I am glad that Air America is still alive. But the only show I listen to is Stephanie Miller and she is not even produced by Air America, she is just picked up by them. I guess my problem with most of the stuff on Air America is that it is just like Right Wing yelling except that I agree with a lot more of it.

Maybe they should have done something different with the format other than just "opposite of Rush Limbdick and Mike Savage". I mean, we are liberals, the smart kids in class, the creative kids. Why do we have to copy the right wings radio format? Do not get me wrong, I love the idea of a liberal alternative but I think it was copied too much on the right wing template.

I just can't believe that Al Frankin is going to run for Senate. I know he was a friend of Senator Paul Wellstone but damn am I the only one who remembers that both attempts to get a radio talk show host elected in Washington state failed?

I agree. Most of the shows are dull. Miller's is alright, although she can play fast and loose with the facts.

Harttman is a bore. The guy can't go an entire show without talking about the Teapot Dome Scandal or Andrew Carnegie. His show is about 100 years too late.

Franken would be a fun candidate, and had a good show until his co-host left. She was a radio pro and knew how to do a show. He just stutters and stammers now. And what's up with his sidekick? The guy sounds and talks exactly like Al. I'm glad his show is coming to an end.

Overall, this is just postponing the inevitable: Air America will fold eventually.

"Air America will fold eventually."
Bullshit. Democrats are an electoral majority in this country.

I love Air America, and I'm not afraid to admit it (that's one of the nice things about being too old to be a hipster. I haven't got time to be ironic anymore ;-)

I found Franken's show to be interesting and informative, and I shall miss it, but if he's running for Senate, I'll all for him - he'd be great. I am also a particular fan of "Ring of Fire" with RFK Jr and Mike Pappantonio (I'm sure I slaughtered the spelling there), and I think Rachel Maddow is one of the best radio hosts out there. She's smart and funny and much more interesting than NPR's tired old "All things Considered", particularly with it's constipated local Seattle component.

btw, It's interesting how you can always tell the people who have never listened to Air America, but still want to criticize it: They talk about it being a "talk radio" network. Actually, only a few hosts actually take phone calls on a regular basis.

I used to listen, especially leading up to the 2004 elections, but couldn't take listening to the same handful of crappy commercials over and over.

No wonder they had financial problems when their ad sales staff couldn't get a better variety of sponsors than Dave Oreck and his bagless vacuum every 20 minutes or so.

They have trouble getting national advertisers because of organized corporate resistance:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200610310008

But the Seattle affiliate has a lot of local support.

One Word: Podcasts :-)

#2, I have to agree with you about Stephanie and playing with the facts. But hell, I subscribe to her podcast and listen to it at times.

We need to start something in Seattle for the radio that is totally liberal, funny as hell, totally fresh and edgy enough to cut through a variety of demographics. Any ideas?

As a happy Leftist, I never even bothered to find Air America on the dial. I don't want people to merely reiterate my point of view, I want REAL DEBATE!
Let's have a radio or TV show where the secretaries-general of each political party (I guess that would be, uh, TWO here in the US) actually debate the topics of the day... EVERY WEEK!
Or how about getting the secondary or tertiary leaders of various foreign countries to come and discuss national and international matters with our political secondaries.
Now THAT would be interesting.
Ergo, it will never happen in the USofA.

Maybe they'll be successful after all. Stephanie Miller and Randi Rhodes are already emulating Rush and Medved by telling us constantly how we should own gold. Jesus, that scam never goes away. Economy's down? Excellent time to buy gold! Economy's up? Still an excellent time to buy gold!

Next, we'll hear Malloy screaming "Buy gold, you sonofabitch! It's an excellent time for gold, you bastard!"

A possible future and a path to attain it, assuming Al Franken is interested:

http://gregladen.com/wordpress/?p=251