Left of the Dial
Submitted by LynnS on Sat, 10/14/2006 - 10:21am.

If you ever get a chance to watch the documentary "Left of the Dial," do. Whether you like AAR's programming or not, the startup of the network is fascinating. It becomes clear watching it that at least one of the guys founding the network was a blatant scam artist; he lies, repeatedly, right on camera, without blinking. Interestingly, this man, Evan Cohen, turned out to be a Republican operative from of all places Guam. I'm not saying he was out to tank the network from the beginning, I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, AAR *has* gotten good ratings from the beginning. KPOJ has been at some times #1 in the demo here in Portland, and in other areas of the country it's posted very strong numbers. Even with the bankruptcy, Clear Channel--that noted altruist and Democratic Party supporter--is sticking with AAR on 24 stations, which means it thinks there's still money to be made in progressive talk. The original partners' financial misdeeds pretty much doomed AAR to always playing fiscal catch-up, though, and while it has definitely proved there is a market for progressive talk radio, I don't expect it to survive in its current form.

I've been pissed at AAR ever since they canceled Morning Sedition, which was the funniest damn show I have ever heard on the radio. It was freakin' brilliant.

-----
Lynn Siprelle * Fairy Blogmother

Reply

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • You may quote other posts using [quote] tags.
  • Voting controls can be added to this post.
  • Web and e-mail addresses are automatically converted into links.
More information about formatting options