The difference is that Air America is a group of radio stations whose sole format is Democrat/liberal whereas Rush is a syndicated show on talk stations whose formats vary throughout the time slots.
If Rush’s ratings dropped to the point that he was not bringing in the ad revenue for the stations to consider him profitable, he will be dumped and replaced with someone else. If the listeners don’t like it, they can contact the station to register their complaints and, if there is enough interest, he might be brought back. It happens all the time. In Chicago, we’ve had Steve Dahl and Jonathon Brandmeier get dropped from lineups and then brought back.
But Air America owns the station. If no one listens, it’s not just the one host getting dropped but everyone. You can rotate out everyone and bring in new personalities. But if all anyone hears is the same old stuff 24/7/365 about how Dubya sucks and is going to kill us all, it makes no difference.
People have been saying that Hannity and Limbaugh listeners know what they are going to hear and are essentially “yes-men”; the same applies to AA listeners. If I know that when I tune in at 7 AM I will hear the message from someone entertaining or a celebrity, I won’t bother tuning in at 7PM to hear someone I think is a dullard. I listen to the talk station here for Limbaugh because I find him occasionally amusing but I also listen to the afternoon host Roe Conn because he is freakin’ hilarious. Occasionally their show moves into a political vein but, overall, it’s just ripping on the stupidity of the world.
Imagine a Howard Stern station. 24 hours a day all you heard was Howard talking about boobs, farts and porn. Sure, there some people who will listen. But a little goes a long way. A little variety would make you anticipate the next show. A little auditory sorbet to cleanse the palate, such as a radical feminist or a pro-NRA show!
The only ones who can save Air America are the Democrats. They get some of their message across on NPR but it is not verbose or vitriolic enough. You think the RNC is going to chip in?
Spoken like someone who’s never actually listened to AAR. Thom Hartmann != The Young Turks != Randi Rhodes != EcoTalk, etc. Some stations run partial AAR content but replace some of the shows with other, non-AAR shows like Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller, who again have their own personalities. Yes, they’re all liberal, but you said yourself that Democrats aren’t one monolithic block; there’s plenty of variation.
I tried listening in the beginning and got bored with it.
The difficulty with AAR is that all they have are liberal shows. WLS 890 AM in Chicago has Hannity and Limbaugh but they also have had liberals like Jay Marvin and Nate Clay. They also have financial shows and Kim Kommando with her computer show. They used to have Art Bell, too.
Although I am sure there are some hard-core liberals who get off on listening to the same messages all day long, I believe people would like a little variety. Mix it up. After an environmental show, have on an investment program with a liberal slant (eco-friendly companies or mutual funds that help out impoverished nations). After a show slamming the RNC, how about a computer show to help the budding bloggers who will try to bring down the government?
Hey, I love chocolate ice cream, but if that is all I am ever served, I’m eventually going to get sick of it. Same with AAR. I’ve known Trekkies who sat down for a week long marathon session of watching episodes in order, starting with TOS, through TNG and so on. My friend said that after watching 4 days straight, he couldn’t stand it anymore and wanted to throw his phaser through the viewscreen (yes, they were that lame).
Again, I’m not sure why Democrats, as a group, should be asked to rescue AA. I’ve never listened to a single AA program, yet I’m more liberal than your worse nightmare.
The only person that could be fairly called a liberal on that station is Nate Clay, and we both know that his timeslot is intentionally the worst that the station has to offer (Midnight to 4 AM on Sundays). Hell, Fox is more balanced than that.
Quite frankly, I wouldn’t expect anyone who thinks WLS is balanced radio to find AAR exciting, so I doubt that they miss you. Who they probably miss is people like me, who quite likely agree with a large number of their radio personalities, but have no desire to actually listen to someone agreeing with them as a form of entertainment.
My vague understanding of the issue is that Air America will still be broadcasting for the forseeable future, and this declaration is primarily for financial restructuring purposes.
It’s also worth noting that AA is not the only source of liberal talk radio out there; there’s the Jones Radio Network, who syndicate folks like Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz, sometimes on the same stations where AA is broadcasting.
It’s a cash flow thing. Herion sales to high schools have been adversely affected by internet prescription drug sales (nice goin’, Al!), porn sales are down, and the cash inflow expected from the War on Christmas haven’t been fully realized. So long as we can continue to supply unbaptized virgins to George Soros, we can expect his financial support to continue.
Y’know, given how often the right-wingnuts like to cite George Soros as the sugar daddy behind everything that foils their plans, I’m surprised how they overlooked the obvious “George Soros is bankrolling Air America” angle here.
Politics aside (as much as possible anyway) the demise of AA was obvious to me right from the start as it was founded on the rather ridiculous idea that because talk radio is dominated by the right, that a left wing talk radio network should exist. That regardless of any economic realities, it just should be.
Its ridiculous because, one, aside from talk radio the left dominates every single other media outlet and therefore has absoutely no reason to claim an imbalance (other than hubris or sour grapes).
And even more importantly, two, because the core demograohic for liberal democrats skews young. And like it or not, think its fair or not, young people do not now, nor ever will, listen to talk radio. Not consistently enough or in great enough numbers to attract enough advertisers to make it profitable. And in America that’s what it does, and should, come down to.
Young liberal democrats use radio for music. Always have. Always will.
Did the left put out that Path to 9/11 smear of Clinton on ABC?
Did the mainstream press pick up the ball and run with the stolen election stories in 2000 and 2004?
Did the mainstream media pay any heed to the Downing Street Memo?
Was the media anything but cheerleading for the Iraq War in the early going?
Does Fox News present fair and balanced reporting?
Unfortunately, I don’t get Air America except when weather conditions permit be to pick up WLDY in Ann Arbor. I think the problem is that conservatives are mindless robots that need Limbaugh to tell them what to think whereas liberals get their info from a variety of sources and don’t need talk radio to reassure them that they are right.
Actually, The Young Turks is a great show, and it had been around for a few years on Sirius (and various local stations) before moving to AAR. Unfortunately, AAR put them on at 3 AM instead of 3 PM.
I just heard them today between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m.