Yikes! Hot on the heels of the news that Al Franken, Garofalo et al. have been reduced to begging for money from listeners to stay alive comes this news that the failing liberal Air America radio network is being kicked off Philly radio. Ha ha ha. I love it. Tomorrow is their last day on WHAT. I’m sure all ten of their listeners will be heartbroken over the news. By the way, I recently started getting the Sundance Channel which airs some of Franken’s show, and I actually watched for a couple minutes…wow, is it bad! The man is obsessed with Bill O’Reilly, can’t stop talking about what O’Reilly said on last night’s show… this becomes extremely boring after about 10 minutes or so.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer: http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/breaking_news/12774593.htm
sigh
I think that rumors of Air America’s impending demise have been circulating for several years, and they are still ticking.
I’ve listened to Al Franken’s show a number of times recently. I’ve never heard him begging listeners for money, unless you count being the pitchman for various ads.
Sorry, I thought the story was common knowledge. From:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/business/brief_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001182004
In an unusual move for commercial radio, Air America Radio quietly launched Sept. 21 a loyalty program that includes asking for donations from listeners, a strategy more common to noncommercial stations and political action committees. According to the network’s Web site, listeners become an “Air America Associate” by making a cash donation to the network.
These guys are in huge trouble.
Interesting, given that they launched 3/31/2004 and tomorrow will mark the end of their 18th month broadcasting.
It was pretty quiet, then. I’m a good ol’ liberal, but I’ll stick with NPR. The yammering and ads are just as irritating as any conservative stations, even if I’m more in agreement with the subject matter.
Who gives a fuck?
I listened to Air America for the first two days it was on and found it boring for the same reasons that right wing radio is boring. The endless shilling for one political viewpoint is just not very interesting to listen to. I suspect that I’m not alone among liberals in that I prefer to hear a more thorough presentation of issues and that I have no desire to simply hear my own opinion reiterated endlessly with no rebuttal.
I also think that right wing radio thrives on hate as much as anything. Hatred of gay people, hatred of Muslims, hatred of “secularists” (Bill O’Reilly’s favorite bugbear) and hatred of liberals. Air America has never seemed sufficiently angry or hateful or fearful enough to succeed with a wide audience. I never expected it to last even this long.
By “several”, I meant more than one. :rolleyes:
Gimme a break. My perception of time is weak.
I could theorize that those on the left of the spectrum are more intelligent than those on the right, and thus less likely to listen to radio hucksters, resulting in Air America’s alleged financial troubles.
Well, except for Randi Rhodes. She’s just shrill.
Well, you could theorize that, but it would beg the obvious question: why weren’t these same liberals “intelligent” enough to realize that a left-wing talk-radio network would fail in the first place? 
I tried this channel when I first got my XM radio. I thought it might be a nice alternative to Limbaugh (Is he still on, or did the pill-popping take him out? Other than the sports talk station, I never spin the am dial because I’m afraid I’ll run into him or a preacher and then be forced to run my car off a bridge). Instead, I immediately realized that it was every bit as disgusting and pointless as that jerkwad ever was.
The woman they have on for the evening drivetime was just pointless. They could’ve had the phrase “Bush is evillll!!!” repeating on a loop and it would have had the same effect (similarly, from what I remember of Limbaugh’s show at the time, he could have been replaced with a loop of “Clinton is evilllll!!!”)
I quickly switched that preset to a BBC channel.
I don’t listen to Talk Radio (save for an occasional dial in to Out Q on Sirius, and while I make no value judgments of those who do, I personally just don’t get the appeal. That said, however, I think that timing for Air America was terrible, coming as it did just before the explosion of Satellite Radio.
You are using the phrase “beg the question” incorrectly.
And what does intelligence have to do with knowing whether a business venture will succeed or fail?
I beg your apologies.
This is what CynicalGabewrote: I could theorize that those on the left of the spectrum are more intelligent than those on the right, and thus less likely to listen to radio hucksters, resulting in Air America’s alleged financial troubles.
My question is obvious: if a liberal is ‘intelligent’ enough to know that “those on the left of the spectrum…[are] less likely to listen to radio hucksters,” why in the world would this same ‘intelligent’ liberal start a radio network aimed directly at that audience?
That is the most succinct verdict possible, I think. I tried, I really tried to care, but I just don’t. I dislike Hannity et al. for a reason, and Hannity’s dim mirror image is another waste of airwaves.
I hardly think Al Franken is a ‘mirror image’ of Sean Hannity. Hannity is successful, for example.
Yes, and in another diffrence, Frankin can actually prove his claims.
And I beg your forgiveness for begging for your apologies!
Yeah, he has url=http://www.frankenlies.com/]14 Harvard researchers!
Al Franken was pretty good in “Trading Places”, after that, meh.