So now the Seattle metropolitan area, teeming with ardent liberals while limping along with a vocal minority of mostly fair-weather sports fans, boasts three competing sports talk radio stations and zero major network progressive talk venues.
Apparently the execs at CBS, owners of the AM 1090 bandwidth in Seattle, were terribly disappointed that the audience-beloved Progressive Talk format wasn’t churning out enough revenue. So, out with the informative, in with the entertaining: welcome to the new AM 1090, “The Fan”!
As the Northwest Progressive Institute sees it, in a recent post on its blog “The Advocate,” CBS is “making an extremely risky bet. By converting AM 1090, they lose the station’s current loyal audience and all the goodwill they have tried to cultivate over the years through ‘Precinct 1090’ and annual town hall forums.”
Are there enough rabid sports fanatics in the Emerald City to support three major radio stations and out-shout all the liberal-minded, college-educated, upscale and middle class students, workers, and denizens of Starbucks, patrons of the Seattle Symphony, art galleries, jazz clubs and alternative theater and cinema who yearn to hear educated opinions and learn about the issues of the day that actually affect their real lives?
Unless the Seahawks win a Super Bowl, the Mariners make a World Series run, and the Sonics return home…the outlook for “The Fan” is dim. Odds are CBS ain’t gonna win this bet.
But there are ways for Seattle-ites to hasten the return of Progressive Talk to the mainstream airwaves and means to enjoy liberal voices until that glorious day. Namely…
- Email ProgressiveRadioSeattle@gmail.com to see how you can help out.
- Sign a supportive petition at http://www.signon.org/dashboard.html?l=al-543905-20121206-co5kuz.
- Contact the Seattle City Council. Be sure to thank Councilman Nick Licata for his help. Apply pressure liberally to other council members.
- Access progressive talk and alternative news online via sites such as: http://tunein.com/radio/Progressive-Talk-c57925/.
- And you can still catch voices like Thom Hartmann and Stephanie Miller on stations like KLAY-AM 1180 and KBCS-FM 91.3.
Or…get in touch with your favorite wealthy progressive. The simplest solution, as MoveOnWhidbey Council Coordinator Carolyn Tamler says, is for “Al Gore or some other well-healed Democrat (to) buy the bloody station.”
Hear! Hear!
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