Reply #8: In every big city in Amerika, there's a struggling radio station

[dbt]

Or two or three. I have spent 35 years in radio--and I may know a thing or two by now. If I owned one of these stations, I would hook up with Air America in a heartbeat. I would do this even if I were a Republican, even if I were currently running a music format, and here's why:

It would instantly make my station stand out from all the other News/Talk facilities in my market. With the mere flick of a switch, I would, as they are so fond of saying, cut through the clutter. I would have product differentiation.

For openers, my station would be a NOVELTY, a gimmick if you prefer to think of it that way. And what's the first thing ANY product has to have in the uber-crowded Marketplace? A gimmick. An angle. Something that makes it different from the pack. Something that causes Water Cooler Talk.

I'd barely even have to advertise my new format, thanks to the word-of-mouth such an audacious move would generate. Conservative white males would be so quick to bash my station (to everyone within earshot) that people would tune in just to see what all the laughing was about. And about the first time those new listeners heard Al Franken or Chuck D, I'd have myself some new customers. Some repeat bidness!

The beauty of the format will be the way it comes out and says what a large segment of the American public has been thinking for the past four years. And simply because it's on the air, it will give legitimacy and validity to a very alienated customer base.

I have a couple of targets in mind in my own town. You can BET that I will be in contact with some station owners, urging them to get in on the ground floor of what will be at the very least a Silver Mine. You can do something similar where you live, too.

Air America gives me hope for broadcasting. I have had NONE for twenty years or more!!!


dbt

And could I sell enough advertising to make it work? Oh, hell yes!