April 03, 2004
Radio Destroy America
Air America, the liberal answer to the Limbaugh/Hannity/Savage/etc dominated AM radio dial, debuted this week. I've tuned in a couple times, Al Franken has a show, as does Janeane Garofalo and Daily Show alumna Lizz Winnstead. So far I've mostly caught the Randi Rhodes show, which is very similar to what I know of Rush's show, except from the left. It's enjoyable in short doses, but for the most part I'm more comfortable with the right being the realm of over-the-top blowhards. Franken's show (the O'Franken Factor, home of the "zero" spin zone) is funny; on the first day there was a little skit where Ann Coulter was supposedly locked in the green room. Good stuff.
Related: I had a sitcom moment today listening to the webcast of Air America. Remember those episodes where a character is watching TV while preoccupied with something, and the person on the TV they are watching turns to them and says their name, and some pertinent message? I'm sure you can think of at least one show like that, there's been tons. Well as the radio show went to a commercial, there was a little tag line thing where an announcer said "Air America Radio, you're source for news..." and I'm sure there was a clever finish to that, but what I heard was "...and kill Billy Herron." I swear, it was freaky. So if anything happens to me, you'll know where to direct the detectives.
Posted by Bil at April 3, 2004 01:25 PM | TrackBackWhat you heard was "Hillbilly Heroin" (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hillbilly+heroin&f=1)
As in "your source for hillbilly heroin." A jab at Rush.
In the first 3 days it has had its ups and downs. I like Franken better than any of the other content, and it helps to think of it as an oasis from the big business-owned conservative media.
It's jsut refreshing to hear people talking on the radio who don't sound like they're trying to bury their nose deeper into Bush's colon.
Posted by: James at April 3, 2004 02:03 PM : Link this commentI heard an interesting comment on NPR about the new left wing radio programming. They mentioned that wacko right radio has been successful at convincing a large swath of the public that middle of the road "mainstream" news is "liberal," which has caused mainstream news to move somewhat rightward if for no other reason than to counter the charge.
Therefore, many neutral media analysts are hoping that this radio station will serve as a counterbalance and help restore mainstream media to their rightful place in the "middle" of the spectrum.
Unfortunately, they also believe the leftward radio will fail. They quote an Al Frankin interview of several years ago about the failure of liberal radio, where he says (paraphrasing), "Liberals approach media looking for avenues and answers. Conservatives approach media looking for ammunition and affirmation."
I fear he's right.
- Garris
Posted by: Garris at April 3, 2004 02:26 PM : Link this commentSee also Clinton, Bill, presidential term of.
I have no idea whether or not this experiment will succeed or fail, but I am pretty sure that liberals have, in the time since Franken said that, decided to stop ceding control of the debate to conservatives. It seems to me there's a sense of "we're not gonna take it anymore" among the left. You know what, there's proof that conservatives have shifted the entire spectrum to the right, because what I consider the American left is nothing like the marxist-communist or anarchist left of the old days. I'm just talking about Democrats!
Posted by: Bil at April 3, 2004 02:41 PM : Link this commentOh, and James, THANK YOU for telling me what they actually said. It's pretty close, especially since there was a girl in junior high who used to call me Billy Heroin.
Posted by: Bil at April 4, 2004 05:04 AM : Link this comment
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