Air America doesn’t suck

2004.06.20 — Business | Radio | by Derek Jensen

I imagined Air America to be a weak, spotty venture, with good material stretched thin over too many hours. But I was amazed to find that Al and company are quite good. Air America seems to have sprung fully formed from the brow of Al Franken.

The network is really still in its infancy in some ways, tho. It’s available only in a small part of the country, altho those parts are big markets. I listen over streaming Internet connection (using Real Alternative, a free and simple alternative to the obnoxious Real Audio). So if you have a broadband connection, you’re within earshot of Air America.

I only catch a small part of the morning show, Morning Sedition, with Mark Maron, Sue Ellicott, and Mark Riley (6 am to 9 am), but it’s a great show. Maron is a rare comedian who can be intelligent without ranting. Riley is a radio veteran who drives the bus. And Ellicott is a British journalist with a silky-smooth voice that brings to mind images of relaxing on a tropical beach with The London Times.

Unfiltered comes on next ( 9 am to noon) with Liz Winstead, Chuck D, and Rachel Maddow. Winstead is (along with Jon Stewart) the genius behind The Daily Show. She’s a bit shrill for my taste, but works well with Maddow. Chuck D, better known as rapper, is a cool foil for the ladies, adding a note of wry cynicism to a show with a bit too much name-calling.

The flagship show is The O’Franken Factor (noon to 3 pm), with Al Franken and Katherine Lanpher, whose thankless task is to feed Franken the topics. Franken is surprisingly even-handed and level-headed (when he’s not imitating right-wingers with funny voices) and has a better command of facts than most talk radio hosts. His respectful treatment of the Reagan funeral was exemplary. Even if you dislike Reagan’s policies, there’s no reason to dance on his grave (save that for Nixon).

Al is followed by The Randi Rhodes Show (3 pm to 7 pm), a one-woman filibuster with the Brooklyn-born host. She’s good with the facts too, but a four-hour show with a lone host is nearly as wearying for the listener as it must be for the host.

Janeane Garafalo, Robert Kennedy, Jr., and others host additional shows well into the evening and in spots on the weekends, but I haven’t tuned in to these yet. To be honest, Garafalo rubs me the wrong way. She’s that intelligent but ranting comedian that I mentioned Mark Maron isn’t.

You may have noticed that the whole lineup is pretty well loaded with a New-York-and-points-north crowd. If Franken can open up his lineup a bit more to hosts other than upper-class, white, north-eastern intellectuals, Air America could catch on in the heartland.

If there’s a weakness in the network, that’s it. Well, that and the endless bashing of Rush Limbaugh and Christian fundamentalism. I mean, come on; find another topic, folks.

Franken also despises Bill O’Reilly (hence the “O’Franken Factor” name—it’s not like he’s not trying to make us think he’s Irish). He spends a lot of time proving Limbaugh and O’Reilly wrong, which is not terribly productive, especially since it’s often over trivial matters, like the ratings that Air America is getting.

Besides, radio is not the medium for fact-by-fact rebuttals. It’s just too ephemeral. Why do you think Limbaugh and O’Reilly like it? There’s less possibility of being proved wrong if your words aren’t archived in Nexis or on the Web.

And the ratings are good—not great, but Air America may have tapped into the vein of young non-conservatives that have heretofore been listening to lousy, repetitive, corporate-controlled music stations… or NPR. It got off to a wobbly start, but if it finds his legs as well as its voice, Air America could be a big success.

If I could give some advice to the Air America team, it would be: Don’t try to out-Limbaugh Limbaugh. We hate Limbaugh, O’Reilly, and Hannity because they’re blowhards and bullies. Don’t imitate them with name-calling and suspect claims.

You’re at your best when you give conservatives credit for their successes before taking them out at the knees for their failures. After all, nobody’s wrong about everything, right? Being open-minded and seeing the other side is the heart of liberalism.

Similarly, don’t give liberal politicians a free pass. There’s a lot not to love about John Kerry and Tom Daschle, and tweaking their noses might change their behavior.

Last, not every minute of every day has to be filled with politics. The Air America daytime shows are all at least three hours long. Take a cue from traditional morning radio and morning talk TV and stir a bit more humor into our coffee and bit less vinegar.

I know. I know. They’re so banal. It’s galling, isn’t it? People don’t always want anti-establishment barbs jammed in their eye first thing in the morning. A lot of times, they just want light-hearted chit-chat and celebrity gossip. But you’re above that. Some of you are genuine professional comedians. So make them laugh.

f e e d b a c k

s i d e b a r