Comments

1
Limbaugh's sponsors learned that the people who not too long ago threatened them with a boycott never buy anything anyway.
2
yeah, it sucks.

but, sadly, your "...free market my ass, eh?..." comment is a little off: that station ranked well into the twenties as far as listenership goes. TWENTIES. well behind the two sports stations and good 'ol Lars.

us libs were too busy getting stoned and listening to Sirius radio in our Priuses (Prii?) to be listening to blue-hued AM radio, apparently.

we're like the dog that only wants a particular toy when another dog has it. when it was ours to be had, we ignored it and instead went to go roll in some nasty-ass shit.

http://www.arbitron.com/home/ratings_topli…
3
I love sports but Portland sports talk sucks because Portland doesn't really have enough to talk about, and the "talent" here is terrible.

Who the hell listens to AM radio anyway? Who even listens to the radio?
4
lol the radio still exists? that's cute
5
KPOJ was profitable... half a million a month wasn't enough, I guess. You do know that Republicans support their own, right? They do everything in lockstep, no matter if it hurts the country. Ever wonder why every Conservative's book is miraculously always #1? It's because their organizations buy them by the truckload, that's why. It has nothing to do with actual people reading them. Lars isn't some brilliant mind, he's just part of the team and takes credit for what the team gives him: numbers. Either way, the IA was right, we did win the election and Portland is STILL a progressive town... and there's a little thing called a "podcast", you know.
6
KBOO?
7
"us libs were too busy getting stoned and listening to Sirius radio in our Priuses (Prii?) to be listening to blue-hued AM radio, apparently."


REALLY? B/c where i'm from, most people are too poor to enjoy such luxuries as PAID internet radio. But i listened to KPOJ mostly for Malloy. Alas, there IS KBOO, Democracy Now!, and (for me) regular Al Jazeera feeds on youtube.
8
First, I don't understand much of the commentary on this issue. I get why fans of the station would be upset, they lost a media product that they enjoyed. But much of the commentary tries to make it a bigger issue than that. People write as though this was the death of progressive ideas, or some kind of tragedy for us all. I just don't see why this matters to anyone beyond the small percentage of the already limited AM radio audience. The balance of political views on AM radio hasn't been important in decades, if it ever was. If you were a KPOJ listener, then I'm sorry for your loss, but don't try to pretend that it's my loss too. It's not.

Second, I just want to point out that your, "free market my ass," comment demonstrates a misunderstanding of competition in the marketplace. You are confusing the results of competition with the availability of competition. A free market only means that multiple players are able to experiment with different products. Those different products are then filtered by the process of consumer choice. High performers are duplicated, and low performers are eliminated, as the producers try to capture the greatest share of the audience that they can get. One result of this process is that the variety of choices narrows. Put more simply, a free market requires competition, and competition will produce both winners *and losers.*

For a variety of reasons, the AM radio audience skews old, white, and male. That means that conservative politics and sports will dominate the programming. If, for example, college kids were all really into AM radio, then it would be dominated by music and progressive talk. In many cases, the format dictates the audience, which then dictates the outcome of competition in the marketplace. For example, check out a couple of podcast directories and you will find that the market is dominated by "tech" podcasts of one kind or another, but you will have serious difficulty finding podcasts about how technology is destroying the human race. That's because the audience for that format is not interested in that viewpoint, not because the marketplace is not competitive.
9
In short, maybe failing to be successful in AM radio is kind of like winning the Ugliest Dog contest, and maybe liberals should spend a lot less time beating themselves up about it.
10
Anyone can have their very own live streaming video channel on Youtube for free to all.
11
Of course Lars is an ass most of the time, and pompous to boot.
But even left wing political talk radio was pretty bad too, you gotta admit.
12
Oh, fully. I didn't listen to Air America because it sucked. It reminded me of people I don't listen to on the right edge of the dial for the same reason.
13
You people obviously didn't listen to KPOJ (which isn't Air America) and are just swallowing the tripe you've heard about it over the years. Carl Wolfson, Thom Hartman, Randi Rhodes and Norman Goldman are all very intelligent people. They didn't yell at you, like Lars and Rush do, they presented facts and logic. They used history, and they made known their sources. They debated with Right-Wingers all the time and called them out on their talking points... which is what Right-Wing radio provides. There is no debate on Right-Wing radio, only propaganda, yelling, screaming, name-calling... see, you're being TOLD what to think. Progressive radio was different, it was smart and an asset to the community. I GUARANTEE that none of you Mercury commenters would ever win a debate with any of the hosts mentioned above. Why? Because you do not know the facts. You're spewing assumptions and "things you heard". Whatever, live in the dark all you want, be a follower and enjoy being told what to think... it's your loss.
14
Except I have indeed listened to those people you name-checked there, and determined that my life would suffer no serious loss by not listening to them any further.

And whether or not any of us would "win" a debate with them? What kind of childish bullshit is that? It's an exchange of ideas, not a contest.
15
Yes, and Mercury's comment board is simply full of people "exchanging ideas", uh-huh. Please honey, when Right-Wingers called one of the shows, inevitably they yelled, screamed and spewed out talking points, so it WAS about correcting them. Talking points can only go so far, but it's more than enough when you're in the world of Right-Wing media. "Obammy's a Muslim"- There it is, that's all you need if you're some ignorant Conservative, which I am sorry to say, there are a lot of. Mitt Romney was a perfect example, for he had no substance and his lies, which were all well documented, were quite typical of the Republican party. There is a HUGE difference between Right-wing and Progressive talk radio. Sorry you couldn't make the distinction.
16
What Captain Amerigo said.
17
I'm looking forward to a Portland affiliate for JT The Brick.
18
Oh, Jesus. What's the word for "false equivalency" in your language? Romney's an idiot = Left wing radio is good? Shut the fuck up. You're what people make fun of when they make fun of partisan idiocy.
19
Typical avoidance techniques for someone who hasn't a CLUE as to what they're talking about. I was merely updating you on the FACTS, my dearest, oldest and stinkiest friend. The things you spoke of, the displeasure you expressed, could only have been spewed out by someone who didn't listen (regularly) to the radio station in question. If you had, then you would have known that there is no equivalent to Right-Wing propaganda and progressive talk radio. Do your research before you REPEAT the same old and very tired talking points. You're uninformed my smelly friend, but you'll fight to the death to prove you're right... kind of like a fly hitting a window over and over again.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.