"From October 2011 to October 2013, according to the ratings tracked by Arbitron, KPOJ fell from a 1.1 share to a 1.0 share of listeners—meaning 1 percent of listeners above the age of 12 were tuned to 620 AM. That's well behind last month's 3.5 share for News Radio KEX 1190 (which airs Rush Limbaugh) and the 5.0 share for KXL FM News 101 (which airs Lars Larson)."

After moving to the Island of The Misfit Toys with their Masters Degree in Philosophy the hipsters have to work 3 Starbucks Barista jobs to make enough scratch to live in their own bunker apt with their bicycle. No issues with bicycles but those toys Ain't Got No Time for talk radio.

Even Franken had to relay on stolen funds ($900k)from the boys clubs.

Relay--rely, whatever phat thumb typing again.

Guess I will have to buy a wifi receiver to get my progressive fix. Politics aside, KPOJ was amazingly a poorly run station. Dead air, overdubbing and mind-numbing PSAs/station promos made it a chore to listen to.

KPOJ... wasn't that the former "Sixty-Two KGW", Portland's first radio station from the 1920's and semi-official broadcaster for the Trailblazers?

AM radio seems to have little value anymore except for talk radio. HAM radio is probably more useful.

A comment over on Willy Week says how come after the election? True, we would have been really suspicious if it happened last week, but now you have to wonder if the Oregon vote didn't show there is an audience for progressive.

The trouble is that progressives only use other peoples' money, and do not support matters they have to pay for themselves.

It is SO UNFAIR that there is no progressive alternative to right wing talk radio.

Clearly, there is a valid role for government support for this viewpoint in order to level the playing field in this inequitable situation.

"Some of us feel it's best to spread the listenership around... by government order if needed."

"it is SO UNFAIR that there is no progressive alternative to right wing talk radio"

PBS, BBC, ABC(Australia)

thanks
JK

It is SO UNFAIR that there is no progressive alternative to right wing talk radio.

Nothing is stopping you from buying a radio station in this market and starting such a station. (Admittedly it is hard to start a new station from scratch given the lack of frequency bandwidth.)

There is no need for the government to step in - besides, the government already funds National Public Radio. Just because someone can't make it financially pan out does not mean the government needs to do it.

I think LTJD would have written more, but it was too hard to type with his tongue planted so deeply in his cheek.

I started in the radio business in Portland back in 1973.The stations were owned by a lot of local people and we never let low ratings keep us from selling time and making money. The bean counters over at Clear Channel don't know how to sell...and they certainly don't have a commitment to the market. If you can't make money selling time on the only progressive radio station in Portland Oregon you need to change occupations. Weak. Very weak.

I'll miss them, honestly. While I agreed with virtually nothing they had to say, I did find the viewpoints 'enlightening'...I'm sure they'll find a way to resurface, given the demographics and politics of PDX...

I would listen occasionally because their signal was so strong and you could pick them up anywhere within a 100 mile radius of Portland.

I got real tired of that Norman Goldman character and his "Republicon" nonsense. And on top of that, you had that local car mechanic using his advertisements to editorialize his far left positions and he really sounded like a real wackjob....straight out of Reed College or something.

Good riddance KPOJ.

Listening to people spout off their extremist viewpoints all day long gets kind of boring after awhile. I for one can only take Rush and Lars in very small doses, and even then it's just an entertainment thing where I mostly laugh at how stupid they are. KPOJ sort of struck me in the same way with a left wing perspective, and I found it boring. Talk radio is mostly for angry old white guys, and when you look at the demographics there are a lot more of them on the right than the left.

Kevin is so right, isn't it time those " Angry old white guys and Rich white guys " were marched on to rail cars?
So much love in hipsville .

Kevin nailed it. Liberals don't have the same nasty rage that drives ditto heads, the blend of entitlement, paranoia and selfishness that also took over the GOP. A gross generalization to be sure, and when some liberal talkers -- Randy, Norman, even Ed -- use anger and resentment in appeal to listeners, they lessen the ideas they present. That's why Rachel Maddow's measured presentation of information makes her the only liberal talker worth my time. Even Lawrence O'Donnell, a bright guy with something to offer, is too much to take more often than not.

I'm in my mid-40's and when I'm exposed to low-grade commercials I break out in figurative hives...all the media I consume is either non-commercial/member supported and/or from the Internet (podcasts, webisodes, Roku, YouTube)

When I stumble onto broadcast radio or TV now it's amazing how much time is garbage -- it's ads and most annoying poorly made local ads or repetitive station jingles.

Commercial radio is the worst and the ad sales folks have no idea how to sell it. Do advertisers still talk in terms of 18-49 or 25-54 age demography? Like they jam 3 generations in there and think they can attract their media habits similarly.

What 18-34 year olds watch broadcast TV or read dead tree newspapers let alone listen to an actual radio?

Sounds like we had a marketing team AND a sales force that couldnt or wouldnt differentiate their product... Not that i listened to it all that much (one of my co-workers did listen every morning, so i would hear snippets from time to time), but you have a relatively wealthy demographic (albeit small ratings wise) that the classic marketing wisdom would be a big tasty target for many advertisers.
It should, in this market at least, been marketed and sold as a premium product for a very niche audience.
Some of the comments in willyweek are incredibly absurd. I'm tempted to respond to the guy who wants to boycott the advertisers to 'name five'..

oh, and GO HAWKS (10 straight wins and counting)

cheers, It's Mike