't Suck Enough

The ill-conceived Liberal talk radio project continues to bleed out.

Now Santa Cruz, CA joins the list of ex-Air America stations.

The left-leaning radio network, aimed at taking on Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talk shows, debuted on Central Coast airwaves in July 2005, but local advertisers never bought in, [KOMY 1340 AM] station owner Michael Zwerling said.

"We didn't sell a single ad in a year and a half," Zwerling said Thursday. "I thought liberal radio would work as a viable advertising business in the most liberal town in America. I was wrong"

Santa Cruz isn't the only place Air America has problems. The network is struggling nationwide and filed for bankruptcy four months ago.

No wait, it gets better.

Limbaugh is a major moneymaker for the station, Zwerling said, and his show pulls the highest ratings of any program on KSCO or KOMY.

However, in Santa Cruz, where the vast majority of registered voters are Democrats and voted for Sen. John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election, Zwerling wanted to give listeners a program that better plays to their political beliefs.

So you'd think such a "Blue" market would be ideal for advertisers looking to appeal to the audience that would eat up Air America's kind of format, right?

Um. Actually, no.

"It's an angry, nasty, pissing and moaning format where the only thing they say is 'Bush stinks' or 'Bush is bad'," [Zwerling] said. "No commercial advertiser wants to be associated with that"

So where does that leave the station? Well, apparently some old and tired routines are more attractive than others.

Taking Air America's place is oldies music — artists such as Roy Orbison, Patsy Cline, Chuck Berry and The Platters — with local, live disc jockeys.

Heh.

Posted by: Gary at 10:45 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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