'O'Franken Factor' kicks off Air America

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Registered: 03-18-2000
'O'Franken Factor' kicks off Air America
34
Wed, 03-31-2004 - 6:39pm

The gloves are coming off on talk radio. Boxer 


http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/03/31/media.radio.reut/index.html


Comedian-provocateur Al Franken is anchoring Wednesday's launch of a new liberal radio network -- Air America -- that promises irreverent voices from the opposite end of the political spectrum to conservatives like Rush Limbaugh who dominate talk radio.


"We're going to listen to (Limbaugh's) show and hold him up to scorn and ridicule," Franken said in a telephone interview.


The debut is auspiciously timed: the presidential candidates have come out swinging and liberal anger at Republican President Bush is at a fever pitch.


Network chief executive Mark Walsh said the goal was to skewer "pomposity" in high places regardless of political affiliation. "We're not in regime change radio," he said.


Walsh said his most recent job was as "the Internet guy" for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Franken also knows Kerry, who along with filmmaker Michael Moore is a likely Air America guest.


The network will also feature other radio neophytes such as actress Janeane Garofalo, rapper Chuck D and activist Robert Kennedy Jr. Each will be paired with a radio veteran.


Franken has kicked off with a three-hour midday show, "The O'Franken Factor," a mocking tribute to his broadcasting foe Bill O'Reilly's show on Fox News.


A former writer on NBC-TV's "Saturday Night Live", Franken wrote the best-selling comic diatribes "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot" and last year's "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right." The latter triggered a short-lived lawsuit from Fox News.


Wine and cheese, or red meat?

A onetime high school wrestler, the 52-year-old Franken's recent antics have earned him the label of comic brawler: he tackled a heckler at a political event and offered to fight a magazine editor who said Democrats had "sissified" politics.


Franken turns serious when discussing Bush.


"This is a president who ran as a uniter not a divider and he's the most divisive president that I can remember," Franken said. "He had an opportunity to lead us in a new American century united in purpose and sacrifice and blew it completely. He wanted for some reason very, very, very badly to attack Iraq ... (which) I think has damaged the war on terror."


Limbaugh and other conservative radio figures such as Sean Hannity and Michael Savage -- whose dominance of talk radio balances what some see as mainstream media's liberal bias -- have already begun mocking the upstart network.


"They're saying we're a bunch of wine-swilling cheese-eating liberal idiots; that it'll never work; that liberals don't listen to the radio; that all we did was hire a bunch of comics and not anybody that knows anything about radio," Walsh said.


Franken admitted he drinks wine occasionally but doesn't know the difference between labels. "I do eat cheese; they're more accurate than usual there."


Observers are unsure about Air America's chances of success but it has drawn an avalanche of publicity as the first liberal-minded radio network.


In truth, the serious-minded Pacifica network and segments of National Public Radio have already staked out liberal positions.


"If these guys succeed, you know who's going to be banging down their doors to get them on? All the guys running conservative talk radio. Radio's not a political business. Politics is just a product ... a prop," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers, a magazine that covers the industry.


Air America is armed with $30 million in investor cash and a $30 million credit line being used to lease AM stations in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with more stations promised.

cl-Libraone~

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-07-2003
Thu, 04-01-2004 - 12:31pm
>>I prefer to listen to Bill O'Reilly (as I think he tries to be a little more balanced than Rush instead of always on the attack).<<

No offense, politicalbry, but, WOW, I'm pretty aghast that people think O'Reilly is even remotely balanced. In my eyes, he's like a pit bull. I saw him go after a family of 9/11 victims the other night who just sat there looking grieved and stunned. His fictional novel shows that he's pretty well off his rocker, as well.

Like I said, no offense, you have a right to your opinion but, as a Democrat, if given a choice between Rush and O'Reilly, I'd pick Rush any day!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
I never heard Glenn Beck.

I live in the NY area, so if you know what station he is on and the time, I would like to listen to him.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Here are some of the New York affiliates

New York

Market Station Freq Air Time

Albany WGY-AM 810 9a-12p ET

Chanago Bridge WYOS-AM 1360 9a-12p ET

Corning WENY-AM 1230 9a-12p ET

Corning WCLI-AM 1450 9a-12p ET

Rochester WHAM-AM 1180 9a-11a ET

Syracuse WSYR-AM 570 10a-12p ET

Watertown WTNY-AM 790 9a-12p ET

If these are too far away here is the link to other affiliates which might be closer to you

http://www.glennbeck.com/affiliates/index.shtml

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
I did not see him go after the family, and with regards to fiction, isnt that the purpose of fiction???? It is supposed to be way out there.

You dont think Stephen King's books are out there?

Did you read "Who's looking out for you"? I thought it was terrific, and based on common sense, which seems to be lacking in both government and in a lot of people today.

With regards to Rush, the one thing is that you know where he is coming from as he does not hide the fact that he is conservative, while O'Reilly is Independent, and has some conservative views and some more liberal ones, so he can go either way, depending on the subject.

Again, this is my opinion of him.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003

For those who don't have Air America in their radio markets...here's their website.


iVillage Member
Registered: 04-01-2004
I listened to Al Franken today on my computer. They had Robert Reich and Hillary Clinton as guests. It was interesting and funny. They had a lot of first time callers. Wha ha ha!!!
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-05-2004
I think that Rush Limbaugh is hilarious. I may not always agree with him (although I do most of the time) but he can surely make me laugh out loud!

Hatred isn't funny. Franken's group is going to have to lighten up A LOT to ever be successful. I doubt that they will ever be nationwide like Rush is, because most of America disagrees with their message, and they are too angry to be in any way funny.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-05-2004
Rush didn't spew Clinton hate! LOL! That's a common misconception. He did make fun of Clinton but was never hateful. That's why his show is so popular.

He also spends hours researching what is going on in America and in the world and is very informative in a lighthearted way. I listen to him for the laughs. When he has a guest host I usually don't listen because (although they are all well informed) they aren't as funny. I'm well informed so I don't need the info, usually, but I always need a good laugh.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2003
Exactly! You can say a lot of things about Rush, but hateful? No way.

Renee

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2003
Air America displaces black programming:

Air America Will Displace Black Talk On WLIB

By Karen Juanita Carrillo | SACOBSERVER.COM WIRE SERVICES

http://www.sacobserver.com/news/032304/wlib_air_america_radio.shtml

NEW YORK (NNPA) - New York's radio station WLIB-1190 AM has been loyally "serving New York's Black community" - as its logo states - for decades now. In the early '90s WLIB was lauded as a resource for "Afrocentric" programming and became known for featuring Imhotep Gary Byrd's "Global Black Experience" show.

The station was in many ways a Black activist outlet.

But by the end of this month, WLIB will be taking on a different hue, as it joins the launch of Progress Media's "Air America Radio," the new, predominately White, liberal talk-radio network. Air America has reportedly partnered with Inner City Broadcasting Corporation (ICBC), which owns WLIB.

"We are excited about the diverse and important voices Air America Radio is bringing to the airwaves, both on our own WLIB signal and others," said ICBC Chairman Pierre Sutton. "This strategic partnership allows both companies to combine our resources and deliver relevant messages to a broad and diverse audience."

Sutton added, "That's what you call 'high-class B.S.!'" one former WLIB staffer said when told that Sutton said the station's changes were necessary because African Americans had just stopped listening to WLIB. The former staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, insisted that if WLIB's talk shows were promoted the way conservative talk shows are - and the way Air America's shows will be - the station would have made money.

Air America Radio plans on using what it terms a roundup of "progressive activists" and "celebrities" as part of the activist left's efforts to counter the national popularity of White, Right-wing conservative talk shows and radio personalities. The network will begin broadcasting shows from across the country on March 31 over WLIB and radio stations WNTD in Chicago and Los Angeles' KBLA.

"I don't get it. I mean, I do not get it," local activist Elombe Brath said about Air America Radio's takeover at WLIB. Reports are that WLIB's 40th floor station has been remodeled for Air America, and that the 30th and 39th floors are also being re-built to suit the needs of the new network.

Brath, who hosts and produces the show "Afrikaleidoscope" on WBAI-FM, and who played a part in the Afrocentric reorganization of WLIB's programming back in the early 1980s, complained that if listenership was down at WLIB, the station should have restructured from within as it did in the 1980s.

"All of the talk should be organic, from within the Black community," Brath insisted. "How can they think about coming into New York with a package program like this? We have people here already who know radio, who can do shows. And they want to come in with a program from other people trying to talk to Black people in New York City? (WLIB) is just a station that has been stripped of what it's supposed to be!"

In its heyday, WLIB and shows like "Night Talk with Bob Law" on WWRL-AM, Samori Marksman's "Worldview" on WBAI-FM, Bob Slade's "Open Line" on WKRS-FM, and WWRL's "Drive Time Dialogue" formed part of its own advocacy radio network. They highlighted Black community health concerns, cultural awareness and political activities. Many have even claimed that WLIB's efforts helped to get out the vote for David Dinkins as he ran to become New York City's first Black mayor.

But now as WLIB joins with Air America Radio, plans are to keep only a few of the station's leading Black radio personalities. Mark Riley will be a co-host on "Uprising," Air America's 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. show, while Dahved Levy, Ann Tripp and news director Wayne Gilman will also remain with the station.







Renee