"No Measurable Audience"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Good bye. I wonder how long the CBC would last if it were privatised?

With Jerry Springer for a host that must have been one serous show.:)

Well, at least Rosie's/Fonda's/Steinham's Leftist Womens Network (or whatever it'll be called) won't have its audience share split!

It's not fair!!!!

This is promising... hardly anyone listening to leftists.

Everyone is, however, listening to conservatives.

Very promising.

Or perhaps leftists are too busy getting stoned and/or screwing their brains out to bother to even listen to leftwing radio? Could they be even that out of touch with the world?

Maybe leftist radio "personalities" are too crappy, on the other hand, to listen to?

Gotta admit it's a mystery...

Oh, those poor, poor, pitiful leftists...

Maybe Air America should tell the ACLU to end the persecution of the Boy Scouts of America so that Air America will have at least one organization left that it can try to swindle for funds.

Who's surprised. Along those lines, as per Drudge, vacuous Katy Couric, is sinking like a rock in ratings - like we need another bimbo on the airwaves. CBS is last place now in only a week after the big hyped debut. The lefty agenda driven alphabet networks can't re-arrange the deck chairs on their Titanics fast enough. We aren't watching anymore.

Whatever happened to Al Gore's cable debut? I vaguely remember the hype.

To both of them? At the same time? All I can say is WOW!

Yaaaaaaaaa

I will now need to be deprogrammed after spending about 2 minutes at that site.......ugh!

Canadian Sentinel

I can assure you that screwing does not cause one to one's his mind. One loses one's mind by being forced to write exam papers that will get an A grade from left-wingnut professors; or watching the CBC without the antidote of FOX NEWS; or reading the Toronto Star without the antidote of the National Post.

I'd edit Terry Gain's comment, if it was my publication, to "One loses one's mind by reading the Toronto Star without the antidote of Small Dead Animals..."

(The National Post, when the Aspers took over went downhill pretty fast: no Mark Steyn, no David Frum, no Christie Blatchford...'don't get it anymore...)

ms couric is plummeting in the ratings?

tsk tsk tsk.

after all that plastic surgery too (see w3 dot awfulplasticsurgery dot com/)

I have not seen a single broadcast hosted by this woman. not interested in the fluff.

didnt she once go on the telly with a surgical camera up her arse?

Well, at least they failed "honestly". By that, I mean that they started up with a modest budget and audience and failed without any government support or bail-outs. We all know how this would play out in Canada...heavy lobbying for government hand-outs to ensure "choice for the listening public."

Al Franken is the biggest drama-queen/BS specialist I have ever heard of in the area of political commentary. At least everyone now knows that he is also a failure.

The part of the article I found most interesting was the lament that there would soon be only one voice to listen to in America...that of "Big Brother."

Mr. Pot, I'd like you to meet Mr. Kettle.

In the early days of Rush Limbaugh, the leftist push to have him (and those who soon followed him) taken off the air was very loud and very public. Conservatives have never pushed for the banning of any leftist commentators - at least not that I have ever heard of. Heck, in 1994 (I think) the Clintons approached Steven Speilberg to enquire about raising money to fund some sort of liberal counter to Limbaugh.

With Air America, they had this liberal answer to conservatism. It failed on its own merits. Where's this Big Brother crap coming from? Oh wait...I am so stupid...It's part of the vast right-wing conspiracy and I am just a capitalist "shill" (I think that's the word they use).

Mayhap the term "neocon facist" can only be repeated so many times before people just quit listening.

I think Air America tanked because liberals just aren't funny. You have to have a sense of humour to succeed in radio, and simply insulting people and calling them names isn't enough.

Conservatives can be very biting and satirical. Remember South Park Conservatives? That book essentially said that conservatives were funny and liberals weren't. Liberals are too into hate and too politically correct to be able to make jokes or even see the humour in things anymore.

The Blue Collar Comedy Tour (Jeff Foxworthy, etc.) are funny because they are totally un-p.c.

Simply saying Bush is a chimp is not enough to get you ratings. You have to be likeable. You have to sound like someone people would like to have a coffee with. Liberals just don't. And that's why left-wing radio will never thrive (without government support) like conservative radio does.

Hey Sheila cut them some slack.
I think Jean Crouton was funnier than a drunken uncle.
Its just too bad that a lot of world leaders happened to agree with me..

But But....I thought that EVERYONE wanted a Left Wing Syndicated Talk Radio broadcaster!!!

Could it be that is NOT the case?

They should give it up and put out a podcast through a series of tubes.

been around the block,

Re your 7:36 post: Good edit. Otherwise a typically great post?

To succeed in the talk radio game you have to have some entertainment value. When all you do is call Bush a moron or chimp and say that all right wing people are just fascist warmongers people start to say "hey didn't I hear this show yesterday" and turn the dial.

Yeah, Gain, great, just great!

I dunno... I think Al is good enough, he's smart enough, and, gosh darn it, people like him! Er, maybe not...

A great illustration of the intellectual bankruptcy of the left. The left ran out of good ideas a long time ago and simply became a protest movement.

Rather than put forth good policy and good ideas for a rapidly changing world, they were simply content to sit back and let the right do the thinking.

Then they simply oppose or protest against anything (and I mean anything) that is produced by the right. Simply to oppose it.

This aging demographic of campus radicals does have huge numbers, which gives the left credibility at election time, and they do love to show up at the mutually masturbatory protest rallys, but beyond that they simply cannot be bothered to be interested much in the world around them.

And as others have pointed out, even aging radicals find it boring to listen to other aging radicals bark at the moon.

So Al, Janeane et al - welcome to the real world. This is what its like when you get out of the echo chamber. You do not matter. Even to your own.

I don't think the problem is lack of humor or entertainment value. I haven't listened to their radio shows, but both Franken and Garofalo can be very funny, entertaining people. I think the problem is a lack of viable and compelling ideas.

All I have heard coming from the Left, (I refuse to use their term "progressive" because so much of their ideology is regressive), is "Chimpy McHaliburton", "neocon fascists", etc. All they offer are these clever slogans and obscene, baseless conspiracy theories. I imagine it's hard to fill a 3 hour spots for 365 days and maintain and audience with insults and pure bullshit.

I've heard no new proposals coming from the Left to move the country forward. Kerry proposed none, even during the Presidential campaign. The only conclusion a sane person can come to is that the left is completely out of ideas. Ideologically bankrupt.

When someone who purports themselves to be up to the challenge of debating gets themself reduced to tears in front of TV cameras it does not bode well for their future as a public commentator.
Al Franken was obliterated by Bill O'Rielly and all Franken had to comeback with was name calling and tears. Name calling, tears, whining is all the left has to lean on.....so when push comes to shove they go away crying every time.
The bottom line for most of the Right Side pundits is that once they get their audience to understand that all the superior posturing and self righteous rhetoric they've been subjected to by the lefties is BS and no different from the bluster of a child bully.....those folks start fighting back.

That's why on those conservative talk radio shows you get such vehement response. Anti-con callers are desperate to prove their not full of shit. The neo-con converts are anxious to give some well deserved smack down to the lefties. Polarized? Yep.

So where does this leave a Lib Talk venture like Air America.....well even a cretin like Franken or a miserable Bitch like Garofalo can only stand to breath their own fumes for so long...but they did last longer than most of their audience.

BTW ... Ward 9:21 pm ...well put.

Oh well, I see my post is redundant with many of the previous postings.

The question for conservatives is how do we break through to our substantial hordes of emotional populist socialist zombie sloganeers and convince them to live in the real world?

If the mainstream media would allow for a real free market of ideas, there would be no problem. As it is, there is a big problem. Any solutions?

Shouldn't they tax the people and force the public to pay for these guys? Oh, wait, that's Canada...

...but what about the children?!

"When someone who purports themselves to be up to the challenge of debating gets themself reduced to tears in front of TV cameras it does not bode well for their future as a public commentator."

When did that happen?

They failed because they were dishonest with their audience.

RightWingDeathBeast Radio (RWDBR) blasts Republicans when they are stupid (happens a lot).

LeftWingBarkingMoonbat Radio (LWBMR) never strays from the Dialy Kos talking points. When a Democrat does something stupid (happens a lot) you'll never hear about it on LWBMR.

Liberals listen to Rush and love it when he points out some new foible of the stupid party. Air America never pointed out the foibles of the evil party.

Could that be because Rust et al are not Republicans but are conservatives who can point out problems with that party.....while Air America types are really the embodiment of the mainstream Democrat party and don't want to stray?

Hard to tell, I tried to listen to the NYC station a couple of times on my commute...they basically sucked. They weren't as funny as the moonbat Imus nor as infuriating as the commie Ron Kuby. They gave me no reason to listen.

....the repetitious 20 minute news channel was more interesting.

TedL.Nancy..When did that happen?
Can't recall the exact date but it was just around the time of the Launch of Air America!

There was a big kerfuffel about Franken Badmouthing O'Rielly and O'rielly called him on it. Franken appeared as a guest on O'Rielly's show and got a verbal ass kicking. I do remember that O'Rielly was way over the top what with yelling at Franken to "SHUT the Hell Up" and so on....

I actually got into a forum debate with Glen Beck about what a bully O'Rielly is ( and I think he is a bully ) but the bottom line is that Franken was just too much of a wimp and lost it when Bad Bill covered all his stupid assertions.
In spite of calling Bill a Liar over and over it was Frankens mindless repetition of those BS liberal spit balls that O'Rielly blew his stack over.

I think it is insulting to have someone throw sensless and baseless jargon and assumptions at you in place of an argument. Go aheaad a call me names. Just don't come to a gun fight with spit balls! ;)

I remember that.Can't say when it was, but it was quite funny...worthy of an Sat night skit. I wish Ann Coulter could debate Pete Pansbridge, he'd need depends.
Maz2 to clean up CBC please. Watching cbc on Mon was akin to watching a really bad sitcom actor(think trouble with tracy)trying to well up the tears,...pinch me please, and pass the onions.

Al Franken is about as entertaining as gum stuck to your shoe. Who would have thought that his and Garofalo's inane recitations would finally come to tears and bankruptcy.

The big losers here are the people who bankrolled the whole Airhead America project. Then again, serves 'em right.

"The question for conservatives is how do we break through to our substantial hordes of emotional populist socialist zombie sloganeers and convince them to live in the real world?

If the mainstream media would allow for a real free market of ideas, there would be no problem. As it is, there is a big problem. Any solutions?"

Good questions!
How about a) Keep telling the truth! AND b) Keep telling the truth!

Admit your mistakes and be sure to point out your enemies.

Keep pointing out the falseness and lies being spread by the self serving and do it even when those you think are fighting with you are the guilty parties.

I'd like to see Anne Coulter One on One with Hillary Clinton.

On Big Network TV so everyone would get it!
I think Anne is about the most ferocious expositor in the world.....she can find any weakness in an argument and use it as an openening to shred the opponent.

"watching the CBC without the antidote of FOX NEWS"

I guess everyone needs a laugh after watching a depressing episode of The Nature of Things.

Re: the left's cash flow.. Finally (finally!!!!)turfed the T. Star subscription a few weeks back (and feeling so much less soiled), really missing anything by Siddiqui especially, talk about screaming back at TV/radio/newsprint..he's on the editorial board, enough said. Give the Post some credit....A. Coyne great article in today's Post...check it out, basically about deciding "which side you're on"... off topic CBC tonight had W. Kookier on to blame PMSH and the Cons for the Montreal shootings...
still surrounded by the red menace in the GTA...but we're working on it!

Franken was on some program, Cross Fire or maybe Larry King and predicted that within a very short time he would have Rush off the air as his viewers and sponsors would go away. Bill Press also said the same thing. Anyone watching Katies replacement on the Today Show, and how is she doing. What about Rosie on the View. ABC got rid of their female news anchor. 15M/yr for Katie seems a big waste of money for CBS, for how many years. Didn't Gore buy part of the CBC network.
With err America gone, just 60 days before midterms in Nov, and Bush's numbers improving, Clintons failure to pull the Path to 9/11, it has been a bad week for the liberal leftists and Dems in America.

Do not underestimate the Left's cash cows. George Soros has enough money to by a bizillion minds (and he has). Also, the BBC and CBC are mammoth in their markets, and the BBC market is worldwide. The French and German government owned press are more localized, but more vile than all the others put together and free speech laws for individuals are so weak it's not a right.

I don't think conservative Canadians have any concept of the real problems posed by state owned socialist press. How to break the monopoly, I don't konw.

Audience? We don't need no stinking audience.

Don't laugh too much yet. The lingering death of Err America should provide sustantial impetus for a revival of the FCC's Fairness Doctrine from Congress.

I'm gonna look for it. I can imagine him breaking down in my head, and I think it would be quite hilarious. When he gets really upset he's always kinda borderline ready to cry he's so upset.

"I think Air America tanked because liberals just aren't funny."

You know, I think that's the nub of the issue: the Left just isn't (intentionally) funny. Let's face it, who on the "progressive" side of the political spectrum comes close to a P.J. O'Rourke or a Mark Steyn for humorous political writing?

Part of this is because the Left demands so much weighty seriousness*: there's no room for self-deprecating wisecracks in that; every potential opportunity for a joke (unless it's about Bush or Anne Coulter or "fundies"**) has to be tediously assessed to ensure it does not offend gays, single mothers, the Taliban, the vertically-challenged and so forth.

* And as P.J. once wrote:

"Seriousness is stupidity sent to college." Al Gore and Dr Suzuki - take note!

** As "Larqs" pointed out, this quickly becomes tiresome and repetitive if you're not a varsity sophomore with a few brews under your belt. Indeed, by insisting on creating a caricature of Bush, rather than focussing on the real person, the Left has effectively headed down a blind alley.

I am so sad....NOT!

Keep in mind that Air America filing for Chapter 11 (which hasn't happened yet) does not mean it will cease operations. There will be a restructuring, and I imagine it will go on in some form. Sam Seder (an AA host) wrote on his blog that the network has definitely suffered from bad management.

I think the whole business model was unrealistically ambitious. They tried to set up a network that would agree to run all their programming, just about all the time. I believe that syndicating a certain number of stronger programs makes more economic sense, because some of their shows do have a good following in specific markets and on the internet.

"ThinkProgress commented that ' ... In fact, Air America succeeded at creating something that didn't exist: the progressive talk radio format.'"

Nonsense. So-called progressive talk radio existed long before Air America. It fails because the people won't listen to it. Rabid anti-American, anti-capitalism, pro-Socialism radio is not what everyday folks want to listen to.

Bob Lassiter was a left-wing talk-show host here in the Tampa Bay area for years. I enjoyed his program. But he was unlike so many of the lefties trying to be 'progressive' talk-show hosts. He let the callers - many of whom were conservatives - speak their minds. He expected them to back up their assertions with facts, but he let them speak. Al and Janeane are shouters. Shout down the righties, curse at the righties, try to live off of the SNL-style sphomoric humor of the late 70s. And never let the facts influence them.

I'll stick with Neal Boortz and Rush Limbaugh, thank you.

Goodnight, Air America. We hardly cared about ye!

You can only fool some of the people some of the time. You can't fool all the people all the time.
Most of the people that can be fooled by these fools don't even buy soap. What are the advertisers to do?

So, basing an entire network on "Oh no it isn't!" is a bad idea?!

benning: "Al and Janeane are shouters. Shout down the righties, curse at the righties, try to live off of the SNL-style sphomoric humor of the late 70s."

While that might be true of some of the AA hosts, Al Franken isn't a shouter. I don't know if you've actually heard his show. Yes, he gets his kicks taking shots at right wing figures, and his humour on that might miss the mark a good deal of the time. And his books contain more than their fair share of ad hominem arguments. But if you ever actually cut through his schtick and listen to his own political views, he's far from extreme. He invites conservative guests on his show and doesn't shout them down like a Hannity or O'Reilly would with liberals. (When was the last time Limbaugh had a civil discussion with a liberal guest?)

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