KMPT at AM 930 on Your Radio Dial
Progressive Talk Back in Missoula
By Robert Struckman, 12-31-07
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Liberal talk will be back in Missoula, starting in the wee hours of the morning Thursday.
And no, Al Franken will not be involved. The former star of Air America Radio, the national New York-based progressive talk radio network, has moved to Minnesota to pursue his political career.
The new progressive talk will be on the dial at AM930, formerly KLCY.
“It’ll be KMPT, Missoula’s progressive talk,” said Dave Cowan. Cowan was recently named general manager of Missoula’s six Gap West stations. Gap West, a Denver-based media company, recently purchased 57 stations from Clear Channel in small and mid-sized markets across the northern Mountain West and in the Midwest. (In early December, Gap West sold its four Iowa stations.)
Cowan, who helped a Missoula startup radio company run a short-lived progressive talk station on the FM dial a few years ago, said he learned some important lessons from his first go-around. Foremost, the ad sales will target professional people, such as real estate agents and accounts, rather than the typical retailers who advertise on the radio.
Cowan said the program may build to include locally produced talk shows and will share news resources with the other Gap West stations. A soft start without a huge initial cash is key to the station’s long-term success, he said.
Air America shows will air on KMPT, Cowan said, as well as shows syndicated by Jones Radio, including Bill Press from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. Stephanie Miller from Los Angeles will follow with her syndicated show, which has a mixture of humor and current politics. Thom Hartmann from Portland will air from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
A populist hunter from North Dakota, Ed Schultz, will air from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
“Judging from the one ratings book we had with KKNS (the last progressive talk station in Missoula), there is a demand. It had a very respectable listenership,” Cowan said. “I thought we were figuring it out when they (Simmons Media) pulled the plug back in 2006.”
This time, Cowan has some breathing room, he said.
“There are not immediate revenue demands. We don’t have to hit a home run in January,” he said.
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Comments
This is a popular format in other progressive cities around the country (Portland, Seattle, Madison, Boulder, Austin, Ann Arbor, Asheville, etc), but for some reason it has never taken hold here in Missoula. Montana Public Radio doesn't seem interested in providing this type of important programming, despite the fact that most public radio stations around the country do. And to be honest, too often, I get the feeling when listening to their news coverage that someone is just reading the AP Wire to me, or worst yet, reading me the paper from a few days ago. So I hope AM 930 can manage to pull a locally produced, progressive talk show together so that important news and information about our region can be shared with the public.
Yours in the Cause,
Aldous Tyler,
NonStop Radio
http://www.NonStopRadio.com/
Air America may have made its mistakes and had a poor business model, but what matters now is that there are some very well-respected progressive hosts, and their ideas deserve a chance to be heard. The Jones-syndicated talkers like Ed and Steph, as well as several AAR talkers, have continued to win people over -- Ed happens to be in the top 5 most influential talk hosts nationally, according to Talkers magazine. He has as many weekly listeners as Bill O'Reilly, despite Bill O being on many more stations.
Whether listeners agree with progressive talk or not, the issue is having both sides of the story told. Over 95% of talk radio is conservative, so a few liberal voices couldn't hurt!!! A tip of the hat to Mr Cowan, and my hope is that listeners will give progressive talk a chance-- he has chosen some wonderful hosts, and Missoula will benefit from hearing their perspectives.
Donna L. Halper, author, radio consultant, media historian
Boston MA
Did you work in Washington DC in the late 70's in progressive album rock radio? If so, you & Tim Powell had quite a station.
By the way Mark....this IS my day job.
dave
Congratulations to all involved in bringing progressive talk to Missoula. Being in Illinois, I can't listen, but I'll try to support the advertisers if I can. Good luck to all of you.
(1/2/2008) On Wednesday's show:
Rep. Ron Paul, R-TX, joins the 1st hour of the show, live with Big Eddie to talk about his run for President.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-IA, joins the 3rd hour of Tuesday's show to report the latest on the Iowa Caucuses.
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Sen. Kent Conrad, Chairman of the Budget Committee joined the 1st hour of Monday's show to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for President.
Elizabeth Edwards joined the 2nd hour of Monday's show to report the latest on the John Edwards for President Campaign.
David Shuster of MSNBC joined the 3rd hour of Monday's show to report the latest on the Iowa Caucus.
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Former Sen. John Edwards, D-NC, joined the 2nd hour of Friday's show to discuss his conversation with President Musharraf and the latest on the Iowa Caucus.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-CA, joined the 1st hour of Friday's show to discuss his run for President.
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Sen. Russ Feingold, D-WI, joined the 1st hour of Thursday's show to talk about what the assassination of Benazir Bhutto means to America.
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-CT, joined the 3rd hour of Thursday's show to talk about the latest from the Iowa caucuses.
Now if we can only achive the same results in the San Diego, CA area.
Ken
Congratulations to Dave Cowan and crew for giving the listeners a great line up.
http://BoreAmerica.com
MSG1987381-OPCEN-AUTH-17
Thanks for bringing progressive talk radio back to Missoula. It has been sorely missed. We subscribed to XMRadio for a year, and since it just ran out (and we decided not to renew), I was lamenting my loss. I'll look forward to engaging programming through KMPT!
He ascribes this to the monopolies created by media consolidation. Clear Channel and Disney are corporations run by very right-wing management that doesn't want competing voices. They also control the majority of the airwaves. They would rather have lower ratings and profits with Hannity or Dan Savage or the rest of the B-Team hate radio crew than better ratings by putting on an Ed Schultz.
The freeze out of progressive voices essentially comes down to radio providing a "loss leader" for pro corporate policies.
People will whine, but look at the money Air America lost, and to them I will point out that the financing for Air America stunk and their programming choices often stunk. This had to do with having a bad business plan, not ideology. Plus, how long did FOX News lose money after it started? They had a leader that both didn't really care about profits ("loss leader" again) and had deep pockets.
It may surprise you that one of these Progressive Talk hosts, Ed Schultz, just gave Ron Paul a 20 minute interview yesterday, and was very fair and nice to Dr. Paul. Schultz prides himself on having a show that allows anyone of any persuasion to call in and debate politics, and he's a pretty fair debater. Also, he broadcasts out of Fargo, which, while it is hardly local, isn't too far removed, culturally, from Missoula.
One of the reasons why Progressive Talk and Liberalism sees itself as a voice for freedom is because every time the Democratic Congress has failed to stop the Republicans from eating away more of our rights, ProgTalk has taken them to task, and heavily! Keep in mind that the current popular strain of "Conservative" that sits in our government is a far cry from the Libertarian type of yesteryear. I think you know this, or Ron Paul wouldn't be your guy. Progressive Talk is anti-Authoritarian as well as pro-Liberal.
Give the new format a shot, man! :-) I guarantee you that it will make you think, and more than that, that it will make you see how much Liberals nowadays have in common with Libertarians.
930 AM, Missoula. It's a whole new day for radio.
Yours in the Cause,
Aldous Tyler,
NonStop Radio
They are far more open-minded than idiots like Insannity, Bill LIEly,
Micheal Savage (i.e. Wiener) who will shut off other than Reich Wingers.
Then go listen to Ed Schultz. The guy is smart enough to debate instead of browbeat. I don't think Bill O'Reilly has ever been accused of this.
http://LiberalTalkRadio.com/?title=KMPT_930_Missoula
Next up for Missoula, a locally run and produced not for profit community radio station - Missoula Community Radio
http://mcrfm.org/
http://mcrfm.wordpress.com/
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=e2f15397-a3c7-4720-ac15-4532a7da84ca
I don't really want to turn this forum into a debate on Ron Paul, but I do have a few thoughts on that "article." First of all it sites very few quotes from others, just personal opinion such as "These were often paranoid and rambling---." And you will notice he doesn't site which Newsletters most of his quotes are pulled from, just that some of them might have come from Ron Paul. I am sure you don't want to be associated with every writer for the dailyKos. In fact many of the quotes go firmly against the Libertarian ideal. I have been voting Libertarian since I was 18, on the basis that liberty is supposed to be for all!
On top of that at the end he had many of the easiest to check facts wrong (Ron Paul was in the Army???), which really makes me question if the other less checkable facts are accurate.
Another fun fact is that while the author infers that Paul was in complete control of every word in the newsletters, yet he starts with this disclaimer: "Of course, with few bylines, it is difficult to know whether any particular article was written by Paul himself. Some of the earlier newsletters are signed by him, though the vast majority of the editions I saw contain no bylines at all." That is like saying that every word that comes out of Fox New's shows is straight from the mouth of Rupert Murdoch, lol ok bad example but you get the point.
The fact is, that Thomas Jefferson was a conspiracy theorist to the established Gov, (Britain) and he was a libertarian. Ben Franklin published some "very questionable" pamphlets in his day and was ridiculed by British Patriots for doing so.
Lastly, I know race seems to be a big hang up for a lot of Anti Ronner's out there, but I look around and don't see 2 separate water fountains or bus assigned seating; but I do see runaway inflation that is failing and war that is dragging the $ into a deep hole. But then again maybe I'm just a conspiracy theorist, only time will tell. Ron Paul 2008.
I will be voting for Ron Paul based on his Foreign Policy, Fiscal policy and his Libertarian viewpoint. I worry more about presidents that have had problems with drugs (Cocaine) and have blatantly lied to the American public and planted questions in the crowd so they can seem more intelligent. At least Ron Paul answers all and any question people ask of him, and as a Libertarian I know he won't be forcing his viewpoints down my throat no matter what his personal views are. This thread is way off topic now. Send me an email if you want to continue this discourse, I am always open to nonemotionally based debates! Have a great day.
Rush is Right and WRONG at the same time. Try listening to Progessive talk radio and open up your viewpoints.