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Good news for conservatives who dislike AAR?

R

robbbc

The message boards at AAR are showing a lot of heresy to the cause. The future of morning sedition appears to have started a rift amongst the true believers. They seem to have weathered the loss of unfiltered but are not standing for the loss of MS, even if Maddow takes over. Also, Goldberg mentioned last summer a 100 station goal by the end of this year but that looks like a no go- they have been stuck around seventy for a while now. As a fan I am displeased at all this and I am beginning to wonder if there is something brewing.

AAR is currently a "cult brand", yet they are not listening to their followers- the first sign of real trouble. They need to get someone with experience with cult brands (e-bay, apple, harley-davidson) to get themselves figured out. Otherwise you can start the death watch.
 
> The message boards at AAR are showing a lot of heresy to the
> cause. The future of morning sedition appears to have
> started a rift amongst the true believers. They seem to have
> weathered the loss of unfiltered but are not standing for
> the loss of MS, even if Maddow takes over. Also, Goldberg
> mentioned last summer a 100 station goal by the end of this
> year but that looks like a no go- they have been stuck
> around seventy for a while now. As a fan I am displeased at
> all this and I am beginning to wonder if there is something
> brewing.
>
> AAR is currently a "cult brand", yet they are not listening
> to their followers- the first sign of real trouble. They
> need to get someone with experience with cult brands (e-bay,
> apple, harley-davidson) to get themselves figured out.
> Otherwise you can start the death watch.

If AAR wants to please a broader audience, it can't let a fan board control its programming decisions. Fan boards tend to erupt over any changes to their beloved programming, but avoiding change isn't the best plan for AAR.
 
I couldn't agree more, in general...but pleasing the base and the masses is possible. AAR gets most of its listeners through listener advocates, not mainstream publicity. The change to springer has left the boards unimpressed and the ratings are not good either (from what I hear). Displeasing the masses and the base was the outcome of that action. A replacement is needed ASAP for springer and the boards have all but endorsed Miller (though not whole heartedly). Hartmann has also met with strong approval from the boards since he joined AAR Syndication.

I was watching a program on cult brands the other day and I was shocked at the level that these brands listen to their base (not the masses).
In a nutshell, the base would probably endorse, and it would include several changes:

Rachel Maddow in the Morning
Stephanie Miller at 9-12
Hartmann at 12-3 (or Franken)
Randi Rhodes from 3-7
Majority report 7-10
Mike Malloy 10-1

What they are getting:

MS or local
Jerry Springer or Miller
Franken
Eddy
Rhodes (delayed)
Springer (Delayed) or Lionel

Of those choices they have, who can blame them for being protective of MS, the only decent show (besides Miller) in the OTA lineup that they can get before the stations power down at night? Why are the OTA stations mucking things up?


> If AAR wants to please a broader audience, it can't let a
> fan board control its programming decisions. Fan boards
> tend to erupt over any changes to their beloved programming,
> but avoiding change isn't the best plan for AAR.
>
 
First you gloat, then you give advice

What the heck is OTA? AAR serves local stations, not the other way around. It is the job of a local PD to build the strongest line-up for his or her market, not keep AAR happy. If anyone is mucking up, it's AAR.

If these fans want Miller rather than Springer, they should be writing letters to their local stations. 40 stations take Miller at last count. Any station that wants Miller, all they have to do is call Jones Radio.

Morning Sedition is the weakest entry in AAR's line-up; a program only a hard-core true-believer cult groupie could love. Any progressive talk station in a top 25 market that is not local in morning drive deserves red ink. Any station in a top 100 market that takes Morning Sedition in AM drive should be ashamed of itself.

Maybe Hartmann has not met with strong approval on AAR's board because (except for the recently started weekend "best of) he is not heard on AAR stations. Most likely, few hardcore fans of AAR have ever heard him (outside of Portland).

Big Ed has strong numbers (for progressive talk). But he doesn't have a forum on AAR's board. Fans go to AAR's board to talk about AAR. That leaves Ed out. I suspect that if Randi displaced Ed in PM drive you'd really hear a squawk.

Cult brands that listen only to their base, stay cult brands. AAR already reaches the people posting on their board. If they want to stay in business (and have an impact) they need to go beyond preaching to the choir and selling them bumper stickers.

Maybe AAR should model themselves more after the liberal hosts of KGO and KIRO - and maybe even the morning guy on KPOJ, Portland. These hosts have managed to break out of cult status and establish a broad audience base.
 
Re: First you gloat, then you give advice

Good points. Ed is discussed on the boards at AAR and is a topic at the Randi Rhodes site, but his fans aren't there for sure. Does anyone have links to how Ed is doing?
>
> Big Ed has strong numbers (for progressive talk). But he
> doesn't have a forum on AAR's board. Fans go to AAR's board
> to talk about AAR. That leaves Ed out. I suspect that if
> Randi displaced Ed in PM drive you'd really hear a squawk.
>
> Cult brands that listen only to their base, stay cult
> brands. AAR already reaches the people posting on their
> board. If they want to stay in business (and have an
> impact) they need to go beyond preaching to the choir and
> selling them bumper stickers.
>
> Maybe AAR should model themselves more after the liberal
> hosts of KGO and KIRO - and maybe even the morning guy on
> KPOJ, Portland. These hosts have managed to break out of
> cult status and establish a broad audience base.
>
 
> The message boards at AAR are showing a lot of heresy to the
> cause. The future of morning sedition appears to have
> started a rift amongst the true believers. They seem to have
> weathered the loss of unfiltered but are not standing for
> the loss of MS, even if Maddow takes over.

Which message boards? A lot of the shows have god-awful blogs you have to slog through (and it's remarkable this backwards-in-time non threading message forum concept is successful at all) and others have independent forums. If you count the actual number of posters in most, you'll usually find less than 100 regulars, which is why nobody pays attention to most message boards.

A lot of AAR stations don't even clear Morning Sedition. It's a weak spot.

> Also, Goldberg
> mentioned last summer a 100 station goal by the end of this
> year but that looks like a no go- they have been stuck
> around seventy for a while now. As a fan I am displeased at
> all this and I am beginning to wonder if there is something
> brewing.

They need to show ratings growth to bring in the next tier of affiliates. If you are number 15 in a market, there are only so many stations rated below that running standards, sports or financial talk, or second tier conservative talk that are going to be willing to switch. That's why the end of Morning Sedition wouldn't be seen as a failure by me. It would be an evolution, especially if they can bring stronger programming from it. I still think up and coming hosts like Stephanie Miller are the places to look.

> AAR is currently a "cult brand", yet they are not listening
> to their followers- the first sign of real trouble. They
> need to get someone with experience with cult brands (e-bay,
> apple, harley-davidson) to get themselves figured out.
> Otherwise you can start the death watch.

A lot of their followers are message board fanatics who are going to listen no matter what. Where are they going to go? Some of these people are nutty anyway. I am seeing an increasing amount of the tinfoil nonsense like 9/11 was a conspiracy and the buildings were brought down by explosives in some of these forums and even creeping into some AAR shows. That's fine for the overnight UFO and conspiracy-type shows, but you'll alienate everyone else if you only listen to the most vocal people on those forums.

Keeping liberals together is like herding cats. There is nothing new here. :)
 
Re: First you gloat, then you give advice

> Morning Sedition is the weakest entry in AAR's line-up; a
> program only a hard-core true-believer cult groupie could
> love. Any progressive talk station in a top 25 market that
> is not local in morning drive deserves red ink. Any station
> in a top 100 market that takes Morning Sedition in AM drive
> should be ashamed of itself.

I actually agree with you on this. Check for earthquake tremors immediately... this could cause seismic shifting. :)

> Maybe Hartmann has not met with strong approval on AAR's
> board because (except for the recently started weekend "best
> of) he is not heard on AAR stations. Most likely, few
> hardcore fans of AAR have ever heard him (outside of
> Portland).

I agree with you on this too. I never heard of Stephanie Miller, but when I sampled her show, I loved it. Hartmann needs more exposure.

> Big Ed has strong numbers (for progressive talk). But he
> doesn't have a forum on AAR's board. Fans go to AAR's board
> to talk about AAR. That leaves Ed out. I suspect that if
> Randi displaced Ed in PM drive you'd really hear a squawk.

If Ed wants to be the Rush Limbaugh of the left, he'd be better suited to 12-3 on AAR stations, with Randi handling 3-7 drivetime live on the east coast. If Franken does bow out, I predict AAR stations might seek to get Ed on the 12-3 spot before they'd replace Franken with Hartmann. Randi Rhodes ratings are definitely increasing on a steeper climb than Franken in a lot of places. She is also getting a lot of recognition with Democrats on Capitol Hill, which is going to get her better guests. I just wish she'd stop fawning over some of them.
 
Re: First you gloat, then you give advice

> Morning Sedition is the weakest entry in AAR's line-up; a
> program only a hard-core true-believer cult groupie could
> love. Any progressive talk station in a top 25 market that
> is not local in morning drive deserves red ink. Any station
> in a top 100 market that takes Morning Sedition in AM drive
> should be ashamed of itself.

Morning drive for many stations (especially the small upstart ones) are throwaway shifts. There is a great divide between the popular morning shows in the market and also-rans. Many news/talkers do terrible in morning drive, unless they're already the #1 or #2 in the market. Hell, there's quite a few of them running Don Imus, and that's getting really desperate. And I disagree with having to be local. In a perfect world, more shows would be local. But is any station that picks up a syndicated morning drive show a loser? What about FM stations that run Howard Stern? Granted, Morning Sedition isn't a bad show, but it's not AAR's strongest product. Stephanie Miller, who is in morning drive in West Coast markets (6-9), is a strong personality, and is light and entertaining enough for that shift. And for a station brand new to the format, at least they have a morning show already in place to start, giving them time to figure out the whole morning shift thing. This is an advantage with AAR being a 24/7 network. There's always programming to fill empty shifts for affiliates.

> Maybe Hartmann has not met with strong approval on AAR's
> board because (except for the recently started weekend "best
> of) he is not heard on AAR stations. Most likely, few
> hardcore fans of AAR have ever heard him (outside of
> Portland).

Hartmann's always had a following among the die-hards. Many remember him from the old I.E. America network (forerunner to AAR), along with Mike Malloy. When I.E. went belly-up, Hartmann syndicated his show on his own, and even had a few affiliates (though not a large number by any stretch). He even makes his show available to non-commercial stations, sans commercials.

> Big Ed has strong numbers (for progressive talk). But he
> doesn't have a forum on AAR's board. Fans go to AAR's board
> to talk about AAR. That leaves Ed out. I suspect that if
> Randi displaced Ed in PM drive you'd really hear a squawk.

Ed's not a part of AAR. And there's quite a few AAR boards. I've even seen at least one with a Schultz forum. And Ed's on quite a few non-AAR stations.

> Cult brands that listen only to their base, stay cult
> brands. AAR already reaches the people posting on their
> board. If they want to stay in business (and have an
> impact) they need to go beyond preaching to the choir and
> selling them bumper stickers.

That goes with any format. Too many armchair PD's that don't know what the hell they're talking about. Not that I'm saying anything about this place. I don't think they see themselves as a 'cult' brand. Let's face it, a guy like Jerry Springer is not preaching to the choir.

> Maybe AAR should model themselves more after the liberal
> hosts of KGO and KIRO - and maybe even the morning guy on
> KPOJ, Portland. These hosts have managed to break out of
> cult status and establish a broad audience base.

Seems like everything starts with a cult following. Rush started out this way too. As I've said before, AAR has grown pretty fast in the past year and a half. Who would have thought they'd be on 70 stations already, including a few flamethrower signals? These things always take time. The naysayers expected them to be on 200 or so signals by now, and hold them to ridiculous standards in order to put them down easily.<P ID="signature">______________
The Liberal Talk Radio Update</P>
 
I get KTLK here in LA. Morning Sedition is a great show--a lot of variety and informative guests. The only thing good about having to get up early is being able to catch the last hour or so of it. I also list to Stephanie Miller, which has supplanted MS from 6 to 9 am. It's a silly show, but still, when I check out what else is out there on AM drivetime...
 
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