[QUOTE=Stoid]
I was passionately devoted to Air America when it started. I also consider myself a longtime Al Franken fan, as well as a longtime talk radio fan.
The problem with AA, and with lefty radio overall, is that the people they want to appeal to don’t operate the same way the righty audience does, so it’s very difficult to find formats and stars that really work for that demographic. Righty radio is noisy, bombastic, jaw-droppingly arrogant, simplistic…and it hits all the right notes for people who like their politics plain and simple: we’re good, They’re Bad. We love our flags, our apple pie, our country, our kids, and for damn sure we love our God. Yay us.
Lefty radio was, by its very nature, (because it is the nature of the left vs. the right, hello) more gray areas, more detailed, more inclusive, more varied…in other words: mushy. At least in terms of trying to make snappy, easy-to-follow radio.
It’s not really the nature of the average liberal-minded person to seek out or enjoy programs that would boil liberal thought down to a few basic concepts and spend the rest of the time demonizing the other side. It’s contrary to liberal mindset to begin with.
Which is why liberals are much better in the blogosphere: more in depth, detailed, thoughtful, wordy.
I feared for AA from the start, but had high hopes. Randy Rhodes was the closest they could come to having the same style as righty radio, and as incredibly smart and informed as she is, as painfully brimming with really important, good information, she just ends up being irritating as hell to listen to.
It’s the nature of the two beasts. They are different, and they respond to different ways of communicating.
[/QUOTE]
Boy, those grapes sure are sour, aren’t they?
Regards,
Shodan