First, let's check in with the Free Republic and see what they say about Air America, shall we? C'mon! It'll be fun! Don't worry - we won't link you there.
Randi Rhodes quits Air America; Air America ratings comes in.First of all, rumors of Randi's demise are greatly...LIES. The Freepers bought into a bit she did. Suckers.
nationaldebate ^ | 05/21/04 | Robert Cox
Posted on 05/21/2004 9:25:54 PM PDT by Pikamax
Randi Rhodes announced today that she is quitting Air America. Rhodes made the surprise announcement in a prepared statement at the opening of today's broadcast of the Randi Rhodes Show.
On a related note the Arbitron ratings came out (for New York only) and it is not pretty. Air America on WLIB came in ranked #24 between #25 Mexican Radio and #26 Wall of Voodoo.
LEGAL CLARIFCATION REQUIRED: If you quit on a radio show with no ratings does that count as a resignation?
The Air America message board is in mourning.
In case you missed it...here is the updated timeline of the Air America Death Watch. I won't cheat and post it but I had meant to post a prediction that she would be the first to go. From what I understand she had a bigger audience in Florida then she was getting on AAR's "national" network. I don't think her little "assassination" joke helped.
Secondly, rumors of Air America's demise are greatly (say it with me) LIES! Michael D at Kos tracked down the Al Franken brag about beating Rush in New York City in a key demographic as...TRUTH. Inside Radio, a well-known industry daily sheet reports:
Al Franken has some New York numbers to crow about. And he did crow about beating Rush with 25-54s -- as Air America flagship WLIB did an extrapolated 3.4 for the month of April compared to WABC's 3.1 in middays. Caution: Extrapolations are far from official.Let me explain extrapolations. Radio ratings - unlike TV - are reported as a three-month rolling average. Extrapolations are raw data of the final month of that three-month period, extrapolated by math. So while they're not official, they're important enough for radio stations to demand as part of the report - after spending years extrapolating the numbers themselves.
In other words, it's not official, but it's as close as it gets to accurate. And popping a bigger number than Rush in ANY demographic - no less 25-54 - annoints you as a force to be reckoned with.
Their overall debut was a 1.4% in listeners 12+ from 5am to 1am - which in NYC is a powerful amount of new listeners. They weren't built on WLIB's previous audience (its last format was world music) - these are all brand-new listeners to the station. Mix in the facts that WLIB has been a perennial also-ran and broadcasts with 1/5 the transmitting power of WABC and with a minimal operating budget - and you've got one little radio station that's kicking some serious ass.
In other words, a station owner's dream. The Sutton Family should be very pleased - it's been a long time coming.
If that success is given the chance to be duplicated in other major markets, you can bet more stations will be lining up to hitch their transmitters to the network.
Hey. Liz Winstead, Chuck D and Al Franken beat John Gambling and Rush Limbaugh 10am-3pm in the 25-54 age bracket in the world's biggest city. Think about THAT for a while.
Welcome to the radio landscape, Air America. You've arrived.
