For those who want to keep Peter B Collins show going....a message from Peter B:

[Garbo 2004]

Excerpt from his post on his website:

I made a tough decision….

On Friday, I delivered the news of my decision to end the daily broadcasts of the PBC Show.

Our last live broadcast will be Friday, March 20, which will replay on some stations through March 22.

Since we started on KRXA in 2005, I’ve been covering the costs of producing the show and delivering it to our affiliate stations by satellite. With phone bills and the other expenses, it adds up to more than $5,000 a month. We get a little advertising revenue and some generous listeners contribute, but most of it is absorbed by my small business, Collins Media Services. Until last summer, I was able to cover the costs from my work as a radio producer and consultant. Like everyone else, the Bush recession has hit me hard.

To make money in syndication, we need to be on 20+ stations and at least one of the big 3, NY, LA, Chicago. As an independent, self-syndicated show, we’ve had to compete with Air America, Dial-Global and Nova M programs, and for various reasons, the PBC Show didn’t break through. Air America is the brand that most people connect with progressive talk radio, and their bankruptcy and sequence of blunders has, unfortunately, defined our collective efforts in a negative way that has provided an easy target for the non-liberal media. As a result, the total number of stations offering progressive talk in the US peaked at about 105 in 2006, and is now around 70. Miami, DC, and even Ann Arbor have lost their progressive stations in the last month.

Over the past 3.75 years, I’ve tried it all. I pitched all of the Air America programmers except the current one, who never returned my calls or emails. I was offered a deal by Nova M, but they reneged in a bizarre story I’m saving for my talk-n-tell book. Air America just announced that Montel Williams will be their new offering in the Thom Hartmann time slot, which tells us that Jerry Springer’s flameout was just their first attempt to retread a tabloid TV host as a “progressive” radio host...

...Many people who heard the $5,000 monthly cost figure have emailed to pledge $10 a month and said, “how do we find the other 499?” We have tried that to some extent, but I don’t want to turn the show into a pledge-a-thon, ’cause I listen to the radio, too, and don’t like them. Plus, I’m well aware that many of my listeners can’t even spare $10 a month right now. Overall, I don’t think we can shift to a voluntary subscription plan to produce a reliable funding stream.

If you disagree, email me: [email protected] Tell me if you’re willing to subscribe for at least 6 months, and how much you can pay. If enough people respond by Monday night 3/16, I will make a final review of this decision. Dave Berman in Eureka, Tom McAfee in SF, and Aldous Tyler in Madison have offered to coordinate this kind of effort, but I need to give them your names and emails.

Keep listening this week, call in when you can–we’ll try to get allof our favorite guests to check in, too.

warmly,

pbc
http://www.peterbcollins.com/i-made-a-tough-decision/

(I added the bolding.)

[emlev]

1. This is disturbing. This is really a *great* show.

I really appreciate the high ratio of information/hype Peter has on his show. He doesn't do obnoxious schtick like some of the other progressive radio hosts. He knows his stuff, covers a wide variety of issues, has interesting guests, and is pretty accessible to his audience (in terms of calling in, emailing him directly, stuff like that).

I hope we can rally to save this show. It would be a significant loss if we can't.

Thanks to Peter for your hard work, and to those who have stepped forward to try to save the show.

[antimatter98]

2. Big liberals will not support progressive radio OR TV.

I mean, the liberals/progressives who have the cash. This was intially laid out
in a book by Air America's founder Sheldon Drobny---that none of the high end liberals
he approached would give a dime to Progressive radio.

On the other hand, if you take a look at how NPR raises money, it's done via the local
affiliates, that make the on-air pitches, and then send most of the raised funds to
NPR to pay for the programs and for the basic network infrastructure that NPR uses
to provide news and other programming. NPR charges fees to local affiliates based on
market size and station coverage. Also, most NPR stations are on good powerful FM
channels, unlike Air America or other progressive stations that are on hard to hear low
power AM channels.

Pacifica radio, with stations in NYC, LA, Houston, DC and Berkeley, can be called a liberal/progressive
network, but lacks the funding that NPR has. In individual states, some have public radio networks
such as in Wisconsin, Vermont, Iowa, and Minnesota, but these tend to be heavily NPR/PRI.

The only funding model I know of that works for public radio is the NPR model. The early NPR--when
it first started was more progressive than today, since NPR has moved to taking a lot of corporate
money which influences its programs at the national and at the local station level.

My guess is that until Progressive/Liberal radio finds 1)good powerfull stations and 2)a workable
funding model---which might be listener based at first, we won't hear AM and FM churning out
Progressive/Liberal talk radio. You have to ask why it is that people (including benefactors) will support NPR but they
will not support Progressive/Liberal Radio to figure out what has gone on with the demise of
Progressive radio----are wealthy Liberals making too much money being on the secret side of the
GOP? etc.

To hear Progressives now, you need to tune into Internet radio, and a handful of AM stations, but
as Mr. Collins says, the money isn't there. If you send 100.00 every three months to "your NPR station,"
why won't you spend a similar amount for a Progressive network?

Good Luck

[azul]

3. Peter B is the best, bar none. Thanks for this post.

Six months before the election 2008 the only progressive talk radio in the Sacramento valley went gospel. Peter B had Brad Friedman on every Friday and top guests regularly and was getting really good at putting out an alternative to the RW baloney-fest.

Then zap? Left lots of listeners hanging.

His show needs a fair national distribution exposure to determine how entertaining and educational he is. We can't lose him so.

[Garbo 2004]

4. I just posted this in General Discussion to get more exposure. (I listened to KSAC too.)

The ratings for talk radio on KSAC were better than the station had before with other formats, but they didn't really market themselves much. And there hasn't been anything to replace it in the area since.