When Air America Radio started on March 31, 2004, it featured a line up of amateurs and ideologues with the common goal of bashing the then Bush Administration, Republicans and conservatives in general. Its dubious stars were people like Al Franken, a fading comic, Janeane Garofalo, a sometime actress, comic and activist and left-wing radio personality Randi Rhodes.
After a scandal involving misappropriated funds from black school children it promptly filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy two years later. Franken, Rhodes and Garofalo abandoned ship.
But like most left-wing media ventures it has managed to keep going by being a sink hole for left-wing donors. In 2007 it was bought by Green Family Media, made up of New York real estate investor Stephen L. Green and his brother Mark J. Green for $4.25 million (US). Yesterday, “Air America Media” had to call it quits.
It’s really no surprise to anyone in broadcasting. Left-wing talk radio has a long, sorry history of failure. Either there isn’t an audience for it or the lefties who might want to listen are busy washing their hair whenever it’s on. Certainly, progressive propaganda is redundant with the MSM and three cable news channels essentially doing the same job. Not to mention NPR and PBS. The left is always up in arms over Fox News, but it is a lone voice on cable and yet it dominates the field. Conservative radio shows are so popular, they are on several networks and all over the dial. You can drive from New York to Los Angeles and not miss a minute of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
One of the glaring differences between so-called progressive shows and conservative ones is their outlook. While conservative shows may complain about statist policies and politicians, they generally have a positive outlook of America. They reinforce American values and try to envisage an optimistic future.
Left- wing talk is full of impotent rage and suicidal depression, since leftist agendas tend to stem from a dependency on bureaucracy and big government. The ideas they offer are ultimately one of subservience to the state and a faceless elite that “knows better” than the common man. They insult the hoi polloi who populate Middle America, habitually branding them as stupid, racist, etc.
In 2008, they trumpeted Barack Obama’s “Hope and Change” mantra, bashing the Bush administration’s policies and whining about the wars, seeing only failure in America’s future. The only hope offered was in adopting a big government, bureaucratic state like that of the EU. ”Progressives” don’t believe in America because they’ve invested in the big lie that it’s evil and capitalism is doomed to failure.
Conservative media, on the other hand, is about the still-unfilled potential of America. Leftist media is about how bad the United States and its government is — but still you better vote Democrat so they have more power!
The utterly predictable failure of Air America is a testament to the dour legacy of leftism, which has produced the world’s most tyrannical and murderous dictatorships and moribund economies wherever it has been imposed by violent revolution.
In the age of the Tea Parties, Air America is pointing the way to the future for the MSM: straight into the ground.
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That Air America missive is filled to overflow with FAIL!
Can't wait for Rush's take on this later. I expect to be doubled over with laughter.
Nobody wants to listen to petulant children, other than another petulant child.
Hudnall is right. "Air America" was suffused with negativity. Its fans now have in the White House the most liberal politician who could ever be elected POTUS, but they are STILL unhappy, furious at him for his "failure" to post the white flag throughout the universe. At bottom the number of people willing to spend their days listening to such bile is very small.
Love the photo of Jeanine.
Quite the babe.
Loved the title to your piece.
I'd like a nice bottle of Boones Farm, and some Velveeta.
Would that put me in the hoi polloi category?
Air America was the real HATE radio. It was virtually non-stop Olbermanesque and with the ratings to prove it. How much of America is really racist, sexist, and otherist? What tiny percentage? And how long can one keep name calling against the average, hard-working, God fearing American and not expect either an outright backlash or, worse for AA, being ignored.
"Left-wing talk radio has a long, sorry history of failure. Either there isn’t an audience for it or the lefties who might want to listen are busy washing their hair whenever it’s on."
Judging from that photo of Garofalo, I would think you'd have to drop "washing their hair" as an explanation.
I tried listening to Air America once and found it depressing, arrogant, snide, poorly structured,and just boring. Not interesting at all. Bye bye . . .
"We won't fight your wars!"
Okay, but who will protect your free speech and libertine behavior?
Never listened to it. What *really* sticks in my craw is that whole Gloria Wise scandal. These clowns claim to stick up for the underprivileged, yet manage to enrich themselves at the expense of said underprivileged.
There is no audience for "in your face" far left radical extremism. It's a tiny fraction of the populace, and it is a swarm of maggots in our information stream already.
Manic depressive propaganda of this sort is merely a manifestation of their mania, nobody wants to listen to that. It won't draw independents. It's a one note rant…that goes nowhere. A circular argument, muttered on a street corner while pushing a shopping cart filled with all the unsubstantiated accusations, false attributions and distortions needed to fuel the peculiar tic of anarchists.
Please, please, please take down the pic of that deranged skank. My stomach can't take it.
Let's get rid of NPR and PBS next. They are paid for out of your pocket and mine, by government seizure of our income. There are plenty of viewpoints on the dial, so the diversity argument fails. There is high culture on the dial and in the CD/DVD stores, and none on NPR or PBS except during pledge week, so that argument fails. And the fact that you cannot go anywhere in the US and be out of range of two NPR stations and two PBS stations demonstrates why Air America went out of business. Because there was a government sponsored monopoly alternative to Air America that all the lefties are already listening to.
No government bailout?
wait for it… it'll happen.
I'll miss Jeanine's, "Racism straight up!" comment. I used the video clip to train my killer Beagle.
James,
Can you say tasteless? Oh! And is that a comment on your sexual fantasies, a putdown on her political views, or both? Enlighten us, please.
A Curious Conservative
Air America had a few opportunities to make this work and it failed. Unfortunately for them, they are providing a product that NO one really cares for. They failed at business 101! They missed their target market. I guess I will have to watch late night programs to catch Janeane on a tiraide about Bush.
Nice show of class…
Misery loves company. And they have a lot of company on the left right now…
The failure of Air America is a reminder that a capitalistic society that is free to chose for themselves, will most likely than not, make the right decisions.
All the lefty progressives should maybe consider a new, more market based name to encompass their ranks. Perhaps "Sham-Wow" would be an appropriate name? I don't know, just throwing ideas out there…
Perfectly and succinctly stated, Stan.
She's got my globals warming.
'Just 'cause you couldn't find a bag.
YEAH!
Yep, they have to be learned in the art of hate mongering from somewhere. Human beings don't naturally align with such hate and contempt for the place they call home like the left exhibits. It's a learned instinct, and it's mostly likely a direct result of collegiate indoctrination, in my opinion. Hopefully the end of the "everyone's a winner" era is near. For to long the educational systems in the country have been teaching our children that every body is a winner, and that every deserves a gold star for achievement, regardless. The longer children are treated like the children, the longer they will act like children…
Garafalo is much to ugly for radio.
"Love the photo of Jeanine.
Quite the babe. "
LOL…She looks like she's just happy to not be in prison to me, or happy to just be released, I'm torn. Though I'm sure she would fit in just fine there. And she actually may have an audience for her "humor" there as well?
If my son brought that piece of work home with home one day, I would disown him…!
I'm a radio guy. Seriously, the Air America people were the absolute worst radio programmers. They were angry, negative and hated their own country ans it showed. This is not a recipe for building an audience or keeping the small one they had, for longer than five minutes. Rush (even if you hated him) became a star because was an radio guy first…not a talking head or an ex-politician or a comedian. He therefore understood radio and how to use it to build an audience. AA specialized, as most liberals do, in nasty, really ugly, personal attacks on their target's clothes, makeup, hair, personal habits what-have-you. Most of all, from a radio programming standpoint, they were not entertaining. Simply put, they just didn't GET it.
James Hudnall…. Thanks for sticking it to Garofalo.
Ugh… I'm BLIND! Well, almost. At least you can't see the hairy pits on that skanky 40something hag wannabe tween.
I'm going to have to pass!
Oh,and i listened for about ten minutes once,back in 2004,i think.I've listened to internet radio since 1993.
I think there may be another reason why Air America went down the toilet…..let's not forget that "progressives" (liberals) already think they know everything! When you have a network whose only message was "Bush sucks, America sucks, Socialism is great, Michael Moore is great" being spoonfed to you 24/7, even a liberal couldn't listen to that for more than 15 minutes because they already believe that! So, I dunno, maybe a lack of information "diversity" could also have been the culprit. LOL.
On another note, I think Janeane is kinda cute….I'd date her…if she wasn't a sh*t fer brains leftist!
Skankaliscious!
I think she could be considered a 2 bagger. (no reference to baseball)
Everything these imbeciles touch they f—- up….
The polite way to say it in todays society is "I'd hit dat"
From what I can tell giraffe-agello is not longer on 24!!! haha looks like they kicked her out for making fun of AMERICANS!!!!!
I often don't agree with the liberals and the progressives, but every time a media closes it is not a moment to celebrate but a moment to reflect. In the free society it means an idea did not make it, in the dictatorship it means a voice was silenced. The liberals should think about the values of their message – may be if they revise it – it may get a second chance one day. The good comes out of the clash of the ideas. And let the best one win!
And so it has! But, I agree with you, Ellie. It's a good thing we live in a society that still has the right to choose what to think, what to read, what to listen to.
Wonderful. I was wondering when the tasteless sex spam would start.
What I find amazing, is how the wealthy get the less fortunate folks to vote against their best interests.
Thousand of people out protesting to defend the rights of the trillion dollar corporate empires??? How does that happen?
He started the show with it "Why couldn't Obama save the jobs over at Air America?"
"The good comes out of the clash of the ideas. And let the best one win! "
Isn't that what has happenend?
That's a pretty good description of them. I tried listening once or twice, but it was absolutely horrible.
"So I was at this really fabulous party, with lots of very important people – I can't name names, because we may work together on my project – oh yeah Bush is a moron. Well there were so many stars from TV there, we were all laughing and joking – oh yeah, Cheney is evil. And it was like……."
On and on. Bar tenders who are trained and paid to listen couldn't even sit through this crap.
You're a better man than I. As soon as I started to see the picture, I had to grab the mouse to make sure my eye balls weren't burned out.
"how the wealthy get the less fortunate folks to vote against their best interests."
oh sorry- i thought you were about to make reference to poor people, esp. minorities, who keep voting to keep themselves on the Democrat plantation. my mistake…
Same here. On a Saturday afternoon on the way to the credit union, the two conservative stations were doing high school sports, so I popped it on. I couldn't even take it for the full 4 miles, and had to switch to opera.
That's exactly my take. So much smarmy elitism. I'm shocked they made it as long as they did.
She used to be kinda cute. Then the filthy hair and tattoos and moonbat left-wing idiocy came out and she's just a sad, miserable train wreck.
She'll wind up in rehab or doing German Schieze videos…..
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Progressive thought is the ideology of failure, without it they would have nothing so they promote it at every opportunity.
It's amazing what you can accomplish when you have uncle Soros' deep pockets.
We will, and you know that. Because the concept of free speech is much more important than a gang of immature wanna-bes.
They don't stick up for the under privileged, they convince just enough of them they do.
It's a pretty nice scam they've got going. They are the ruling elite, yet they manage to sell themselves off as the very people who will fight themselves.
According to the ratings Drudge publishes from time to time, there is indeed an audience for this stuff.
And it's about 1/3 the size of Fox's.
Come on soldier, no one said this mission would be easy.
Quick man, make your way to your TV player and slap a Dirty Harry in the DVD. Grab a bottle of hard liquor and talk yourself down.
I'm praying for you.
Well, in a perfect world, where government bureaucrats make all the decisions for every one, Air America would have higher ratings that Rush.
Thanks and good idea. I'll have to go with The Outlaw Josey Wales, though.
The market has spoken.
I hate the fact the food channel has gone from steaks and barbecue to cakes and pastry, but hey, that's what the customers wanted.
Don't think of it as an idea no longer part of society, think of it as an idea that was ultimately found to be wrong.
"She'll wind up in rehab or doing German Schieze videos….."
Hank_Scorpio you get the post of the week award………….That's beautiful man…………
Yes, I'm sure that's exactly what the left scratches their heads over.
"Why won't they accept our promised government handout bribes?"
Sorry to have to tell you this, but there are a lot of Americans who aren't interested in bribes, dependency or hand outs.
Bill Beck, over at his blog, refers to it as bellying up to the cannibal pot. If that suits you, go for it, but beware, it empties pretty quick, so it needs to be refilled often.
That'll work too. So will Patton, Team America, and Bigger Longer Uncut.
God speed!
I agree with the clash of ideas, but they were the intolerant anti-free speech types who oppose any speech but their own. So, karma bites.
How dare you. That is an insult to deranged skanks everywhere.
"What I find amazing, is how the wealthy get the less fortunate folks to vote against their best interests"
It's true. We also control the vertical and the horizontal. We make you think you like Obama, too, even though that's really not in our best interests (but it is part of our secret handshake).
And there are just so many trillion dollar corporate empires right on my own Republican, whites-only block. I'm going to floss with a trillion dollar bill right after I eat lunch made for me by 82 million less fortunate folks. They just love to serve me.
Dude: THINK for a change.
R.I.P. Air America.
Can't wait to hear Godawfulho's rant about how Air America was killed off by "Dick Cheney and the racist, redneck teabag conspiracy".
BWAAAAAAHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAAHHHAAAAHHAAA!
That would be an upgrade for her.
Tis true.
Eeeewwwwww!
I hope so
Good one, Dukehoopsfan. Go Wolfpack, by the way
I was able to quit smoking, but necer to quit eating sweets! Good for the food channel!
Agree. Communists are control freaks. It is hard to keep the man's head down all the time.
photo of garafalo looks more like child porn !!!!
There's a radically serious group insecurity within the far left. They are so morally empty and bankrupt, as to require all the money, all the power, total adoration until we all come under their boot. They cannot be full even at an endless banquet. Their only satisfaction is their hate. People of wealth, and position, any disagreement with their viewpoint is taken as a personal threat and sends them ranting. They can't succeed in a nation of confident people, with a durable sense of worth. So, we refuse them our money and adoration. Not their movies, their TV, their radio, as these insult us on a personal level. Their inner demons show in their work and in their physical appearance. So self absorbed, they've earned the rejection. Ugly product, Ugly to see. Good riddance Air America. How about MSNBC next?
He also considered moving ex-Air America employees to the front of the caller line.
There was a station in the New Orleans market that aired AA programming but discontinued in 2006. I tried to listen to give it a fair chance and hear their views. The show I tried to listen to tried to do funny parody prerecorded bits and skits, like Rush does, but it just wasn't ever funny. Their talk mainly was negative. It wasn't entertaining or informative. I turned it off. Obviously others did too, and it hasn't been on in our market in years and years. The station is now an ESPN network sports-talk station.
Darwin
Really! Here I was, minding my own business and enjoying this article…
AND I RUN ACROSS A PICTURE OF THIS STONE-GROUND ASSHAT WHORE!
I almost barfed up my dinner! Who's responsible for the selection of this picture?! Dammit, I demand to know!!!
Maybe N.P.R.and M.S.N.B.C.will close if we could get them defunded.
The best gift you could give a liberal or ‘progressive’ for Christmas this year is:
1) a hand-cranked mimeograph machine;
2) a rubber chicken suit and a megaphone; or,
3) a town-crier hand bell and sandwich sign.
By then those will be the only viable media outlets left for them, thanks to Che Obama.
[...] week, Big Journalism’s James Hudnall reminded readers that Air America’s problems are not new. According to Hudnall, “After a [...]
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[...] week, Big Journalism’s James Hudnall reminded readers that Air America’s problems are not new. According to Hudnall, “After a [...]
nice!!!
One thing god assures us…..you throwbacks commenting here will all be dead of natural causes in 100 years and leave the earth a little worse than you found it…..
I am no liberal but love liberty….I am conservative of what is good for life…..the sooner you all leave the planet the better for those you harm.
You are fast to blame and last to feel shame….You have the brain of a low life, insecure degenerate. You gather with other stupids to watch your mindless TV and listen to Talk Radio bullies. You remind me of city rodents, un-evolved to survive and not know you overconsume poison ….and like rodents you overpopulate the planet with your moronic kind.
I never watched AA but its demise seems appropriate as other voices remain strong on many sides.
I agree that NPR sucks at times from the left and right view depending on who is paying for the show and producer.
I agree that tax dollars should not be spent on anything each of us disagrees with….which means there would be plenty spent on everything and more that we spend on now. I suppose we have to live in the shadow of each other even if we do not like the others company on political and religious issues. With that in mind I wish you well or hell if you create it.
Maybe you will do some good. I hope you will.
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Hey pretty good update. Did you manage to catch last nights O’Rielly Factor? That is some great writing material lol. Laters