My dial/branding theory on why conservative talk radio reaches such a wide audience

[alp227]

1. Conservative stations will often be branded "news/talk (frequency) (city)" or "newsradio" (a misleading brand). Is there ANY such branded station that carries the liberal shows besides Talk 1090 in Seattle or K-Talk 1150 in Los Angeles? Often progressive stations are either with Pacifica Radio or if carrying the nationally syndicated ones are branded "Green" (in San Francisco and Atlanta) or "The Revolution" (in Boston).
2. Also the conservative stations will be on the lowest or highest range of frequency on the AM dial, and people using dial radios will more likely hear them. A local example: the conservative KSFO is on 560, while the liberal KKGN is at 960 (right after my local Fox News station at 910). I use a Magnavox alarm clock radio/CD player with a dial radio, and in my experience I've had to re-adjust my dial to hear Green 960 with the least static possible, something the more passive listeners (who are more likely to fall for the right wing smears) won't do.

Similarly in Los Angeles, the local Limbaugh station KFI is at 640 and is the 2nd local station (after a sports one) while it's a bit tougher to reach KTLK 1150 mid-dial. In San Diego, the first English-language local station on the AM dial (KOGO 600) is the local Rush Limbaugh station (after a Mexican sports station). Thing is, those who aren't familiar with the local stations and are dial-surfing will most likely land their dials on whatever newsy stuff they hear on the farthest left or right sides of the scale.

On the other hand, it's good that the liberal stations in Boston (1510 the Revolution) and New York City (WWRL 1600) and Atlanta (Green 1640) are placed on easy-to-dial spots.