We lost our local progressive radio station back in January. If you lost yours, check in.

[Cleita]

It was replaced with an all news station that seems to interview only members of the Heritage Foundation for stories they are following. They dumped Stephanie, Thom, Randi and Mike, but kept the local guy Bill Benica. I had to go into town and had Benica on and there is no more talk about politics with him local or otherwise. All he and a guest talked about was movies. So today our local paper the Tribune has a story about it.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2013/02/14/2394547/kyns-am-radio-station-format.html

<snip>

Progressive talk radio station KYNS has changed its format, knocking such liberal icons as Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartman, and Ed Schultz off the air in San Luis Obispo County, and leaving local talk radio the near exclusive domain of conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

The change to straight news took place at the end of January, and the station, located at 1340 on the AM dial, is not explaining why it made the move. Station manager Aaron Criswell declined repeated requests from The Tribune to say whether poor ratings and a failure to sell advertising doomed the progressive shows.

Michael Morin, of Morin Brothers Automotive, who advertised on the progressive shows — some say he was the only advertiser — said a station salesperson told him KYNS was shooting for a more affluent audience.

The shift is not going over well with former listeners of KYNS, dozens of whom are scorching an online comment site with blistering attacks on station management.

<snip>

Read more here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2013/02/14/2394547/kyns-am-radio-station-format.html#storylink=cpy

Now, my own opinion. I met station manager Aaron Criswell a few times when I was working. My boss, a doctor, was trying to buy air time. He was treated dismissively by Aaron and other sales people he was supposed to deal with, often with them canceling meetings at the last minute when he had cleared his schedule to meet with them, causing a loss in revenue for the doctor. He finally got so pissed off with Aaron's arrogance that he refused to advertise on any of the stations that were under Aaron's aegis so I believe that he probably had a problem with revenue, however, it wasn't the fault of the radio programs but of the station manager.

Since this seems to be happening across the nation in what are liberal places like Portland, Seattle, now here and I know in many other places, it seems there is a bigger thing happening across the board. Should I put my on and posit that maybe Aaron and many other station managers were pressured not to sell air time so that the progressive format would tank and then whoever is behind this could replace them with sports and Heritage Foundation based news?

Anyone who has lost their progressive radio station outlets have any thoughts about this?

[Cleita]

1. ...

[Cleita]

2. ...

I'm really looking for some positive and informative feedback.

[onethatcares]

3. come on over to listener sponsored

community radio in WMNF, 88.5 Tampa FLorida. This is the best little radio station in the world. There are 4 different flavors I think and they do stream on the puter.

It's an island of sanity in an ocean of shit. Trust me, I live here in Florida and this is one of the few treasures I would donate to, and although they do fund raisers, it's not continuous.

[Cleita]

4. Unfortunately, I live in CA.

I've been researching the dicks who own those stations and many more in the west here. I think we have some RWing snakes trying to promote Laura Ingraham and Neal Boortz while keeping our guys from being aired in this community.

[onethatcares]

10. type wmnf.org into

your search engine. Just try it

[Aristus]

5. Seattle lost AM 1090 in January.

I'm sad. No more local progressive talk. I can't live stream while driving my car...

[Cleita]

6. It seems to be happening across the country especially in places where there was

only one station carrying, Randi, Ed, Mike, Thom et al. Something is going on. I know. Driving my car is where I miss it too. Those who aren't mouse poor can get Sirius, but it just keeps the poorest in society from hearing their voices. It's really about having a choice and those choices are being removed from the population.

[gort]

8. I live in seattle and i use my iPhone to stream ktlk

Nature will find a way. Let over the air radio die it's own death that it seems hellbent on doing to itself. Seriously, how many sports radio stations does one city need?

I also subscribe to Sirius. Haven't really listened to local radio for years since they no longer have to serve the public interest to get their licenses renewed anymore. Republicans destroyed local radio. They can have it.

[pokerfan]

9. and Portland lost theirs (KPOJ AM 620)

I listen to Colorado these days.

http://www.am760.net/main.html

[tblue]

26. Didn't know that about Portland!

That was a great station. I used to stream it when I needed to hear Randi but couldn't get a strong enough signal on my local station, which also went defunct. BOOOOOOO on all of this! These days I podcast the shows I like or use iHeart Radio.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

35. At least you still have KBOO

That's not shabby.

[0rganism]

64. KBOO's operating model is the one that will keep liberal ideas on the air

A volunteer run, listener supported, labor of love. That's what it'll take. The corporate-owned advertising revenue approach gravitates toward control by people who hate liberalism, who'll ditch the format as soon as they can gin up an excuse.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

66. Right, and here in the Twin Cities, we have KFAI, which is located at 90.3FM,

while the NPR news service is located at 91.1FM.

KFAI advertises itself by saying "we're located to the left of NPR."

[nolabear]

23. There's a movement to work that out Aristus. I get updates now and then.

Hope we liberals find a new home. Meanwhile I use TunedIn Radio on the phone and plug it into the car speakers.

[tblue]

28. I use iPhone apps to stream also.

My local station switched Stephanie Miller for Glenn Beck!

[Cleita]

29. That is a really radical switch!

I mean to swap Stephanie with sports is suspicious, but Beck? Yeck!

[tblue]

41. Like a punch in the gut.

I stopped listening to that station even tho they still play Randi and Ed and Steph at a later time.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Never had one here. Welcome to my world.

We have an am station that airs Rush 3 times a day and another that airs Glen Beck and Michael Asshole Savage. Then what seems like 100 stations that are all sports talk.

I bought a satellite radio about 10 years ago and that keeps me sane.

[Cleita]

21. Not all of can afford Sirius and it take the choice of what to listen to out

of the hands of poor people. I'm thinking we should have more choice since we the people own the air waves. Maybe it's time for some activism in getting choice back on the radio.

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. I absolutely agree.

[eridani]

11. Check out the following thread for accessing liberal talkers

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10821499

There are a number of streaming and podcast options.

[Cleita]

15. Not when you are driving around. Then there is only a subscription

service like Sirius and many of us can't afford that.

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. Sirius is only $16 a month

[Cleita]

22. I live on Social Security. Many of us do.

With gas over $4 a gallon in my area, there is no extra $16 in the budget there.

[Le Taz Hot]

12. What is this "progressive radio"

of which you speak?

[Cleita]

16. The one crappy low powered station that once carried Ed Schultz,

Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes, Mike Malloy and others. It made a difference. It was a small island in a sea of Rush Limbaugh, Neal Boortz, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham and the rest of the right wing loonies. I suppose you guys in Fresno never even had that.

[Le Taz Hot]

30. There were rumors of one once

but then the acid wore off and reality kicked in.

[FrodosPet]

13. People on the left have a lot more interests

I believe many people on the left are more into music, or NPR, or practically anything else other than "Complaint Radio". Right Wing: Smaller world, excitable, filled with fear and anger, is perfect for political talk radio.

The numbers are what the numbers are. You can put Thom and Stephanie on the hottest blowtorches, and Rush and Co. on a few dozen one lung stations, and MAYBE the audiences might be close.

(Translation: Blowtorches = 50,000 watt, One Lung = 1000 watts or less)

[Cleita]

17. No we are into information radio. A place where we can get the truth and the real news.

The numbers are cooked, I believe, from watching the shenanigans at our local station that changed from progressive to Heritage Foundation. Radio, as it is, is owned only by a few monopolies, just like our TV outlets are. This is bad for choices in getting information and bad for democracy when you only hear one message and that message is usually a lie. People like myself take the trouble to get information from various sources. The average person doesn't. They are busy. So if they keep hearing from news sources that Obama is not an American, they will believe it. If they hear that Social Security is in trouble, they will believe it.

I believe you are on the wrong board if that's what you believe.

[FrodosPet]

34. Yes, the people who gravitate here are bigger information media consumers

In the physical world, I know people across the political spectrum. My personal experience (YMMV) is that a lot of the conservative types ARE into their RW heroes. Meanwhile, I've only met one other person who said he listened to progressive talk. And when I was driving cab, the few passengers who did ask me to turn on talk radio either asked for news radio or Rush Limpblob. Once, and only once, did I get a request for 1310 WDTW.

As for being on the wrong board - while I may be a bit (only a bit?) of a contrarian smartass who tries to get people to think and question EVERYTHING, I am most def on the correct board. I respect "Oh, really?" a lot more than "Megadittos!".

[Cleita]

38. Okay, Welcome to DU, I think.

However, after spending an afternoon at the gym arguing with the FoxNews indoctrinated, I can understand why you don't get requests for that station.

[FrodosPet]

39. Trust - I was a big time WDTW listener when I was driving

12 hours a day, 6 days a week, you listen to A LOT of radio. I spent many hours waiting for fares listening to Stephanie and Thom and Ed and Randi. But it seems I was one of the few.

And when I had a fare, my instinct was to ask what they wanted to hear on the radio. They are paying a rather hefty premium to travel from point A to point B. So I tried to put on whatever they wanted. Talk, rock, pop, hip hop, country, whatever. I am trying to help people feel comfortable. And what I saw is what I saw.

Anyhow, thank you for the welcome. I know I am an oddball, but I've never known anything other than being an outsider, so why should I start now?

[HiPointDem]

14. interesting about the sales angle. seems fairly obvious that radio's being concentrated &

left-liberal ideas being driven out of media generally.

it's been going on awhile, i'm thinking about the takeover of some of the old public radio frequencies, the clearchannel coup, the corporatization of pbs, etc.

it's all of a piece, but i don't know anything about this latest push.

my 'local' (not so local, actually) left-radio (kboo out of portland) is still in business.

and we still have an independent, locally-owned station in our podunk town. which seems like some kind of miracle.

[Cleita]

19. You are lucky. You should support your local station as much as you can.

Ours originally was locally owned and it sold out to Mapelton Communications, not a huge outfit like Clear Channel, but when I pulled up a list of all the stations they owned, it seems none of it is progressive radio except a couple that have been converted to either a sports or right wing news format. I'm trying to dig deeper but I think it will be hard.

[Paul E Ester]

18. In the old days you consumed what they fed you.

Today you can get your news from around the world.

A great station is http://www.kmud.org the voice of the redwoods, broadcasting from the heart of the emerald triangle.

One of the greatest things you can do for your mind is turn off your TV and local radio. Soon you'll find the world is the beautiful place you knew it to be, not a world of fear the mainstream media projects.


Link to their schedule.

http://www.kmud.org/programs-mainmenu-11/program-schedule.html

[Cleita]

24. Everybody says to stream and I do, but how long to you think it will take people

like the Koch Brothers, to start infiltrating there? They are trying to buy the message. It's very Orwellian. You take over all the media and then feed people propaganda or junk like inane music and they start repeating it as fact. We need to stop this. Also, I can't stream while working in the yard or driving around for my chores or while I'm on a treadmill at the gym. I can't afford pod casts, nor can many seniors or poor people so we need our radio and our broadcast channels on TV.

[Paul E Ester]

25. Having the ability to stream on the go

is not cheap. I agree consolidation of local media is a concern.

[Cleita]

27. Thank you. Nobody seems to get what I'm concerned about.

I think it's time for activism in this arena. I'm trying to find out what I can of what happened locally. I think if everyone learned everything that they can about whose running things in their locality and whom they are beholden to, there can be a movement started to change things. I personally have given up on Washington doing anything nationally about anything really, not just communications. We have to do it ourselves.

[tularetom]

31. I can't stand to listen to Bill Benica

He mumbles through his entire show and I can't understand half of what he says. Plus he espoused a lot of views that seemed to be out of whack with the rest of the programming on the station. The "all news" format seems to be a thinly disguised republican propaganda operation.

BTW, the "progressive" station in Reno (KJFK) that formerly carried Ed Schultz and the rest of the usual suspects will change formats as of Monday.

I keep hearing how Rush Limbaugh is hemorrhaging advertisers at an astounding rate and talk radio as a genre is in deep shit. But oddly enough, the only stations that seem to be changing formats are the ones that carried shows that took the "liberal" or Democratic side of political discussions. So yes, there sure as hell seems to be a trend.

[Cleita]

32. Bill Benica is a total moron IMHO.

Time for action from us little people it seems. I wonder if there is a way to take these parent companies to court to force them to offer a diversity of programming since the airwaves supposedly do belong to the people and they only are allowed to use them?

[FrodosPet]

36. Rush Limpblob FINALLY tells the truth!

[UTUSN]

37. You *had* one?!1 n/t

[olddots]

40. L.A. has something like 13.000.000 people living here

we have Pacifica which is very informative and very dry ,We need something that was once Air America .
Media is power and we don't own any media .

[0rganism]

42. i swear it's a coordinated effort

these stations changed formats within 4 months of the election, and i'd bet the purge will continue through the following year until 0 remain, nationwide. looks an awful lot like spite to me.

say what you like about "arbitron ratings" and "profit margins" but fox radio lost money for years and its sponsors didn't have any trouble floating it until it picked up an audience. and do you really expect me to believe that the 2nd oldies station or the 4th sports talk station in a market like Portland or Seattle is going to outperform liberal talk? not buying it.

[Cleita]

43. You've got it and it's obvious. n/t

[Octafish]

44. KJFK in Reno...

Didn't see this one, mentioned by alp227 in LBN:

Source: Radio Insight

Another Progressive Talker has reached the end of its lifecycle.

Americom’s 1230 KJFK Reno will cease broadcasting the format on Monday, March 18. In a letter to its listeners, the station states that the format has been operating at a loss but they wished to keep the station on through the past Presidential election.

No word on what format will replace the current Talk format, but the station has applied to take the KSGG calls from sister “Swag 97.3” which is in the process of moving to a translator on 104.9 to allow 97.3 to debut a new format.

Read more: http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/81225/kjfk-reno-to-drop-liberal-talk/

[Cleita]

46. Wow, it's getting to look like a plan by those who don't want real information out there.

I have to listen to the brainwashed by FoxNews every time I go to the gym and if there is nothing else out there, people will put on what is available and then they get misinformed and start spreading the lies they are told. I mean I feel like a fire fighter every time I go there and hear crap and I keep running around beating down the flames of misinformation.

[Octafish]

49. Three Things Every American Should Know about Corporate McPravda...

[font size=1"]Professional Liar by susan m hinckley.[/font size]

The official voice of the Republikkkon Party also seems the official voice of Big Media:

ABC and the rise of Rush Limbaugh

The other thing the great Carl Bernstein reported should've got him another Pulitzer:

The CIA and the Media

His old paper still hits a homer on occasion, most recently on how the Government has privatized Secret Government:

Top Secret America: A Hidden World.

America's mass media were virtually silent about that series, too.

And that is why our nation creeps, literally and figuratively, rightward toward the "national security state" Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. described to Charlie Rose.

PS: This post really has four things everyone should know about Corporate McPravda. I know you know that, Cleita, but for those new to tje subject, a shock.

[Arugula Latte]

45. Yep. KPOJ 620 am gone in Portland, Ore. since November.

[MineralMan]

47. Progressive radio has done poorly just about everywhere.

The reason, I think, is just economics. Apparently not enough progressive people are listening to these stations and buying the products and services advertised on them. Radio is an iffy medium when it comes to advertising revenues. And AM radio is even more iffy. Media buyers are looking for large numbers of ears for their repetitive ads for things like replacement windows and other mundane sorts of things. They're looking at raw numbers, because they know that only through repeating the same ads over and over again to radio audiences will they get any sort of reasonable results.

Radio is a terrible place to advertise serious things. People are often not listening closely to the radio. It's on as background noise or in a car, and these days car radios are more and more tuned to satellite radio programming, which can be closely selected to match the listener's taste.

Further, radio is a terrible medium for serious, thoughtful programming, and for the same reasons that it is a poor medium for advertising serious things. People aren't really listening closely, and serious programming requires attention.

Combine those things with the relatively high fixed costs of operating any radio station, and you have a recipe for failure. And so it has gone. It's not going to get better, either. Radio is fading as a public medium. It has to compete with too many other media for the attention of listeners. They're more and more likely to be listening to the playlist on their MP3 player, satellite radio, or to some other source of background noise that soothes and distracts from mundane tasks, such as working or driving in a car. Radio is a dying medium, to be very frank. Where it is surviving is still in the popular music circles, of whatever genre, with advertising that shouts its message again and again so it will break through the distractions once in a while. It is surviving in shout radio, where the outrageous words and messages of the shouters feeds people's prejudices.

The bottom line is that progressives and (dare I say) liberals are not listening to the radio. They're doing something else, or are listening to programming they've either created for themselves or selected from the incredibly long list of programming available on satellite radio. They're not buying the kinds of things radio advertising is good at selling, so media buyers just can't see any reason to advertise on progressive radio. So, station owners are looking for economically viable formats and changing to those.

It's really simple. It's not going to change. Progressive radio gave it a shot, but missed. The market is not there. Radio is dying, and there's no way around it. I'm amazed it's still as active as it is.

[Cleita]

50. What a bunch of bull pucky.

In an area that has Democrats elected in office, you can be sure that people are listening. I witnessed first hand a station manager that seemed to go out of his way to piss off a potential advertiser. If you looked at the complaints about it on the message board of this station, it seems a lot of people were listening and are really pissed off with the change.

[MineralMan]

61. Whatever you say. nt

[ErikJ]

67. NPR is huge

I think I heard once that NPR is the most listened to radio station. Even more than Rush. But its hardly Progeressive. I just wish more of the listeners would have tuned into the real Progressive stations before they got the boot.

[stlsaxman]

69. Nationalist Propaganda Radio is the "liberal bureau" of FOX NEWS. nt

[MineralMan]

73. Yes. NPR has a lot of listeners, who actively support

the network with their donations. Is NPR progressive? As always, that depends on how you define that word. Aside from their news programs, there's not much on NPR on which to judge. Personally, I find NRP news programs to be fairly representative of the actual news of the day, although I'm not listening to it as much as I once did.

The problem with progressive commercial radio stations is that they are commercial. If they do not make money for their owners, the owners are going to change formats to something they think will make money. And there's the rub. The demographics of progressive radio listeners is not the demographic advertisers are looking for, so they don't advertise on those progressive stations. Without advertisers, there's not money coming in and lots of money going out.

Is that a deplorable situation? Of course. What is the solution? I don't know. The FCC is not looking at content on radio stations to try to create political balance. In fairness, that is not the FCC's job. As long as radio is a commercial venture, the situation will continue. Unless advertisers can be coaxed into buying time on a station, it will not continue to run a format that doesn't attract advertisers.

That station in San Luis Obispo County, CA, is in the place I lived for 35 years. I moved from there to Minnesota in 2004. I'm familiar with the area, and it is a fairly progressive area, at least in the coastal communities. However, the population is not enormous, and it is served by a broad range of radio, even in the AM band. Assembling a listener base that can support enough advertising buys can be difficult there. The pool of listeners to that progressive station was apparently not large enough or demographically suited enough to attract advertisers. Apparently, there was one primary advertiser, Morin Brothers Automotive. I know Michael Morin from my time living there, and it's a great business. But, that's not enough to keep a station going.

Now, progressive people could form a company to purchase a radio station and run it. However, they'd face the same economic realities that all radio stations face. AM radio, particularly, is pretty fragile, economically, right now, and the situation's not going to improve.

[KharmaTrain]

48. Radio's Death Throes...

...especially AM stations...technology that was antiquated decades ago and totally left in the dust in the digital age. This is especially the case of a small station with limited range and even more limited advertising. A lot of these small AM stations began in the 40s and 50s when AM dominated and mom and pop shops ruled Main street and were a steady source of revenue. That changed with the rise of FM and now Satellite and Internet radio along with the "mallification" of the country...large corporations buy networks not small stations and thus a major source of listeners and revenue has dried up. Today AM struggles at the very bottom of the broadcast food chain with whatever scraps they can find.

Progressive radio suffered as a byproduct of the rushbo and hate radio fallout. Many national advertisers didn't discriminate on whose show they didn't want their money spent on...they took their money out of ALL political talk programming. Being in as poor shape as they already were, Progressive talk has taken the biggest hits as owners, such as the one at this station, saw the few sources of advertising revenue dry up and is scrambling to find something/anything to make a buck on. Many of these small stations are not long for the broadcast world as the costs to operate them...even with cheap programming...is surpassing their earning power.

The internet is turning out to be the great equalizer...right now you're closer to an internet radio than you are a terestrial one and predictions are that a majority of cars will have internet capabilities within the next 5 years. This unlocks a wide world of live streams and podcasts...including shows hosted by DU members...the future of Progressive radio...

[Cleita]

51. So according to you having access to Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck all the time but no

choice for alternative programming is okay?

[KharmaTrain]

59. Huh?

Where does rushbo and dreck (I didn't even mention his name) have to do with this? It's not what I care of think...it's what the high rollers at Cheap Channel, Cumulus and CBS who do.

[Cleita]

60. I can still get Limbaugh and Beck on both AM and FM with really good signals, but

I can't get Randi or Thom or any other left wing talk shows without having to stream or pay for satellite. What is wrong with this picture?

[Niceguy1]

52. We lost ours a few years ago

The owners couldn't sell advertising and had serious cash flow problems. They tried really hard but just couldn't sell ads.

[Cleita]

53. So did a new format gain them more advertising?

It seems they would need a good sales staff that can sell refrigerators to eskimos. That's what it's about. They are not trying very IMHO.

[Niceguy1]

62. the staion is still

around and doing well so I guess so.

[Cleita]

63. I really wish there was a way to get hold of the Income statements of those

stations. I have a suspicion that advertising is not what is supporting these stations' new formats but money pouring in from other sources, like maybe right wing think tanks. But there is no way to know this for sure without a look at their books.

[Blue_In_AK]

54. Ironically, our only progressive radio show

(Shannyn Moore) broadcasts on our local Fox affiliate.

[olddots]

55. I can't stop thinking about this since the tread started .

There are so many things contributing to radio in general dying a not slow enough death.I stopped listening radio when the music began to suck knowing that it wasn't the music that sucked it was the stations being gobbled up by Scum Channel .What do we do now ? I tried to feel part of Pacifica like many people in L.A. have but its a closed little system full in infighting and passive aggressive really smart people with little sense of humor.Its a snooze fest and I have friends with shows on Pacifica so it feels bad to put it down.I won't get another monthly bill to go with Sat radio because you get less input with going thru more robots with sat.
N.P.R. has become a joke starting in the 70s its like N.E.T. hawking oldies c.d.s for 80 bucks . We have to something because the clear channel parasites have done their duty partially ruining the music bizz and certainly destroying local radio.Computer pod casts are the option but the days of a cheap little radio bringing enlightenment and entertainment into our lives may be over.
So much good sound has been replaced with ultra compressed low fi crap and nobody seems to complain .We complain about these things cause we care not just about ourselves but for the human race.
I have thoughts but no solutions but we can't give up .

[Cleita]

58. Yes, programming seems to have become all vanilla and with

no real music, information or edginess.

[oregonjen]

56. Great article regarding KPOJ

http://www.wweek.com/portland/m/article-19962-mobile.html#_Article



Carl Wolfson now has a show via Blogtalk radio M-F 7-9am pacific. Better than nothing, but I sure miss progressive radio. His website to link to his show is carlwolfson.com.

[Cleita]

57. That is sooo interesting.

Thank you for the link to that information. I had not made the connection to Bain Capital until you gave it to me.

[no_hypocrisy]

65. We may have been the first. We lost WEVD September 1, 2001 (NYC).

Last edited Sun Mar 17, 2013, 08:27 AM - Edit history (2)

Less than two weeks before 9-11.

The last day of broadcast for all the shows were like a funeral with callers phoning in to say goodbye to all the hosts.

The station was dedicated to Eugene Victor Debs. To have the Jewish Forward sell it for its 30 pieces of silver still infuriates me.

[Cleita]

70. And NYC is hardly a bastion of conservatism.

It looks like the fix was in even before Bush was selected President. We really had a coup in the 2000 election and the unelected figurehead/puppet became our President so that whoever is behind all this had all their chess pieces in place and they were able to move them then once they had a king.

[no_hypocrisy]

72. Up until midnight, one particular listener, Reba Shamansky, protested the

2000 installation of *, reminding every host and listener that the election was stolen. WEVD was more than the station and the hosts of the shows. It was a family of listeners who are now part of a Diaspora, yet to be reconvened at WNYC or WWRL.

[stlsaxman]

68. KJFK in Reno, NV was lost just yesterday.

Been listening to it on the TuneIn app and just heard last Monday that they could no longer afford to air.

Actually they said they'd been operating without sponsors since before the 2008 election but decided to stay on somehow because their "voice" was too important to the community. Somehow they got private contributors...

It really made me sad and pisses me off!

[Cleita]

71. RIP to KJFK.

This is moving too fast and too suspiciously to just be the result of market forces as they would have you believe.