Air America Bankruptcy

Well, I have a bad head cold this weekend, so I'm going to try to catch up on my blogging instead of going to Fall for Greenville. (Ugh.) I also have a funeral to attend this weekend. (Double ugh.)

This item about Air America Radio (AAR)--that they are filing bankruptcy--came onto my radar today and I want to say a little about it.

The only way we in Upstate SC could listen to AAR on a regular basis (those of us without satellite radio, I mean) is by streaming it to our computers. Once in a blue moon, I did so at night or on a weekend day, when I wasn't otherwise busy. I'd have liked very much to be able to listen to it over the airwaves during the workday--especially to hear the terrific Thom Hartmann.

Though I wasn't able to listen much, I'm familiar with a number of the folks whose shows AAR syndicated. And that's what AAR was, really--a network that, while having some of its own original programming, also syndicated a number of the already-popular liberal talk shows. Much of the *really high-quality* liberal content on Air America was, IMO, produced by others and was merely syndicated TO AAR. And that content will continue to air through other venues elsewhere, just as it always has. I'm talking about folks like Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller, the fantastic Mike Malloy (who is Georgia-based and who, LOL, actually *got himself fired* from AAR), Laura Flanders, and the aforementioned Thom Hartmann.

I certainly hope Rachel Maddow lands on her feet--she is reputed to be one of the best and brightest of the liberal talkers, even to the point of having caught the attention of the turdish Rush Limbaugh.

I will say right out, I'm one who doesn't like entertainers talking about politics, unless they have some "street cred." Bruce Springsteen is a pretty good example of an entertainer who does.

But to me, folks like Jerry Springer, Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo (and I have liked *all* her movies, let me say) ... they seemed more like conservatives' wet-dream caricatures of liberals... again, just my NSHO. Randi Rhodes is extremely well informed, and I commend her for that, but her style can be somewhat caricaturish also. I don't think we benefit from having comedy caricatures on liberal radio... we need "real people" (not the rich and the rarefied) being funny and talking about real problems and real solutions. People like me, actually. :-) LOL.

I read some of the blog entries at AAR about its bankruptcy, and clearly, some conservatives are elated about this. But I do owe thanks to a conservative blogger (The Random Yak) for helping me put into words a certain idea I've had about AAR for a long time.

The Yak calls AAR "a donation-based political campaign masquerading as an income-generating business." Though the rest of Yak's observations about AAR were either outright lies or garden-variety conservative tripe, that one phrase really helped me out.

I suspect AAR was an income-generating business masquerading as a liberal network. Even from the early days of AAR, there was so much focus on funding... obviously Soros (LOL, isn't he the only liberal financier around these days?) didn't think AAR was a good investment, and my observations about syndication above support that idea. Heck, *I* wouldn't underwrite someone doing *anything* if I thought they were just in it for the money... how stupid would that be?

Anyway, thanks for helping me out with that, Yak... sort of... ya big jerk. :-)

So, I'm not sorry to see AAR go away (if, in the end, that's what happens). I think it will free up some terrific talent and resources to go elsewhere and that really, this was needed.