Anyone else disgusted with some of the ads on Air America affiliates? Corky McMillin ad on KLSD...

[cascadiance]

... this morning just made me want to puke!

I guess I've gotten used to a lot of the get rich quick scheme ads that happen so often and hope that most of our listeners have the intelligence to reject most of those. There are some others too, like the lame Tanya Roberts Vegas ads, etc. too.

But this morning I heard an add from McMillan properties talking about real estate issues here on KLSD in San Diego (Air America affiliate), during the Thom Hartmann show. I don't remember precisely the product he was selling, but McMillan properties is owned by Corky McMillan who is probably the WORST political contributor/corruptor of local politics around here than anyone else. Duncan Hunter's brother is VP at his firm and they all conspire together to milk the city dry at taxpayer's expense and in the process get folks like Hunter's brother a cheap deal on a home in the "lottery" they did earlier with property that they did a "deal" on with the city as noted here:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070303/news_lz1n3mcmillin.html

McMillan was a big contributor to mayoral candidates Jerry Sanders and earlier to folks like Dick Murphy who resigned in disgrace over corruption issues.

I don't know about you, but I think we should call KLSD, even if they are a Clear Channel station, which is a business and ask them to be more judicious on who they buy ads from. It feels like either:

a) McMillan is doing this intentionally to try to sell the idea that he's an OK dude for liberals to do business with.

or

b) That the ad sales staff isn't really trying to spend a lot of time on selling ad space for KLSD and are worried more about other stations' ads and let the low hanging fruit (like the get rich quick ads, etc.) populate KLSD.

I recall hearing on another show (perhaps Ed Schultz or another Air America host), where this was discussed and they were pointing out that many Air America affiliates aren't really given much effort in selling ads that they could or should to get more value for the dollar in terms of the audience that Air America affiliates give them, and that with better ads (and more revenue), they might be able to expand their operation and get higher power transmitters, etc. too.

[glitch]

1. Some of their ads are awful, I don't fault them for that. They need ads. But I do fault them for AP

radio news clips, which are just awful (simplistic, inane and they always always have a clip of Bush talking) and I am assuming they are actually paying for.

[cascadiance]

5. And if Lindsay Lohan's DUI isn't enough, now it's Nicole Richie's DUI that's a HEADLINE!

I think the KLSD affiliate here picks up the ABC news feeds.

The get rich quick ads I can somewhat deal with. If you fall for them, you deserve what you get.

But ads from firms like McMillan really torque me. I just feel like they need to do a better job in ad sales for these stations. I think we can get better. It seems like the podcasts I get from Thom Hartmann always get better and more targeted "to US!" ads than the local broadcasts here in San Diego.

[ikojo]

2. I fault Air America more for their on air

lack of personality, specifically Lionel. They replaced the WONDERFUL Sam Seder with that jerk?

[tech3149]

3. It bothers me as much as you and I think the only answer lies in our hands

There are many documented cases of sales staff and management not being supportive or antagonistic towards the programming offered by AAR and other progressive content providers. There are even cases of stations making unprecedented gains in ratings switching format and becoming big-time losers. The exceptions are Phoenix and Madison where the listeners got active and showed that changing format would be a big loser.

As much as the ads on some AAR affiliates bother me, I understand that they've gotta pay the bills. Try adopting the MST3K approach and make fun of the stupid "get rich quick" ads and say thank you for supporting rational radio.

[cascadiance]

4. I just heard that Mcmillanhomes.com ad again a minute ago!...

Just took a brief trip in my car and heard it before I came back inside. "A realtor you can trust" PULLEAZE!

[flying rabbit]

6. Our local affiliate aired ads

for Glen Beck when he first got his show. They didn't last long though.

[LTR]

7. Hey, if they want to advertise on KLSD, so be it

Just because you find the ad or the advertiser obnoxious does not mean that they should be banished from the station. What are you thinking???

It's not like KLSD is in a position to pick and choose sponsors. And there's obnoxious advertising all over the radio and TV dials.

If McMillan wants to support progressive talk radio with his ad buys, let him. And laugh a little to yourself every time you hear it.

[cascadiance]

8. I think it's more about ad sales focusing on targeting us as advertisers and not just "dumping" us..

Thom Hartmann has said on his show that he wants people to support the ads that he has had supporting his show. And he's speaking of those that advertisers that specifically target us because they feel they have a product/service we want. And I think we SHOULD get their products/services.

But if the ad sales department for the radio companies over here just focus selling ads for the music stations and other stations in this area and not on KLSD and just dumps the stuff that they don't have to work much for (aka the get rich quick ads, etc.) they will get ads that people on this station won't respond to much.

When you have ads like McMillin's ad, it is arguably not so much to get us to directly go and buy his products/services but to make us feel "better" about what he's doing around here to corrupt local politics, which he's done quite a bit of. The next step is he might say to KLSD, "Well, you get most of your ad revenue from me. If you want more, then you'll have to dump this show and add this one instead", and then KLSD's programming gets warped away from progressive content.

Hartmann and other show hosts have noted that the pharma and other health products ads that are arguably targeted to doctors and not patients are put on perhaps not so much to appeal to customers, but to in effect buy influence with the shows they sponsor like CNN's shows to not say bad things about the pharma industry. That's what I'm concerned if we start allowing the likes of McMillin to advertise heavily on stations like KLSD.

You outside of the San Diego area might not think this is a big deal, but as the article I linked above, and many other things around here show, McMillin is probably THE biggest villian in keeping progressive politics at bay here. I suspect their firm's advertising on KLSD is heading towards that objective as well.

The defense against this is to demand better solicitation of ads here to find businesses that would benefit a lot from a progressive audience, get them to advertise, and get our audience to give them more business when they do so. If we don't, then we'll have those like McMillin trying to control and warp what this station puts out. That would be a tragedy for us here.