Air America Radio in Dayton--Just A Pipe Dream?
One of the things that bothers me the most about living in the Dayton area is the limited access to progressive or liberal media outlets. While the DDN tries its best to straddle the ideological divide between the region's conservatives majority and the rest of us, it is a very lonely outpost for obtaining opposing views available through traditional local sources (radio, television, print media).
Flashback warning...personal background info provided for context follows. The above thread continues later down the column.
As someone who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, I was definitely a 'TV child'. As long as I can remember, we had a television firmly planted into the center of our living room. In fact, we were one of the first families in our old neighborhood to own a console color set (back when Sylvania still made televisions)--with a whopping 25" diagonal screen! Our hometown was one of the first in the nation to be wired for cable and we were fortunate to get several stations from the New York City and Philadelphia markets in addition to our local network affiliates and the fledgling public service station. I personally witnessed history as it was happening when Neil Armstrong took his grainy 'giant leap' in July 1969. I saw a president resign from office in August 1974, Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run in April 1975 and complained when a special report on the Camp David Peace Accords interrupted the world premiere of (the original) 'Battlestar Galactica' in September 1978.
While TV played a significant role in my upbringing, it was radio that truly piqued my interest. I received my first transistor radio when I was 7 years old and frequently had to have the batteries replaced by my mom or dad because of its constant use. I advanced to a clock radio a few years later and was also smitten by my grandfather's multi-band set that picked up police calls. I began to monitor broadcast signals to find out about them and determine just how far away they were (known as 'DXing' to radio buffs) and quickly cataloged many of the higher powered AM radio stations in the eastern half of the US and Canada.
Not satisfied with these 'local' offerings, I progressed to listening to shortwave stations that directed their programming out to an international audience and English language transmissions to specific target audiences. This was the mid 1970s and Cold War propaganda was going strong in the battle for 'hearts and minds' around the globe. All of the major players were present: the US (Voice of America, American Forces Radio for our widely deployed military members), the USSR (Radio Moscow), Great Britain (BBC World Service), Red China (Radio Peking) and various stations from the Warsaw Pact and other satellite nations (Radio Havana Cuba, Radio Prague). Listeners were asked to write to the stations to report their reception strength and quality and were rewarded with QSL cards and other assorted goodies for their information (I received numerous souvenirs like calendars and pennants--I even received a vinyl recording of several communist anthems that I still have today). This hobby helped steer my interests upon entering the military and vectored me towards a lengthy career in the intelligence services (although I thought that my many 'red' gifts might preclude my obtaining the necessary clearances for such a line of work).
End of flashback...continuing with the present...
Now that you have a better understanding this unique dimension of my personality, one can see that radio has been an important part of my life and a crucial element in how I observe my surroundings and get a 'feel' for where I currently live or where I might temporarily be. When I travel around the country by car, it's perfectly normal for me to scan the bands and see what my current location has to offer. During these surveys, I specifically look for the AM talk radio stations--at one time the exclusive domain of the right wing due to Reagan's rescinding of the FCC's 'fairness doctrine' in 1987. From this abandonment of balanced coverage of issues and equal opportunity for rebuttal, the likes of Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy, Michael Reagan and a myriad of others set up shop to 'parrot' their highly conservative (and oftentimes evangelical-tinged) agendas to a wide listening audience.
It wasn't until 2004 and the creation of Air America Radio that liberals and progressives started to seriously venture into this arena. AAR was to serve as an alternative source of news and talk for an audience that did not subscribe to the existing views espoused by that medium's entrenched incumbents. Although this initiative did cause somewhat of a stir in the months following its inaugural broadcast on March 31st, this level of interest was seen as being directly related to that year's divisive presidential election campaign. As the months went by, more stations were added to their 'network' (currently have 87 terrestrial stations and one channel on XM satellite radio) but ratings have steadily floundered (averaging a 1.2 share nationwide throughout most of their 29-month existence).
Ohioans fed up with the ideological 'wasteland' AM radio has become had reasons to celebrate in 2005. That year saw AM stations in Cincinnati (WCKY), Akron (WARF) and Columbus (WTPG) becoming AAR affiliates in a state considered crucial in current and future US politics. Unfortunately, Dayton was overlooked and listeners in this area would have to try to tune in to WCKY or WTPG over the AM airwaves (the Akron station is too far and too weak to hear locally) or continue their internet streaming or satellite reception to get their AAR 'fix'. Although both stations are nearly equidistant from the greater Dayton area, WTPG's low signal power (1,000 watts) is dwarfed by the 50,000 watt transmissions from the Cincinnati station. While it didn't 'boom' in like our local AM stations, I was able to listen in most of the day and early into the night before they reconfigured to a directional antenna pattern for operating during hours of darkness. My morning and evening commutes could now be used for becoming better informed instead of simply being 'entertained' by the likes of Bob & Tom or other local 'wannabes' in our local radio market.
Sadly, this acceptable arrangement was impacted by the invisible hand of capitalism. In July 2006, WCKY swapped formats with sister station WSAI (supposedly because of low ratings) and now AAR programming is relegated to a 5,000 watt platform. While this new outlet is still more powerful than its sister affiliate in Columbus, it no longer broadcasts on a 'clear channel' and routinely experiences interference with 65 comparably strong stations that share that frequency in the US and Canada (compared to their former 50,000 watt signal looming over 33 other lower powered transmitters). Now, many morning and evening drives have me trying to 'dig out' AAR programming from among the clutter and spurious noises that routinely plague the AM radio spectrum.
The maps are provided below to tangibly illustrate this degradation of coverage. Many factors affect reception of AM radio programming (weather, time of day, sunspots, etc.) but the primary one when considering signal quality is effective radiating power (ERP) and this level-of-magnitude reduction greatly impacts listeners outside of the station's local listening market.
WSAI/1360kHz (left) vs WCKY/1530kHz (right) -- nighttime coverage maps
According to radio-locator.com, there are 34 stations in 'close listening range' (between 8 and 60 miles) of Fairborn--21 are FM stations and 13 reside in the AM band. Five of the AM selection are classified as adhering to a 'talk' or 'news' format and three of those are affiliated with the Fox News Radio network (the other two prominently feature right-wing programming). If we include 'fringe' coverage (within a 170-mile radius), the number jumps to 101 ( 55 FM/46 AM) with 20 of these classified as 'news/talk'. Other than Cincinnati's WDBZ (urban-centric) and two of the three previously mentioned AAR affiliates (WARF is apparently too weak to ever be heard in the Dayton area), all of the others either feature pro-conservative programming or do not provide enough information via the web to label them properly. Conservative counter that NPR-affiliated stations carry programming aimed at a more liberal or progressive audience but this solitary station (WYSO) does not feature the kind of material heard on AAR or its conservative competitors.
After analyzing this environment, what are our available options for AAR programming in Dayton?
- The local radio spectrum is almost completely filled (regulated tightly by the FCC to eliminate interference between broadcasters) and the cost of starting up a new station can be financially prohibitive (starts at the seven-figure mark for commercial operations). If you catalog Dayton's AM market, you'll see plenty of the tried-and-true formats (the five [!!!] 'news/talkers' are joined by three separate, two religious broadcasters, and one each of country, oldies, and urban contemporary).
- Dayton listeners could petition Clear Channel Communications, the owners of WSAI and WCKY, to ask them to reverse their July decision and have AAR programming returned to their more powerful outlet. Radio waves do not stop at the boundaries of cities, counties, or states, and while we might not be in their intended market, those transmissions--most noticably from the 50,000 watt outlet, do enter our homes and our lives on a 24/7 basis. I wonder if this scenario was factored in to their ratings-driven decision. WLW, another 50,000 watt member of Clear Channel's Cincinnati news/talk stations, has a large following north of the city (and around the country) and I would bet that any changes to their format or programming would be done only after polling their entire audience--not just the ones who live inside of Interstate 275.
- Advances in technology, specifically HD radio, would allow for more stations to operate within the current AM and FM frequency allocations (extra channels could become available for leasing to out-of-area broadcasters like AAR) but this is not expected to become widespread for several more years and requires modifying existing receivers or purchasing new ones capable of processing the digital signals.
- Currently, satellite radio is our most reliable and flexible solution (can be listened to in the home, the car, as well as on the go) but competing companies (XM and Sirius--the 21st century's continuation of the "VHS vs Betamax" debate) and exclusive contracts to highly desired networks can 'shut out' listeners from their desired programming (AAR was originally broadcast on both satellite providers but signed a long-term contract with XM in early 2005 to have their programming exclusively available via their subscriber service).
- Broadband and wireless technologies extend the range and utility of today's computers as well as the opportunities to listen to streaming audio broadcasts provided by AAR directly or through one of its affiliates (sadly, this has been my primary method of enjoying their programming). Problems with AAR's server occasionally happen due to the amount of listeners trying to access the streaming site simultaneously exceeding the capacity of their hardware.
- Finally, Air America Radio now offers a premium service that allows its paying subscribers to download audio files that can transferred to portable music players for later 'podcasting' at the listener's convenience.
The common thread of all the above options is money. Money is required to purchase the hardware items (receivers, computers, routers, antennas and wireless capability). Money would be needed for entry into the local market (construction of new station or purchase of existing one to change its format, leasing of spare HD frequencies of local broadcasters). Money has already influenced the public's opinion of AAR (financial difficulties when it started up, poor Arbitron ratings influencing advertising rates to potential customers) and these facts have been 'red meat' to the conservative talking heads who have predicted AAR's demise from its first day on the air. Money would also have to flow from the pockets of the liberal and progressive listening audience to the businesses that choose to advertise on a potential local affiliate.
Sadly, in today's local economy, money is not easy to come by, especially for those who are truly at the core of the progressive movement--George Soros notwithstanding. Unless some local media-savvy individual can be persuaded to see our community's need for this type of programming--as well as a potential payoff for him and any investors, Mr. Soros' philanthropy might be our only hope to bring AAR to Dayton's airwaves.
After analyzing this environment, what are our available options for AAR programming in Dayton?
- The local radio spectrum is almost completely filled (regulated tightly by the FCC to eliminate interference between broadcasters) and the cost of starting up a new station can be financially prohibitive (starts at the seven-figure mark for commercial operations). If you catalog Dayton's AM market, you'll see plenty of the tried-and-true formats (the five [!!!] 'news/talkers' are joined by three separate, two religious broadcasters, and one each of country, oldies, and urban contemporary).
- Dayton listeners could petition Clear Channel Communications, the owners of WSAI and WCKY, to ask them to reverse their July decision and have AAR programming returned to their more powerful outlet. Radio waves do not stop at the boundaries of cities, counties, or states, and while we might not be in their intended market, those transmissions--most noticably from the 50,000 watt outlet, do enter our homes and our lives on a 24/7 basis. I wonder if this scenario was factored in to their ratings-driven decision. WLW, another 50,000 watt member of Clear Channel's Cincinnati news/talk stations, has a large following north of the city (and around the country) and I would bet that any changes to their format or programming would be done only after polling their entire audience--not just the ones who live inside of Interstate 275.
- Advances in technology, specifically HD radio, would allow for more stations to operate within the current AM and FM frequency allocations (extra channels could become available for leasing to out-of-area broadcasters like AAR) but this is not expected to become widespread for several more years and requires modifying existing receivers or purchasing new ones capable of processing the digital signals.
- Currently, satellite radio is our most reliable and flexible solution (can be listened to in the home, the car, as well as on the go) but competing companies (XM and Sirius--the 21st century's continuation of the "VHS vs Betamax" debate) and exclusive contracts to highly desired networks can 'shut out' listeners from their desired programming (AAR was originally broadcast on both satellite providers but signed a long-term contract with XM in early 2005 to have their programming exclusively available via their subscriber service).
- Broadband and wireless technologies extend the range and utility of today's computers as well as the opportunities to listen to streaming audio broadcasts provided by AAR directly or through one of its affiliates (sadly, this has been my primary method of enjoying their programming). Problems with AAR's server occasionally happen due to the amount of listeners trying to access the streaming site simultaneously exceeding the capacity of their hardware.
- Finally, Air America Radio now offers a premium service that allows its paying subscribers to download audio files that can transferred to portable music players for later 'podcasting' at the listener's convenience.
The common thread of all the above options is money. Money is required to purchase the hardware items (receivers, computers, routers, antennas and wireless capability). Money would be needed for entry into the local market (construction of new station or purchase of existing one to change its format, leasing of spare HD frequencies of local broadcasters). Money has already influenced the public's opinion of AAR (financial difficulties when it started up, poor Arbitron ratings influencing advertising rates to potential customers) and these facts have been 'red meat' to the conservative talking heads who have predicted AAR's demise from its first day on the air. Money would also have to flow from the pockets of the liberal and progressive listening audience to the businesses that choose to advertise on a potential local affiliate.
Sadly, in today's local economy, money is not easy to come by, especially for those who are truly at the core of the progressive movement--George Soros notwithstanding. Unless some local media-savvy individual can be persuaded to see our community's need for this type of programming--as well as a potential payoff for him and any investors, Mr. Soros' philanthropy might be our only hope to bring AAR to Dayton's airwaves.
No comments:
Post a Comment