Not to mention...
Posted on 04/25/2005 9:31:37 AM PDT by smoothsailing
Dead Air (America)
by Pat Sajak
Posted Apr 25, 2005
Air America, the much-ballyhooed Liberal radio alternative to Rush and Sean and all the other Righties who are successfully dominating our airwaves, doesn't appear to be gaining much traction. It's on the air in only about 50 markets and, even in the "blue" states, its ratings are generally paltry despite reams of free publicity and plenty of financial backers who want this enterprise to succeed. Meantime, Bill Bennett, former Drug Czar and Education Secretary, can be heard in over 100 markets, with a show that launched about the same time as Air America with virtually no mainstream press notice.
How do these things happen? Isn't AA's Al Franken at least as funny as Bill Bennett? (Although, to tell you the truth, when Al was part of the team of Franken & Davis on Saturday Night Live, I wondered how a comedy duo could survive with two straight men.) Don't Liberals listen to the radio? Why isn't anybody out there?
As someone who has been involved in a TV project or two which went largely unnoticed, I think I can answer the question. Conservative radio succeeds, in great measure, because a major segment of the population perceives a need for it. There is no need for mass media with a Liberal slant, because it is already all around us. When I did a late-night talk show on CBS more than 15 years ago, we modeled it after Johnny Carson's show on the supposition that he was about to retire. He didn't, and people went right on watching him. Heck, I watched him. Putting aside any talent deficiencies I might have had, there was no need for Pat Sajak when Johnny Carson was there.
If history had been different and the media centers of the country had been located in Nebraska and Georgia instead of New York and California, they would likely have taken on a more Conservative look over the years.
Liberals would have been screaming about the lack of balance when it came to coverage of news, politics and social issues. In that atmosphere, a dozen Air America-type programs would have sprung up by now, and Conservatives would be bemoaning their success and looking for alternatives. If Rush Limbaugh went on the air in that "alternate universe," he might very well have failed. Who would have needed him? Conservative thought would have already controlled most of what we were watching, reading and hearing.
In short, what Air America is selling is available in too many other places. It's the same dynamic that made a success of Fox News Channel and a failure of Phil Donahue's attempted comeback on cable TV a few years ago. What will eventually kill Air America is its redundancy.
Copyright © 2004 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.
Sajak's point is quite obvious and yet it is necessary that America hears it from an expert I guess.
Not to mention...
Great analogy Pat! It's just a matter of time before white noise is heard where Dead Air America is now brodcasting. Thats the good news. The bad news is that the nasty ass Randi Rhodes will be back on the air down here in south Florida spewing here hate in that obnoxious gravely smokers voice.
I'd like to buy a vowel.
Sure... but it gives me such a warm fuzzy feeling to hear it. :)
Well, that and it's a lousy show...
Go Pat, go.
not to mention the fact that there is already a left-leaning radio station out there: NPR.
Transcript of any given Randi Rhodes show:
"Give me a break! Can you believe he said that? What a moron! Give me a break!"
Loop and repeat for three (3) hours.
For a printed copy of the transcript, send $30 to...
What ever happened to Davis of "Franken & Davis"? I remember him as the tall, skinny nebischy guy....
The all time low on network TV was a Franken bit on the old SNL. In the skit Franken stops his act and announces that his stage partner and he are really secret gay lovers. Then a child runs out of the audience and screams at Franken, "I hate you, daddy!" Then, from behind a curtain where Franken's partner went, we hear a gun shot and see a muzzle flash. Franken then bewails the hatred of Conservatives who would make his "partner" kill himself. After a stunned moment, Franken smiles and says, "It's all a joke, Folks!"
This hideous piece if TV dirt remains with me today as the lowest thing I've seen on TV. Oh. The NY audience loved it.
I guess they really weren't lying when they said that the Franken & Davis Show was brought to you by the International Communist Party.
What will eventually kill Air America is its redundancy.
=======
I don't agree. What is killing AA is WHAT IT IS, not redundancy. Liberal talk radio has failed so many times, you would think the writer would have noted that. Radio succeeds when its advertisers make money from the audience. That is why they have never been able to attract and hold mainstream advertisers. Most marketing people are smart enough to know their markets and they know the sector of our society that needs to be fed liberal anti-truths. They are not interested in that sector.
So that is a death sentence for liberal radio and always has been. Put very simply, who wants to listen to liberal crap? Certainly not the informed and intellectual.
I just love seeing George Soros and his ilk, thowing away their money on the libs :-)
I remember that one well. Weren't they dressed as sumo wrestlers?
I should have put a ban on Franken graphics in my post.BLECH!! :)
Pat Sajak nailed it ~ Bump!
Would YOU buy a used car from that man, much less waste your time listening to him on the radio?!
Wonder how Al Gore TV is coming along?
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