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I guess the Franken radio network started broadcasting today.
Any guesses on how long it will last?
Franken is supposed to be a clever guy and he can't come up with a better name for his show than to copy or parody Bill O'Reilly?
I plan to give it a listen when I can but I imagine it sounds something like this: WHAAAAAAAAA! Bush sucks WHAAAAAAAA!
Quote:
Liberal Radio Talk Show Launched
By SETH SUTEL, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK - Is it a radio business, or is it politics? The two seem inextricably entwined for the leaders of Air America Radio, the liberal talk radio network that launched on five stations around the country Wednesday.
As a startup media business, they need to draw in listeners fast. Air America Radio is betting that a menu of left-leaning political commentary, current affairs talk and satire will resonate with those opposed to the Bush administration.
Al Franken, who is headlining the network with a daily three-hour talk show, has made no secret of his intention to use his platform to influence the election in November.
"We are flaming swords of justice," Franken told a cheering crowd at a party to launch the network Tuesday night. "Bush is going down, he is going down, he is going down. And we're going to help him."
Franken's show went live at noon on Wednesday with co-host Katherine Lanpher, a longtime host of a public radio show in Minnesota. At the opening, Franken joked that they were broadcasting from a bunker 3,500 feet below Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites)'s own secret bunker.
In fact, Franken will be broadcasting his show, dubbed "The O'Franken Factor" in his latest jab at Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, from the slightly shabby studios of New York City station WLIB, on the 41st floor of an office tower a few blocks from the Empire State Building.
The studio, where the show has had just a week to settle in before launching, has the feel of a scrappy political campaign that's just getting under way.
"I don't think of it as a business, but I know it has to make money to be sustaining," Franken said in an interview, perching his feet up on the desk after a rehearsal session for the show. "A lot of it is mission."
The sense of mission is felt just as strongly several floors down, where the makeshift offices of Air America Radio are marked with handwritten sheets of paper taped on the wall, including those for CEO Mark Walsh, where the phones have yet to be hooked up.
Walsh, a former America Online executive and adviser to the Democratic National Committee (news - web sites), said liberal politics would be a "teaser ... a loss leader in the window" for the radio network, which is also being broadcast in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Ore.
"The right has dominated the airwaves for a decade, and we blew it. First they did radio, then they did TV, and movies are next," he said.
However, the idea that liberal commentators have been shut out of radio has been greeted with skepticism in the talk radio industry, where the left-leaning commentator for Fox News Alan Colmes has a large audience. Also, one of Air America's new hires, Randi Rhodes, has hosted a very popular, and very progressive, show in Florida for years.
Michael Harrison, the editor and publisher of Talkers magazine, the leading trade publication for the talk radio business, is leery of Air America Radio's tactic of using liberal politics to draw in viewers.
"Of all the elements that go into this, the least important element is that they're liberal," Harrison said. "They've got to be entertaining, fascinating, captivating and compelling — and then they have to find a way to make money with it."
What's more, Harrison said the company was setting expectations too high by promising to take on Bush as well as Rush Limbaugh, who has built up a massive national audience over the past two decades. "Radio doesn't work that fast, it doesn't have that power to do it that quickly," Harrison said.
Another big question facing the network is what Franken will do in a year's time, when the election will be over and his contract expires. Franken says he'll assess his options in a year's time. "It depends on how much I like radio," he says.
In the meantime, Franken is bringing out one of his battle-tested ideas for generating laughs: baiting conservative pundits. On his first show, Franken pretended conservative gadfly Ann Coulter was locked in the station's green room after she complained about the composition of her snack plate.
Rich Lowry, the editor of the conservative journal National Review and another past Franken target, said he was interested in Franken's efforts on Air America, but not enough to tune in. He did acknowledge that Air America could find an audience.
"There has been a rise of an angry liberal populism, and so now there's a disenchantment with media sources on the left," Lowry said. "Whether they can take advantage of that remains to be seen."
I plan to give it a listen when I can but I imagine it sounds something like this: WHAAAAAAAAA! Bush sucks WHAAAAAAAA!
If you actually read anything Franken wrote, you would see that he's pretty funny, but he also brings well thought out arguments.
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26-year-old Saermengsi last season rated average 25.1 minutes, with 7.5 hours, 2.7 times and 2.7 backboard secondary attack, he Yifusen general as the replacement came in March Yifusen injuries ever period of time, three matches in a row, his secondary attack will reach 10. By Sun team, he could strengthen outer lane line, but also as the replacement fullback scored his general customary activities in the stadium two wings. On the season Saermengsi-ball hit rate reached 30%. He was in flames and Jones made a three-year teammate, Jones said that the organizers he pitches, but he can also shooting. His shooting is deceptive.
If you actually read anything Franken wrote, you would see that he's pretty funny, but he also brings well thought out arguments.
I have seen some of Franken's comedy and some of it is amusing. Maybe he will be entertaining on the radio but I'd bet he just bitches cries about stuff a lot.
I mean he is supposed to be clever and all he can come up with is The O'Franken Factor?
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“votes are collared under democracy, not by talking sense but by talking nonsense.” ~H. L. Mencken
The producers of the show projected they will lose money the first two years. I don't see it lasting that long.
Joe Queenan had a good point...radio is hard. Radio guys like Limbaugh and O'Reilly are successful because they have been in radio for a long time and they can fill any dead air that comes along. Air America may last until November, but I don't see it having any real staying power.
Maybe he will be entertaining on the radio but I'd bet he just bitches cries about stuff a lot.
Well then you obviously have never listened to any of his political satire. He doesn't "bitch" or "cry", he mocks and insults.
Lying liars: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, had me literally falling out of my chair laughing. Calling Sean Hannity an "Irish American Gorilla", or his chapters on the psycho hose beast Ann Coulter, were absolutely hilarious.
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26-year-old Saermengsi last season rated average 25.1 minutes, with 7.5 hours, 2.7 times and 2.7 backboard secondary attack, he Yifusen general as the replacement came in March Yifusen injuries ever period of time, three matches in a row, his secondary attack will reach 10. By Sun team, he could strengthen outer lane line, but also as the replacement fullback scored his general customary activities in the stadium two wings. On the season Saermengsi-ball hit rate reached 30%. He was in flames and Jones made a three-year teammate, Jones said that the organizers he pitches, but he can also shooting. His shooting is deceptive.
I mean he is supposed to be clever and all he can come up with is The O'Franken Factor?
He did that purposly to annoy Bill O'Lielly (as he calls him in Lying Liars).
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26-year-old Saermengsi last season rated average 25.1 minutes, with 7.5 hours, 2.7 times and 2.7 backboard secondary attack, he Yifusen general as the replacement came in March Yifusen injuries ever period of time, three matches in a row, his secondary attack will reach 10. By Sun team, he could strengthen outer lane line, but also as the replacement fullback scored his general customary activities in the stadium two wings. On the season Saermengsi-ball hit rate reached 30%. He was in flames and Jones made a three-year teammate, Jones said that the organizers he pitches, but he can also shooting. His shooting is deceptive.
I mean he is supposed to be clever and all he can come up with is The O'Franken Factor?
I think he really feels a debt of gratitude to Bill and the good folks at Fox News. They way they carried on about the title of Franken's last book cemented that thing at the top of the Best Seller list.
This is funded by the Democrats and it will last longer than four months. However, I don't think people understand how difficult it is to have a radio show.
I mean, they had to BUY 4 (count them- four) stations, while Limbaugh has over 800, Hannity around 600, Savage around 400, Beck and Laura Ingraham close to 300 each.
I give it about a year before it goes off the air altogether, while Franken will not last more than 6 months. They'll find somebody to repalce him, but they will fail too.
Too negative, too much crying, whining, bitching and moaning.
But anyway, I wish them luck.
Stefan
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"Don't try to threaten me Mulder! I've watched presidents die."
"If people would know the things I know, we'd all fall apart."
"Once again, tonight, the course of human history will be set by two unknown men standing in the shadows."
This is funded by the Democrats and it will last longer than four months. However, I don't think people understand how difficult it is to have a radio show.
I mean, they had to BUY 4 (count them- four) stations, while Limbaugh has over 800, Hannity around 600, Savage around 400, Beck and Laura Ingraham close to 300 each.
I give it about a year before it goes off the air altogether, while Franken will not last more than 6 months. They'll find somebody to repalce him, but they will fail too.
You're right, no more than four months, err one year, I mean, wait, six months.
Oh, well it is doomed to failure at the very least.
Too negative, too much crying, whining, bitching and moaning.
But anyway, I wish them luck.
Stefan
Yes, that is an accurate description of Lush Rimbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mann Coulter and Michael Wiener. Glenn Beck is the only one of them I can listen to for more than 1 minute without getting sick.
I think he really feels a debt of gratitude to Bill and the good folks at Fox News. They way they carried on about the title of Franken's last book cemented that thing at the top of the Best Seller list.
He should be grateful to them, without their publicity he would just be another obscure, angry, liberal comedian.
He should probably send Mr. O'Reilly a nice card or something.
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“votes are collared under democracy, not by talking sense but by talking nonsense.” ~H. L. Mencken
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