Is 970AM Going Liberal Talk

[number one fan]

Is it true that WBLF is going liberal talk full time? Would it work in State College?

 

[wiifm]

I don't know if that's true or not. If so, it will not work in State College. For one thing, outside of the university, there aren't enough liberals here. And those who are here are probably well-entrenched NPR listeners.

 

[shilton]

Is it true that WBLF is going liberal talk full time? Would it work in State College?

Isn't Liberal Talk across America pretty much D.O.A.? I mean look at the success (not) of Air America. Doesn't seem to matter how low the President's popularity ratings go...seems that people just don't want to listen to liberal talk 24x7

 

[Snafu]

Liberal talk is a mess right now. There is nobody on the left that is organized with the money to lose for a while to make it work. Air America hadn't the first clue as to how to program a radio network and spent too much time looking for names rather than cultivating talents and ideas. Who knew who Rush Limbaugh and Roger Ailes were in 1989?

Consevative talk is not an accident and until someone with deep pockets can line up a couple of mouth pieces in larger markets like the RNC did back in the early 90s with Rush et al and is willing to lose the money at it that Scaife and Murdock did (and still do) then it won't work.

Just because you have something worthwhile to say doesn't mean anyone will listen to you saying it. Conversely even if you have nothing to say and say it convincingly enough people will listen.

 

[tsimpson]

I know that I love to catch Wes after Rush if I am in town, he is a bit to the left, but I cant hold that against him!

 

[amfmxm]

I don't know if that's true or not. If so, it will not work in State College. For one thing, outside of the university, there aren't enough liberals here. And those who are here are probably well-entrenched NPR listeners.

State College is a market where 10 percent of the audience is good for #1 or #2, so a huge chunk of humanity isn't needed to be successful. A small bunch (cume) that are rabid listeners (Time Spent Listening) turns into great AQH. Like them or hate them, liberals are rabid, just like conservatives.

The actual politics--the content--is irrelevant. It's the TSL that counts. Stations in formats with lots of similar competitors get their TSL chopped to bits (that's why Froggy had such great AQH when Country fans didn't have a choice). A liberal talk station would have incredible TSL (just like WRSC did before WBLF put Rush on). Nobody to share with.

WPSU runs Classical music 10 hours a day, from 9 to 3 and from 8 to midnight. And that's not going to change anytime soon. Liberals don't like Classical music any more than conservatives do.

WBLF's big problem is that the only daypart that can be heard in its entirety in State College 12 months a year is mid-day, and that's when they've got Rush. The liberal programs they have run have been on immediately after Rush (not a great lead-in to attract liberals) and they've usually been cut off at 5 for sports; or evenings when--half of the year--the only people who can hear 970 are in Bellefonte, a more conservative town.

Still they've been beating some of the FMs.

Liberal talk on FM in State College would kill. But that won't happen anytime soon, either.

 

[number one fan]

Now one of Air America's hosts says they have signed six or seven new stations. They already list 970 as one of their stations, even though it only carries one show (Thom Hartmann). I think State College would be a great market for liberal talk. Could somebody else pick it up?

 

[Becker]

It's a terrible idea because liberal radio just stinks to high Heaven. :-X

Not a big Ann Coulter fan but when she was quoted saying that "when liberals can't answer a question, they yell at you," she was right.

 

[Snafu]

Someone just quoted Ann Coulter. I think I'll go vomit now.

 

[Polonius]

...and the ones too stupid to yell, vomit.

 

[Snafu]

No actually having a negative reaction in any way, shape or form to anything originating from Coulter is proof of intelligent life. There is a long list of the things that prove this country on the down elevator to the devil's own playpen and her booksales is a top ten on that list.