American Realpolitik has been following the Air America "settlement". What Gregory writes is a good summary, so I'll quote it:
Does anyone else find it interesting that the liberal radio network dedicated to bringing the truth to the people seems awfully concerned about the people NOT knowing the facts of what has led to this major defeat on their part! Personally, I find it impossible to spin this as anything other than a complete loss for AA. I cannot envision that if they had any actual case against Liu that they wouldn't want to press forward as they certainly have much more to lose here than Liu...especially after their venomous comments about him when this situation first flared up. Comments which they, of course, deleted from their website.
I'd written previously about this. The only way to view this right now is that Air America was in the wrong, since their settlement involved them getting kicked off the stations. They had also been demanding money from Multicultural, which if they had gotten I would have expected to hear about. They made a big deal about bringing this to court, and the only way I can view this is that they realized they didn't have a case and decided to settle. Like I wrote in a comment on another post at American Realpolitik, I bet they even wound up paying at least most of what they owed Multicultural.
Also, here's an excellent review of the network, from a liberal at the LA Times: All-left radio is lacking the right stuff for success
In fact, I think what ultimately annoyed — and disappointed me — the most about Air America was all the false, aren't-we-funny, aren't-we-smart laughter that virtually all the hosts gave each other. Four of Air America's six weekday programs have co-hosts — and two have three co-hosts apiece, liberal collectives that stand in stark contrast to the individual, every-man-for-himself approach of the conservatives. Maybe that's one reason they don't work as well as, say, Limbaugh's solo effort.
I too noticed that most of the radio programs have a team working on them. I'm like "Who the heck are all these people?". I also noticed recently the strange sexual content of the network. I've only listened to Air America just a few times in short bursts, but while I've listened to conservative talk radio for years now I've never heard anything like what I heard on Air America.
Worst of all, however, is that they just don't do good radio. On all the radio programs I listen to the hosts are warm, friendly, and funny (I tend to dislike Mark Levin because he's so caustic sometimes). Sean Hannity's a nice guy, for instance, and Laura Ingraham's show is hilarious. Air America has been, like the Democratic campaigns, unsurprisingly, extremely negative. It's depressing to listen to. In contrast, even when things go bad, Rush stays positive.
In addition, the hosts on the network (disclaimer, I've mostly only heard Rhodes since she's on during drive time) seem to be among the liberal "kool-aid" drinkers. I was hoping I could turn to Air America for a reasonable liberal perspective on the issues -- maybe they'd highlight aspects the conservative hosts don't cover or don't emphasize -- but all I hear is the most (as the LA Times author pointed out) unoriginal liberal clichés. Just listening a few minutes at a time, I've heard statements like "Bush obviously lied about WMD's" (which is an opinion no reasonable person can hold), and statements comparing Bush to Hitler.
Ultimately, the network is not driven by the free market, but is beholden to the Soros's of the world who finance them. Unlike conservative radio, where, based on principle, I hear the hosts criticizing Bush and conservatives all the time, Air America seems to be only a mouthpiece for the Democratic party. The most liberal individuals and groups finance them, and you can't help but consider that that hurts their objectivity and credibility.
Update (4/26): Cool, I'm da man. I don't think I've ever been da man before. 
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Permalink
Feel free to post a comment below. Please see my comment policy.
Formatting Rules (No HTML):