Reply #8: We need to advertise AM 950 Air America Radio [View All]

The only way I know how on a limited budget is for each of us to do some kind of get-the-word-out.

I carry a "AM 950 Democracy Radio" sign around the Uptown area and down Lake Street and up Hennepin Ave. about 2X a week.

Yes, it is embarrasing. I get a lot of questions like am I being paid? Answer: no, I'm just a listener.

However WE NEED TO DO SOME THINGS DIFFERENTLY OR WE WILL CONTINUE TO LOSE ELECTION AFTER ELECTION AFTER ELECTION. You think this election was close? It was a blowout when you adjust for the fact that the economy is lousy and a war going badly and yet Bush still won.

I have no doubt that the right wing's total domination of talk radio for the last 10+ years has had a huge impact on peoples' attitudes and has been more than the margin of victory for Republicans. Not just rednecks but many ordinary people. I watched my liberal mother start talking like a right-wing shrew. My regular decent non-rich sister listens to one, and her attitudes on many issues are affected by this nonsense. Or the garbage truck driver spouting "the earth is not fragile" and other rightie nonsense.

People are trapped in their cars on long commutes and have nothing to listen to except music (boring for many of us over 30) or talk radio. In the Twin Cities, there's MPR, and then there's right wing radio and that's it. (Yes, I know about KFAI).

Until AM 950 came along (now called Air America Minnesota after who knows how many name changes and radio station changes).

Now we need to get the word out. Door knocking during campaigns is great, and the opportunity for a minute or two conversation once in a while with a swing voter. But someone who begins listening to AM 950 is getting not the equivalent of a minute or two conversation once in 4 years but dozens or hundreds of hours of exposure to something much closer to the truth.

So yes, it is embarrasing carrying that sign. But Granny D walked across America when she was 89 and 90 for her cause. If she can do that for her cause for a year, I figure I can do it for liberal talk radio on my walks a couple of times a week.

I hope there is a grass-roots movement in the Twin Cities to collect some money and then ask AM 950 to use it to advertise itself.

Once again - AM 950 is our main voice in the Twin Cities. Ringing doorbells once every 4 years IS NOT ENOUGH to change many minds.

Progree