Air America: Why liberal radio's answer to Rush Limbaugh failed and why it matters

[Mira]

for the full story and full explanation of the individual points made go to:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/2010/01/22/2010-01-22_air_america_why_liberal_radios_answer_to_rush_limbaugh_failed_and_why_it_matters.html

David Hinckley
Friday, January 22nd 2010, 9:45 AM


Progressive radio network Air America's whole life was like the Perils of Pauline, bobbing on a raft at the edge of a massive waterfall.
Monday night at 9, the raft officially goes over the falls. Say goodnight, Pauline.

But while Air America quietly files its Chapter 7 papers, there still are legitimate legacies and lessons from the life and death of a network that was unveiled March 31, 2004, on the bold premise it would be the progressive answer to Rush Limbaugh.

1. As Rush said a few days after that debut, you can't build a popular radio show, or network, on ideology – and rightly or wrongly, Air America got the image that it was working from a playbook.
"First," said Limbaugh, "you have to entertain people. You have to make it interesting to listen. I don't hear any of that."
Interestingly, Air America's original executives agreed with Rush about the importance of entertainment, which is why the opening lineup included Al Franken, Janeane Garafalo and other professional entertainers.
Problem is, they weren't radio people. The best pure radio show on the early Air America was Randi Rhodes, whose background was radio.
It is possible to become good at radio if you have enough time, which most Air America hosts didn't. Rachel Maddow, agree with her or not, got good at radio and did become a progressive "answer." She did it so well she was plucked away by MSNBC.

2. If people can't hear you, what you're saying doesn't matter.
Air America's first bosses, the ones who claimed the company had reams of money that it didn't, talked about buying their own big stations in major markets.
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3. There are wins even in deeat.
Air America arguably made Al Franken a U.S. senator, legitimizing his transition from comedian to serious political figure.
It made Maddow a star in the modest but slowly growing new generation of progressive talkers.
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4. In the talk radio game, it's bad when your guy wins.
Conservative talk radio had way more fun under Clinton than Bush, and the fun has revved up again with Obama.
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5. The future of mass media is really hard to figure out.
By the time Air America realized it didn't have the resources to play the radio game against the WABCs of the world and switched to the Internet, the progressive go-to spots had already been claimed by the likes of moveon.org and the Huffington Post.
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6. Every serious media enterprise reaches somebody.
Rhodes said a few years ago, before she left in one of Air America's numerous clumsy public dramas, that her favorite callers were the ones from little towns in the South or Midwest.
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7. In the end, Rush is still standing. Almost six years after the launch of Air America, the critical mass of political talk radio listeners still resides on the right.

"Talk radio doesn't need 'balance'," Jay Severin said a couple of years ago. "In the larger scope of American media, talk radio is the balance."

Air America declared there isn't an excess of "liberal" views in the media, but a shortage. If Air America was correct, someone else is going to have to pick up that ball and carry it to the next marker.



[GodlessBiker]

1. Liberals have better things to do than listen to the freakin' radio.

[timeforpeace]

4. And when they do it seems to be all Rush all the time.

[GodlessBiker]

7. Sometimes it seems that way.

[damntexdem]

20. No we don't. Not always. And we need others to listen to liberal radio.

And when there was an Air America station here in North Texas, I listened regularly when I was driving to and from work, to meetings, and so on. But the station got sold out from under AA, and that was that. But I thoroughly enjoyed most of the shows (not including Ed Schultz), particularly Frankin's.

[tridim]

2. Why don't they mention that Clearchannel is bankrupt too?

[Winterblues]

3. I do not like the hate radio whether from the left or the right.

I quit listening to Air America when all I heard was hatred in the same form as Limbaugh. It seemed to me they were trying to imitate Limbaugh only with a progressive viewpoint. Progressives usually don't find that type of radio entertaining and I guess that is why it can't make it..Rachel had a good following but she couldn't carry it on her own and her TV show soon took most of her time and energy.

[avaistheone1]

15. Air America was not hate radio.

I listened to Air America regularly and in no way did it broadcast hate.
Please give examples. It sounds like all you did was listen to Rachel's program. Hate examples please!!

Air America's problem was it was a poorly managed organization. It did not respect and let go of its best talent.

[NeeDeep]

5. Good post - It takes energy to dig up and present the truth

for people to make up their own minds. The Lintballs and his minions use almost exclusivity prepackaged conclusions that are designed to point people away from caring, this is very destructive. The reason Air America failed is ad revenues dropping and republican run corps and business refusing to buy time.

[GoCubsGo]

6. "...legitimizing his transition from comedian to serious political figure"

I guess Franken's degree in Political Science and his tenure as a fellow in their School of Government were just chopped liver, huh? It really irks me when people reduce this guy to being a "comedian", especially since he also wrote books and screenplays, and not all of them comedies, either (See: "When a Man Loves a Woman").

And, too bad Hinckley missed the fact that the ultimate cause of the demise of this network was incompetent management, and not the content. They dumped Sam Seder for Lionel??? They deserved to bankrupt just for that alone.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. I recced it for #3.

[ourbluenation]

9. Air America gave us Rachel Maddow. That makes it worth it's weight in gold. n/t

[jgraz]

12. And Senator Al Franken.

[avaistheone1]

17. And Thom Hartmann, Mike Malloy, Randi Rhoades among others.

[Gman]

19. OTOH, failed and thrown out GOP politicians go to work for RW media

as a talking head.

[LeftinOH]

10. Passive communications technology from the 1920s? No thanks. I hardly even

watch television, and the only time I hear the radio is when it wakes me up in the morning. Certainly, there are many people out there who still spend long stretches of time listening to the radio, but I'm not one of them. Could be that right-wing talk radio is the last remaining cash-cow market in the radio world?

[Bonhomme Richard]

11. Liberals just don't respond to hate and fear like...............

the Limbo brand of conservative does. They sit at home, and around their friends, seething with hate, paranoia and need to blame others for their difficulties.
If I were going to start a progressive radio station I would pull a lot from the Olberman book. Mix it up, keep it lite and entertaining then punch like hell when you need to.

[KharmaTrain]

13. Radio's Reaction...Progressive Talk Very Much Alive...

AAR opened a door others have walked through. Dial-Global...formerly Jones Radio...has been the leading Progressive Talk network for quite some time and is not only doing well but looking to expand...

Here's a snippet of a radio newsletter I got this morning:

Progressive talk isn’t dead, and other syndicators scramble to fill the Air America space.
Air America got all the attention (and bile) when it launched in March 2004, but Ed Schultz had gone into syndication several months before. Jones (now Dial-Global) saw potential in the progressive-talk arena and so did others, both individual talents and syndicators. I checked in with some of them –

- Amy Bolton, Dial-Global’s Senior VP/GM of News/talk tells me “The sudden departure of Air America offers stations a chance to broaden their appeal. The way to grow these ‘progressive’ stations is to put on great talent that we don’t pigeonhole. Freed from programming that pushed a political agenda, stations can push the business objective of ratings and revenue.” She puts in a plug for her own stable, some of whom you’ll hear about from Paul Woodhull.

- Paul Woodhull at Media Syndication Services says “The progressive talk format is stronger today because of the contributions of Air America.” He says when he helped launch Ed Schultz with partner Jones, now Dial-Global, “stations did not have enough programming to fill out dayparts” and Air America played a complementary role. It also “provided a launching pad for Al Franken and Rachel Maddow, among others.” Now, with talkers like Stephanie Miller and Randi Rhodes, “there is no shortage of talent.” MSS is now offering nine hours of live programming a day, with Bill Press, Ed Schultz and Mario Solis-Marich.

AAR was a financial mess from its outset and the fact it survived this long is testimony to the dedication its owners and employees had. It's failure shouldn't be gloated on by Rushbo because several of the companies that carry his bile fest aren't far behind in filing for bankruptcy...several, such as Citidel have already gone Chapter 11 and the forecast for radio in general is pretty bleak.

The greed that followed radio deregulation along with the rise of alternative media (webcasting, satellites, podcasting) has changed the way people listen and formats such as hate radio have chased not only listeners but advertisers away. In many ways AAR's demise is a canary in the coal mine...a symptom of an entire industry that is on the verge of insolvency.

[Davis_X_Machina]

14. They're better liars. They positively enjoy it...unburdened by liberal guilt. n/t

[Highway61]

16. Say what you want

But out of that short run we got a senator and Rachel has her own show. What does Rush have after all his time....a bunch of washed out ignorant teabags and a fat ass.

[Bitwit1234]

18. The democrats do not like to push hate and violence and lies, because

that seems to be the only way rush lasts on radio. We do not like his brand of rhetoric and we won't do it. But republicans are clueless and characterless so the listen and perform.

[Raineyb]

21. Air America had a lot of interesting shows. The problem was with its

management it was bloody incompetent.

And it probably should have tried to start with a radio station. It didn't own any radio stations and was often bounced out of a market when the radio station was bought out and turned to a Christian or talk sports station. Even their "flagship" station didn't air Air America content the whole time.

Oh and getting rid of Sam Seder for Lionel? That was fucking stupid.

[JDPriestly]

22. Air America failed because it hired nice, gentle but very boring people.

It fired the exciting but controversial radio hosts. That is a recipe for disaster.

Air America forgot that it is in the entertainment business and in the information business.

Ron Regan is a great guy, but his show was often boring. He avoided really controversial topics.

Compare him to Thom Hartmann. If they were on that the same time, who would you listen to?

Even Randi Rhodes with whom I often disagree is effective because she doesn't hide herself in front of the microphone. She causes you to participate, to react to her.

Rush Limbaugh, detestable as he is, is 100% on during his programs. He is unfraid to disgust and anger his listeners.

A talk radio host has to be willing to show his or her heart -- brazenly.

It's like with singing. Why are Louis Armstrong who really had no "voice" by traditional standards or Al Jolson another oldie whose voice was utterly worn or Nina Simone or numerous other character voices so loved by so many? Because they conveyed their authentic selves, their deepest souls to us.

Air America selected for the most part hosts who were dignified, reasonable, but not free and genuine. That's the stuff of university lectures, intellectual forums, but not of talk radio.