Ah well. I never listened.

Air America had 2 major problems:
1) It tried too hard not to be sensational. While the right-wingnuts were ranting and raving and spewing vile accusations about liberals, Air America was as bland as skim milk.

2) When you are trying to counteract pro-business media, it is very difficult to get business to support you.

I listened for a year or two—mainly for Franken—but of late, eh, not so much. As gloveshot points out, it did become bland to the point of being tiresome (and boy, did the few advertisers they did have make awful ads).

MSNBC seems to do a better job, overall. But still, it’s sad to see the only left-leaning talk radio station go down while so many on the other side seem to thrive.

I always thought the left had NPR/PRI. I’m not comparing NPR to the blathering, misinformed, shrill right-wing rants that host Limbaugh, Coulter, and so forth. But that’s what the left listens to:  Morning Edition, All Things Considered, This American Life.

NPR is left like a balloon is sharp. Around my house NPR stands for Nice Polite Republicans. And Randi Rhodes was pretty controversial at times, especially in the early days.

...and that’s what got her kicked off off Air America. I don’t quite remember the context, but I think she said something untoward re. Hillary during the primaries. Nothing that I thought was all that bad (and I was in that camp back then)—but I guess it wasn’t PC enough for a highly PC set-up).

Randi’s “interview” with Nadar was, in my opinion, more of what AA should have been doing: shrill, iconoclastic, unreasonable and great radio.

AA—ah well. They tried.

I always thought it was a doomed enterprise, if for no other reason than that lefties don’t seem to have the same psychological need to have their worldview reinforced (nor require hours of daily angrifying.)

/$.02

(And you could stand all the Dead bumper music on Franken? From the days when Dennis Miller was funny - I swear it was so: You know my favorite Grateful Dead song? The short one.)

And you could stand all the Dead bumper music on Franken?

I kinda tuned that out. Same as some of the “bits” that just were not all that funny. But when he spoke, he was very clear, very informed, and very precise. Damn, he had facts to back him up. Sadly, listeners could give a shit about that: give them yells and vitriol and they are happy as pigs in shit.