Can Al Franken save talk radio

Jewsweek ^ | 2-26-03 | Benyamin Cohen

[SJackson]

Can Al Franken save talk radio?

Jewish philanthropists have tapped Al Franken to be the liberal answer to Rush Limbaugh. Can he rise to the occasion?

by Benyamin Cohen

February 25, 2003

		CAN FRAKEN MAKE SENSE: Jewish philanthropists have tapped the Jewish comedian to lead a new liberal talk radio network.

Al Franken is good enough, smart enough, and, doggone it, people like him. Especially Anita and Sheldon Drobny. The Jewish philanthropists from Chicago have given money to all sorts of causes -- abused children, Bill Clinton's campaign, and Jewish studies programs including the R'fa-aye-nu Society's efforts to preserve Judaica hidden during the Holocaust.

And now they're forking over $10 million to start a liberal talk radio network which would star liberal Jewish comedian and political activist Al Franken. It hopes to enlist other well-known entertainers with a liberal point of view for a 14-hour, daily slate of commercial programs that would heavily rely on comedy and political satire.

		Shifting Right?

"... Think of it as NPR on steroids. While conservatives tend to be men with Manilow in their turntable, the new network will hope to plug into the liberal leaning college co-ed crowd ..."

What Franken and company will have that other liberal endeavors don't is an actual network, and that means an organizational structure. It's that kind of structure that is absolutely necessary for liberal voices to find a lasting place in the broadcast pantheon, along with a core audience and a healthy share of cross-over marketing.

That is, after all, the model used by conservatives when they slowly built up the Fox News network and monopolized talk radio. Nobody woke up to find CNN in decline and conservative figures like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly dominating the ratings. Instead, conservatives who were incensed over a perceived liberal bias in the media did what they do best: build a grassroots network that slowly funded a conservative alternative.

If history is any indication, the Drobnys will fail miserably in their mission. Attempts at liberal talk -- both on television and radio -- have been abysmal failures. Just this week, MSNBC canceled the liberal leaning program by talk show veteran Phil Donahue after six months of poor ratings.

The political talk show format has yet to prove -- and may never -- that it can support a liberal voice, says Andrew Tyndall, head of ADT Research, a television news consulting firm. Donahue's chances weren't helped by MSNBC's impatience, he says. "They're very quick to cancel shows," Tyndall says. "Right from the start, they haven't settled on a format and let it grow so people can find it. If it's not working in a few months, they cancel it and move on to something else."

Thus far, liberal forays have been limited to single programs, like Donahue's just cancelled show. With a full-funded network, all Franken will need is a growing number of liberals to listen to him and then help him get on the air in more places. Assuming the network lasts, and the grassroots organization can build a critical momentum (especially among the left-leaning Jewish community), there's nothing to stop this new initiative from succeeding. Whether those things line up is a big question mark.

What isn't a question mark is Franken himself, and that's where he becomes the lynch pin of the idea. Franken is a well-established politico with a solid track record both in comedy and commentary. He's stumped for Al Gore, popped up on just about every talk show you can think of, and is slated to be a regular guest on Bill Maher's new HBO series. Add in his books and other achievements and you've got a serious case of street cred in the media world and political universe. He's also got a distinctive and recognizable style with a following to match. That he can bring aboard those fans and use word-of-mouth to grab more is in little doubt.

And that is exactly what the new network is counting on.

"We believe this is a tremendous business opportunity," says Atlanta radio executive Jon Sinton. Sinton, who would be the new network's chief executive, adds, "There are so many right-wing talk shows, we think it's created a hole in the market you could drive a truck through. We want to take an issue and make it funny and engaging. Our intent is to engage and entertain as a way to enlighten, engage in skit comedy, parody, political satire."

Think of it as NPR on steroids. While conservatives tend to be men with Manilow on their turntable, the new network will hope to plug into the liberal leaning college co-ed crowd. Already in unison protesting a potential war with Iraq, Franken will provide these legions with a voice. Plus, the expected Hollywood backing will add glitz to the glory.

However, more than just the man and the message, the medium itself may present a problem. It's a fact: College kids do not listen to talk radio. Old white men do.

That doesn't seem to stop the Drobnys from channeling their fund to this project. "I feel like there's a monologue out there," Ms. Drobny says. "I just had this tremendous feeling with great passion that we had to make sure we're heard and make sure having a dialogue in this country of ours."

Communications specialist Kathleen Hall Jamieson, who was involved in a study of talk radio in the mid-1990s, said the conservative radio audience is easier to attract and mobilize because right-wingers usually view liberals as way off the political spectrum.

And it also doesn't hurt that there are more people in polls who identify themselves as conservative than as liberal. "The search for the liberal equivalent of Rush Limbaugh may be misunderstanding how Limbaugh starts from a natural advantage," said Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. "His audience is already polarized. The liberals don't need a host, they need a different audience."

Franken unplugged
Regardless of whether or not a liberal talk radio network will succeed, the question remains: Is Franken the man for the job? For those in the know, the resounding answer is yes.

Al Franken is more than just the sum of his parts. More than merely a former Saturday Night Live star with some mediocre films to his credit, Franken hails from the top tier of comedian intelligentsia, the kind who parlay the obvious into the obscenely amusing.

Take this recent remark he made on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. When asked what he thought the big story of 2003 would be, he wryly replied, "I think the big story, I'm gonna go out on a limb on this, might be the war in Iraq. I think that might be a very, very big story to watch for the next year."

For his part, Franken, who caused an uproar with his best-selling book Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, feels that it's time for a liberal alternative. "My audience is going to come," he says. "It would be a different kind of show. But I would definitely try to answer the Rushes and the Hannitys. But I refuse to do it by cheating and distorting."

Franken will also be in a good place to debunk one of the more pervasive of media myths: that it's all a bunch of liberals. While it's true that many reporters in the field lean to the left, it's become more than obvious over the past couple of years that the media has gone screeching to the right.

The rise of Fox News and the resurgence of media figures like Pat Buchanan and Alan Keyes on MSNBC, along with CNN's scramble to win over the conservative viewers have left many in the liberal establishment scratching their heads. But Franken is a die-hard liberal, and with a microphone in front of him, he could lead a new insurgency to help balance out what the audience hears.

After all, where better to counter the conservative media push of recent years than in their own backyard of talk radio, where Republicans and Libertarians have held a virtual monopoly.

So, can Franken single-handedly be the one-man savior of talk radio, sweeping in on a liberal vine and swiping away the mike from the conservatives? Well, delusions of grandeur have never been far from his mind. In his 2000 book, Why Not Me? The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency, the comedian explores what a presidential run by him would look like.

In the book, he dreamed of picking the Modern Orthodox Joe Lieberman months before Gore had the idea. "Part of the premise of the book is that I have an entirely Jewish cabinet, so if you're going to pick a Jew to be your running mate, Lieberman was sort of the only choice. I guess [California senator] Dianne Feinstein, but I picked Lieberman to balance the ticket, because I'm a Reform Jew."

Irreverent? Yes. Marketable? Well, time will tell.

Jewsweek's Bradford R. Pilcher contributed to this article.

[McCloud-Strife]

wasn't aware talk radion needed saving. Will there ever be a story asking if Fox news can save television?

[Iowa_Clone]

Somehow I can't imagine there will be substantive, reasoned analysis on this show.

Who want to listen to "I'm the smart one here" type of mocking, the same old tired cliches, ridiculous assertions instead of arguments, a lack of interest in what the other side is actually saying?

Only the already convinced who have given up thinking for themselves.

[teeman8r]

good money after bad, i say three months, donahue lasted 6, others won't get the respect phil could muster... i applaud the redistribution of stupid liberal money but fear that the government will allow them to write it off as a bad business decision and the taxpayers will foot the bill for this fiasco...

jmt teeman

[babaloo]

A couple of days ago I flipped over to the Food Channel and this jerk was a special guest in the audience and was interviewed ad nauseum. Just when you think it might be safe to channel surf....

[The Wizard]

assinine article, talk radio don't need no stinking saving

[ken5050]

Even if we hypothetically agree with all the pro-Franken points in the article, ( which I don't) thew problem is that Franken's bit is a schtick</> and while it may be funny once in a while...it won't hold up day-in day-out....It'll get old very fast..OTOH..I think Streisand as the hostess of a PM drive time show would be a hoot...

[driftless]

ha ha Tom Leykis. His awful show used to be on one of my local stations. One time he devoted his whole show to the length and styling of women's fingernails. And listening to his show was like listening to fingernails on a blackboard.

Essentially liberals will have to resort to ad hominem attacks on conservatives because their basic leftist message in truth is extremely unpopular with your rank and file Dem. Which is why so many Dems tune in to Rush. They're afraid to admit that they agree with most of what he says.

[DoctorMichael]

I never have gotten the liberal Jewish thing.

There have been a number of articles posted in various places (FR & elsewhere) trying to explain this phenomenon. In fact, read David Horowitz's biography, RADICAL SON, for some insight into the secular-liberal Jewish ethos.

BTW I am a gentile.

Me too. However, I grew up in a Taxachusetts town that was 50% Jewish and so most of my friends were secular Jews. One of my oldest Jewish friends, whom I am still in contact with, shys away from ANY political conversation with me since I have proclaimed my political beliefs to him. He is EXTREMELY liberal.

I'm continuing to 'work' on him, LOL.

[js1138]

While conservatives tend to be men with Manilow on their turntable...

No one's gonna touch Rush's bumber music. He has the golden ear, even if it's currently transistorized.

[driftless]

How did you get them all on your turntable? Sinatra and Baker are dead (how did you dig them up?), so you must have some big turntable. Ha, ha.

[MarkL]

I never have gotten the liberal Jewish thing. If there ever were a people who have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, and accomplished more by sheer hard work, I don’t know who it would be. BTW I am a gentile.

I'm Jewish, and I can't figure it out either.

It's not only Jewish immigrants who have worked hard. Look at nearly every immigrant group who has NOT tried to rely on government hand-outs. The Irish, Germans, Poles, Chinese, Scandnavians, etc... More recently, Vietnamese, Koreans, Jamaicans, and other African immigrants. The key is that they do NOT depend on the government for their survival. I recently saw an article on how recent black immigrants from the east Indies and Africa are doing far better than native born blacks. I think that it pretty much proves the point.

I'm the black sheep in the family: libertarian with conservative tendancies, first of my generation to NOT graduate from college, and I love motorcycles and guns! Everyone in my family are bleeding heart libs. The reason that they ALL voted for "Sore/Loserman" was two-fold: 1) "They're not conservative christians" and 2) "Lieberman's Jewish!"

They spewed such hatred at Governor Bush, and when I asked them why they thought he was such a bad person, they couldn't come up with a better reply than, "I just don't like him" (although one did say that he killed too many people in Texas). They also loved the idea that Lieberman was Jewish, nevermind that when he was tapped as the VP cantidate, he abandoned all of his supposedly conservative Jewish views. Mt response to them was that "voting for Lieberman because he's Jewish is every bit as bad as NOT voting for him because he's Jewish!

I just don't get it. Most liberal Jews are liberal first, and only "cultural" Jews. I've seen the word "JINO" posted here, "Jews In Name Only," which I believe is quite accurate. These are people who put all their faith in government, never mind that over time, it's been the governments that they support who have turned against them!

Mark

[js1138]

bumber=bumper

[sonofatpatcher2]

Re: Nice one. I'm impressed.

So was the pavement!

"Well, Janeane Garofalo proved a lefty could smoke and take a dump without pulling down their pants."

[MarkL]

ha ha Tom Leykis. His awful show used to be on one of my local stations. One time he devoted his whole show to the length and styling of women's fingernails. And listening to his show was like listening to fingernails on a blackboard.

He was on a radio station here in KC, and his ratings were bombing. I don't know if he was going to be fired or not, but one night he got drunk while on the air, and then went after a KC radio icon, Mike Murphy (who I can't stand, personally, but he does seem like a genuinely nice guy who's done a lot of wonderful things for KC). Tom has never been heard on KC radio since that night!

Mark

[showme_the_Glory]

I used to think he was ocassionally funny on SNL.

That was a long long time ago............

[Poincare]

How long will it be before they claim "unfair competition" from government funded NPR?

Perhaps some good can come of this.

[Devil_Anse]

"I would definitely try to answer the Rushes and the Hannitys. But I refuse to do it by cheating and distorting."--Franken

How high-minded. No, he probably won't "do it by cheating and distorting." His style, rather, is to make fun of his "enemies" medical conditions, as he did in his failed book about Limbaugh. Which, btw, I skimmed through while standing next to the 75% Off table (I'm not kidding--75%) at the bookstore.

When I take the dog out to do his business, I use a cue command, as suggested by the trainer. The cue command I chose was "Al Franken."

[jejones]

Was he in the "Jim Tagliani" campaign ad sketches on SNL? If he was, that would be one worthwhile thing he did, but I can't think of another.

BTW...I wonder how the folks at the linked site get away with the "Jewsweek" name. Newsweek has always been very protective of their name; if memory serves, they either took to court or threatened a magazine titled Gaysweek and a humor magazine titled Newswreck.

[Media Insurgent]

"I grew up in a Taxachusetts town that was 50% Jewish"

Let me guess...Sharon?

[Havoc]

Wasn't aware radio needed to be saved. Also wasn't aware that Jewish liberals were required to do the job if that were the case. I thought it was democrat liberals that were funding this thing. Must be a standard liberal appeal to the Jews in this country to listen to their show. Unabashed, shameless pandering on the basis of race. Yep, that's liberal dims for ya. Al Franken (shaking head) what is the world comin to.