air america/THE POLITICS: one healthy baby...

We've read the Eyores of the blogs and Cassandras of Republican talk's gloom-sermons about the future of Air America and liberal talk radio. In our first installment (see previous post) in this series, Air America/The Numbers: One Healthy Baby, we found that the bastards were lying about and manipulating with the reality of the first year's scorecard for our new radio format. We continue with the second and final part of the series, reporting what we see as signs the new genre is starting to shift the political landscape.

For years, Democrats had few other media forums than those in enemy territory. Radio was especially difficult with most right-wing hosts, who could make any accusation without fear of question or reprisal, could screen callers to gang up on liberal guests, and all the other bullying tricks they could pull to trash those with whom they disagreed.

Liberals would appear on conservative TV such as Fox News, where they were outnumbered and bullied by Designated GOP Liar Sean Hannity, or the peevish Bill O'Reilly, who not only led the conversation, but controlled the show's timing and technology as well.

By the time Hannity gets out his standard, do-you-still-beat-your-wife question in a multi-talking point lecture ticked off on his fat little fingers, there's little time left for the hapless guest to answer, especially as Hannity starts to interrupting as soon as the guest starts talking.

There was the friendly fire of mainstream pundits like MSNBC's Chris Matthews, CNN's Wolf Blitzer, NBC's Tim Russert who were often tougher on Democrats than Republicans trying to out-Fox Fox and prove to the world-at-small they weren't "the liberal media." 

Faced with such hostile questioning, national Democrats either avoided these media altogether, or stayed in the soft, safe middle, making them look weak and indecisive.

Chicken shit? Sure, but there were simply few places for the good guys to make a reasoned argument.

Journalist Robert Parry's Mystery of the Democrats' New Spine, in  Consortium News, attributes recent reanimation by Congressional Democrats to the rise of progressive talk radio in general and Air America in particular. (Which could be another reason righties are savaging it and predicting its downfall.

With humor and without deference, the progressive hosts give voice to the outrage that many American liberals feel over what they regard as years of conservative highhandedness – a stolen election in 2000, a deceptive case for war in Iraq in 2002-03, and the smearing of Kerry’s war record in 2004.

After more than a decade of the Right’s near monopoly of AM talk radio, listeners on the Left are taking pleasure in hearing the conservatives get a taste of their own medicine. Hosts – such as Stephanie Miller, Randi Rhodes, Al Franken and Ed Schultz – dish out a mixture of satire, ridicule and information.

Finally, Democratic leaders can go on sympathetic radio shows and make their case directly to listeners."

Liberals lacked media that could defend Democrats when they took tough stands or made mistakes. They were on their own--no wonder they were timid. Those  speaking without fear like Howard Dean, Jim McDermott or Barney Franks would be, (and still are) branded as "hateful" or "extreme."

Conservative talk not only covered the Republicans' issues, but also covered their asses.They distracted the simple majority with drive-by debate they sold to them as political discussion.

When Republicans were in a tough spot, they had defenders with the collective ear of millions of Americans trapped in their cars. GOP pols and flacks could count on going on talk radio and be licked to death by conservative attack dogs turned fuzzy puppies.

But this culture is changing as Air America and other progressive talk radio spreads across the country. AA's 63 stations are still far fewer than the hundreds of conservative talk radio outlets, but Parry says there are signs the liberal talk is reaching a tipping point, and "altering the political psyche of rank-and-file Democrats and their leaders."

For the first time in memory, many Americans are hearing coherent and consistent arguments from progressives. It’s suddenly cool to stand up to Bush and to recognize the phoniness of the mainstream media.

The lesson for progressive leaders would seem to be that media holds a huge potential for energizing liberals, challenging the Bush administration and reaching out to moderate Americans who are growing more alarmed over right-wing radicalism. Yet, despite this opportunity, many leading figures on the Left remain resistant to expanding the progressive media effort.

Liberal talk is in it's infancy--Air America just celebrated its first birthday. Ed Schultz, the fastest growing liberal talker (95 stations) has been on-air just a few months more. Rush Limbaugh, who pioneered the genre of sneer-smear political radio has been at it since the late '80's.

There are more good signs. Radio giant Clear Channel is flipping some of its stations to liberal talk, and savvy entrepreneurs are begining to grab up liberal product (which is what radio pros call talk hosts and what comes out of their mouths).

Like former Clear Channel Radio CEO Randy Michaels and former ABC Radio and Premiere Radio Networks VP Stu Krane, who have put together a content company called PI (Product First).

They just bought the Ed Schultz Show, the fastest growing liberal talk show in the country which airs on 95 stations, including 8 of the top 10 markets. These guys don't go after losers.

They're industry hotshots who first teamed-up in the early days of the Rush Limbaugh Show, who aren't Air America, not liberal partisans but simply want to cash in on what they see as a good investment: liberal talk.

That's a very good sign using a measure our Republican detractors can relate to.

Robert Parry:

…the media tide is showing signs of shifting. Progressives on talk radio are defending liberal values and criticizing conservative hypocrisy. Emboldened, Democratic politicians are starting to find their voice, too, and the Republicans have begun to stumble.

Progressives, who have long puzzled over how to get the Democrats to fight back, are discovering that relatively minor investments in media can bring major returns in convincing Democrats that there is a future in standing up to Republicans.

Liberal talk radio won't spread and evolve fast enough for most of us, but we must remember, it's an entirely new format riffing on a format that the right developed for themselves.

This new medium must unfold for us--and that takes a little time. But when all's summed up: it's got a solid beginning, it's on its way, and it's unstoppable.

Comments

[mikers]

Air America is bad radio. That is what you will see posted over and over, on the new/talk board over at Radio-Info.com by people who really don't want it to succeed even though they never come out and say it. They will never cite a specific instance of bad radio...just, it's bad radio. I've listened to all the weekday hosts at AAR regularly and I'm trying to figure out what's BAD RADIO about AAR? Facts, figures, sound bites, and interviews to prove the facts. I've also heard it's boring. The only people making these claims are people who clearly seem to not like the politics of AAR or who might have only listened for a very short time to the shows. Some days are better than others.

I could bash conservative talk all day by calling it bad radio and boring just because I don't like the politics of it as well. Today I listened in to conservative talkers KTTH and KVI on my hour long drive home. Savage was on the air at KTTH talking about who to hate today and when I switched to KVI, Carlson spent almost five minutes telling a caller who clearly wanted to talk to him about something else but politely agreed with him throughout his rant about how conservatives are used to being bombarded with liberal leaning bias by mainstream media in todays society. Even though I personally dislike what I hear most of the time on rightwing talk, is that bad radio? No, some people like conservative talk just like a growing number will like progressive talk in whatever form it takes off on. I believe it is here to stay whether AAR makes it or not. The liberal talk format will come up with a winning niche one way or another.

[scndscreename]

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[mseets]

We can't afford to get too far away from this politics shit. We let them do stuff for too long, while we were looking the other way. Thatis why I'm glad to hear Air America is doing well. who will be the lefts Rush Limbaugh? Mayber it will be Goldy. thanks for the good news, Mike.