Clear Channel Adopts Liberal Talk Format
NewsMax.com Wires
Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005
DETROIT -- The day before President Bush's inauguration, listeners tuning in to the Detroit sports station WXDX-AM were suddenly greeted by the sound of braying donkeys. By the time Bush was taking the oath of office, the radio station had new call letters and a full schedule of liberal talk shows.

WXDX-AM - now known as WDTW-AM - is one of 22 stations owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc. that have switched to a liberal talk format in the last year. This month, KTLK-AM in Los Angeles became the latest Clear Channel station to adopt the format.
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Those who track broadcasting trends say there's money to be made in liberal talk radio. Todd Webster, a consultant for Washington-based liberal talk show producer Democracy Radio, said Clear Channel is expected to introduce the left-leaning format on 20 more stations by the end of the year.
"There is a tremendous appetite out there for progressive talk," he said.

Webster said that even as recently a year ago, no one thought Texas-based Clear Channel, a media conglomerate that owns 1,200 stations, would ever become partners with upstart liberal talkers.

"There has been a tectonic shift in the industry from all of the big brains and the head honchos saying, 'Nobody wants to listen to a bunch of whiny liberals on the radio,"' Webster said.

The partnership might seem surprising because of Texas-based Clear Channel's conservative reputation. Clear Channel CEO Lowry Mays and his wife gave $65,000 to the Republican National Committee in the last election cycle, and two-thirds of the company's federal donations went to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

And last summer, a Berkeley, Calif.-based group sued Clear Channel, which also owns an outdoor advertising business, after it refused to run an anti-war billboard in Times Square during the Republican National Convention.

The company also isn't seen as socially progressive. In December, Clear Channel stations in Tampa, Jacksonville, St. Louis and Detroit awarded breast enhancement surgeries to 13 women as part of the "Breast Christmas Ever" contest; at the time, the company said it had no oversight of the contests and didn't sponsor them. Clear Channel also pulled talk show host Howard Stern off the air because of concerns over mounting indecency fines.

The company says politics aren't involved in its decision to put liberal talk shows on the air.

"I'm trying to identify needs in our various communities, whether it's German industrial music or punk rock or progressive talk," said Gabe Hobbs, vice president of news and talk programming for Clear Channel. "That happens to be good business."

Hobbs said Clear Channel began programming offerings from Air America Radio, which produces comedian Al Franken's three-hour talk show, and Democracy Radio, which produces a popular show by liberal talker Ed Schultz, because listeners were demanding an alternative to conservative talkers like Rush Limbaugh during the 2004 election.

"The election dramatically raised everyone's interest in hearing political talk," Hobbs said. "I think polarization is one of the facets of any talk radio format, regardless of orientation."

Hobbs said liberal radio is actually a return to the days before Limbaugh, when talk radio was dominated by left-leaning hosts like Alan Colmes, who is now seen on Fox News Channel's "Hannity and Colmes."

Local station managers have the final say over the switch in programming. At WDTW, General Manager Dave Pugh was eager to give Detroiters a format they couldn't find anywhere else.

"We are a blue state and a blue region and it just made sense," Pugh said.

In Portland, Ore., KPOJ-AM had less than 1 percent of the market share before it switched from oldies to progressive talk on March 31. By summer, that had jumped to 4 percent, according to Arbitron ratings. In Ann Arbor, Mich., WLBY-AM jumped from 0.7 percent of the market to 2.2 percent after liberal programming replaced oldies in August. Hobbs said the story is similar all over the country.

Jim Goss, who analyzes the radio industry for Barrington Research, said Clear Channel is making a good decision by adopting a new format that listeners can't get elsewhere.

"I think it's an experiment they feel is worth taking, and what is the risk if it doesn't work out?" Goss said. "One might think that they'd like to be balanced, but their greatest interest is in being successful. They don't want to put a format on just to prove a point."

Mort Potter, 38, an administrative assistant from Westland, Mich., said he listened to National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp. before WDTW came along. He especially enjoys Franken and Florida-based host Randi Rhodes, although he says he hasn't yet heard a show he doesn't enjoy.

"I'll continue to listen mostly to the BBC and NPR, but WDTW will be a daily habit for a good laugh at Mr. Bush's expense and to learn things that NPR would be afraid of airing, or at least accentuating," Potter said. [methinks if clear channel can increase their bottom line,fine by me.eveyones choice to tune in or not.the marketplace will decide.Jimmmco]

This is going to be funny.

I predict lots of abrupt ends to conservative calls...assuming they allow them on at all. That was certainly how it happened on KNRC here in Denver. And it seems to be common among liberal talk shows.

The free market shall decide.

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I was banned from godlike productions(over 400 times)... and loved it.

"I haven't made you angry, have I?" -Malcolm Reynolds

They could be successful. Rush used to put liberals on without putting them on hold. They were by far the most entertaining callers he had. Nothing promotes the conservative agenda better than a liberal.
I double dog dare a liberal host to put conservatives at the head of the line. The entertainment value would only increase their ratings (at the expense of their egos).

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

This is my favorite part, considering all the smug posts here and articles elsewhere when Air America first got started. Any volunteers to eat crow?

Basically, though, I agree with Sinanju. The market will decide. If the liberal shows stink, they'll fail. After all, Rush built his audience primarily on entertainment value. The fact that he filled an ideological void helped, but if he had been boring, he'd have been gone.

Ideally, the next step would be to raise the quality of discourse on both kinds of talk radio. I'm not holding my breath in either case.

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Man up.

Danm I just looked up Air America to see if it was still on the air and found it, and found the live stream for it and played it for a good laugh...But OMG they play Grateful Dead before and after each comercial.. I need to change my avatar

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Oh the DeadHead avatar is there because I like their Music, not because I'm a hippy

Exactly raytri.. and I will admit that Air America is doing just fine. Or at least better than I expected. However, i will defend their right to broadcast as long as they keep it clean and I do not have to pay tax money to subsidize them.

Besides, i think there is a market for liberal talk radio... I am not so sure that there is enough "talent" to keep it afloat for long... Though Alan Colmes' radio show is one of the better ones.

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I was banned from godlike productions(over 400 times)... and loved it.

"I haven't made you angry, have I?" -Malcolm Reynolds

the 12th man wrote As a former fan of early Rush shows I tell you that Rush only puts the stupid and the dumb liberals on the air. he has very and he never will have anyone who can challenge him on his show.

Early Rush was actually funny. Then it went to his head and he started to beleive his bullocity.

Isn't Clear Channel the station of Howard Stern? Can't get much more "liberal" than him.

Hey....I don't mind one bit. There's nothing better for exposing libs for what they really are....than to just let them speak for themselves. I think that's why Fox has recently hired Texas Democrat Martin Frost as one of their regular commentators. Now, there's a real whacko for ya.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

Clear Channel cancelled Stern's show. Viacom owns Stern's show.(surprising-yeah right)
Howard would be the only liberal that actually knows how to be funny. The others sound like screeching morons.

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Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness ~Thomas Paine