I heard some Randi Rhodes yesterday.
She had Nader on as a guest and kept
shouting over him with stupid questions
('who will you caucus with if you are
president?'). He wasn't too good either,
but there wasn't much he could do. He
hung up.
Otherwise her rap was ultra-partisan-
Democrat, not too sharp on facts, and
effective in the same way that Limbaugh
etc are. I suppose somebody has to do it.
I can't say how effective it will be.
She's good as a radio talker, glib,
funny.
mbs
-----Original Message-----
From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Yoshie
Furuhashi
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 11:10 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: air america radio
Lou wrote:
>Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>>
>>Mr. Franken's guests included Bob Kerrey, the former Democratic
>>senator from Nebraska who is now a member of the Sept. 11 commission,
>>the documentary filmmaker Michael Moore and, as a caller from
>>Tennessee, former Vice President Al Gore. ("Hi, Al,"
>>Mr. Franken said. "Hi, Al," Mr Gore replied.)
>
>I listened to about 10 minutes of the new programming last night. It
>was awful. Not sure who the hosts were but they were interviewing some
>businessman who had placed an ad with other businessmen about the need
>to get Bush out of the White House. It was far more sanctimonious and
>boring than WBAI at its worst. Frankly, I never understood the
>compelling need for pro-Democratic Party talk radio.
>It is not as if it doesn't exist. You can listen to NPR all across the
>country and get all the liberal pap your heart desires.
The main selling point of Air America was that it would be the liberal
counterpart of angry talk radio on the right, firing up the Democratic Party
base of angry liberals. However, it turns out that rage is "no show" on Air
America, as the New York Times puts it.
In the meantime, the Anybody But Bush pundits on the margins of the Net have
turned into the Anybody But Nader pundits, getting more angry with Nader,
the Green Party, and left-wing supporters of both than Bush or the right
wing of the Democratic Party. Leftists among the Anybody But Nader pundits
are in essence shooting themselves in the foot.
Coming back to the subject of Air America, I'd like to take note of the fact
that it not only has failed to take off -- it has shot down black talk
radio:
***** Posted: 03.23.04 @ 1:40 p.m. Updated: 03.24.03 @ 1:55 p.m.
Air America Will Displace Black Talk On WLIB
By Karen Juanita Carrillo | SACOBSERVER.COM WIRE SERVICES
NEW YORK (NNPA) - New York's radio station WLIB-1190 AM has been loyally
"serving New York's Black community" - as its logo states - for decades now.
In the early '90s WLIB was lauded as a resource for "Afrocentric"
programming and became known for featuring Imhotep Gary Byrd's "Global Black
Experience" show.
By the end of March, New York's WLIB-1190 AM will taken over by "Air America
Radio," a predominantly White, liberal talk-radio network.
The station was in many ways a Black activist outlet.
But by the end of this month, WLIB will be taking on a different hue, as it
joins the launch of Progress Media's "Air America Radio," the new,
predominately White, liberal talk-radio network. Air America has reportedly
partnered with Inner City Broadcasting Corporation (ICBC), which owns WLIB.
"We are excited about the diverse and important voices Air America Radio is
bringing to the airwaves, both on our own WLIB signal and others," said ICBC
Chairman Pierre Sutton. "This strategic partnership allows both companies to
combine our resources and deliver relevant messages to a broad and diverse
audience."
Sutton added, "That's what you call 'high-class B.S.!'" one former WLIB
staffer said when told that Sutton said the station's changes were necessary
because African Americans had just stopped listening to WLIB. The former
staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, insisted that if WLIB's talk
shows were promoted the way conservative talk shows are - and the way Air
America's shows will be - the station would have made money.
Air America Radio plans on using what it terms a roundup of "progressive
activists" and "celebrities" as part of the activist left's efforts to
counter the national popularity of White, Right-wing conservative talk shows
and radio personalities. The network will begin broadcasting shows from
across the country on March 31 over WLIB and radio stations WNTD in Chicago
and Los Angeles' KBLA.
"I don't get it. I mean, I do not get it," local activist Elombe Brath said
about Air America Radio's takeover at WLIB. Reports are that WLIB's 40th
floor station has been remodeled for Air America, and that the 30th and 39th
floors are also being re-built to suit the needs of the new network.
Brath, who hosts and produces the show "Afrikaleidoscope" on WBAI-FM, and
who played a part in the Afrocentric reorganization of WLIB's programming
back in the early 1980s, complained that if listenership was down at WLIB,
the station should have restructured from within as it did in the 1980s.
"All of the talk should be organic, from within the Black community,"
Brath insisted. "How can they think about coming into New York with a
package program like this? We have people here already who know radio, who
can do shows. And they want to come in with a program from other people
trying to talk to Black people in New York City? (WLIB) is just a station
that has been stripped of what it's supposed to be!"
In its heyday, WLIB and shows like "Night Talk with Bob Law" on WWRL-AM,
Samori Marksman's "Worldview" on WBAI-FM, Bob Slade's "Open Line" on
WKRS-FM, and WWRL's "Drive Time Dialogue" formed part of its own advocacy
radio network. They highlighted Black community health concerns, cultural
awareness and political activities. Many have even claimed that WLIB's
efforts helped to get out the vote for David Dinkins as he ran to become New
York City's first Black mayor.
But now as WLIB joins with Air America Radio, plans are to keep only a few
of the station's leading Black radio personalities. Mark Riley will be a
co-host on "Uprising," Air America's 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. show, while Dahved
Levy, Ann Tripp and news director Wayne Gilman will also remain with the
station.
Air America Radio's featured on-air personality will be Al Franken, a
comedian who helped create NBC's "Saturday Night Live" and who recently
wrote the book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced
Look at the Right," a scathing anti-FOX News, anti-Bill O'Reilly book that
became a best-seller.
Alongside Franken, Air America Radio will feature comedienne Janeane
Garofalo; environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; author and activist
Laura Flanders; Lizz Winstead, a co-creator of "The Daily Show"; radio
personalities Mark Riley and Randi Rhodes; and political humorist Sam Seder.
Chuck D, lead rapper for the group Public Enemy, was initially announced as
part of the Air America Radio staff, but sources now say that the hip-hop
icon is backing away from that commitment.
"I don't know how Air America is going to broaden the reaches of 'LIB," said
one radio personality who chose to speak anonymously about the situation.
"How is this going to impact the Black community? As far as I've heard,
they've got a couple of Whites who just really want to go after Sean
Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and all the others. You can't convince me that that's
going to be something good for Black and Hispanic people."
Brath agreed with that analysis: "You've got people here in New York who
believe in Black culture, so I don't see why they're ... they're like
outsourcing in a sense. In reality what the station needs is to have some
people who know the community and can speak to its needs."
This story comes special to the NNPA from the Amsterdam News.
<http://www.sacobserver.com/news/032304/wlib_air_america_radio.shtml>
*****
--
Yoshie
* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/>
* Calendars of Events in Columbus:
<http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>,
<http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/>
* Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>
* Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio>
* Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>
