Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Air America Phoenix


It's a sad day ... the last day for Air America Phoenix. Or at least the last day at it's current digs, 1010 KXXT. Rumored to be off the air by the end of January, the actual end date was today. KXXT was sold to a Christian broadcasting company. Is the sale just business (it was sold for twice what stations of it's size usually go for) or is there something more nefarious going on? There are already 8 Christian broadcasting stations in the Valley. Bringing another one in seems ludicrous. From strictly a business standpoint, wouldn't you rather be the only station of your type in the 6th largest metropolitan area in the country? Air America has had done a great job of becoming profitable in just over a year. Other major news outlets in the Valley, like KFYI, took years to get to the same point. In a town of conservatives, KXXT, gets better ratings than the local homes of Laura Ingraham and Michael Medved,The Patriot and Michael Savage, KFNX.

This whole thing reeks of politics instead of ratings. Like the Armed Forces Radio fiasco of last year, righties are afraid of an open forum of ideas. They're looking for sycophants instead of debate.

The station manager promises that Air America Phoenix will find a new home. There is a banner on their website, KXXT, indicating a special announcement at a listener appreciation party tonight. We can only hope it is an announcement of a new home. In the meantime, it'll be internet streaming for me and:

Air America Radio

Ed Schultz

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tangentially related but I was taking a rare cruise around the radio dial a couple nights ago and ended up on fundamentalist christian radio.. and it's exactly like you expected. The mental caricture I'd built up in my mind was exactly what they were playing.

Weirdest thing. You're supposed to hear it and think that you've got them wrong and they're not so different. But nope, they're just as nuts as they seem.

dbackdad said...

I do the same thing with the religious channels on cable TV. I stop just to see what they talk about ... and they are every bit as unhinged as you are afraid they are. They truly do a disservice to serious Christians.

Laura said...

You're braver than I guys... I can't stomach listening to that crap.

I'm sure the broadcasting company was strongarmed. You're supposed to believe that it had higher ratings for the novelty factor, not because people actually agreed with what was being said. And that there's really no demand for commie radio.

Yours lasted longer than Chicago's.

dbackdad said...

This was posted on their site last night:

a message from air america phoenix
February 28th, 2006
Dear Friends of Air America Phoenix,

Thank you to the staff, the listeners and the clients for all you’ve done in the past 17 months.

You helped take an unrated, unprofitable AM radio station and pushed it to a tie for 3rd place out of 25 AM stations in Phoenix. You took that same AM station and made it profitable in less than a year and even after the sale was announced you stood by Air America Phoenix and we kept on making money even when our future was in doubt and we didn’t know when our “plug” was going to be pulled. In fact, the last month we were on the air was the 3rd best month we’ve had financially!

Air America Phoenix has now disappeared into the ether and Phoenix is left with multiple Christian formats, some in English and others in Spanish, several “brokered’ time stations (you know the radio stations selling you vitamins, good bowel movements and financial advice) a bagful of right wing “Conservative Talk stations” featuring Rush, Sean, Laura, Bill Bennett, Savage, Medved and all of their local imitators, three “Sports Talk” stations that live off the largess of their sister stations in the big corporate clusters that dominate the dial in Phoenix. Is anyone enjoying Tony Snow on KTAR…did anyone ask for him? And there are 3 “nostalgia” stations on AM and another on the FM dial. (The inside radio joke on nostalgia is that listeners are “dying” for it!) CBS’ new “Free” FM is another station loaded with sophomoric chatter, but without the interruption of overplayed songs! Free FM is a continuous loop of bad FM morning show humor 24 hours a day! CBS should have stood by Howard Stern and they will regret the day they didn’t!

Phoenix has 60 odd radio signals on the AM and FM dial and the best of those signals are owned by four companies; CBS, Clear Channel, Bonneville and Sandusky, they play it safe and considering the level of investment, it is certainly understandable. Innovation and change has to come from the smaller clusters and the one and two station owners. Will they innovate? Take a chance like we did with KXXT? Probably not, they never have and they never will, like the classic definition of insanity they “continue to do the same thing over and over expecting different results”! Only a special company like James Crystal would let me take the chance, Thanks, Jim!

Over the past 4 months I have tried to raise the money to buy a new station for Air America Phoenix. We made offers on 2 stations; one didn’t have an adequate signal to insure success and the other was laughably over priced. I have talked to more BS artists and rich guys who pretend they want to get “involved” and “progressive” venture firms that live in the world of “new media” and think that good old terrestrial radio, the kind that everyone has access to and is free 24/7, is so “over”! When I finally put together the right banker and the right investors, we were out of time! I’m mad at myself for wasting time with the charlatans, the BS artists and the dreamers. I’m also worn out and I have to publicly apologize to the love of my life, Jan, for being so damn grumpy and short since last fall. Baby, you have been just great, thank you!

I need to thank all the great network people; Al, Mike, Stephanie, Sam and Jeanine. And of course my friend Ed Schultz who was the first on and signed! And Randi…I always love you more!

This has been the single best experience I’ve had in broadcasting, better than being number one in Boston! KXXT has simply been the best. The people I’ve worked with at AA Phoenix have been the most dedicated, hard working and they wouldn’t leave when I tried (twice) to throw them out of the building. I love you all and as Jan says we are a family!

Thank you for all you’ve done!

Robert J Christy
General Manager,
Air America Phoenix, 1010 Talk KXXT

Anonymous said...

You liberals are dreaming. Sure KXXT was TIED for #3 among AMs.
But a lot of FMs clobbered it. And the gap between #2 and #3 was more like a cliff. It was marginally profitable at best. Preacher tapes make more money. If your format was successful, another station would have jumped at the chance to carry it. But it WASN'T. Quit playing numbers games to hide your FAILURE at talk radio.

dbackdad said...

Anonymous,

Quite brave in your anonymity I see.

Comparing FM ratings to AM ratings is like comparing the major networks to cable. They are not the same thing. They cost different amounts to broadcast and are trying to get a different audience.

It is a huge deal that KXXT became profitable after such a short time. They did not have the benefit of being an affiliate of some huge group like Clear Channel or ABC Radio. Those groups will carry unprofitable stations for years because they want to get their word out and because they can afford to. If profitability was the only factor, Air America Phoenix would still be on the air.

If you wanted to just have a discussion on radio station viability, you wouldn't have begun your comment with "you liberals". Better watch out, your prejudice is showing.

greatwhitebear said...

dbdad... of course it is political. Christian broadcasting ceased to be about Christ and started to be about politics a decade and a half ago, and just has gotten ever increasingly political ever since.

Sadie Lou said...

dback--
who is your favorite talk radio personality?

dbackdad said...

Sadie,
Even though I listen to it quite a bit, I'm not a big fan of the "talk radio" format. I don't think it's the best forum for an even-handed discussion. That being said, I like Al Franken and Ed Schultz. Or better yet, Barry in Talk Radio, one of my favorite movies.

How 'bout you?

Sadie Lou said...

You won't like who I like.
We have these local guys: Armstrong and Getty. My morning feels incomplete without them. I have them on for backround noise while I fold clothes and stuff.

I like Sean Hannidy (sp)
I like Dr. Laura (sometimes)
I like Savage Nation