Out Of Air

Air America no longer carries Lionel in NYC. Air America no long carries Thom Hartmann in NYC. They are being replaced by infomercials, barter shows, medical hours paid for by the people broadcasting them. These broadcasters are gone because Air America cannot afford to maintain them, and I assume WWRL (the flagship station) wasn't getting the money due them.

How could this have happened? How could all of these grandiose plans of a liberal outpost in the conservative world of talk radio fail? Let's shorten all the musing and cut to the chase with these five reasons:

1)Radio needs broadcasters. Alan Colmes joked that he couldn't work at Air America because he had experience in radio. The best broadcasters are people who you never heard of and become fixtures on the air. Rush,Hannity, and Lionel are all people who were never known until they became famous for radio,not Saturday Night Live,radio. The plied their trade in smaller markets,worked their way up to major markets, and are now stars in their field. Is anybody reading this thinking that Al Franken would stay in radio forever? TV, bookwriting,radio,government service,not one stop for too long.
2)Radio needs radio people running it. The first Program Director for AAR was Lizz Winstead, a writer and comedian who had NEVER worked in radio, and hired writers and gave out titles reserved for TV like Executive Producer. Ten writers for one show is a bit labor intensive,don't you think?
3)The money invested should be handled by someone who isn't going to run away with it. It should be a stream of financing,not going from handout to handout from liberal stars who might be looking for (heaven forbid) a return on their investment.
4)Since air time is paid for by sponsors, a dynamic sales staff might have helped things along,huh?
5)Try finding a signal that goes somewhere besides parts of Manhattan,Brooklyn,and Newark. Northern Jersey, Westchester, and Rockland Counties are lovely to embrace, not to ignore.

Some of the people on Air America will turn up. Randi Rhodes is a terrific radio personality and Rachel Maddow is becoming a star, but to paraphrase Marlon Brando, Air America could have been a contender.

If...

I was Harry Reid, Joe Lieberman would be on the subcommittee to study rat feces in payback for backing McCain. Lieberman is the Zell Miller of the 21st century.

I were Barack Obama,I would urge critics to listen to Falwell tapes and explain Billy Graham's anti-Semitic musings.

I were a baseball player,I would use HGH and claim religiosity,it worked for Andy Pettit.

I were a racist,I would be comfortable as a Republican.

I were Al Sharpton,I wouldn't throw stones.

I were George Bush, I would learn the names of three books in my presidential library, just in case.

I were Oprah Winfrey,I would stop giving out nutrition tips.

I were Rosie O' Donnell, I would be proud of the platform I had given gay parents.

I were a single blonde right wing media personality, I would come out of the closet and tour with Michael Stipe.

If I was a congressman,I would go after the NRA for looking the other way on illegal weapons. All they can do is mount a candidate against me,and if you can't beat a pro gun pol in NYC,you deserve to lose.

What I Think...

That Karl Rove had a hand in the digging into Obama's passport info,then covered it up by digging into McCain's. Remember,Rove once bugged his own office to defeat an opponent.

The 31% of Americans who think Bush is doing a good job are due for an EEG.

Dennis Miller is not a convert to the right wing. What he is (in spite of his super monologues that are written for him)is a lightweight. He won't knock Bush because "I like the guy",he backed Giuliani because "he's a crotchety old guy like me". What???? By the way,Dennis,your quiz show sucks,and I say that as a veteran of many of them.

There is reason to worry about Hillary Clinton. If everyone is right that she cannot possibly win save for a superdelegate intervention,then she is self-destructive and egomaniacal.

Everyone that Bill Clinton meets with to persuade them to back Hillary Clinton winds up backing Senator Obama. My theory about his subconscious desire to see her lose is gaining momentum.

The right is treating Mamet's disowning his liberal roots as a momentous victory. Oh,yeah,big deal,oooooh! His work has been critically panned for years,especially his inexplicable inability to write good parts for women.

The greatest contestant ever on "American Idol" is Amanda Overmeyer. The rocker chick didn't care if she won,didn't care if she lost,she just wanted to sing in front of a large audience. Losing out on the chance to sing with the others at a mall is never to have lost at all.

And I figured out Paula Abdul's ethnicity: part Jewish,part Hispanic,all incoherent.

Why doesn't Fox News cut to the chase and start doing their pieces about Obama in Blackface?

There are so many blondes on Fox that if they go under, Clairol will have to divest.

Of course the woman who killed her firefighter husband smiles photos. Do you think she is unhappy she killed him? She wanted to kill him,she killed him,she is happy. Crazy,perhaps,but happy.

I don't care if I am the only person in North America who writes it, Oprah Winfrey is a phony,a vastly successful one,but a phony nonetheless. Interviews country stars and speaks in a southern twang, she's over fifty and won't say the word vagina, and can't find a dozen Chicago teenage girls who would be thrilled to have school built for them. There is a fan club,and there is a cult,and we have the latter with Ms. Winfrey.

How Come....?

No one calls Dick Morris on his attacks on Hillary Clinton? He committed a sexual indiscretion, and Clinton was instrumental in getting him canned. He has never forgotten this,and attacks her at every opportunity.
He also almost got his block knocked off by Star Jones for touching her on "The View". What a load of crap he dishes out.

Congress is obsessed with steroids,but won't pass a law cleaning our air and water?

George Bush isn't labeled a bigger whore for defending wiretapping lawsuit immunity because it would hurt shareholders. How about a huge "screw you" button?

More people don't label Tom Tancredo a racist for his anti-immigration rants?

Maureen Dowd takes it easy on the worst president of my lifetime but attacks a woman who is running as a Democrat for the POTUS?

More reporters don't try to provoke McCain and his volcanic temper?

Nancy Grace is not seen as a fool by millions?

Paula Abdul isn't seeing a shrink every hour?

How Come.....?

Tim Russert attacks Obama's religious background when he knows the man is a Christian,but says nothing about the religious bigot John Hagee or the racial bigotry of Bush's mother?

No other evangelical leader criticizes Hagee,but we attack Muslims for not going after their extremists?

My wife thinks Fox News will go liberal now that their ratings have tanked?

Bush doesn't know anything? The price of gas,the new Russian leader,the recession is happening,how to be polite,and that arrogance and incompetence don't mix?

People don't realize Rosie O' Donnell is lying when she says she is retired?

Bush embraces a leader who got 15% of the vote (Musharraf)?

Black journalist Michael Wilbon defends Michael Jordan for not campaigning against Jesse Helms?

Paula Abdul is not in a straitjacket?

People who lie about taking illegal drugs face jail time?

I don't feel my age?