Has LW talk radio moved from infancy to adolescence?

There are a few other threads about Jerry Springer's having replaced Rachel on AAR's schedule. That got me to thinking ......

A few months ago, one of the local DC stations went with a "Progressive" format. In the lead-up to the change, the talk was about AAR coming to DC. The reality is different, however. They carry *some* of AAR's programming, but not all of it. In the morning, for example, we get Stephanie Miller instead of (then) Rachel Maddow or (now) Jerry Springer.

I'm curious what's going on in progressive talk radio in other markets. Is there more than AAR? Has the whole genre now progressed (no pun intended) to a point where the local stations have a choice and where AAR, as a complete entity, is now just a series of items (programs) on a Chinese menu? (This would be a good thing, not a bad thing.)

Can it be that the money barons see the profit and will carry our views to the half of the nation that appreciates them?

Lots of politics still being played out still being played out...and it's a shame since one of the local owners involved is a Democrat.

AAR has come a long way in a year...and it's future looks good as a national alternative to right wing hate radio. I still rely more upon Public stations...especially those that feature Pacifica and other independent sources, and wish there was more of this type of radio...the stuff that can help AAR and Progressive Radio grow.

Unfortunately many markets that have AAR only carry the national programming and have little to no local hosts/presence. This is real important...especially in red and purple areas...where there needs to be a dialogue on the local level to counter the years of uncontested right wing lies and misinformation.

I'm suspect of AAR's close reliance on Cheap Channel, but understand you need to deal with these people for any chance for the network to grow and expand. Hopefully alternative forms of radio...satellite & internet will present new future opportunities.

and tell the painful truth. We are going down people! You are following false prophets. Look at the facts. Look at the jobs going overseas. Look at our debt. Look at our soldiers dying in the Middle East. Look at the division in this country. We are going down people! Either you get off your sorry asses and do something about it or watch this once-great nation slide into third-worldness much quicker than you could ever dream. Wake up people!

Radiopower.org and Pacifica offer programs worth listening to. I get Radiopower at http://linux.redbird.com:8000

and Pacifica at http://streams.riverhosting.net:8000/

You can get AAR 24/24 at mms://wms-rbn-sea08.rbn.com/airam/airam/wmlive/live.asf

These links all work with Windows Media Player 9.

of Left of the Dial, the HBO Documentary on the first year of AAR.

There was a very hopeful sign (for AAR) in the interview:

"Patrick: -snip- What we're hearing from Air America is that they are unable to sign up quickly enough the amount of radio stations who want to be Air America affiliates. As of now, they have 51 affiliates, which when you consider what they went through is pretty impressive."

UNABLE TO SIGN UP QUICKLY ENOUGH THE AMOUNT OF RADIO STATIONS WHO WANT TO BE AIR AMERICA AFFILIATES - I love the sound of that.

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/media/index.php#hot-ai...

Modern Progressive radio* is very much in it's infancy. To use the baby analogy: The infant was brought home from the hospital for the first time by the parents last night. Dad is still trying to figure out how to install the baby-seat.

I'm actively involved with WPVM, a community-run station in Asheville, NC. You can't imagine the obstacles that they've had to overcome! The station was barely able to obtain a license due to intensive last-minute lobbying by the media conglomerates and NPR. Also, to this day, a Clear Channel station in TN regularly washes out our signal b/c of an arbitrary rule that prevents us from re-locating the antenna.

Thankfully, due to the long-range vision of Wally Bowen, Progressives in Asheville have a solid base from which to fight back. Wally helped found The Mountain Area Information Network. MAIN is an ISP that uses the money raised by selling internet access to fund alternative media. (MAIN offers nation-wide dial-up internet access. So stop sending your money to the conglomerates! FYI: If you live in Asheville, MAIN now offers high-speed.)

It's going to be a long, hard slog before the airways are taken back for the people. The important thing to remember is that the MSM is not RW or LW, it's corporate. (I prefer the abbreviation "CM" over "MSM" for this reason.)

The entire system: From the legal framework regulating signal strength, to the financial aspects of finding local advertisers is stacked against progressive radio. The reason is simple: Corporations understand how critical it is to have control over the public airways; Their entire power-structure is based on it.

As long as corporations get primary consideration in decisions concerning mass-media; Issues such as social justice, class-inequity and corporate crime will get weak coverage. The dumbing-down of the public is an integral part of a system that fears an educated citizenry.

I have great hope for the future. Plutocrats have always attempted to prevent the people from getting the information they need to achieve a sustainable democracy. These would-be dictators only win as long as people let them. It will take a lot of hard work, but victory is inevitable. Besides, who said it was supposed to be easy?


P.S. (MAIN/WPVM will be strongly represented at this years National Media Reform Conference, May 13-15 in St. Louis. I hope to see y'all there.)


ON EDIT: (I just added this footnote)

* Radios early development was pioneered by Progressives. For example: Chicago radio station WCFL was the first and longest surviving labor radio station in the nation, beginning in 1926 as a listener-supported station owned and operated by the Chicago Federation of Labor and lasting more than fifty years.
Corporations have re-written history to imply that they were the onces who were the trail-blazers, but the truth is that before big-business pressured the government to dismantle it, Radio was a citizens movement on par with the way the internet was developed today.