"The entire period from :28 after to the net re-join, at about :34 after is a giant tune-out of PSAs and occasional spots."
That sort of thing is true of *MOST* Air America / Jones Progressive Talk stations nationwide. Some of the Air America *HOSTS* don't generate enough ratings to justify adverting revenue and a promotions budget. Hartmann/Schultz/Miller perform well on liberal stations, but Randi Rhodes, Rachel Maddow, Malloy, and the others not as well. Stations who DO decide to go with local liberal hosts do better, like KKZN/Denver with Jay Marvin, or KPOJ/Portland, with Hartmann who does a local show 6A-9A.
"No attempt is ever made to hold the listeners. Not a spec of imaginative local content. Community matters" near the top of the hour is about the dullest, most lifeless hash and waste of 60 seconds I've heard since college radio."
It's Air America's problem, since you'd say the same exact thing in any market. Some Air America hosts (you mention Mark Green, I mentioned Rachel Maddow and Randi Rhodes) aren't getting enough ratings. Randi gets pushed into the evenings on many stations, and Rachel's show sounds like NPR. Actually, both Randi and Rachel would sound MUCH better by doing just one simple thing - take more phone calls.
1090 might have been able to hire Mike Webb, but KIRO managers had their ridiculous tantrum in firing him *BEFORE* he had even had a chance to be seen in court, and then they give him a 12 month non compete. 1090 has one of the best liberal web pages with their GREEN PAGES and BLUE PAGES, and their forum, polls, etc. MIKE PRESTON, the voice of AM 1090 (V/P CHR CBS radio), does the best liners for any liberal station that I've ever heard, and people elsewhere listen on-line to 1090 for the imaging.
"Weekend programming is horrible, except for Sam Seder's show. The Mark Green
show on Air America is a bore."
Sam Seder has evolved over his 4 years with the network. Mark Green will be on 5 days a week in early September since the magazine show with Mark Ryley was cancelled a few weeks ago. Air America stations could also feature more traditional hosts on weekends instead of AAR's sequential one hour programs - perhaps Bob Brinker, Clark Howard, Bruce Dumont, etc. 1090 DOES have Clark Howard. Seems that KIRO has a conflict with Brinker vs. the Seahawks, does 1090 still have the Cougars? They're both 50,000 watts, so.......