Competitive Intelligence

Air America vs. Right-Wing Talk Radio

Left-of-center radio network, Air America, lifted off the first of this month, and was promptly praised by liberals, largely panned by critics and ignored by conservatives. Slate's Ben Williams recapped the critiques in his column, Summary Judgment:

"Rush Limbaugh can sleep soundly. For now," said the Minneapolis Star-Tribune after this liberal talk radio network's debut. Critics agreed that Al Franken, who leads the programming, needs to sharpen up: Howard Kurtz called him "meandering and discursive," the Boston Globe said "he is not a good interviewer," and the New York Times thought his mix of "mockery and mild indignation" proved the difficulty of matching "the fervor and ferocity of right-wing radio." Right-wing radio hosts were happy to agree: Jay Severin claimed "audience demographics" would be "the death knell" for liberal talk, and in the Los Angeles Times, Richard A. Viguerie and David Franke questioned Franken's commitment (he has a one-year contract), reminding that the conservative talk empire "was the result of decades of hard work." Franken did win praise for high-powered guests but the New Republic noted that it "doesn't bode well" when a show's "most entertaining segment is one featuring Al Gore."

What was more interesting for me was how other liberal media tried to rally around and lend support and encouragement to get people to tune in. AlterNet featured a story from Rachel Straus practically pleading with lefties to listen in:

Air America recognizes that it needs to capture and exploit more than Americans' anger about the war on Iraq and other Bush administration policies. "It's got to be entertaining," says executive director Mark Walsh, who advised Senator Kerry and the Democratic National Committee on Internet issues.

But being witty, let alone politically incisive, on live radio isn't easy. It requires the kind of genius where a lone voice successfully conveys a powerful persona. Don Imus saturates the airwaves like a disembodied Elvis; Franken, so far, sounds like a cranky kid. (He does, however, do a great imitation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.)

Disappointment in Franken's early performance has been duly noted in the press, and conservative media insiders are already making wagers on Air America's demise. What hasn't been emphasized is that almost everything is riding on Franken's success. He is the spokesperson for the first all-talk progressively tuned radio network.

The company has not met its publicized goal to own five radio stations by its first live broadcast and instead leases six stations nationwide. Air America's has found some security with XM Radio Satellite, which carries the network and has 2.6 million subscribers. The network needs to capture at least 2 percent of the listening audience to be considered a "player," according to Talkers magazine publisher Michael Harrison. By the time Air America's ratings come out in July, Franken will have hopefully found his groove.

Al Franken, a former high school wrestler, knows a thing or two about struggle. He'll be working out the kinks in his show, not just to turn his nemesis Limbaugh face down on the political mat but to elbow out some of the country's right-wing talk radio predominance. As veteran New York taxi driver Daniel Frimpang put it, Americans need a different big fat radio presence, one that will speak "for the rest of us."

I (sort of) hope they make it - I've been listening on the Web a bit and have been pretty unimpressed, but it is nice to have a little rivalry with the rather more agile competitors on the right. In the crucible that is the marketplace of ideas, we'll see if Air America can get its act together before ratings season hits in a couple of very short months.

- Arik

UPDATE (Thursday 16 April 2004): The fledging network, two-weeks old, was yanked Wednesday in Los Angeles and Chicago; the nation's second and third largest media markets. The owner of these stations, WNTD 950 AM in Chicago and KBLA 1580 AM in L.A., said Air America bounced a check and owes his company more than $1 million. Air America executives denied breaching financial obligations, said the network's absence is temporary and pledged to pursue relief in court if necessary. General counsel David Goodfriend characterized what happened as a contract dispute over the station in Los Angeles.