Part 15 Progressive Talker in Atlanta

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

...... but I just disagree with liberals using the term "progressive" to describe their political ideology. Who says their positions more progressive than conservatives or libertarians?

After listening to the rhetoric of talk radio for the last 15 years, I gather that the majority of your peers object to the people on the left using a name that is positive, pleasant or respectable. Since the 1920s when we became aware of communism, there has been an effort to make sure we use a term to describe "those people" that are too close to the center and are to the left with a nasty, derisive, despicable term. Talk Radio and the Republican party have successfully arrived at the point where much of the American public sees the word LIBERAL as a grinding, ugly, illegitimate word.

Progressive simply means "willing (and maybe desire) to change". Conservative simply means "no change is a good thing" and libertarians simply means "leave me alone!"

If progressive is too progressive a description for your taste, offer us a substitute word..... but not one that has been fully stained and degraded in the common use of language by the non-progressive crowd.

 

[jabba17]

...... but I just disagree with liberals using the term "progressive" to describe their political ideology. Who says their positions more progressive than conservatives or libertarians?

After listening to the rhetoric of talk radio for the last 15 years, I gather that the majority of your peers object to the people on the left using a name that is positive, pleasant or respectable. Since the 1920s when we became aware of communism, there has been an effort to make sure we use a term to describe "those people" that are too close to the center and are to the left with a nasty, derisive, despicable term. Talk Radio and the Republican party have successfully arrived at the point where much of the American public sees the word LIBERAL as a grinding, ugly, illegitimate word.

Progressive simply means "willing (and maybe desire) to change". Conservative simply means "no change is a good thing" and libertarians simply means "leave me alone!"

If progressive is too progressive a description for your taste, offer us a substitute word..... but not one that has been fully stained and degraded in the common use of language by the non-progressive crowd.

Without going too far afield and forgive me for going OT, but I think the problem most non-progressives have with the term "progressive" is that:

1) It portrays progressives as being the only ones for "progress" or "change" as a virtue
2) It portrays all "liberal" viewpoints as representing "progress" (which is debatable-I'm being serious and not sarcastic), and nonliberal viewpoints as being retrograde or primitive
3) It portrays progress (in the form of change) as an unalloyed good

This is not to say, of course, that you couldn't make similar arguments against the terms "conservative", "libertarian", etc. But conceit is still conceit, no matter where in the multidimensional political gamut you sit.

Lastly, as a glib aside, there are still some conservatives and libertarians who hold a grudge against progressives for co-opting the term "liberal", which originally meant a libertarianesque viewpoint (as in "classical liberal").

 

[DashRiprock]

What's wrong with a simple left or right wing?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

What's wrong with a simple left or right wing?

What's wrong is that life is not that simple and ONE-dimensional.

Even this description is over simplified, but, I am a social liberal, a moral conservative, and economic conservative, a religious centrist embracing some left of center theological views but holding to conservative church polity. I expect strict accountability and stewardship in the implementation of government functions and I expect creativity and experimentation in foreign affairs.

So if we establish Radio Station R along the lines of today's typical Talk Radio with Limbaugh & clones, and Radio Station L along the lines of Air America, am I likely to every hear a discussion on EITHER station that I would find worth recommending to my friends?

Am I Left Wing or am I Right Wing. :

 

[trusty]

I'm surprised that everyone's favorite 50kW station, WGUN, hasn't given liberal progressive talk a try.

Either there is NO, NADA, ZIP, ZILCH market for progtalk, or...

Which is a shame. While I disagree with most commie prog viewpoints, they deserve to be heard. And Randi Rhodes isn't that bad.

Now, from that link, this was funny:

Air America nearly escaped bankruptcy in 2007, but despite being purchased by new owners, Atlanta did not re-establish a local affiliate because right-wing Clear Channel Communications owns most of the market, Sander Bellman, East Cobb County activist and a colleague of Sinton's wrote in a 2007 email obtained by Atlanta Progressive News.

Anybody want fries with that whopper? :

Either this guy is so deluded as to think that, but for ideology, someone is going to dare to put progtalk on an FM signal (although it might pull more share than the Bull ;D ), or "most of the market" consists of WGST and that other CC daytimer AM out of Hogansville (another one of those southside stations that no one listens to ).

The words "Clear Channel", "owns", "Atlanta", and "market" generally do not belong in the same sentence. Although you could write "Cox and Radio One pwn CC in the ATL market".

Another gross error was that "... Atlanta did not re-establish a local affiliate because right-wing Clear Channel Communications owns most of the market..."

IIRC, didn't clear channel change a bunch of its stations to Air America a few years ago?

 

[Nate Wesley]

I'd like to point out that while it may seem this part-15 radio effort might seem rinky dink to some, it isn't that unprecedented for a radio network to partner with such broadcasters. Fox Sports Radio in Flagstaff, AZ operates on 1650 and a local cable channel:

http://www.foxsports1650.com/


If I were in charge of Air America Media, I'd be pushing hard to expand my reach through HD Radio. Long term, being the secondary programming on an FM's HD-2 channel might be better than being the primary content on a small AM station. Cross-promote with a format or station with the similar demos--I think that would work. In Atlanta, that might be Dave-FM or possibly The River, I don't know.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Well, WEBS (1030) in Calhoun, which has 3 watts at night, will be 3,000 times more powerful than somebody!

WEBS, by the way, (owns &) simulcasts on the local cable system.

 

[wanderling]

Situations like this make it very obviousl that someone who does not understand broadcasting is trying to get into it. What don't people in general understand? If there is money to be made in a format, it will be on the air. Milliwatt transmitters are about as far as he'll ever get with this.

You'd be suprised at how much this person may know about radio. Maybe there is something there that everyone else is not picking up on. I can speak honestly about this as I am the person footing the bill for this progressive (or liberal if you prefer) part 15 station. I have over 17 years of experience in broadcasting and successful business management experience, working at some of Atlanta's top rated stations. With the Atlanta airwaves blanketed with conservative talk, I feel that there is a huge hole in the market for this format. The thing I want to focus on here is a level of radio programming that you don't get in a market dominated by clusters owned by the "big boys". That level is community focused radio that pays attention to what the listeners want to hear and provides it. I'm not in this to be a millionaire. I just want to provide a good product. Keep in mind that Ted Turner launched CNN from the basement of his home and MTV launched from a hotel room.

 

[jabba17]

...The thing I want to focus on here is a level of radio programming that you don't get in a market dominated by clusters owned by the "big boys". ... Keep in mind that Ted Turner launched CNN from the basement of his home and MTV launched from a hotel room.

There are 5 "dominant" AM stations in ATL (those that show up in Arbitron): WSB (Cox), WCNN (Dickey), WQXI (Lincoln), WGKA (Salem), and WGST (CC). Of this group of owners, only Dickey and Salem own more than one AM in Atlanta. Two of these stations are sportstalk, not conservative talk. Only WSB regularly breaks a 3 (and in many cases a 2) share. That leaves the rest of the AM band...a lot of which is Latino programming and/or religious. From AccessAtlanta:

550 WDUN News/talk www.wdun.com
590 WDWD Radio Disney
610 WPLO Spanish
640 WGST News/talk www.wgst.com
680 WCNN Sports/talk www.680thefan.com
750 WSB News/talk www.wsbradio.com
790 WQXI Sports/talk www.790thezone.com
860 WAEC Christian www.waeclove86.com
920 WGKA News/talk www.920wgka.com
970 WNIV Christian talk www.wniv.com
1010 WGUN Variety
1040 WPBS Spanish religious
1080 WFTD Regional Mexican music
1100 WWWE Spanish religious
1160 WCFO Business talk www.am1160.net
1190 WAFS Spanish contemproary
1230 WFOM News/talk (simulcast with 1380)
1260 WTJH Gospel
1310 WPBC Korean
1340 WALR ESPN Spanish
1380 WAOK News/talk www.waok.com
1400 WNIV Christian talk www.wniv.com
1410 WKKP Southern gospel
1420 WATB Spanish
1430 WGFS Oldies www.wgfs.com
1440 WGMI Southern Gospel www.wgmiradio.com
1460 WXEM Spanish
1480 WYZE Gospel
1500 WDPC Gospel
1520 WDCY Gospel
1550 WAZX Hispanic www.radiolaquebuena.com
1570 WSSA Christian www.wssathelight1570am.com
1600 WAOS Spanish www.radiolafavorita.com
1690 WMLB Eclectic www.1690wmlb.com

At least 2 of these stations not mentioned earlier have 50kW day signals (1160 and WGUN 1010). WATB is moving to 1430 and 50kW as well.

My point is, is that the AM band is not "dominated" by "big boys". Most of these stations are owned by smalltime owners.

Also, CNN was not started by Ted Turner in his basement, per se. Ted Turner was already sending WTCG/WTBS Channel 17 to cable systems around the country as early as 1976, so he was already a presence in the cable business. Similarly, MTV was started by WASEC (Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment Co., a joint venture between Warner Bros. and American Express), alongside other WASEC channels like Nick and The Movie Channel. Not exactly what I would call "basement" or "garage" operations.

Do I think there's a hole for progtalk? Ideologically, yes. Market-wise, I'm not so sure. Cox tried it back in the late 80s/early 90s (Mike Malloy, et al.) on WSB, as an ideological foil to Rush and Boortz on WGST. If they couldn't sell progtalk in ATL on a 50kW clear channel blowtorch, I doubt anyone could. Although, you could make the argument that progtalk on the most powerful AM in the market is overkill.

I wish you luck and success.

 

[taylorengineer]

Liberal talk would make a fine niche format for a station like WGUN or 1160.
I did contract engineering work for 1690 when it was AirAmerica. We had Al Franken at the Variety Playhouse, in Little Five Points, for a remote broadcast of his show one Thursday afternoon. You should have seen the line of people who DIDN"T get inside. Inside the house it was packed...... 6-700 people I'm guessing.
These people had real jobs too! Coats and ties, baby strollers, laptops......these were not "hippie-skum" that some stereotype as the typical lib-talk listener. These people were choice demos.....upper income, educated, in-town YUPPIES 25-54.......the kind of listeners advertisers pay BIG money to get.
1690 could have been a viable operation had the ownership been interested in actually operating the station for profit. There was profit....but it came from the sale.
The part 15 idea isn't going to give the coverage some are thinking they will get.....but there are real, somewhat usable AM signals making little money that could be used.
Mike Malloy, who lives within walking distance of WGUN's studios, should go see the WGUN ownership.(WGUN owner lives in Atlanta now....Kathy Bay Malloy - are you reading this) Put together a workable format and find a couple of guys/gals who can sell. I swear with my hand on the bible this format would make reasonable money....not WSB kinda' money but still enough to put a big pretty smile on Georgia's face.
Don't waste time and money with this puddle jumper radio idea. Invest your time, money, and energy into an LMA with a REAL radio station somewhere in Atlanta with a reasonable chance at success.

 

[DToTheJ]

1100 WWWE Spanish religious

You know, once I saw these call letters leave this frequency in Cleveland, I never thought I'd see them reassigned to the exact same frequency - and with such a format, no less!