From the Air America website recently:
Air America is ditching 1240 TalkCity in Sacramento, CA
And I’m really pissed.
I’ve called 1240am here in Sac, who could or would
not give me a reason why…I’ve emailed and called the 2 Presidents, Gary Krantz and Jon Sinton and asked why they’re leaving Sacramento. We’re gonna lose you 2 guys and Randi, Mike Malloy and everybody else at the AAR network. And nobody is giving us an explanation.What the **** is going on?
Sacramento has a very large progressive community and Talk City is all we’ve got. But life without Randi, or Marc & Mark or Malloy will be bleak. It’s kept me from going insane here. I was one of the first people to put a bumper sticker on my car promoting you all. And I made it myself.
Get some sponsors from the Buy Blue website…you know, the companies that gave more money to Democrats than Repubs….get some friggin sponsors, don’t LEAVE us!
What’s the matter with AAR??? I love you guys Marc & Mark…what are we gonna do here in the Capitol of the 6th largest economy in the WORLD?!!
Please talk about this on your show or talk to somebody..and get back to us.
GG Amos – musician
Sacramento, CA
As it turns out, Air America ceased broadcasting on 1240 AM, Talk City, on October 3rd. Reasons were given such as schedule tinkering, admin problems, sunspots, tidal pull, bad flatulence, blah blah blah. They’ll be moving, come November 1st, to KCTC 1320 AM, which plays nostalgic music now.
From a related Sacramento Bee article recently: “Air America has grown nationally to 222,000 daily listeners – still small compared with the 4.4 million who tune in to Limbaugh’s show.”
My gosh (sound of hands slapping cheeks), 222,000 listeners for an entire network as opposed to one talk show host. Most impressive.
A liberal blog featured a recent reply by a “conservative” to the issue of Air America which read:
Air America is having ratings trouble everywhere except Portland and Denver, where it smashes up into the 2s! Philadelphia just dropped Air America after a year. IMHO, this is programming that should succeed oncollege radio stations, but probably nowhere else. This is 2005, not 1968. Good luck, loony lefties.
Likely, 1240 checked its last “book” (the Arbitron ratings) and decided: boys and girls, looks like we’re taking water and the pumps ain’t keepin’ up. My guess: 1320 will soon find itself in the same moist boat.
Folks, they’re called “market forces.”
KSAC did not dump Air America, Air America dumped KSAC which has neither the signal nor the resources to be competitive (it is a stand-alone AM whose owner ran her last station – the Bomb – into receivership). 1320 on the other hand is a better dial position in terms of market coverage, and Philadelphia based Entercom, which owns the signal, has the promotional resources, along with the willingness to use them in order to make AA work here. Bottom line is that there will now be an even match up of middle-conservative talk – KFBK & KSTE vs left-far left: KSAC & Air America on 1320. Over the long term expect KSAC to dry up and blow away. But, still, 3 talk stations is not bad.
10 14 05
My father in law loves Air America. I TRIED to listen to it, just to be fair. All I heard was bitching and complaining; no solutions offered but gripes. No wonder they are having a hard time! I don’t particularly care for Mr. Limbaugh, but he has the genius and charisma to keep folks coming back for more. Yet the AA people had me going to the restroom because I had a suspicious case of the dry heaves…
To “Anonymous:” perhaps that is true, that AA dumped KSAC. And perhaps they realize there must be a license extant with a greater signal — how cool would that be?
On the other hand, Mahndisa’s point is spot on: where are the solutions? I am a manager in an organization. It is SO easy to bitch and moan and complain. But give me some options; what’s the alternative? What are YOUR suggestions?
Christine Craft raises my BP but — what the hell — I enjoy listening to her. But I suspect she’s not on the new station anyway.
Bottom line? I work in Sacramento. I like LOCAL over syndicated any and every day of the week — LEFT or RIGHT.