Air America Deflating?
Is Air America going Away? The Station , which is at 1690 AM here in Atlanta has been sold .
With its sale, the future of Air America becomes dubious. The new owner, Joe Weber, bought the station for $12 million. Not exactly chump change. Will Weber keep such programming? Certainly some changes are on the way.
Part of the problem is that Atlanta’s Air Atlanta affiliate is not a smash winner in the ratings. It has a .4 rating. That’s down in WGST territory.
Weber, who owns 1160 AM, has not disclosed what he plans to do with the station. Clearly his interest in the local arts scene could create the opportunity for more local programming while balancing the more interesting live national programs.
Air America has changed substantially since it first went on the air. Chuck D & Liz Winstead have been replaced by Jerry Springer. They added Atlanta’s Mike Malloy , and have added numerous syndicated programs. However, there is little Atlanta focused political programming. The Creative Loafing on the air with Ken Edelstein.
Webber might do well to add weekday political and cultural flavor to his mix… Can you imagine Christiane Lauterbach and Jason Riggs doing a show together?
May 14th, 2006 at 4:47 pm
I talked to Steve Sinton (one of Air America’s founders, also a candidate in the 6th District) at the Kos signing at Manuel’s earlier this week, and he seemed pissed with the old owners and glad it was sold. I said I thought the web operation was third rate, and he didn’t disagree with me.
May 14th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
I believe the current idea is for Mr. Weber to move his Voice of the Arts programming to the more powerful 1690 slot. Whether he’ll move the Air America programming to 1160 is still uncertain. But I don’t think he’ll be mixing the two together.
May 17th, 2006 at 10:27 pm
Twelve million? Quite a lot of chedder for an obsolete technology.
June 12th, 2006 at 5:38 pm
WWAA1690 is no more. It will still have Al Franken and an abreviated Air Loaf. This is sad that a city like Atlanta could not support these very necessary voices. I don’t know if it was the owner or the market. I don’t care. I just want Randi Rhodes back on the air when I am in traffic!
June 24th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
How sad that Airatlanta has been sold out. I can only listen on Saturdays and after air loaf there is nothing but a waste of time. I miss the programs I used to listen to on Saturday’s. I listen to NPR during the morning and evening drive times. From what I have heard on 1690 the past couple of weeks I dont see why anyone would waste time listening to that drivel.