Flutterby™! : Air America update 2006-12-12 12:49:04.519687+00

Air America update

2006-12-12 12:49:04.519687+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments

Here's an interesting little tidbit: Remember how Air America Radio went bankrupt a little while ago? There's a a leaked ABC Radio Networks memo that shows a boycot of 90 major national advertisers who not only didn't want to advertise on Air America Radio shows, "...they do not wish to air on any Air America affiliates", even those shows which were just ABC Radio Networks syndicated shows.

Now I'm not much of an Air America Radio fan, I hit my limit when I heard one host take a quote out of context and without the words's precise meaning in a way that would have made Rush Limbaugh proud, but this is kinda weird, especially since other shows on the ABC Radio Networks include "Sean Hannity" and "Focus on the Family Commentary".

Wetmachine goes into detail.

And remember that when it comes to media, you are the product, the advertisers are the customers.

I also note that Walmart doesn't advertise in In these Times or Hustler. Shall we hold hearings over that? I don't see what the problem is.

"to media, you are the product, the advertisers are the customers." - Simple, yet deep. Not seen it phrased that way before.

While I have little sympathy for the "hold hearings" stance (except that within the framework of the fucked up way we do broadcast spectrum allocation, that's actually the right thing to do), I find it interesting that all of these companies either find better consumers or believe that they'll promote the development of more pliable consumers by subsidizing Sean Hannity

and Focus on the Family

rather than Al Franken

and Ed Schultz

And, that to take the analogy a little further, not only are they not willing to advertise in Hustler

, or even avoiding PC Laptop Computing

and Maternity Fashion & Beauty

, it's like they're pulling all advertising from any magazine that's carried by a convenience store that sells Hustler

, but are totally happy to advertise in bars with KKK and White Power literature freely distributed.

Totally their right, but just as I've said I'm avoiding certain web hosting providers because of their stances on content, I'm willing to print that list and put it in my wallet to be evaluated with an eye towards companies which are promoting values that I don't want to see in my cultue.

I'm not sure you're right about the convenience store analogy. The original article admited that it wasn't clear if the companies were pulling their ads from the entire affiliate station or only during Air America time slots. Remember, in this context there are several levels of advertising, that sold by the network that is parceled out by the non-owned affiliates through a number of shows, and that sold by Air America directly. During Al Franken some commercial time is sold by Air America, some by the local station for that specific show, and some by national advertisers through ABC. There is a complex process of revenue sharing between all parties. Walmart doesn't want Al Franken saying "This blasphemous rant is brought to you by your local Walmart." They also don't want Al saying " Now for a word from WHUH," and then a Walmart ad popping up. It is equivalent to some advertisers who don't want their print ads opposite liquor ads in a magazine.