So what are the initial reviews of Air America?

What do DU'ers think of it? We just started a new school year so I've been busy and unable to listen or check in much.

Except for the lack of Malloy.

But Randi Rhodes seems to be tearing the board apart.

(Personally, I prefer Malloy's style to hers myself.)

...I'm not familiar with this particular controversy (regarding Randi)

Somebody will start another thread before you know it. ;)

-as

..she's a fighting democrat. Some liberals aren't used to that.

I don't have a single problem with how she treated Nader (actually I liked that). My problem with her (and mind you, I've been listening to her off and on for a couple of years now) is how she treats sympathetic callers. She talks down to them quite a bit, imo.

..but the big rap against Randi on DU is that her style "sinks to the level of the repugs."

Nonsense.

I like her style...she just needs to learn to be a bit more patient with her liberal (but a little behind) callers and then I'd be 100% happy. It's a problem she's had for a while. I think it's because she's been under attack for so long that she's on the defensive a bit (who isn't?) and isn't used to having as many Anti-Bush callers as she's been getting lately.

Malloy ignored it all by screening out conservative callers. He'd take one every so often, but he effectively ran a Liberal sympathetic show whereas Randi runs an open call-in show. It makes for a less laid-back format.

Hartmann takes conservative callers too, but he tends to less confrontational with them. I loved it when Mike used to destroy those guys.

that one conservative. LOL!

Whiterosesociety now has archives of his shows, going back to December last I checked.

I just wish it wasn't on so early.

Bummer :(.

(I haven't heard anything BEFORE Franken...)

Al Franken: Needs work. LOTS of work.

Randi Rhodes: The true star of Air America. Seasoned and professional.

So What Else is News?: BORING! Monotone. Sounds like NPR or a college station.

Janeane Garofalo: Sounds like she's done radio before. A natural. Second best thing going on the network (next to Randi)

Rhoades is a seasoned radio pro. It's likely that she would be better than Franken at this point. Interesting about Janeane though. More of a natural than Franken I guess. Hopefully Al will be OK.

Just...in awe.

We liberals have an alternative to the corporate right wing media.

Just to hear so many people call in to Randi Rhodes' show...it truly did my heart good. Folks...there are so MANY of us.

Terry

Very few dead spots that I've heard - the one news segment at the end of Lizz Winstead/Chuck D's show today was kinda lame.

Franken's show was funnier today than yesterday, and they seem to have no shortage of interview guests for all the talent (Winstead had Bob Reich, Davey D, and John Mellencamp today that I heard, Franken had Senator Clinton, Randi had Kevin Phillips and Bob Graham).

Because I've been doing other things, I haven't heard Garafalo's show yet. But the daytime lineup is damned solid.

-as

IMO.

The only thing that would be better would be a televised eqivalent. For instance, the news report mentioned the legal filings by the Bush Regime against the Kerry campagin and MoveOn, but they also mentioned that the Bush Regime violated the law by having a federal agency reserach Kerry's proposed tax plan. The potential is monstrous, and if Kerry wins, they can devote themselves to moving the Bush regime from the White House to the Big House. By the way, I've already come up with it's official nickname: AirAm^©®

:headbang:
rocknation

I caught both the O'Franken Factor and the Randi Rhodes show. Something for everybody. You can't listen 24/7 so pick your style of show.

I love to hear some of these big names calling into the shows just like regular folks. They get longer call in times of course, but it just sounds great to hear people like former Clinton Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and Senator Hillary Clinton calling in.

Can't wait till they get the Big Dog to call in and you know they will.

Sonia

It is just amazing to me that in a city like L.A. our ONLY chance for talk radio has been this RW propaganda shit that distorts and ridicules the beliefs of most of the people that live here. I love love love it.

Not that they can't get a little tighter, especially awkward is integrating the comedic and serious stuff on Al's show but EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT IS HEAVEN COMPARED TO THE COMPETITION!

Garafalo may have to spice it up a bit. That program seemed a bit dull IMO but thats not fair since it was the first day. None of these people are radio personalities and its not easy to do radio. Theyll get better with time.

Wouldn't she be perfect??

:-)

Terry...a big fan of Ms. Ivins.

Right after Late Edition goes off. We'd have a forum for speaking out on the Sunday News Shows right away.

A counterpoint to Russert, FTN, etc.

I like the idea of Ivins/Hightower together.

:-)

Terry

I'd ad a weekly editorial by Helen Thomas.

:evilgrin:

A lot of people think Bill Press is a weak liberal, but I don't. He also has radio experience. Maybe he should do an early morning show before the Ivins/Hightower show?

I'm just dreaming though.

We'll see (I'm not holding my breath, though.:)

I also like the Helen Thomas idea. A valuable insight into Washington from a veteran reporter.

Loving everything I've heard.

Franken: Hilarious and on point.

Randi Rhodes: Smart, pithy and entertaining.

What's news: Keeps my attention, informed.

Haven't heard Garafalo yet. Any news on SF picking it up?

:thumbsup:

...still no station announcement, tho.

But you watch - as this thing continues to spread, more stations will sign on, and not just in major urban areas, either.

I have the feeling this is going to be bigger than anyone expects it to be.

-as

very exciting. And it's funny too! Non-sequiter-esque humor.

One of the tag lines "Air America...what's that smell??"

"Air America...one of the best...yada yada yada"

Hilarious!

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Randi Rhodes will kick the four-hour hatemonger Jay Severin in the ass!

I listened on the net. There would be a huge audience here. Nashville is a Democratic stronghold, our former Dem Mayor, Phil Bredesen, is now Governor with a high approval rating. Proves that a Democrat can win a red state.

In short - I dig it a lot!

:bounce:

I heard the O'Franken Factor, and then later I heard Randi Rhodes, now listening to Randi Rhodes. First time I've listened to AM in years!

Franken was pretty good. He's funny and informed. His sidekick is professional and competent as a standard "radio personality" but she needs a little more... "personality". She is a bit too standard.

But I thought Randi was the best! She really came out swinging! Someone asked her how Condi would hold up under questioning, and she replied "I don't see how anything could get through that hairspray! Jessica Lynch coulda used a helmet like that!"

There seems to be an awful lot of ads. Just when the conversation gets going, they have to cut to an ad. And sometimes you hear the same ad twice in a row. Kind of annoying.

I like the hourly news focusing on how Bush is all obsessed with protecting fetuses. Someone pointed out that our soldiers just got butchered in Falluja, and all Bush wants to talk about is fetuses. Not much leadership coming from the White House, as usual.

I'm not crazy about the Grateful Dead music Franken plays as an intro. Kinda old-fashioned leftist stuff. They have to realize that the kids today are into hip-hop now, not Grateful Dead. (I lived in a kind of liberal commune during college where they used to come out and play that stuff a lot at parties, and it was starting to get tired back then.) Let's go for that crucial 18-45 demographic!

Franken's co-host has a professional radio voice and she's informed, but as a side-kick, I think she could be stronger. Their show needs to have a specific dynamic - the way Howard and Robin do (Howard's the dumb third-grader and Robin is the voice of reason). Maybe they'll develop this later.

They also seemed to be patronizingly repetitive at times on the Franken show. Reich (the economic guy under Clinton) was on the phone talking about something, and they kept repeating the points over and over instead of just "moving on." It seems pretty clear that thay're worried about seeming "elitist" so they sometimes try to "dumb things down" so that the "average person" can keep up. But then at other times they act VERY elitist: Reich used the word "Manichean" at some point (which I never knew how to pronounce, and I got a 790 on my verbal SATs - I know it has something to do with seeing the world in black-and-white terms as good versus evil, but it was always a kinda obscure word to me, and I don't think it's the best word to use if you're worried about sounding "elitist".) At some other point, Franken's co-host said someething about a "line of demarcation" being needed somewhere. I think a simpler word like "boundary" would work just as well - if they're trying to avoid the "elitist" label.

(A really good article to read about this would be in the April 2004 Harper's "Lie Down For America" by Thomas Frank. A REALLY good explanation of how the Republicans play to cultural issues to get elected, and once they win they screw everyone on economic issues. "Because some artist {Andres Serrano, I believe it was} decides to shock the hicks by dunking Jesus in urine, the entire planet must model itself along the lines preferred by the Republican Party, USA" was how Frank put it. If the "liberals" want a lesson on how to win the culture wars, they could check out Frank's article - I bet they'd start playing some more MTV-type stuff rather than '60s music once they do.)

It's a tough show to launch. Politics can be dry and boring, but the right wing has certainly livened it up by being so mean and nasty. "Liberals" are trying to have their own radio show now, and they're obviously very afraid of sounding dry and boring, so they're pushing all sorts of buttons trying to be funny. It's a difficult process, and hopefully they'll fine-tune it over time.

My favorite bit on Franken's show on Thursday was this song he played making fun of Rush. It went something like "My drugs are red white and blue... and I like the little pink and green pills too..."

Janeane Garofolo is on now. She's a great speaker, very funny, interesting and smooth. She sounds a lot stronger than Franken's co-host. Like I said, I think Franken's show needs a more specific "dynamic" with the co-host - or a co-host with more personality, not just a radio voice. (I can't even remember her name.)

My favorites so far are Randi Rhodes and Janeane Garofolo. Randi because she really comes out swinging. Garofolo is also very forceful and strong but not so off-the-wall, so she's cool too.

They really need to get some more variety in the commercials. Intelligent people get bored quick, and in these days of TiVo and the Web most people are used to just clicking or fast-forwarding past repetitive commercials. They need to look at the overall show including the commercials and make sure people don't tune out after hearing the same stuff over and over again. I haven't listened to AM radio in years so I'm not used to sitting through weight-loss ads over and over.

I also tried calling in (866-303-2270) and got a busy signal. Don't know if that's typical for radio.

One last idea: They seem to be quite aware of how Howard Stern's show works. (Franken is using one of Howard's old jazz songs as a background for ads - just like Howard does.) They would do well to take a few more tips from Howard's show. Get a few joke-writers and fact-checkers in the studio who can feed the host lines - Howard's joke man Artie seems to do this quite a bit.

Listening to Janeane Garofolo now - she just played the clip where Bush made his joke "Those weapons of mass destruction must be around here somewhere!" and then all this laughter. Really sick! It sounds just a horrible late-night comedy show with a studio audience. Play that about 100 times a day while our soldiers get slaughtered in Iraq over a JOKE and Bush will be lucky to get 10% this fall.

The country is really desperately looking for someone to lead us out of this Dark Age. Even the radical right and fundamentalists aren't too crazy about losing jobs and living in polluted towns and seeing government services disappear. There is SO much material out there, and if Air America has $20 million dollars to spend, get a bunch of interns working to track down all the damaging clips Bush has said and play them over and over again. Let them sink their own battleship.

Thanks alot! :thumbsup:

I've listened to Randi twice and like her, and am catching Majority Report tonight and it's great. Randi is a little abrasive, but so what. We liberals have played nice too long and are getting our butts kicked as a result. Good for her for giving some of it back.

And get this...last night I had to stop and think if I wanted to watch The Daily Show with Richard Clark OR listen to Air America. An actual liberal choice. Just amazing.