Getting the FOX out of the henhouse

Okay, it was a really stupid idea.

Who came up with the not-so-brilliant plan to let the FOX into the henhouse, so to speak? Or in this case, which braindead member of the Democratic party came up with this silly scheme to allow the FOX 'News' Channel exclusive broadcast rights to a Democratic presidential debate in Nevada this coming August?

Needless to say, this decision went down like a fart in a crowded elevator among many Democrats and supporters. Daily Kos, MyDD and MoveOn led the charge in blasting Nevada Democrats, as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who represents the state, for making this deal with the devil. After all, why reward FOX 'News' for bad behavior, right? Why give in to this ridiculous example of a 'news' network that just makes fraudulent shit up about Democrats anyway? That is, when they're not in full Anna Nicole-a-thon mode (note to Fox: SHE'S IN THE GROUND!). After all, they couldn't really be too 'fair and balanced' when they're spreading nonsense like this:



See what I mean?

Anyway, one candidate proved to be the first to show some resemblance to a backbone. John Edwards (or, as Annthrax Annie affectionately calls him, 'faggot') told FOX to stick it, and informed Kos directly that he would not be attending. Good for him. Hopefully, Hillary Clinton will pull out as well and stop trying to suck up to Republicans (note to Sen. Clinton: THEY DON'T LIKE YOU!). And hopefully, Barack Obama will get out of his "I can stand up to these FOX pussies" mode and do likewise (note to Sen. Obama: You probably could handle them, but they'll still call you 'Hussein'). Bill Richardson has stated that he'll participate. Christopher Dodd will just go with the flow as he usually does, and Joe Biden is likely waiting to hear what the credit card companies based in Delaware think of the whole thing before making up his mind. Yep, these are our candidates. Granted, they're about equal on the milquetoast scale as Bush-bitch McCain, flip-floppin' Romney and cross-dressing Rudy. A campaign for the lowest common denominator, perhaps?

After Edwards' pullout, FOX 'News' released a statement, saying:

"It’s unfortunate that Senator Edwards has decided to abandon an opportunity to reach the largest mainstream cable news audience in America."

Uhh, yeah. A large audience of brainwashed lemmings who wouldn't vote for any of these guys (and gal) anyway. And where do they get off calling themselves 'mainstream cable news'? Whatever the hell FOX puts on their 'news' channel certainly can't be considered 'news', can it? Note to FOX 'News' viewers: FOX 'News' makes you really, really stupid.

Tom Collins, head of the Nevada Democratic Party, was in full damage control mode, sending out an email to supporters this morning, sticking behind his decision and offering a compromise. How about a living, breathing "progressive voice" on the panel to fire off questions? Which of course would stand out from the Hannity-like mouthbreathing goons on the panel asking the candidates why they hate America. Hey, there's an Air America affiliate in Reno, fer cryin' out loud! They can broadcast it and even take part. Never mind that KJFK has no local presence whatsoever. Heck, they don't even have a functioning website! So fat chance there. The FOX affiliate in Las Vegas can carry it too. Oh, and C-Span can carry it on delay after FOX gets their anti-DNC hatefest out of the way. Note to Collins: Stop it already. Just stop it.

Air America was offered a seat on the panel, but new president Mark Green, opting not to play the Alan Colmes-token liberal position, turned them down. However, he did express the desire for Air America to host their own Democratic debate down the road, and quite frankly, this sounds like a good idea. Why not try and have at least one debate tailored to your own base, right? Green also offered to host a Republican candidates debate, but no response from the GOP as of yet for that one. Note to Green: I like ya already!

Granted, conservative suck-ups like Harold Ford have no qualms about getting in bed with the Evil Empire. But Ford lost his election bid last fall, and we hope Democrats would have big enough balls (Hillary included) to just say no to the GOP's propaganda arm.

In closing, the FOX egg-pelting contest Nevada Democratic presidential debate is still going ahead as scheduled. Hopefully, by that point, FOX 'News' pundits will be asking questions to an empty room. Of course, they'll find creative ways to spin their way out of adversity anyway. They usually do.



Note to FOX 'News': You wish.

Ratings Roundup Fall 2006: Part 3

Hello again! It's time for part 3 of the Ratings Roundup for this past fall's Arbitron ratings books. In the first two parts, we looked at the Midwest and the West Coast. Today, we'll look at how liberal talk fared in the mountain states and the south central part of the United States. The ratings cited, unless otherwise specified, are the overall numbers, reflecting all listeners ages 12 and older. These are the only ratings numbers released by Arbitron to the public. The more valuable numbers, the 'breakdowns' of daypart, gender, age and other demographics groups, are considered even more important, and are sold for rather large sums of money to subscribers.

Nova M Radio's KPHX is holding steady with a 0.7 in Phoenix (#15), a market filled with low-powered AM talk stations, in addition to a relatively new FM talker, KZON (Free FM) and a move of top-rated news station KTAR to FM. In Reno (#124), little 820 watt KJFK is doing well, holding at a 2.1 share, despite the lack of an online presence (the website's been under construction for over a year). They are currently the #2 overall talk station in the market, behind top-rated KKOH, the local Limbaugh/Hannity/Savage station, and ahead of sports talk KPLY, 'hot talk' sister KBZZ and FM conservotalker KKFT, which airs a FOX 'News'-branded format and the motto "Anybody But Hillary." They finish at the bottom of the ratings, ahead of only a couple little Spanish language stations. Nice. I could go on about how much of a colossal joke the FOX 'News' Radio network is, but I'll save it for another day, another article. Let's put it this way: The next time any nimble-minded wingnut ridicules Air America, you can easily shut them down by using these three words: FOX 'News' Radio. That should work.

In New Mexico, liberal talk is doing fairly well, with Albuquerque's (#70) KABQ jumps to a 1.8 for the fall book. And longtime liberal talk stalwart KTRC (which was an I.E. America affiliate years ago) has shown considerable growth as of late in Santa Fe (#236), rising to a 2.1 share, even without much promotion or a web presence. They have more than doubled their audience since last fall. Over the past few months, they have become more aggressive with their on-air lineup, recently adding Stephanie Miller's show to mornings, as angry Sam Seder fans furiously emailed LTR to voice their, umm, opinions.

KKZN is up in the Denver (#22) book with a 1.9, good for a tie for 16th place. In nearby Fort Collins (#124), the station is tied with conservative sister KHOW with a 1.2 share.

Down in Texas, liberal talk has struggled in the past six months, with stations in Dallas and San Antonio (actually, Victoria) either being sold or flipping to different formats. In El Paso (#76), a market who's residential makeup is roughly 81% Hispanic, Entravision-owned KHRO is hovering near the bottom of the ratings, with a 0.3 share. The station has virtually no local presence, and seems to just run the straight Air America Radio feed over it's expanded AM band signal (1630AM). Its website consists solely of a link to Air America Radio (hopefully they didn't pay a webmaster to do that). KCCT in Corpus Christi (#139) is dealing with many of the same issues. They are a no-show in the current book, have no internet presence, and don't really seem to care. Listeners have informed LTR that the station occasionally disrupts Air America programming to run a shopping show (or something loosely resembling a shopping show) during the weekday. To their credit, they do have a few local talkers, although they reportedly come off as a bit amateurish.

KOKE in Austin (#42) is a much better-run station, though its formerly three-station Texas Pro Radio network is no more, since KXEG in Dallas was sold off and KTXX-FM (which allegedly serves San Antonio but has a signal too far away to really make any kind of impression in the market) was flipped to a different format. The remaining station, KOKE, is holding steady at a 0.7, amid rumors of future changes, which reportedly will include more local liberal hosts being added to the schedule in place of Air America shows. A new website will debut soon in place of the one for the former Texas Pro Radio. Sister station KTXX, now carrying a Spanish-language music format, is a no-show in the San Antonio book, but the station's signal really doesn't hit the market well. It's more of a Victoria, TX station. In Houston, where there is no commercial liberal talk station, non-commercial Pacifica's KPFT registers a 0.5 share.

In New Orleans (#57), WSMB drops to a 0.5 share in a bratings period that saw a format change halfway through. In November, the station dropped progressive talk and became WWWL, currently airing reruns of shows from its sister station, the AM-FM simulcast of WWL.

Next time, we'll look at how liberal talk did south of the Mason-Dixon line, or what the Republicans call 'the base.' And we'll finish up with the upper East Coast and northeastern states.