Missoula AAR Station Off-Air - Great Ratings, Worried Advertisers

[otohara]

Sorry if this was posted - it's dated 2/28

Getting people to listen wasn’t the problem – liberal talk radio was a huge hit in Missoula from the beginning.

Just last fall, Cowan said, an Eastlan ratings survey in Missoula and the Bitterroot showed the Al Franken show with a respectable 3.6 percent of listeners – ahead of Rush Limbaugh, who runs on two area stations.

“Al Franken was huge,�? Cowan said. “(He) clobbered Rush. The listeners were there – and the commercials were inexpensive.�?

However, selling ads during Al’s airtime was a different story.

Cowan said that local businesses were reluctant to commit to the alternative programming.

"There seems to be concern from advertisers with being associated" with controversial programming, he said. "I didn't think that would be a problem in Missoula of all places."

KNS Sales Manager Jim Fisher agreed that business owners were shying away from the format – even if they were avid listeners to the station.

http://www.newwest.net/index.php/topic/article/6640/C70/L37

"A lot of them loved to listen, but they didn't want to put their name on it," Fisher said.