Air America Radio's Self-Delusion

The National Debate
April 29, 2005

I finally got the Air America newsletter I signed up for a year ago and find a mention of a Letter to the Editor sent by the head honco over there.

They are upset about an OP-ED published in the LA Times last week, Why the Liberals Can't Keep Air America From Spiraling In. The newsletter screams AAR writes CEO Danny Goldberg Sets the Record Straight. Danny's letter, "Radio's Air America Is Finding an Audience," appeared in the L.A. times on April 23, and answers right wing critics with the facts.

Re "Why the Liberals Can't Keep Air America From Spiraling In,"
Brian Anderson's attack on Air America Radio is petulant and inaccurate, an indication that conservatives are having a hard time dealing with a robust alternative to the monopoly they had on talk radio since the 1980s. Regardless of how much Anderson and his ilk whistle past the graveyard, there is a large and growing audience for liberal talk. Every one of the original stations that picked up Air America has experienced dramatic increases in ratings. Our audience more than quadrupled what it was just nine months ago. We are on in 53 markets, including 16 of the top 20. A recent study by the independent Paragon Media showed that in markets where we are on the air, the names Al Franken and Air America have a greater familiarity than any other talk-radio names except Rush Limbaugh. Our Internet stream reaches 1.3 million separate listeners a week, more than any conservative show. Is Air America having an impact? Ask Tom DeLay.

Danny Goldberg
CEO, Air America Radio
New York

Let's take a quick look at Air America Radio's version of "setting the record straight".

"there is a large and growing audience for liberal talk"

Well, there be a large audience for liberal talk but it is not growing. The audience for liberal talk radio is what it is. What might be growing is the percentage of that audience that is listening to that audience. That percentage is certainly is growing because Air America Radio has gone from 5 to 53 stations since it launched so it's reach has grown. Also, after some fits and starts the webcast has grown. Their audience will continue to grow as they are working with Clear Channel and signed a deal with XM Broadcasting. No one will know what the size of the potential audience until Air America Radio is available in all or close to all markets.

"Every one of the original stations that picked up Air America has experienced dramatic increases in ratings."

How can this be true when 2 of the 5 original stations yanked Air America Radio off the air for failing to pay their bills - Chicago and LA? It can't be true unless Goldberg is ignoring 2 of the three biggest markets they started in or picking some arbitrary starting point. Most likely what Goldberg is doing is shifting ground zero from the day Air America Radio launched, March 31, 2004 to some other day like the day the company was recapitalized with new management and a new corporate ownership (due to the fact that someone was playing fast and loose with the financing).

"Our audience more than quadrupled what it was just nine months ago."

Why nine months? Why not ten? Most companies look at their performance on an annual basis and a quarter-to-quarter annual basis. What was happening nine months ago that makes that the benchmark for Goldberg's claims. Nine months ago was July 2004 which was about the time the company was recapitalized lending credence to my suspicion above. So really there are TWO Air Americas When it suits them they measure growth from the launch date of March 31, 2004 and when it doesn't they use the data the new corporate structure was formalized.

"We are on in 53 markets, including 16 of the top 20"

That's great but meaningless. In the largest radio market, New York, Air America Radio is on WLIB, a 10,000 watt radio station during the day when Air America Radio has leased time from the station to broadcast their programming. I live about 15 miles from their transmitter and struggle to get a clear signal from their station on my car radio. Rush Limbaugh broadcasts on 50,000 watt WABC which I can hear loud and clear anywhere within 50 miles of Manhattan. At night I have picked up WABC in Canada, Michigan and Florida. Air America Radio's NY station can't be heard past Staten Island. Size counts. As in antenna size and AAR does not measure up.

"\where we are on the air, the names Al Franken and Air America have a greater familiarity than any other talk-radio names except Rush Limbaugh"

As was noted in the article Goldman derides Air America Radio "has probably enjoyed more free publicity than any enterprise in recent history". No radio network has ever received the kind of publicity given to Air America Radio. And it may well be true that Paragon found that awareness of the name Al Franken is higher than most radio hosts in their markets but that is not BECAUSE of Air America Radio but in spite of it. Al Franken is a published author who garnered huge media attention from the likes of The New York Times playing gadfly to cable new king Bill O'Reilly and talk radio king Rush Limbaugh. Franken is a a movie and TV personality with a number of films to his credit and a long history with Saturday Night Live. Franken was a known commodity long before AAR went on the air.

"Our Internet stream reaches 1.3 million separate listeners a week...more than any conservative show"

Given that AAR is on the air seven days a week it means that they have about 200,000 people a day who click on the link for the AAR stream. Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit gets twice that number of a bad day. It also says nothing about long they stay connected. It is also a function of the fact that for most parts of the country the webcast is the ONLY way to hear the show.

"Is Air America having an impact? Ask Tom DeLay."

This must be Goldman's idea of a joke unless he actually believes that Air America Radio is driiving the media feeding frenzy over Tom Delay.

If you'd like a more realistic assement of Air America Radio try Byron York's take in the National Review Online

York has the latest Arbitron ratings for New York, one of three original AAR stations still on the air. If you are interested in reality instead of hype here it is black and white:

Percent share of all listeners 12 years and older

WLIB/Carribean music format
Winter 2004 - 1.3

WLIB/Liberal talk radio format
Spring 2004 - 1.3
Summer 2004 - 1.4
Fall 2004 - 1.2
Winter 2005 - 1.2

In other words, listeners who tuned in to Air America Radio in its first few months in the wake of a massive, earned-media campaign (i.e. their lefy media friends covered them non-stop for months) begin tuning out in the months leading up to the 2004 election when every other political media outlet was showing a huge upsurge in ratings and traffic. From a peak in the Summer of 2004, Air America Radio dropped 14.3%.

Now circle back to Goldman's claims that Air America Radio has been increasing its audience over the past 9 months. The reality is that Air America Radio is getting more listeners by broadcasting in more markets not by growing its audience in existing markets. In markets where it has been broadcasting for 9 months its ratings have been dropping.

The bottom line - just like most of what you hear on Air America Radio, you can't believe what they say about themselves anymore than you can believe what they say about others.

Rock on!