Austin, TX Just Lost Its' Air America Affiliate Today

[RFKJrNews]

Here in the progressive, hip, liberal blue-city-in-a-red-state mecca of Austin, TX, another Air America affiliate has apparently bought the farm. KOKE-AM 1600 is no longer.

Although people in the radio industry knew this was coming, the average lsitener got no warning at all. Perhaps because the station owner's didn't want another San Diego-style protest on their hands. They just did it quietly, no announcement.

I noticed late last night my local AAR affiliate KOKE had dead air for several hours. Just thought it was a transmitter problem, until I turned on the station at 5am when I woke up, only to hear Tejano/Mexican music instead of the "Young Turks."

First reaction was "WTF"? Then, it became clear this was a permanent format change. Why?

Well, let's examine the summer `07 Arbitron ratings for this market:

KOKE-AM 0.9 0.9 0.7 0.9

Yikes. Can't even pull 1% in Austin, TX? Amazing but true. don't ask me why. This is a city that is overwhelmingly Democratic, but the right-wing talk radio stations in town consistently get much better ratings.

Why they switched to the Mexican music format is a puzzle, too - because we already have about 5 or 6 spanish language stations in town. We have 3 right-wing talk stations.

Damn, damn, damn. Austin just lost it's ONLY liberal news/talk station.

Boy, am I pissed about this! ARGH!

[radiclib]

1. Same thing happened in Boston last December

I'm guessing your station had a weak signal, like most AA outlets. Weak signalled stations NEVER get good Arbitron numbers. That way it looks like progressive radio is "failing".

[RFKJrNews]

2. Yeah, I heard about Boston losing AAR. That sucks!

And now San Diego's KLSD is switching to sports talk Nov. 1.

Seems to be an unfortunate trend for AAR. And yes, KOKE in Austin did have a pretty weak signal - hard to pick up outside the city center.

Pulling such low ratings made it difficult, if not impossible, to get advertisers on board. Without advertisers, the writing is pretty much on the wall.

[radiclib]

3. Not to mention the boycott by big franchise companies

like McDonalds and BestBuy, etc. AAR was set up to fail from jump street. Corporate America rules, as always. Now they're going after the "internets".

[priller]

4. I'm very sad about this

I listened to Air America all the time. Except for the Lionel show -- painfully unfunny.

[RFKJrNews]

5. My radio stayed locked on AAR

...and besides, there is NOTHING else worth listening to in this market.

Unless of course, you like corporate rock or corporate country.

Will you be having corporate eggs with your corporate bacon this morning?

No more "Ring of fire" for me on weekends...I'm going through withdrawls already, dammit!

[admry]

6. My radio stayed locked on AAR too (most of the time.)

I was an avid member of the 0.9% here in Austin. I lived in Central South Austin, about 4 miles due south of downtown. The signal would start to break up if I drove any further South.

I'll have to re-activate my satellite radio now just so I'll have something decent to listen to during the day. 590AM KLBJ is a "conservative" station, but as long as you stay away from their nationally syndicated shows they have a some quality local programing. It may not be liberal, but worth listening to. I should not that much of their local programing is either balanced or non-political.

[Jane Austin]

7. I had just requested a media package so we could advertise on KOKE.

Damn.

[RFKJrNews]

8. Yep, I was a loyal 0.9 percenter too

You make an excellent point. KOKE lacked local programming, and that cost them dearly.

No local live call-in shows. No news staff. No involvement in the local community. The entirety of their programming was Air America, along with a few football games and weekend shows beamed in from the Dallas market.

Austinites don't give a damn what's going on in Dallas, but they DO care passionately about local issues. And they had no outlet for interaction on the Austin airwaves, especially considering that KLBJ-AM is rather infamous for screening out callers who disagree with their conservative viewpoint.

KLBJ, to their credit, knows how to do news-talk successfully from a business standpoint. They have a newsroom staff of 7-10 people, several local call-in shows, advertising, billboards, promotions, and stay completely engaged in the community. It doesn't hurt that they are a heritage station with those legendary call letters.

Always thought it fascinating that our right-wing news talk station in town was KLBJ, owned for 40 years by the family of one of our nation's most Democratic presidents. Oh, the irony!

Somehow, I don't think it's quite what Lyndon and Lady Bird had in mind.

[Infidel69]

9. It is interesting that you mention Dallas,

because we lost our Air America station a couple of years ago. The station did not do well in the ratings, but the station WAS making a profit. There is still a group of "true believers" here that have an internet group called "Air America Dallas". I learned from their e-mail newsletters that the station was bought by a major Republican donor here in Dallas. If I remember correctly it was bought in the run up to the 2004 election. Apparently they wanted to silence the only media outlet in town that was critical of the Bush administration. It became a Catholic religious station, a part of the EWTN network. The station had plenty of local programming and even had the broadcast rights to Dallas' Major League Soccer team. I keep hearing rumors of Nova M coming to town, but I'll believe it when I hear it.
I'm really sorry you guys in Austin lost your station. You guys have been an oasis of sanity in this state since time immemorial. I have to believe that if ANY city in Texas has a chance of picking up another Liberal radio station, I have to believe it is you guys. Until then, there is the internet. Internet broadcasts of KPHX from Phoenix and Democracy Now! have allowed me to keep my sanity in the past few years that we have been without an AAR affiliate.

[bookman]

10. Sad indeed

I live in the Houston area and there has never been anything here. I subscribe to XM.