WWTQ 680 AM – Memphis Flyer

What’s good news for sports junkies is tough luck for fans of angry leftist radio. WWTQ AM-680, once the home of Air America recently became Fox Sports Radio.

“Nobody is more disappointed than I am,” says program director Jerry Dean of Air America’s local demise.

So what, exactly, killed Progressive Talk in the Midsouth? There was certainly no shortage of optimism in January 2005, when Entercom, the Pennsylvania-based media conglomerate that also operates Memphis station 104.5 WRVR, launched WWTQ.

“The time is right for liberal radio,” Michael Harrison, the publisher of Talkers Magazine, the leading talk radio trade publication, told the Flyer. Dean described local support for a progressive alternative to Rush Limbaugh and Mike Flemming as a “groundswell.”

“It still seems like a good idea,” Dean says, unable to explain why Air America attracted consistently low ratings and failed attract advertisers in solid blue Memphis. He suspects some advertisers were afraid to associate their brand with a liberal station.

“But it’s not like liberals don’t buy things,” Dean says. “Cars, clothes, and everything else.”

WWTQ never found an effective way to localize the station. The eponymous show briefly hosted by Memphis media veteran Leon Gray showed early promise, but Gray’s conservative views on issues like evolution and gay rights didn’t appeal to listeners tuning in to hear Randi Rhodes and Al Franken. In June 2006, Gray and the progressive talk format parted ways.

Dean doesn’t agree that WWTQ failed to localize and remains complimentary Gray’s performance. “I always thought Leon did a really good job,” he says.

In his obit for the Leon Gray Show, Jim Maynard, a liberal blogger and sometimes political candidate wrote, “listening to [Gray] was almost as frustrating as listening to Mike Fleming on the conservative talk 600-AM. In fact, I doubt many people could tell the difference between them if they listened to them side by side on issues like gay rights, abortion, school prayer, creationism v. evolution, etc.”

Not all of the blame for WWTQ basement level numbers can be blamed on the station’s failure to localize. Air America has experienced numerous setbacks nationally as well. The station lost its flagship host when comedian and author Al Franken left Air America to run for Senate in Minnesota.

–Chris Davis

Drivers hoping to hear talk-show host Randi Rhodes rant about the Larry Craig sex scandal last week were in for a shock.

Beginning September 1st, WWTQ 680 AM dropped its Progressive Talk format, which aired content from left-leaning Air America, in favor of Fox Sports Radio.

“It really comes down to listener and advertising support,” says Clint Sly, market manager for Entercom Radio. “The station never really gained the listening momentum … that we’d hoped for.”

The new Fox Sports Radio has exclusive local airing rights to the St. Louis Cardinals games, as well exclusive rights to University of Tennessee football and men’s basketball. When the station is not airing live game coverage, it will feature syndicated sports-talk programming.

“Sports fans are loyal, not only as listeners, but also with advertising dollars,” Sly says.

In its two-year run on 680 AM, Progressive Talk didn’t gain a large listener base.

Local Democratic activist Jim Maynard believes the lack of local programming on Progressive Talk may have contributed to the declining audience. Last year, the station canceled The Leon Gray Show, the only local talk show on the station.

“After the failed local talk show with Leon Gray, who alienated many progressives with his anti-gay and conservative views on many social issues, the station was basically put on auto-pilot,” Maynard says. “Although the national programs on Air America were pretty good, 680 AM lacked the local touch that conservative [radio station] 600 AM has.”

Nationwide, 45 stations have dropped the format within the past three years. “Across the country, it really hasn’t done as well as we hoped,” Sly says. “Other stations have been having the same issues.”

Air America has had financial problems since its inception in 2004 and filed for bankruptcy in October 2006.

Local Air America fans have been understanding. “A number of people have called saying they wanted a voice in Memphis,” Sly says. “They say they’re grateful that we had the courage to do it as long as we did.”