Liberal talk radio network comes to Bay Area
"A tiny Berkeley AM radio station that carries Chinese and Korean programming is the likely Bay Area home of Air America Radio, a new left-leaning political talk radio network designed to counter conservative talk shows."
more at the link
ba.broadcast discussion here
my post when the lineup was announced
Will Alex be there? maybe. I dunno.
It does not pass me by without a comment (or 2) that this nationally syndicated talk radio network replaces a local foreign language station. I did an interview last year with a college student working on a thesis about radio ownership etc. I used the AM band of the Bay Area dial to point out the diversity of radio (hey why are you laughing?!) and the various foreign languages you can find there. When I was growing up there were some AM stations and very little FM on the dial. Most people listened to just a handful of stations. The few stations on the air almost all broadcast in english. Not a lot of diversity there. It is better now, and yes could be better still...
I have no idea if these are local shows getting replaced at 1400 AM or what. Maybe they are just Chinese language versions of the vitamin supplement coral calcium guy who buys time on english language radio stations. Or maybe not. Maybe they are local shows for the Chinese community. Local and international issues that serve the community. At KUSF we used to have a Chinese language translator broadcast the KPIX 11 pm news live. There was even Chinese bumper music.
I always thought it was a pretty cool use of the airwaves and it certainly served the listeners who tuned in.
KUSF still has a fair amount of non english programs including 6 to 7pm M-F Chinese Star Radio.
schedule
So what's the point? I dunno. Just that the first time I hear Air America air any knocks on Clear Channel and the lack of radio diversity I'll get a little smile on my face. I know there are more CC stations than AA (hmm can we start to call it that yet?) but still it'll amuse me.
loose ends:
1400 am used to be a pretty wild soul station in the 70's. Kind of like a black KSAN. I remember they would play really cool music, but I really remember the drug tests.
You would send in some samples of the drugs you bought and I guess (hey I never did it) they would call you or give you a number. Then once a week ON THE AIR in the afternoons they would have the drug report. The stuff was sent to a lab and the dj would say "sample 15 contained 20 percent (insert drug name), 30 percent (insert drug name), etc. It went on for about 5 minutes I think, long enough for that weeks drug samples sent in by listeners. I think they would say what city it came from and what it was supposed to be, "super sticky Tai stick from Vallejo "or whatever. That way you could tell if there was some bad stuff on the streets.
Crazy stuff...
The antenna is right next to the south end of Berkeley's aquatic park right next to the freeway. It also used to be the place where the studio was located.
It all started as KRE back in 1922. History links here and and here.
I tried to get an airshift there in 1985 before KITS. I didn't get the gig. aircheck
I hope Al Franken does some interviews and bits with Stuart Smalley.
Inner City Broadcasting owner of KBLX and KVTO, the Air America station, is at 55 Hawthorne in SF. So is KFOG. They are on the 9th floor we are on the 10th. There is a really nice Korean couple that have a sandwich shop on the bottom floor. (good curry rice plates) They listen to a Korean talk radio show in the afternoon when I stop by. Not sure if it is 1400. Probably is.
finally:
The new liberal network is called Air America.
The people at www.airamerica.com must be wondering why the sudden interest in paintball.
of course there's Air America and Air America and American Air and American Air Products
I'll stop now.
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