Air America is on the air, America

Posted on March 31, 2004 @ 8:11 pm

Air America, the upstart liberal talk radio network (not to be confused with the Mel Gibson movie of the same name), debuted today in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Bernadino, Portland, and on XM satellite radio. Streaming audio is also available via the Internet, although the site seems to be facing a bit of a bandwidth crunch at the moment.

I missed Air America’s official midday launch with Al Franken’s “The O’Franken Factor,” but I did catch a couple of hours of Randi Rhodes‘ afternoon talk show. If today’s episode was any indication, she’s a bit too caustic for my tastes. Sure, unbridled outrage at the Bush administration might play well for the first fifteen or twenty minutes, but the show needs a bit more substance to compete with the Hannities of the world. Then again, as far as I’m concerned, just about anything is better than suffering through Sean Hannity’s overwhelming smugness. “Three hours a day, five days a week — that’s all we ask!” Thanks, Sean; you’re too kind.

I’ll probably tune back in tonight to catch a bit of Janeane Garofalo’s “The Majority Report” and check out “The O’Franken Factor” tomorrow. While I certainly support Air America’s effort to introduce a liberal alternative into the conservative-dominated medium of talk radio, I can’t help but think the network had taken the wrong approach in choosing hosts like Franken and Garofalo to head up its flagship shows. Don’t get me wrong; I like both comedians, but therein lies the rub. At the end of the day, it’s going to be far too easy for conservatives to fall back on the defense that they’re “just comedians.” Even if Franken and Garofalo are presenting insightful critiques of the Bush administration and well-reasoned defenses of the liberal ideology, I have the feeling that they’ll ultimately be dismissed by conservatives — fairly or unfairly — due simply to the fact that they’re entertainers and not “serious pundits.” In fact, I can’t help but think that Air America might have done itself a long-term favor if it had traded in some of its initial big-name recognition for hosts with a bit more credibility and a bit less assailability. That’s just me, though.

Update (8:44PM): Janeane Garofalo just hypothesized that Ann Coulter is secretly Andy Kaufman testing out a female version of his Tony Clifton character. Sounds plausible to me.

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