BlatherWatch

Air America's got a new website that works!

After all it's been through: Evan Cohen, bankruptcy, and Randi Rhodes, there seems to be a stability there now. The network/syndicator keeps putting one foot in front of the other.

finally last week relaunched their website that looks great, and works too- both attributes missing from their old site. 

Nancy reagan tells of friendship with senator kennedy

(Nancy and Ron Reagan, Time magazine photo)

Ron Reagan (KPTK m-f, 3-6p) did a brave thing: he brought his uncontrollable, unrehearseable, unpredictable, 88-year-old Republican mother on his show Wednesday.

It probably could have gone either way, but it turned out OK.

President and Nancy Reagan had a civil, if not downright affectionate relationship with Sen. Ted Kennedy, and it was sweet to hear about it from her on the radio.

(We have an uncontrollable, unrehearseable, unpredictable, 90-year-old Republican mother, so we know how that might have turned out. We remember hearing Michael Medved's late mother unscripted on his show once; her conversation turned into a sharp on-air rebuke of Medved's father's philandering. It was a little hilarious, though we sympathized with Michael -- god knows such embarrassments can and do happen to all of us children of the smart, yet repressed women of the so-called Greatest Generation).

Have a listen:

Al franken, part one: the senator from talk radio

Sean Hannity, hearing the news that Al Franken was the new junior senator from Minnesota, called him a "liar and a lunatic." Michelle Malkin described him as "an angry, unstable man."

Expect that to continue being the right-wing media meme about Franken- It's uttered, even by respectable conservatives, too. Like former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson who called him, "The Vulgarian at the Gate," writing that Franken's election would "actively push our culture toward vulgarity and viciousness."

Randi rhodes & air america: together again

"I’m thrilled to have Randi on the Air America Washington team…it’s about time we were reunited.” says Air America’s program director Bill Hess.

Rhodes will do PM drive at WZAA, AAR's new progressive talker in Washington DC.

Minnesotans to norman coleman: CONCEDE!

Two thirds of Minnesotan voters believe  GOP Sen. Norm Coleman should hang it up, and concede to Al Franken. Gov.Tim Pawlenty who could stop the madness by certifying Franken is suffering record-low poll numbers.

Monday, Franken’s lawyers presented a brief to the state Supreme Court in advance of June 1 oral arguments in the six-month recount challenge. Franken’s team wants the court to clearly state that Pawlenty’s signature would be required on an election certificate following the state’s highest court ruling.

Five years! happy birthday, air america

Five years.

Some of Air America's tenuous existence has felt like a colonoscopy to sympathetic, liberal listeners like us: the network has been on life support many times. There's been a cash register scandal; a bankruptcy, a parade of owners, managers, and talent.

Montel williams to air america: can tyra banks be far behind?

A day after Air America announced they were forming a syndication division, they're announcing that , daytime teevee star, and bald empath, Montel Williams will start in Lionel's mid-morning slot (9a-12p EST).

He’ll originate Montel Across America from Air America studios in New York, starting April 6. Lionel, they say, still works there ... but on other projects to be announced.

Counting the dittoheads, what does it mean?

 How many dittoheads are there, really?

With Rush Limbaugh leading conservatives and heading up the Republican Party, radio ratings have entered the national political conversation.

Radio ratings, done mainly by Arbitron, are, unlike their teevee counterparts, notoriously secretive, and intentionally mysterious, if not misleading. The meaningful numbers and demos are privileged information that can be spun any ol' way subscribers (stations and syndicators) need to use them.

FULL TEXT: al franken interview/mark green

GREEN: Ok, can you now finally admit that you miss your 12-3 pm Air America timeslot and regret leaving for a senate bid? 

FRANKEN: Well, no I don't. I'm really looking forward to getting into the Senate, and it looks like it's going to happen, and I hope it happens soon. So no, I don't. If I had lost, I might regret it, but I don't think I did that.

Al franken's first national interview- 42% means you have to work harder

In an interview to air Saturday, Al Franken says he's glad he's not on the radio any more, but he's pretty sure he'll be seated as the junior Senator from Minnesota. ..."it really looks now that it's going to get resolved in my favor, and soon, and so I'm actually excited to get there."

With a little panky and intrigue, BlatherWatch got an advance transcript of Al Franken's first national media interview since November. He talks to AAR's Mark Green on 7 Days in America airing Saturday (6p EST) on Air America in Seattle on KPTK, Sunday from 3-4p.