Al Franken to Captain this Titanic undertaking!
Bon Voyage!
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
i for one am looking forward to that short dorky idiot, al franken falling flat on his face again...
the reasons for liberal radio failure have been explained beautifully here on FR, but when these hosts start getting intelligent arguements from the other side, they will be exposed as vile entities...
It's funny that the author of "...is a big, fat, idiot" is himself getting rotund while the target of his derision has become svelte.
'National Propaganda Radio'?
'Radio KOOL', All Kool Aid, all the time?
'Democrats On the Air' (the DOA network)?
The Mediocrity in Broadcasting Network?
Uh, yeah. There's a term that comes to mind when I think about my last post. What is it? Oh yeah: sarcasm.
In other words, of course I agree with you TT. The point is to make the liberal fantasy animating the last post explicit.
What is conspicuous about Werbe and Malloy is their diminutive audience. Syndicated on less than 10 stations in addition to the internet feed, they take calls from a handful of regulars on a daily basis and their phone is never busy. Never. I know because I've talked to each host half a dozen times. This is indicatative of a very small call load.
Al Franken to Captain this Titanic undertaking!
Bon Voyage!
You mean, network television "lite?"
Soul Mates: The Meltdown Continues
Tom Daschle calls Dick Gephardt
his "partner and soul mate" in the
afterglow of his mid-week meltdown.
This is too good...
Week of 9-23-2002
Jump to this post to see another reason for that:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/844402/posts?page=17#17
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Instead of laughing and pointing, perhaps we should learn what to do to get a few million people to show up for a rally and to get the federal goverment to fund out TV and Radio.
You are correct in a certain sense. However, we do not likely want to follow their example or use the same tactics and deceptions. They represent failure for a reason.
What do you mean by saying "get the federal goverment to fund out TV and Radio." ???
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