Kerry & Air America Radio

I just heard a recorded message from John Kerry wishing Air America a happy one year anniversary. It was so great to hear his voice again, I had missed him. Does anyone know if Kerry ever did an Air America interview during his campaign? It seemed like he was everywhere but got little coverage compared to shrub. I was wondering if he ever did one of those things where guests call in.

I was hoping he would do an interview with Al Franken. (Franken's Show is the station's flagship broadcast, after all. And FRanken was one of the people who urged his to run back in 2002.)

What show was this on? I think, given how AAR went full on for Kerry last year, it is a nice thing to do. (Some of AAR has had unkind moments since, but they were full out last year. And all the anti-Kerry stuff is starting to fade away.)

It was on tonight's majority report. After they came back from commercial, the played Kerry's comments, wishing them a happy b day. Janene Garofalo went on about how he was the person who really won the election and he should not have conceded. I thought it was going to turn into a Kerry bashing, but she stopped at that.

Is it because of the concession? The war vote? The Patriot Act Vote? I am still curious of why he conceded so soon. (That "At Least Gore Fought" stuff is tiring).

I think alot of it with DU is that the people who bash him never liked him in the first place, they supported someone else in the primaries and have carried that dislike all along. Since they see him as losing the election (even though they know he didn't really lose), it just gives them another excuse to go off on him.

Now I have to go listen to the tape of the show.

It was shortly after the show started, I couldn't tell you exactly how far in, but I don't think it was too far into the program. Sorry I can't be more specific.

last night, about the birth of Air America? I thought it was fascinating.

I only saw the last 45 minutes. (And it hurt my heart because Kerry still didn't win. Damn it.)

I liked it. I knew they came close to winking out last year, but I had no ideer it was hour to hour at one point. Geez. The folks that stuck it out had both commitment and 'balls of steel.'

What di you think?

watching how sad everyone was. But it was also weirdly heartening, because they cared as much as I did, and that made me feel really connected to them.

I really loved it. I loved Randi Rhodes - who was just sooo real, worrying about the lack of attention, fretting about the setup and about missing her family, and then on the air - BOOM - lady dynamite. I actually heard that Ralph Nader interview live, and it left my jaw hanging.

I've been listening since day one, so I've gotten to know them all slowly over the year. It was so much fun watching them, though.

Did I tell you I met Rachel Maddow last fall? She was emcee at a dinner at BC, and I went up to her and introduced myself as a fan of her show, and talked to her twice. She was great - so very smart, funny, and warm. Just great.

on Nov 3rd. It was the day they decided to not give up. That was a painful day for so many people. And Air America was there for me. Thank goodness!

I love Randi. I loved her a little less when she had some Kerry tirades around the time of the Congressional vote counting, but that was just a tiff. We are now reconciled and are working out our differences. I think we have a shot at a long-term relationship.

and a lot of opinions, and sometimes she says things that infuriate me. But I appreciate where she's coming from, and how brave she is, working every day with no safety net!

on a hopeful note thankfully. Otherwise it could have been very depressing.

I thought it was great. I watched it twice on Thursday (the replay on HBO West).

I also found out that the Quad Cities is getting a modified AAR station which I can hear during the day. :woohoo: (but not at night - too far away).

It plays Stephanie Miller instead of Jerry Springer in the morning, and two hours of Ed Shultz followed by one hour of Randi (who I have grown to love also - she was awesome in the HBO doc.)

I drove with my wireless computer one time (taking my daughter to preschool) to see how far my wireless stream would go (I know, what a dumbass), it didn't go very far at all. I'll blame that moment on desperation.:dunce:

She's become a favorite in my family. She's in the 9-noon slot in Boston, and her sense of humor is wonderful - a great mixture of intelligence and silliness. A lot of right wing types call in; they seem to have the idea they can convert her, for some reason. She manages to make them look ridiculous without being harsh. Quite a talent.

I know some other stations do that afternoon line-up also.

Springer hasn't exactly blown me over the couple of times I've heard him so I don't mind Stephanie Miller being on in the mornings. I've never listened to her though.

I stream from my computer during the day but it is nice to have something to listen to in the car. It isn't a local station but I checked and I could get it.

I found it fascinating as well. Those people went through hell and stuck with it. I have to really give them alot of credit, they believed in what they were doing and nothing was going to stop them from getting their word out. I've been listening to them for a few months now but the documentary made me feel like I know them much better.

Randi Rhodes is my fave. She not afraid to speak her mind. I also feel connected to her because of her recent hysterectomy, which I will be going through myself soon.

She was so funny - "Why you DO that???"

And good luck with yours.

The Mom and ex-hubby taking care of her after her surgery was truly LOL funny.

Prayers and blessings for you. I hope everything turns out all right.

Thanks to both of you. I'm sure I'll feel much better after it's all over. The waiting is the hardest part (just like the old Tom Petty song!)

they are although it wasn't a surprise to me.

The COO who had to keep things moving, solving problems big and small, searching for more money/investors and giving everybody the bad news - he seems like a saint.

I could so relate to him in the Taxi on election night. When he said how scary it was (is) to have the Republicans in for another four years. "What will they do to us during the next four years ... but it sure makes programming decisions easy" (paraphrasing).

I actually got a better impression of Janeane then I had before the Documentary. I don't even listen to the show because I just can't listen at night but I had thought she could be rather shrill and humorless. My opinion definitely improved.

I had also never listened to the Marks in the morning. The comedian was so neurotic and I loved his "Vote" poem right before the election.

I also liked seeing their producers and other people on the staff for the specific shows.

I wish the Documentary would have gotten more press/media attention so more people would know to watch it. I think it could certainly bring in some new listeners. But it was Terry TV 24/7.

He made sure those people got paid and looked tiredlessly for investors. I felt bad for him.

Janeane is okay, but actually I enjoy Sam more. She gets annoying at times, but it's the only AAR show I can hear in it's entirety. The Marks are okay, sometimes Maron gets on my nerves with his cat stories, but once they get into the meat and bones of the show, they are okay too. I love Randi Rhodes and Al Franken, although I don't get to hear them too much, I'm usually at at work.

I was surprised to see just how devastated they were after the election. I know they felt bad, but they were pretty much like the rest of us, totally demoralized.

The documentary was heavily pushed in NY, you were always seeing ads for it in the news paper and there were writeups about it as well. I think they did a really great job.

Wonkette has an interview with one of the Co-directors/Co-producers and he said this about Randi:

"Patrick: Randi Rhodes was incredibly cooperative and gave us a lot of access. When we first met her, we didn't know much about her. I suppose it's a little bit like a Hollywood casting agent who sees an actor and knows straight away that that person is a star. That's how we felt when we met Randi. She's one of the great things for us in this documentary. Randi has seen the documentary and really likes it. It shows how cool she is because we show Randi in a lot of very raw and intense situations."

She is a STAR. Hopefully she will start getting some more attention but she definitely wins people over the old fashion way - by her talent.

There was a very hopeful sign (for AAR) in the interview also:

"Patrick: We were there for Air America's coverage of the November election. It's a pretty intense scene because like a lot of people, the folks at Air America thought that Kerry was going to win. So we have the whole arc of optimism, confusion, and total depression. In a weird way, the election of Bush was good for Air America. For the next four years, they have a captive audience of people who are ready to hear whatever criticism you want to make of the Bush administration. What we're hearing from Air America is that they are unable to sign up quickly enough the amount of radio stations who want to be Air America affiliates. As of now, they have 51 affiliates, which when you consider what they went through is pretty impressive."

UNABLE TO SIGN UP QUICKLY ENOUGH THE AMOUNT OF RADIO STATIONS WHO WANT TO BE AIR AMERICA AFFILIATES - I love the sound of that.

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/media/index.php#hot-air-america-the-liberal-network-that-almost-wasnt-still-is-037764

I hope your surgery goes well. Good Luck and the waiting does suck, you just want to get it over with and be on the upswing.:)