Posted on 02/06/2005 3:25:52 PM PST by Mark
Sunday, February 06, 2005 - Those of you who follow such things and are old enough to remember, back in ought-four, Liberal Talk Radio in the guise of Air America was a bedrock of the Los Angeles airwave wars. We were all younger then. A time of great progressive hope, before there was even a President George W. Bush with a popular vote margin; before we even heard of "Spider-man 2." It was much different. Tom Daschle was a senator. Vioxx was a wonder drug. Adrian Beltre was a Dodger and the Boston Red Sox were cursed.
It was a glorious almost two weeks.
In early April of 2004, Air America got into a financial flap with the owner of its local station. We may never know for sure what happened, but either Al Franken was SAP'd or KBLA went back to Spanish programming.
Those who wanted some kind of balance to the gospel of Sean Hannity, Limbaugh and a few thousand other conservative talkers went back to the excitement and glamour of those wacky fun guys at NPR.
But things have changed since that inauspicious stuttering start, and now liberal talk with Air America personalities syndicated with some other progressive talkers, are ready to give it another go. Recently, progressive talk radio re-began broadcasting in Los Angeles on 1150 AM, KTLK, K-Talk Radio.
Politically speaking, obviously Los Angeles is solidly in the Democratic corner. So why lib talk here? How much more does the Democratic Party have to win the state for a losing presidential campaign?
"Why wouldn't we go where our audience already is?" said Shelley Lewis, Air America's Network Vice President of Programming in New York. "We don't address specific markets, but Los Angeles people like Maxine Waters have been on quite a lot."
And that's definitely something Larry Elder can't say.
Los Angeles radio used to be a place to hear the public's views on all issues. Now, excluding few exceptions, it's nothing if not a home for ideologues. Far more Republican than... OK, all Republican.
Even with national politics and its inherent outrage, in Los Angeles, the popularity of talkers like KFI's John and Ken is built on the back of local issues: mayoral campaigns, immigration and bull-horning torments in the direction of the most recent celebrity murder defendant. But with syndication monsters like Clear Channel eating up the local outlets, the national conservative Lords of Loud (read: Fox News fixtures) have filled most of the prime time slots.
New guy on the morning rush-hour block, KABC's Doug McIntyre, whose bumper music alone is a reason to tune in, recently made the move from graveyard shift to the morning-drive slot replacing local legend, Ken Minyard, who replaced local legend, Michael Jackson, both of whom took Los Angeles concerns to heart and to the people.
McIntyre, who is admittedly more right than left, rarely bangs the "we are good, they are evil" drum, thinks it's more than issues.
"I'm not a fan of ideologue radio," concedes McIntyre. "It's too predictable because you already know what the view of the host will be. It comes down to telling a good story. If Franken can tell his story well, he'll be fine."
Michael Harrison, the editor of the TV/radio talk biz bible, Talkers Magazine, himself a former L.A. talker back in the 20th century with KMET, says that liberal talk can work out here.
"Los Angeles has always been a melting pot of philosophies and has a long history of loving talk," says Harrison, "and Franken and Garofalo do a good job. Stephanie Miller knows Los Angeles from working there before."
The timing seems perfect.
"Talk radio becomes an outlet for the alienated and disenfranchised," says Harrison. "In the early '90s, it was the conservative audience. Today, it's the Democrats."
I spoke to Franken, while he battled New York's evening rush hour traffic on his way to the airport to fly to Los Angeles to talk up K-Talk. Our interview was cut short when Al was informed by his driver that he would miss his plane. No word if the driver's name was O'Reilly, but rush hour could not have been more ironically named. It was just more evidence that liberal talk always seems to be fighting an uphill battle.
Franken, who recently re-upped with the network for at least two more years, maintains that Air America has been doing quite well, quadrupling the ratings at its Eugene, Ore., station and improving market share in San Diego.
"Air America does very well in the 18-35 demo," said Franken, "which is unprecedented in talk radio. And in the one hour O'Reilly and I go head to head in the New York market, I do twice the audience in the 25-54 demographic, although, in the 97-103 demographic he kicks my ass royally."
But will liberal talk find an audience in L.A.? Will it address anything local? Can't say for sure, but it would sure would be nice if Janeane Garofalo can help get the word out on fixing this damn pothole on Valley Circle.
Steve Young is the author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful" and political editor for National Lampoon. Contact him through his Web site, asksteveyoung.com.
And that's definitely something Larry Elder can't say.
That is funny.
This was just too damn funny.
Or Congressman John Lewis....
If I lived there..I might tune in to those two.
Might be entertaining....one never knows.
FRegards,
mad max is well known in los angeles and cuba.
Yes, Larry Elder's letter to Maxine was a good one.
john and ken think of themselves as liberals, but they sound like...well, i don't want to get myself in trouble.
"loving talk" and Stephanie Miller in the same breath?
"A time of great progressive hope",..
read "useful idiot" hope/AKA socialist hope
That says it all.
funny stuff..
"Los Angeles radio used to be a place to hear the public's views on all issues. Now, excluding few exceptions, it's nothing if not a home for ideologues. Far more Republican than... OK, all Republican."
Los Angeles is so lucky to be saved from the curse of sanity. So, back to the trenches.
Anybody know what station this lib stuff is on in San Diego?
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