Last week’s debut of the liberal talk radio network Air America inspired several articles in newspapers, including multiple stories each in the New York Times and The Washington Post.
At last count the network, which features shows hosted by comedians Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo, had commitments from only a few radio stations to broadcast its programming. According to the Times, Air America started in five cities last week: New York; Chicago; Los Angeles; Portland, Ore.; and San Bernardino-Riverside, Calif. The Los Angeles and San Bernardino markets have some overlap, and the network hopes to add a San Francisco station in April. Air America paid for programming time on those stations.
Meanwhile two new conservative talk radio programs, hosted by well-known veterans of the movement, started in the last month. Tony Snow — former host of “Fox News Sunday,” former regular fill-in for Rush Limbaugh, and as NC folks might remember a former editorial writer at the Greensboro Daily News — began his own Fox-sponsored show on March 1. And William Bennett, director of Empower America and a fellow of both the Claremont Institute and Heritage Foundation, debuted his “Morning in America” program on Monday.
Bennett opened his program in 20 markets, with likely growth through the Salem Radio Network, which owns 92 stations across the country. Total numbers for Snow weren’t available, but a cursory review of his website showed that his program was on at least two-dozen stations.
The debut for Bennett demanded little more than a short story in The Washington Times. Snow’s move from television to radio rated minimal media coverage in recent months.
The major news media must give more emphasis to content type, rather than quantity, to determine the newsworthiness of start-up broadcast ventures.
Paul Chesser is associate editor of Carolina Journal. Contact him at [email protected].