It is kind of fitting that a group as bankrupt of ideas as Al Franken's Air America has to file for bankruptcy. Seriously, anyone surprised by this? Who listens? Who wants to sit in their car and listen to Al Franken’s nonsense or listen to Jerry Springer pontificate? I'm suprised they've lasted so long. Good luck to Clear Channel, but in the end Air America will be just another sad, near forgoten memory.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Mig, nice to see you around and active in the world! How's life treating you?
---
Edited to add: I've enjoyed listening to Al Franken while driving through the day, although his humor is not really what I'm into (more the reporting for me). Jerry Springer was surprisingly sane-sounding, although the history with him was such that I just never wanted to listen. I did have a lot of appreciation for Stephanie Miller and Randi Rhodes (sp?), though. Very smart women.
When Robert Kennedy would speak on "Ring of Fire," I kept thinking he was ready to hack up a lung. Also was too radical in persona and rhetoric for me.
I'm surprised to hear that Air America is filling for bankruptcy, but I haven't read the link yet. I'll read up on it later for my own curiosity.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
Better a financially bankrupt radio station than a morally bankrupt party Mig.
Incidentally, as soon as I saw this thread, before looking at the thread started I thought to myself "Hm, either Mig or DarkKnight." Not becuase you two are the only radcons on the board, but because you're the most vocally anti-liberal with seemingly little to support your position.
Have YOU ever listened extensively to Air America Mig?
Posted by Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy (Member # 9384) on :
Of course Air America went bankrupt. Conservatives cornered the market on ranting lunatics on the radio decades ago.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
quote: Better a financially bankrupt radio station than a morally bankrupt party Mig.
You mean there's a political party out there that is NOT morally bankrupt?
Where?
Posted by Mig (Member # 9284) on :
quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese: Mig, nice to see you around and active in the world! How's life treating you?
ClaudiaTherese, I'm happy and hope you are too.
Lyrhawn, admittedly I've never listened to it. It only airs on two South Florida markets (West Palm and the Keys) but nowhere near me. But some of the more outrageous statements made by some of the hosts have gotten a fair amount of attention and tell me all I need to know about what constitutes reasoned opinions on that network. Especially Rhodes, who I gather is the most wacko host. Refresh my memory, didn't she once accuse Buch of liking to see people drown and liken him to Fredo from the Godfather as a guy who should be "taken out."
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Scott -
Libertarians?
Mig -
Are you seriously going to try to play the "Liberals are the craziest on air personalities, and that's why they are off the air" card? From a guy whose party worships RUSH LIMBAUGH!? You have no shame.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: Libertarians?
Posted by DarkKnight (Member # 7536) on :
I do think it would be an interesting study to see where right and left people get most of their information. In my uninformed opinion on this topic, it seems that talk radio is either 'shock jocks' or right wing political shows. Left wing radio shows just don't seem to catch on. I suspect the left does better on the web than the right does, but that is purely a guess. I don't make anything out of Air America not doing well on the radio. As far as I know, radio has not traditionally been a place the left has done well for whatever reason.
Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
^ What DK said.
--j_k
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
I listen to Air America most days for at least awhile. I listen to Al Franken sometimes, but I like his writing better than I like his show, and I'm also usually working when he's on. I do like both Stephanie Miller and Randi Rhodes...and, Mig, I find her a lot more reasonable than most of the conservative pundits I've listend to. And I have listened to the conservatives, because before Air America started broadcasting here, that and the preachers were about all the talk that was on the radio around here.
I certainly hope Air America stays on the air. Especially since they gave Steve Earle a show.
But, yeah, ClaudiaTherese, I agree with you about Kennedy. He always sounds like he's strangling on something. Quite irritating, so I rarely listen to that show.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
I have deliberately arranged my life so that it is unnecessary for me to listen to talk radio of any kind.
Posted by General Sax (Member # 9694) on :
I am generally not politically minded , but the party of Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy can hardly be considered to hold the moral high ground. It seemed to me that John Kerry in the last election was so desperate to be president that he was willing to say anything at all, I seem to remember a promise to have the paralyzed walk and those with Parkinson's healed. It seems to me that Republicans are held to a higher moral standard by their core constituents. I hope wading in in such a conversation is acceptable.
Posted by Tarrsk (Member # 332) on :
quote:Originally posted by General Sax: It seemed to me that John Kerry in the last election was so desperate to be president that he was willing to say anything at all, I seem to remember a promise to have the paralyzed walk and those with Parkinson's healed.
I don't have any quotes handy (although neither, I notice, do you), but I would wager that this was from a statement on stem cell research, and was almost certainly not a "promise" to do these things, but rather the suggestion that these things could be made possible by allowing embyronic stem cell research. I haven't read anything about regenerating the neural connections severed in paraplegics, but certainly embyronic stem cells have allowed remission of the Parkinson's analogue in mice, making it highly probable that a cure could be made.
quote:It seems to me that Republicans are held to a higher moral standard by their core constituents.
Ummm... this is the Republican Party we're talking about, right? The ones who lied about their reasons for attacking Iraq, turned a national tragedy to an opportunity for political advantage, made fearmongering the norm, and are currently embroiled in a major lobbyist fraud scandal? I'll be the first to grant that the Democrats aren't angels by any means, but the Republicans have taken what little moral ground they ever had to stand on and stamped it into a sodden pit.
Posted by luthe (Member # 1601) on :
I am not at all surprised to see Air America file for bankruptcy. Their attempt to create something equivalent to the conservative talk radio universe, out of whole cloth, all at once was bound to fail. It has take the republicans decades to get were they are (in talk radio).
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
Boy, it seems like Mig is creating some sort of tone-control.
Lyrhawn, is the GOP truly 'morally bankrupt' as you seem to be implying?
General Sax, a higher moral standard such as that of Newt Gingrich the adulterer or Rush Limbaugh the drug addict? Such as the (primarily Republican) politicians involved in all the Jack Abramoff scandals? This higher moral standard seems to be pretty darned thin to me.
Tarrsk, the lies proven where? Democrats don't also use 9-11 as a political tool? Fearmongering wasn't already the norm? Democrats aren't also-admittedly to a smaller extent-involved in that scandal?
Hooray for partisanship!
Posted by Palliard (Member # 8109) on :
I tried listening to Air America, but I just didn't find it entertaining. The hosts they had just weren't that engaging, and they didn't really do anything to expand the format. That's bound to doom any talk radio program.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
The left isn't bankrupt. It has plenty of great new ideas not seen in this country in years.
1) Anti-war/Pro-war, at least we are not bad-at-war.
2) Cronyism is more anti-business, anti-market than regulation ever could be.
3) When liberals forget fiscal responsibility they give money to the poor. When self-proclaimed conservatives forget fiscal responsibility they give money to the rich. Speaking as one of the poor, you know whom I favor.
4) Loyalty is a great quality to search for in ones minions. Competence is a better one.
etc. etc.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: I have deliberately arranged my life so that it is unnecessary for me to listen to talk radio of any kind.
I miss being able to catch Talk of the Nation (especially on Fridays) and Fresh Air on a regular basis.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
TotN and Fresh Air aren't so much talk radio as they are news shows.
Because, despite NPR's biases, they ARE well done, and have the veneer of civility.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
See, Mig? The only thing partisan rudeness encourage more partisan rudeness in response.
Try discussing issues, instead of simply stating conclusory opinions based on hyperbole and overgeneralization.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:Originally posted by Scott R: TotN and Fresh Air aren't so much talk radio as they are news shows.
Because, despite NPR's biases, they ARE well done, and have the veneer of civility.
What constitutes "talk radio", exactly? Maybe I've been misunderstanding the term.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
people should vote for the Communist Party of the USA.
Posted by BaoQingTian (Member # 8775) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: I have deliberately arranged my life so that it is unnecessary for me to listen to talk radio of any kind.
C'mon Tom, all talk radio isn't that bad. Driving through the Nevada desert (not that there's anything else to Nevada I guess) late at night, not much beats listening to Coast to Coast AM. If it weren't for the people calling in saying they are Marilyn Monroe's reincarnation and currently floating around their bedroom as they tell their latest UFO story, I don't know how I'd make that 700 mile drive to my parent's house.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
I like to listen to discussion on the air more than music, mainly due to my difficulties with "getting" the latter. Public radio is my first choice, but some countryspace didn't have it readily available while driving around, and sometimes it would be music programming (classical, Celtic, what have you). Air America was always my second choice if PR wasn't what I needed.
---
Edited to add: I tried books on tape, but I found myself getting dangerously involved with plotline while driving. One of Card's books had me banging my forehead on the steering wheel in frustration (another "terrible choice"), and I realized the error of my ways.
Posted by TheGrimace (Member # 9178) on :
The black helicopters are coming to get me!
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Dan -
Well said, succinctly put.
Rakeesh -
Not entirely, no. Their moderates hold the keys to whatever is left of moral high ground in that party. Lincoln Chafee and John McCain moderates.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
Really? So, the far-right Republican party is morally bankrupt then?
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
If not bankrupt, their account is running on fumes.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
Then I guess we must have a difference in accounting methods, Lyrhawn. 'Morally bankrupt' is not a term I throw around without the overwhelming presence of actual malice and selfishness, something I think both mainstream parties-even their farther leaning segments-lack in general.
What issues embodied by the more conservative members of the Republican party do you think make them morally bankrupt-or close to it, although it seems pretty clear to me you do think they are actually morally bankrupt.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
If you want to think that the Republican party (distinction important) is 'morally bankrupt,' the best place to start is to poke fun at their complete ideological about-face that started with their 1994 'Contract with America' ascent.
Once upon a time, a fella would tell you that the Republicans were JUST what we needed to shrink government bloat and defend our liberties and privacies from the overweening arm of the Momma State. The Democrats, see, were paying lip-service to ideological issues but were really just using tricksy scummy legislative powerhousing, and shoveling opportunity at monied interests with lobby connections; the common man (and his interests) got drowned out in the rush to service anyone who could buy the congressman's time.
And, by god, if we shove out the Democrats in 1994, we are dead positive that an empowered Republican party would NEVER reach (or exceed) the same level of indolent, bullying, pork-fed excess that the Democrats achieved! And they certainly wouldn't become more gratuitously scandal-ridden than the Democrats in half the time that it took Democratic leadership to go to seed, would they?
Whoops =(
It appears the corruptions of power are bipartisan. The President, meanwhile, believes the solution must be to undo some of the checks and balances constraining his office, in the name of security matters.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Also, I have a rant prepared about political talk-radio:
quote:Talk Radio: Where windbags with volume control dials attempt 'informativity by attrition,' bleating things until they become true, and the most popular pundit-jockeys are wrong so consistently that people have literally stopped bothering to even list their mistruths. It's a world for people who like to vigorously agree with a comfortably affirming perspective that they want to believe is the "real story," and political talk radio is willing to service the fact that they're gosh-durned fools who all but openly announce that they want to be lied to.
I absolutely love watching people get their daily enabling fix for cognitive dissonance -- it's an outright morbid fascination of mine -- and I'm amused that anyone could fail to understand by now that partisan talk radio and rabidly political blogs are among the most efficient means towards being greatly misinformed and untenably biased.
TL;DR ["short"] edition:
Trusting political talk radio to inform you is an incredibly efficient way to be full of s___.
It's just such a shame that -- with Air America gone -- this is a uniquely Conservative phenomenon again! Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I'm willing to let Hatrack buy them out (Air America) and we could take over.
I could see it now:
The Dag Legal Review--bashing callers on what's legal and what isn't. It could even be a game show.
Then there is the Bob & DK Comedy hour.
The Hatrack Cooking Show.
Blayne's China Pattern
We could bring back talk to talk-radio. Not screaming, or lieing, or accusing. Just talk.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)