It's Official: AAR Returns To Chicago Thursday

[Edgewater_Joe]

I'm listening to AM 850, WCPT, and they just announced Al Franken's show on at 11 a.m. CST THURSDAY.

So set your radios (it may be tough - I've got a portable in the sunroom and it's the only way I can hear it) and you'll hear lots of music between now and Thursday.

It's not the best signal, but it's back.

(Edited to correct call letters.)

[SoCalDem]

Just in time for their departure from Sirius. I am still pissed about that

:(

[in_cog_ni_to]

10. Me too.

:grr:

[SoCalDem]

1. oops a dupe

:(

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Great news!

[LaPera]

3. EXCELLENT news...Looks like this is the signal for

WCPT...Not a strong signal but a start and it is CHICAGO!

Now AAR is a real coast to coast border to border network! :bounce:

[Edgewater_Joe]

4. More About The Owner of WCPT

The man's name is Fred Eychlander, and he's turning into a mini-mogul/innovator in Chicago radio these days. He took the ownership of a UHF station and sold it at a huge profit, and then started buying lower-wattage stations. He owns three low-wattage FM stations that have been essentially transformed into the same station, "Nine FM," which plays the closest thing to freeform radio that you can get -- they play rock and roll from across 40 years with no playlist whatsoever, and the stations combine to cover most of Chicagoland.

I had heard a rumor he was going to try to do something similar with AAR, but apparently he's content to get a toehold in the market and go from there.

Personally, I hope AAR gets big enough to go to another once-legendary AM station, WIND-560 AM, which about six months ago inexplicably (since Chicago's close to being as blue as blue can get) went to an all-Wingnut lineup that includes Laura Ingraham, Michael Medved, and the Odious Michael WEINER Savage. (560 is owned by Salem Communications, a Christian network, so may the station wither and die on the vine.)

[LaPera]

5. How many listeners can it reach and will it be exclusively an AAR lineup?

[Gabi Hayes]

6. it won't reach anybody after sundown, unless they changed their license

It comes in fine where I am during the day, but goes off the air at night

I get Denver KOA after dark

WTF is the deal with THAT?

btw, if one has a good radio, one can get AM 1530, on an off, from somewhere in Ohio, I think. I heard Malloy a bit last night, preceded by Lionel (!), followed by some religious nutball at midnight.

[SoCalDem]

7. 1050 here in SoCal does the same.. when it gets dark..byebye

and they share programming with baseball:puke:

as Rumsfeld would say.. "less than helpful".

[LaPera]

8. So no Mike Malloy on the airwaves in LA?

Well, at least you and I have Sirius until July!

I live in NoCal and no AAR up here...San Francisco is the nearest and that's 250 miles down the coast.

[Edgewater_Joe]

9. It's NOT All AAR - They Got Ed

Which, in my view, sucks.

We'll get to work on that as soon as possible.

[in_cog_ni_to]

11. Here ya go. it's a 2,500 watt station. WLS is 50,000 watt. :(

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0505030001may03,1,5216356.story?coll=chi-newslocalchicago-hed


It's good news for lefties because local talk radio is now dominated by conservative voices. WLS-AM 890 has gradually sloughed off or muted its liberal hosts, while WIND-AM 560 is now a full-time outlet for syndicated right-wing programming.

It will be refreshing to hear steady chatter from Bush administration critics for a change, instead of the defenders and apologists who now dominate the dial. Even though my listening tastes run toward balanced debate and an illuminating clash of ideas and philosophies, I'll take our side's agitprop over theirs any day.

But it's bad news for lefties because AM 850--now oldies rock station WAIT--is a weak, daytime-only station based in Crystal Lake. It sends out a 2,500-watt signal (compared with WIND's 5,000 watts and WLS' 50,000 watts) that reaches the west and northwest Cook County suburbs and into downtown, but is weak in much of Lake and DuPage Counties and southwest Cook County.

Air America had much better coverage when it rented time last year on the transmitter of WNTD-AM 950.

[Edgewater_Joe]

12. I'm Truly Disappointed In Eric Zorn

He's a true liberal newspaperman, yet he makes the mistake of taking as fact the hack job opinion piece written by a Wingnut flack that TribuneCo's L.A. TIMES column reprinted. That Zorn doesn't point out AAR's continued expansion (it has an outlet in Akron, OH this week and was attractive enough to XM Satellite Radio that it stole AAR from rival Sirius in an exclusive contract that still has Sirius subscribers steaming), consistent top spot among streaming media, and response from Clear Channel that has made progressive talk the fastest-growing format in radio (and no, I'm not paid by AAR) is surprising for a guy who's usually pretty sharp, especially since Franken and others have debunked the ratings numbers asserted by that LAT hack piece.

It's not easy getting station space, but as long as AAR is growing and evantually profitable -- which it reportedly will be by year's end -- it will then get the stronger signals it will deserve.