I guess you jumped at the prelim data too, huh? tsk tsk
Seems not only was the data cherry picked, it ain’t quite true, now is it?

There are no radio or political bona fides in the vicinity and they are all just whining heads spewing half truths and outright lies.

blah blah blah

> The extraps from the May Arbitrons show that the April
> success AA seemed to have had was short-lived. 12+ went from
> a 1/5 in April to a 1.3 in May; this is the same level the
> station had doing its formet Caribbean format.
>
> WLIB declined, and in 25-54, they lost even more, going from
> a 2.3 in April to a 1.5 in May. Franken’s show went from a
> 3.4 to a 1.6 in 25-54.
>
> Again, these are extrapolations, not full 12-week trends.
> They are calculated based on the Mar-Apr-May trend issued on
> Friday.

So the April bump was 0.2 or 13% among 12+, 0.8 or 35% in the demo, and 1.8 or 53% during Unfiltered and Franken’s show (10-3) in the demo. Do you have numbers for Randi Rhodes, as well as 18-34s? I know 18-34s were unusually strong in the April extraps, and the fact that 12+ only shed 13% while 25-54 fell by 35% might indicate that there’s strength in another demo. And I never saw April numbers for Randi in NY, but hers was the top-rated program in Portland, so that popularity might be reflected in Randi’s home city. The fact that Franken’s show fell 53% while total day figures in the demo fell 35% might indicate there’s strength in some other daypart.

And what do you think the April bump, at least among 25-54, represented? Just a bunch of conservatives tuning in out of curiosity and leaving, or a real audience for liberal radio that Air America just wasn’t able to maintain?

I need to chime in to echo the previous post. It seems your assessment was over-generous. As of July 16, 2004, the Arbitron shows that AA’s ratings are in the toilet where they belong. No doubt soon they will be silenced by commercial force majeure.

It’s a shame, really, because the more Americans who are exposed to the lunacy of Franken, Rhodes and those other morons, the more this country will tilt to the right.

Still, I do revel in Franken’s failure, seeing as he staked his all in the venture.

Yours gleefully,
Flashman

Ditto (to the messages above.)

Sources, fellas. No one will believe you without a source. And did you do a study of the demographics, which is vital for advertising?

HA! “sources fellas”.

Luis is drowning. Someone toss him a life ring.

…And still no sources, not even specifics. I’m not the one drowning here, bub. The Arbitron ratings have not been openly published specifically anywhere that I can find, which means that the mystery poster above probably got his info via Sean Hannity or some other right-wing source–which is why they lamely fail to provide the source. I’m not saying that the ratings are high or low, I’m saying that the claim is to be considered bogus until supported by evidence.

It’s a common feature by dittoheads who comment here to never back up their claims with a source. One guy claimed that Bill Clinton sold nuclear technology to North Korea, and gave no source; turns out the claim was fantasy. Another guy, commenting on the Air America Radio ratings, claimed that AAR was 25th in the market, but gave no source; after researching his claim, it turns out he was quoting (actually plagiarizing, as he practically cut and pasted his comment without citations) ratings for WLIB before Air America even started broadcasting; further he did not consider demographics, even if the ratings had been relevant–and I found that he had gotten the info from a biased right-wing source, which is probably why he did not cite it. These rather pathetic claims are the norm for right-wing comment makers, rather than the exception.

Given that history, when yet another dittohead shows up with a hit-and-run comment with no specifics and no cited source, I consider it to be just so much more BS. Maybe the ratings were good, maybe they were bad. Maybe the network will be here for the long run, maybe not. But if you make a claim to bring information but got no sources, then you’re not worth listening to, period.

“In the toilet,” Ha.

According to sources, Franken came in with a 2.2 in the golden 25-54 demographic, just slightly behind Limbaugh’s 2.7–and considering that it took Limbaugh five years at WABC to climb to those kinds of numbers, Franken getting that close in three months is saying a great deal. Not the trouncing that was hoped for, but still a strong showing, making the “toilet” rumors out to be the manure I suspected them to be.

And AAR did even better elsewhere–The Majority Report, airing in the early evening, scored a 2.9 rating in the key demographic, winning the #1 talk radio position in that time slot, against Laura Ingraham on WABC (2.7) and Michael Savage on WOR (a lousy 1.2).

For a station that’s supposedly in the toilet, they’re doing fantastic, even beating out popular conservative hosts, and inches away from the top.

Is that sweat I see on your foreheads, gents?

These right-wing tactics are nothing new. In actuality, they mirror the comments made by right-wing radio and TV. Bill O’Reilly made similiar comments about how Air America Radio was doing poorly and would be gone soon without a single ounce of evidence to support the claim. But it’s nothing new and we should hardly be surprised. The right-wing doesn’t let pesky little things like facts get in the way of beliefs. Look at the way our commander and chief talks about Iraq and Afghanistan. As Naomi Klein accurately wrote “When facts threaten true believers, they simply close their eyes and pray harder.”

NONE of you posted sources. Not the people saying Air America is doing great, not the people saying Air America is doing horrible. All some of you did was reference OTHER bloggers. That isn’t a source. You guys all stink.

Air America might be doing good, it might be doing poorly. None of you know. I sure don’t after reading this pointless blog + comments.

From Drudge – AIR AMERICA’ RATINGS TURBULENCE IN NY CITY: Surprising many observers who expected it to shine during election season, all-liberal upstart WLIB (1190 AM) — base station for Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo — actually headed south, shedding 15% of its summer audience to finish fall at 24th place in just-released ARBITRONS…

so much for the whiney liberal network.

Air America 1.2 in NY and going down.
Check it out http://www.nationalreview.com
You have to love it. The only way they can
continue is to become the new PBS and get govenment money
to support themselves. When the freemarket decides, the democrates continue to lose. Best Wishes Holt

Holt: Again, a right-wing rag selectively picking ratings. =Yawn.= What a surprise.

If you’ll note, at a time when WABC had a 3.7 overall and WLIB had a 1.3 overall, Al Franken was nonetheless trouncing Rush Limbaugh in the prime demographic of listeners 18-34, with Franken getting a 2.9 and Limbaugh a lousy 0.4! Franken brought in a huge number of younger listeners, while Limbaugh brought in the old fogies–who are worth much less to advertisers. Note that York never mentioned the 18-34 range, an even more key demographic than 25-52. Limbaugh always performed better in the 25-52, but terribly in 18-34–where Franken was the opposite. And more money was there.

But if you like overall ratings like York starts out with, the quarterly overalls between Fall and Winter show that Air America stood steady with a 1.2, while Rush Limbaugh’s WABC plummeted from 4.5 to 3.5 during the same time period. York’s right-wing attack piece on AAR chortled about it dropping from 1.3 at the start to 1.2 a year later–an 8% drop–which in one quarter WABC slid almost 25%! He didn’t mention that, did he? Even taken over the same time period, one year, WABC slipped 6% while WLIB slipped 8%. If AAR is going down the tubes, then WABC must be also–OR perhaps it reflects a general dip in the listening audience for talk radio overall. See how the overall numbers can be skewed to say anything you want? Which is why they’re useless.

The York article is so selective in exactly which numbers it pulls and which it ignores that it only demonmstrates the writer’s bias, and not any actual demonstration of ratings. Show me the raw numbers and then we can talk.

Who cares about ratings? I started listening to AAR in 12/04, and I am hooked.People are going to tune in if they like what they are hearing, ratings bashing is not going to change their mind. Hey rightwing nuts stop trying to brainwash the country.

GO TO RADIO ONLINE FOR THE SOURCE. AIR AMERICA RATINGS ARE SINKING. THEY SHOULD THROW THAT SOUR APPLE SPEWING HELLION-RANDI RHODES OVERBOARD.

For years I simply didn’t listen to radio or watch TV, at all. What I heard seemed to me to be just a bunch of propaganda, sans facts, sans rationale, and without any opposing viewpoints or critical questioning. It had the smell of lies each and every last bit of it. I got my news on the Internet from various sources, picking little bits out wherever I found them that seemed credible taking into account the perceived bias of the source. I don’t believe in anything or anyone by default. I compare data I’ve read in the past with what’s available today. I’ve been listening critically to Air America Radio since shortly after they began broadcasting and I gotta say that for the majority of subjects Air America Radio has been interpreting the days events correctly. Their skepticism has proven to be justified (no WMD’s for one but there are lots of other examples).

Their analysis has in the end turned out to be accurate when the dust settled. That’s in marked contrast to the rest of the media. It doesn’t matter to me whether they’re Lying or simply Wrong. What does matter is that the view of the world that the media (other than AAR) is conveying is FALSE. Their intent doesn’t make much difference when you look at the basic fact that the view of the world they’re conveying ISN’T REAL. Personally I’d prefer to spend my time focussing on factual data and hearing opinions that have historically turned out to be correct. Anything else is just self-delusion.

PJ

The latest numbers show Air America holding steady at 1.2 overall, while WABC continues to slide. In Miami, they added on .1. In Denver, they’re holding steady, while the right wing talk dropped 1.4 points. In LA, AAR is up a touch and the right wing talk is down .4.

Between the hours of 10 A.M. and 3 P.M., the period that includes Al Franken’s program, Air America drew a 1.4-percent share of the New York audience aged 25 to 54 in Winter 2005. That number is the latest in a nearly year-long decline. In Spring of 2004, Air America’s first quarter on the air, it drew a 2.2-percent share of the audience. That rose to 2.3 percent in the Summer of 2004, then fell to 1.6 percent in the Fall of 2004, and is now 1.4 percent � Air America’s lowest-ever quarterly rating in that time and demographic slot.

The ratings also show WABC radio, which airs Rush Limbaugh, consistently beating Air America in New York City even though Franken had at one time claimed to be beating the conservative host there. In the 10 a.m. to 3 P.M. period in the Winter of 2005, WABC (and Limbaugh) won 2.7 percent of the audience to Air America’s 1.4 percent. In Spring 2004, WABC beat Air America 2.7 percent to 2.2 percent. In Summer 2004, WABC won 2.7 percent to 2.3 percent. In Fall 2004, WABC won 3.6 percent to 1.6 percent.

Baghdad Betty can be distinguished from Tokyo Rose for one very salient reason. Baghdad Betty does not broadcast from Iraq –she broadcasts from New York City.

World War II gave us Tokyo Rose, the Japanese radio broadcaster whose job it was to demoralize American troops. Seoul City Sue did the same thing for the North Korean communists during the Korean War. Hanoi Hanna was the Vietnamese communist version.

Today we have Baghdad Betty. However, Baghdad Betty can be distinguished from the aforementioned for one very salient reason. Baghdad Betty does not broadcast from Iraq — she broadcasts from New York.

Baghdad Betty aka Randi Rhodes is one of Air America�s premier talk show hosts. Actually, Randi Rhodes is a nome de microphone. According to a recent Ann Coulter column, her real name is a secret.

I first heard Rhodes about a year ago during a trip to Fort Lauderdale. After about twenty minutes of her repeating Bush and Nazi I realized she was incapable of an original thought so I changed the station.

I have not listened to Air America since I wrote about the network when it first began broadcasting. I felt it might be interesting to get their current perspective. So I tuned in recently to listen.

I began with the 10 AM show of Lizz Winsted and Rachel Maddow. I skipped the noontime Al Franken show and returned for Baghdad Betty/Randi Rhodes. What I heard was a rebroadcast of her show of several weeks earlier. Listening to Baghdad Betty�s dialogue with a caller named Dave and her subsequent monologue I learned:

�We (the United States) invaded an unarmed country (Iraq).�

�We (US) bombed the hell out of �unarmed country ( Iraq).�

�They (Iraq) had no air force�

�We (US military) are torturing the people we went to liberate (Iraqis).�

�They (the Iraqi people) waited a year for us to take care of them. We didn�t. Then they found out about us torturing people that is what created the insurgency.�

�Every single solitary military guy,� said there were not sufficient troops in Iraq.

Just imagine: all this disinformation was from just one show. One can only imagine what Baghdad Betty says on a regular basis. Her rant was pure propaganda. One only wonders if she is a dupe of the antiwar crowd or intentionally deceiving people.

Whichever it is none of what she said was true. For example:

If Iraq were an �unarmed country� as she said, then maybe she could explain how Lance Corporal Andrew Julian Aviles was killed when an Iraqi artillery round struck his amphibious assault vehicle on April 7, 2003.

If we did �bomb the hell out of an unarmed country� then she should explain the December 1998 CNN report stating, �Iraqi forces would shoot at warplanes patrolling the no-fly zones.�

If Iraq did not have an air force as Baghdad Betty says, then why did the December 2002 Daily Telegraph say, �An Iraqi warplane shot down an unmanned US surveillance drone yesterday, threatening to escalate the tension in the region as America builds up its forces for a possible war early next year. Why did a 2001 UPI story claim, �Since December 1998� [there are] more than 160 incidents of Iraqi aircraft violating the zones.�

Baghdad Betty claimed the Iraqi people waited for a year for us to do something to help them then, when we did not help them, and seeing the photographs from Abu Ghraib, the insurgency began. If this were true why is it that the November 13, 2004 New York Times reported, �nearly 18 months after the Iraq insurgency began in May 2003.� (italics mine) Why is it that the nonprofit think tank Jamestown Foundation wrote on June 17, 2004, �insurgency began in May 2003 with the outbreak of violence by the Sunni Arab population.�

According to Baghdad Betty, we are torturing the people we were liberating.

Does she think SSGT Joseph Darby was torturing prisoners? He was the person who told officials about the illegal conduct by guards at Abu Ghraib. What about all the other troops who investigated and prosecuted these abuses? Are they all guilty of torturing innocent Iraqis or Iraqi prisoners.

She also said that �every single solitary military person, �said more troops were needed. Yet, General Tommy Franks was quoted as saying July 7, 2003, �more troops not needed for Iraq.�

Baghdad Betty said we do not have any trouble murdering people in this country, while drawing the parallel to capital punishment here and the snuff films broadcast by the terrorists.

There is a report that she once advocated the assassination of President Bush during her broadcast.

Her biography says she was in the Air Force. If this is to be believed her insulting of the military is outrageous. Her biography also says she is a �smoky-voiced Brooklyn native� (This explains why I thought she was merely doing a bad imitation of Barbra Streisand).

She is completely without credibility. Randi �Baghdad Betty� Rhodes is to talk radio what �Tikrit� Teddy Rall, who said Pat Tillman was an idiot, is to newspaper cartoons.

They are fools.

http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200504261400.asp

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/19/AR2005101902345.html

I think Luis, or any other folks who remain convinced for Air Americas strength take a peek at those documents — is this the proof you need?

Are you joking? Not even close.

I mean, jeez. Yawn. Yet more links to articles with completely misleading “facts.” The NRO is a right-wing rag, and York’s article is yet another right-winger regurgitating the same old tired and deliberately dishonest out-of-context excerpts from the ratings, mixing and matching cherry-picked numbers–completely ignoring demographics, the end-all-be-all of ratings–in order to create the worst possible image. The WaPo article, meanwhile, references one station out of a network of 70 stations–tell me, if it’s such a disaster, why is AAR picking up more and more stations every month? What, are they suicidal?

You guys are like the Apple Computer naysayers–constantly ignoring reality for the sake of attacking a favorite target, constantly predicting imminent demise, and then it comes up from behind and bites you in the ass. Apple’s still there and is poised to make huge gains. Give AAR the same amount of time it took Limbaugh to gain popularity (more than five years) and then come back and we’ll talk.

Until then, go ahead, post even more links to wingnut blathering and out-of-context snippets. I’ll sit here and watch the network grow and change the face of radio. In the end, all your premature fantasizing won’t change a thing.

And oh yeah, even those non-demographic Arbitron numbers you all like to quote don’t support you. AAR has risen in the ratings in NY, and the previous decline in numbers over the past year almost exactly matched the decline in listeners for WABC, Limbaugh’s station–yet I don’t hear the wingnuts predicting their demise, even though they had farther to fall and lost more overall listeners during the same period. But as I’ve pointed out, overalls are meaningless. The money lies in demographics–and AAR appeals to the golden demos better than their conservative counterparts.

Hi,

I will try to see if I can locate Arbitron ratings. I would like to know the facts. I would also like to know if there are any Air America stations in my market area, (Atlanta, Athens). I can find that on my own but any help would be appreciated. I would really like to hear the programming before I comment on it.

Unfortunately, only overall Arbitron ratings are available on the web; yuou have to subscribe and pay quite a bit I assume to get the detailed ratings, which show the demographics which are the only ratings that matter.

Anyone have those handy?

http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRRatings/

I think Luis, or any other folks who remain convinced for Air Americas strength take a peek at those documents — is this the proof you need?

Posted by: Marc at October 27, 2005 02:08 AM
*********************************************************
Marc, let them keep their illusions let them believe AA
is doing wonderfully, the results could be that more and more hopeful progressives will be conned out of their money by invest in AA scams, this will have two results that are to be desired.

No more charities need be gutted and destroyed to keep them afloat

and

Every dime sent down the AA money hole will be one that cannot be used for campaigns in the next elections.