dkSez : : : : : : Don Kahle’s blog

Air America Radio in Eugene is going off the air, admitting again the soft underbelly of liberal Eugene’s retail commerce. I sold advertising to local businesses for a decade and the story sounded sadly familiar. KOPT attracted plenty of listeners. They hired good talent. Management wasn’t suspect. And nobody gave up too soon. But it didn’t work. Why? There’s a strange disconnect between Eugene retailers and restaurateurs and their customers. I can’t tell you whether left-loving businesspeople harbor unrealistic expectations, or whether left-leaning customers don’t “support the advertisers.” (If I had ever figured that one out, I might still be publishing the Comic News.) Whatever the reason, advertisers come away disappointed when they target the liberals in Eugene. Maybe Eugene’s liberals are too proud, or too entitled, or too shy. But merchants don’t come away believing those advertising dollars were well spent. If it was only my own experience, I could easily believe I wasn’t smart enough or rich enough to succeed. But then how do you explain John Musumeci meeting the same fate?