Posted on 02/17/2003 11:14:18 PM PST by kattracks
WASHINGTON, Feb 18, 2003 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- A group planning a liberal-leaning radio network says the idea hasn't caught on in previous attempts because it wasn't marketed properly and wasn't entertaining enough.
Now venture capitalists from Chicago and an Atlanta radio executive are behind an effort to start just such a radio network that would offer an alternative to conservative talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh.
"We believe this is a tremendous business opportunity," Atlanta radio executive Jon Sinton said Monday. Sinton, who would be the network's chief executive, added, "There are so many right-wing talk shows, we think it's created a hole in the market you could drive a truck through."
The group, led by Anita Drobny, consists of investors who have financially supported Democratic candidates. Hoping to start the network by this fall, they are talking with comedian and author Al Franken about working with the network and hope to attract other entertainers and political guests.
Their group will be called AnShell Media L.L.C. and they are initially investing $10 million while hoping for assistance from like-minded entrepreneurs.
Sinton said those who lean to the right are great at haranguing Bill and Hillary Clinton, but those who lean left have better connections to the entertainment world in Hollywood and New York.
"We want to take an issue and make it funny and engaging," he said. "Our intent is to engage and entertain as a way to enlighten, engage in skit comedy, parody, political satire."
Sinton said earlier programs have failed because they were placed in time slots between more conservative programming and weren't entertaining enough. Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo also tried his hand at a liberal-oriented talk show.
Sinton said he's confident he can come up with solid content for his network.
"My business strategy is that there are underperforming radio stations in all the markets. These underperforming stations are looking for a compelling broadcast day," he said.
While questions have been raised about who could be host on a liberal talk show, the bigger question may be the difficulty of mobilizing an audience for such a show.
A sign of the liberal dilemma is the code word that they like to use to describe themselves these days - "progressive" - which allows them to avoid the word "liberal," which has become almost an epithet when used by conservative politicians and pundits.
"Part of the impetus for this angry conservative bent of talk radio is the notion that the press is unfair, that it's part of a liberal establishment conspiracy," said Tom Rosenstiel, director for the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
"Progressives historically don't run in a pack," Rosenstiel added. "There's a kind of independent streak to the left wing in America that there isn't in the right wing."
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 mobilize because it is more likely to see liberals as very distant from their own views. And there are more people in polls who identify themselves as conservative than identify themselves 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."
By WILL LESTER Associated Press Writer
Television is a combination of sensory focus and it is far easier to distract and misdirect viewer attention from essential topics presented.
Considering that 90% of people tend to be more influenced by the visual, television has become a new religion. It is analagous to Plato's cave allegory. Television as a propaganda tool helps create visual phantasms (or as Thomas Hobbes called them, 'phantastical images') of the brain.
There are three ways people are influenced according to the school of behavioral psychology - - visual (sight), auditory (sound), kinesthetic (emotion). The kinesthetic or 'feeling' is also based on olfactory and tactile sense, much like Pavlov's salivating dogs.
Visual images and sound portrayed can be used to anchor emotional and/or conditioned responses desired by those that present them, which in the case of television, is the Leftist television media, actors who create phantastical images in film, and Leftist politicians who pander to symbolism over substance (like Rush always says about them).
The visual aspect of that phenomenon is also used by the print media to a degree. Interactve talk radio requires thought, television does not and relies on this as a means to influence viewers...
Examples of this from the article:
A group planning a liberal-leaning radio network says the idea hasn't caught on in previous attempts because it wasn't marketed properly and wasn't entertaining enough.
phantasms
The group, led by Anita Drobny, consists of investors who have financially supported Democratic candidates. Hoping to start the network by this fall, they are talking with comedian and author Al Franken about working with the network and hope to attract other entertainers and political guests.
phantasms
Sinton said those who lean to the right are great at haranguing Bill and Hillary Clinton, but those who lean left have better connections to the entertainment world in Hollywood and New York.
phantasms
"We want to take an issue and make it funny and engaging," he said. "Our intent is to engage and entertain as a way to enlighten, engage in skit comedy, parody, political satire."
phantasms
Sinton said earlier programs have failed because they were placed in time slots between more conservative programming and weren't entertaining enough.
phantasms
While questions have been raised about who could be host on a liberal talk show, the bigger question may be the difficulty of mobilizing an audience for such a show.
conditioned responses
A sign of the liberal dilemma is the code word that they like to use to describe themselves these days...
phantasms
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 mobilize because it is more likely to see liberals as very distant from their own views.
phantasms
"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."
conditioned responses
Yes. See #42...
...and in the next breath screaming like a banshee about how it's okay to kill babies. Doesn't make for a real good argument.
An admission of the truth. The liberal base isn't interested in political discussion. They get their politics from sitcoms.
I guess this will eventually be the return of "The Shadow."
It won't be talk radio. It'll be entertainment radio interspersed with the opinions of the DJ and/or host. What's new about that?
Here's something I'd like to see on a bumper sticker:
Progressive?
My A$$. You're a
COMMIE.
Short, sweet, to the point.
Without a worthwhile message, few will listen, thus they will not secure many advertisers to sponsor the show. Without sponsorship, no show lasts long.
Similar to the same hole created by liberal "logic".
You know they always state it as "a woman's right to control her own body".
They are slowly giving up on the "pro-choice" misnomer. We're calling them on that, because they aren't prochoice on the fruits of "my body's" labor, where we send our kids to school, how we choose to defend ourselves and homes, etc.
I always tag them when they say prochoice - "choice to do what? Oh, yeah, kill babies!", then I go through the list of what they're not "pro-choice" about.
"We believe this is a tremendous intellectual opportunity," amatuer internet cyberpundit Steel Wolf said Wednesday. Wolf, who occasionally posts on Free Republic, added, "There are many right-wing talk shows, and we think they point out the holes in liberal arguements you could drive a truck through."
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