Air America Radio, The Left AM

Air America Radio, The Left AM

So, it appears the much-ado, thankfully-not-named-Indie-Network, politically-left radio network Air America is about to dive into the pool with air-time locked in New York, here in Chicago and a handful of other cities.

I've decided to create a short list of both reasons it could succeed and reasons it could fail; this way, I'll be right regardless of what happens.

Reasons Air America Could Succeed

1. Al Franken - He's funny. The guy is good at sifting through rhetoric and has become the classic antithesis of Rush Limbaugh because of it. Accordingly, he's been able to hold his ground in debate against conservative rhetoricians like Sean Hannity. A name I've seen for his program is the O'Franken Factor. Cute.

2. Jeaneane Garofalo - She's funny! Another talented comedi person and the Hannity killer for the network... Because Sean Hannity is so Rah-Rah-publican and so so unentertaining to listen to if you disagree with him, Garofalo stands an excellent chance of picking up stray listeners (even conservatives) who are tired of that idiotic Hannity theme song.

3. Political Satire - It's funny!! Liberal, conservative, it doesn't matter... Satire is unassuming and coy. Basically, AAR has assembled representatives from every quality poltical satire entity in the past decade. Franken is from Saturday Night Live, Garofalo was involved with Michael Moore's TV projects, Lizz Winstead is somewhere in the mix and a co-creator of the Daily Show. Is that gold or is that platinum? You can decide.

4. There is a Void - Liberals who are tired of repetitive music stations have escaped to talk radio along with their conservative brethren. They listen to conservative programming and end up calling in to complain, at which point they are obliterated by well-trained conservative hosts. Yes, there are liberal talk radio hosts even on otherwise conservative networks, but the conservatives are the ones moving up in ranks (for whatever reason). Somewhere there is a market, and you need only listen to Rush Limbaugh for a few minutes to hear voices from it.

Reasons Air America Could Fail

1. Al Franken - We'll start with the easy points here... Franken comments on commentators. Now that he has his own show, he's going to be unable to listen to and study those commentators (**cough**Rush**cough**) and direct commentary has to be the center of the show. While we've seen Franken push policy, it's generally been in the wings. On a side note, how many weeks before trying to call in to Limbaugh's show becomes a regular staple?

2. Garofalo - Her fame is from generic comedy. Yes, she's been vocal about political issues, and being vocal is the basic prerequisite for radio. But is she going to be able to spit out dates, cases and records like her counterparts whose mainstream identity was born from political debate? Maybe. If she's not at the start, it's going to take her some time to get into the swing of things... Is she going to be interested enough in this program to stick with it that long? As much as she is an asset, she is also a tremendously large question mark.

3. NPR - In the radio world, NPR is like a badge of courage for the liberal educated and political talk is unbearable schlock. Is it going to be necessary for AAR to pull liberal listeners from NPR (where they've found refuge from the likes of Limbaugh)? Is it possible given the social status of NPR? Not saying NPR is liberal, just saying it is something of a haven.

4. What Good's the Radio? - Franken, for one, admits he is in this deal partly as an effort to get Bush not-elected come November. But add a lack of radio experience with talk radio's traditional impotence when it comes to presidential elections, and you could get frustration... especially for investors. Ask yourself. What good did Limbaugh ever do? The AAR website itself places the foundation of conservative talk radio in 1988 when a (R) was in the Oval Office, which boomed through 1992... when Bill Clinton (D) won the presidency. It continued to steadily grow through 1996 when... Bill Clinton (D) won again. After the 2000 election results, certain individuals (including candidate Al Gore) began partly blaming talk radio for Bush's win (robbery, of course, was the major complaint). Thus, the polterzeitgeist was born. But it's never proved to be anything substantial; it's obsessing over gnats while you're getting stung by bees. Here's a column on this issue from a liberal perspective in an effort to prove I'm not being ridiculous with this point.

Anyway, I think I've covered my bases. Back to you.