Happy Birthday, Air America!

The worst is yet to come?

by Thomas Lindaman
04/01/05

It was a year ago that the most ambitious project the modern left had ever undertaken since trying to make Al Gore interesting began amidst a flurry of activity and fanfare. Few people outside of the mainstream media gave Air America a snowball's chance at Uncle Satan's Happy Time Eternal Damnation Camp of lasting beyond a year, and I was one of them. Now, one year later, I'm having to admit they have not only survived, but managed to expand a bit more into the marketplace of ideas.

And I, for one, am pretty happy about that.

I still believe that a liberally-dominated talk radio network can work, and Air America is proof that it's possible. The question from the get-go, however, was how well it would compete with other talk radio shows like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Judging from the ratings…well, let's just say that their energies were better spent trying to make Al Gore interesting. But on a larger scale, they were trying to offer an alternative and they provided it.

Now, if they could only figure out how to make people listen to what they have to offer. I've spent about 6-8 hours listening to Air America (I did it so you wouldn't have to because, dagnabbit, I like you) and they're still struggling with one of the fundamentals of talk radio: it has to be entertaining. And given the comedy writers they have on staff at Air America, it's surprising that it's not more entertaining than it is.

Take "The O'Franken Factor" for example. Al Franken has flashes of comedic brilliance and was one of the writers on "Saturday Night Live" back in the days when it was actually good. I listened to no more than 5 minutes of one of his shows, a Friday show devoted to, get this, making Republicans look and sound like pirates. Yep, the guy who cut his teeth on making SNL funny has been reduced to lame pirate references. That's a fall from grace that would make stuntmen wince.

"Morning Sedition" is another show that flounders in spite of its comedic chops. Mark Maron, one of the co-hosts of the show, is a gifted comedy writer. He has been a stand-up comedian for years and I've enjoyed listening to him on the Bob and Tom Show. But on "Morning Sedition" he's not really allowed to be anything but a political mouthpiece who occasionally says something funny. (Kinda like…well, me, but with a radio show.) Janeane Garafalo has the same problem with her show "Majority Report" in that she and Maron are hosting shows that don't utilize their comedy skills more effectively. When you place an agenda ahead of entertaining listeners, you're going to have a loyal fan base that's going to be smaller than the profit margin on The Wit and Wisdom of MoveOn.org.

This is not to say that all of Air America's programming stinks. The bulk of my listening time was spent on one show, "Unfiltered." Lizz Winstead and Rachel Maddow ran a fun little show because they understand that to have listeners, you must give them a reason to listen. The subject of the show I listened to was what Republican Lizz would be willing to sleep with in order to turn him into a Democrat. Okay, so it's not "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," but I still found it enjoyable because Lizz and Rachel utilized their respective strengths to keep the subject light, yet semi-serious. Unfortunately, Winstead has since left Air America, leaving the show to Maddow and former Public Enemy frontman Chuck D to host it. A statement from Air America said they "plan to take the show in a different direction." Given how Air America has ruined other ideas for shows, Maddow and Chuck D had better hope that different direction isn't straight down.

All in all, though, Air America is surviving in a highly competitive arena, so they must be doing something right. Then again, you can survive a gang fight by staying near the back of the gang and then hiding when the real action happens.

Even so, I have to give a tip of my Yankees cap to them for at least trying to bring life to a modern liberal dream. You guys have the potential to be what NPR would be if they did cocaine instead of pot, but you're bogged down competing with "Radio Mimes" for last place in the ratings. Not exactly a way to make waves in talk radio. But cheer up, buckaroos. You're still around a year later, and you're expanding your fan base. Hey, that's more than Ryan Seacrest can say about his talk show.

And that's the Bottom Line.

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