Monday, February 05, 2007

New Haven loses progressive radio

Clear Channel Radio, which has been criticized for airing so many right-wing radio programs across the country, has pulled back from its airing of the financially troubled Air America progressive-talk format. The low-rated WAVZ-AM, which I grew up on when it was a Top 40 station, switched Sunday from liberal-talk to sports (again). Both are satellite-delivered with no local component. If you're worked up about this, and/or the recent layoff of Paul Pacelli and Steve Kalb in the news area of WELI, let me know at this blog, or at jamarante@ctcentral.com.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am very upset that WAVZ now mirrors 1410 ESPN radio. WLIB quit AA and I cant get WWRL north of New Have. So now I use my computer to stream AA on the internet and feed the stream to a "monster" Ipod wireless transmitter (available on ebay for about 15 bucks). I can now listen to AA on any radio in the house (and at my neighbor's house too).

WELI used to be a credible local radio station. So now they give us Rush Limbaugh because nobody listens to AM radio. Nobody listens to AM radio because all they give us is Rush Limbaugh. So which came first?

Anonymous said...

I AM WILLING TO TRY TO REVIVE PROGRESSIVE TALK IN THE NEW HAVEN AREA. IS ANYONE WILLING TO HELP IN THE FIGHT. I FOUND OUT THAT WAVZ HAS THE WEAKEST SIGNAL IN THE AREA AND DESPITE THIS STILL HAS A FOLLOWING. THEY DID NOT PROMOTE THIS STATION AND FOUND OUT THAT THEY DO NOT EVEN KEEP STATS ON THE LISTENERSHIP. I RECALL IN THE EARLY DAYS THAT THEY DID AND IT INCREASED 1300%. I AM NOT SURE WHEN THEY STOPPED FOLLOWING THIS BUT THEY DID. HOW CAN THEY SILENCE THE VOICE OF THE MAJORITY (IN CT)OR AT THE VERY LEAST HALF OF THE POPULATION. DONT WE, THE PUBLIC, OWN THE AIRWAVES? MY EMAIL IS DONNADIGIOIA@YAHOO.COM.
DONNA DIGIOIA
NORTH HAVEN, CT

MM Combs said...

I have been a listener of local programming for many years, in particular WELI. I was shocked and saddened at Paul's removal from the airwaves-and I did not appreciate the sarcasm used by WELI's personnel regarding his absence. You knew by listeneing to Paul that he was passionate about his profession. I fear that New Haven's importance is declining-especially because we are now getting our local news out of Providence. In addition to the pronunciation blunders, there have been blatant errors with the factual reporting of the news. But what can we do? Go after Clear Channel? The WAVZ move is all about money going into hands that are already green enough. Not at all about servicing a committed audience. Thanks for keeping the issues alive.