Posted on 04/02/2004 5:12:43 AM PST by truthandlife
It probably doesn't bode well for a purportedly enjoyable radio show when its most entertaining segment is one featuring Al Gore. But that was the case on the maiden voyage of "The O'Franken Factor," the much ballyhooed liberal talk radio show, hosted by Al Franken, which, along with the much ballyhooed liberal talk radio network Air America, debuted on Wednesday. About two-and-a-half hours into the three-hour show Franken was talking with his in-studio guest Michael Moore when the former vice president called in to congratulate Franken on his new radio career. Franken, seizing the opportunity of having Moore and Gore on the show at the same time, quickly turned the conversation to the filmmaker's support of Ralph Nader in 2000. "Is there something you'd like to say to the vice president?" Franken asked Moore, clearly inviting him to apologize to Gore. But Moore declined, first telling Gore how sorry he was, not about backing Nader, but about the Supreme Court's decision--and then launching into a long, convoluted tale about how Nader had promised not to campaign in swing states and once Nader broke that promise Moore himself went to Florida and urged Floridians to vote for Gore even though Moore told them he still planned to vote for Nader in New York. When Franken pointed out that this wasn't much of an apology, Moore asked Gore, "How do you feel about what I'm saying?" Gore replied with exasperation, "What are you saying?"
And that was probably the highlight of the show. The other two hours and fifty-five minutes consisted of a lot of unenlightening back and forth about current events between Franken and his sidekick, Minnesota Public Radio veteran Katherine Lanpher; a long and desultory interview with 9/11 Commission member Bob Kerrey; and an initially funny but, after continuous flogging over the course of three hours, eventually tiresome skit about locking Ann Coulter in the radio network's green room. Throw in a mix of phone calls, some jabs at Bill O'Reilly, and a taped interview with an elderly Minnesota couple who are the parents of Franken's best friend and you have "The O'Franken Factor."
If this doesn't sound like great radio, that's because it isn't. Part of the problem with Franken's show is simply that he's sorely lacking in radio experience. Although Air America's founders proclaim their admiration for Rush Limbaugh's broadcasting skills, if not his politics, in Franken they have turned their signature show over to a broadcasting novice. (Limbaugh had been on the radio for close to two decades before he went national with his political talk show.) And, while Air America has clearly tried to offset Franken's inexperience with the radio veteran Lanpher, at times her mastery of the medium merely serves to highlight Franken's own unfamiliarity with it--like when she told him to "zip it." But this, of course, is a fixable problem. Franken will presumably get more comfortable the longer he's on the air. And, while there are some things about him that will never be entirely suitable for the medium--like his not-exactly-baritone voice--radio isn't brain science, and I'd imagine that after one month he will sound a whole lot more polished than on his first day.
But there are two other problems with "The O'Franken Factor," ones that may not be as easily surmountable as Franken's radio inexperience, and those are his personality and his politics. While Franken has had moments of extreme behavior--like when he tackled a heckler at a Howard Dean rally in New Hampshire or when he lit into Bill O'Reilly at the BookExpo America convention--he is not, generally speaking, a shouter. And as Russell Shorto noted in his very smart profile of Franken in The New York Times Magazine a few weeks ago, Franken is actually pretty moderate. Although he's obviously a very partisan Democrat, he's not, as Shorto writes, "an extreme lefty but rather a devout party man, one who says, for example, that the Democratic Leadership Council is a moral force for good."
Both of these traits, admirable in many respects, could pose a problem for Franken in the rough and tumble world of talk radio. First, in terms of his personality, Franken may simply be too mild. While his prose tends to be fiery, his verbal style is not. Even when he's ticking off all the reasons he thinks Bush is a dishonest, horrible president, he tends to do so in a discursive, analytical style--one that doesn't exactly grab hold of listeners and make them want to listen to more of his observations. Contrast that with Limbaugh, who sounds (and acts) like the voice of God on his program, and you can see how Franken's personal style might not be that effective.
Then there are Franken's politics. Just like talk radio favors extreme personalities, it also favors extreme politics. And while Franken is certainly angry at the Republican Party, his anger is a pretty measured, responsible anger--which prevents him from going as far as many of his listeners would obviously like him to. Consider yesterday's show, for instance, when a caller gave voice to a couple of conspiracy theories that hold that the Bush administration had advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks. Bob Kerrey, who was on the show at that point, convincingly batted down the conspiracy theories, and that seemed that. But Franken circled back to the caller's theories to reiterate that he thought they were bunk. Later, when Michael Moore had worked up a good head of steam arguing that the Bush administration allowed Saudi nationals, including members of the bin Laden family, to leave the United States after 9/11 because of the Bush family's longstanding business relationship with the bin Ladens, Franken's co-host, Lanpher, interrupted with a sensible question: Wasn't there reason to think the Saudis would be safer out of the United States? When a caller was put through not long after that, he said he'd wanted to talk about the Saudis but that the show's screener had told him that they were done with the Saudi topic. Most talk radio shows actively promote conspiracy theories; Franken's seeks to quash them.
That's both admirable and politically responsible--but it's also why, despite all the buzz, "The O'Franken Factor" may not be the show that makes the radio airwaves safe for liberals. Does that mean I think Air America is doomed to fail? No. As I recently argued in TNR, I think there's enough anger and alienation out there among liberals to make liberal talk radio quite viable. I just don't know if Franken is the man cut out for that particular job.
*chortle*
All of the "ballyhoo" has come from the liberals themselves and their media cohorts. Of course, it does no good. If you are going to go into the business of selling sh*t burgers, you can ballyhoo all you want, but the sh*t burgers still aren't going to sell.
Enlightening exchange.....
This shows that liberals can't understand each others' versions of doublespeak.
I previously assumed they could hold a meaningful conversation, because they all spoke the same dialect of "doublespeak."
They are in worse shape than I thought.
But will listeners get more comfortable with the sound of Franken's spittle hitting his microphone?
Wishful thinking at its best. Frankin has been doing this for 30 years, now he is going to become more polished in one month???? LOL, yeah that's the ticket.
Isn't this the same Franken who has physically assulted people he disagrees with. 'Measured' response, yeah right.
I am personally finding this liberal network very entertaining. The elitism they show is hilarious. Yesterday I heard a discussion about how the average person is dumb and doesn't know what is best for them, and they were trying to decide how to they could explain it to the little people.
I really don't care if it succeeds or not. I believe if it does, it will just highlight how silly real liberals truly are.
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