RW Hack Hit Piece on AAR in LA Times.

[onehandle]

FYI, It's bull. AAR is doing fine.

The author:
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/anderson.htm

The hit piece Commentary:

Why the Liberals Can't Keep Air America From Spiraling

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-anderson18apr18,0,7147223.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

[Merlot]

1. From the "newspaper" that kept carping on Grey Davis?

Gosh, hard to believe...

[physioex]

2. Ohhh Please....

Those little shits complain too much when they are the ones in majority.......

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. He does make one good point: the RW shows tend to be...

more entertaining. They are slicker, better produced, by people who have an ear for what people can realistically absorb. There tends to be variety and pacing in the RW shows ( Limbaugh is an exception). Example: monologue, followed by calls, followed by newsmaker or book interview, followed by some kind of political spoof/parody. The cycle repeats.

By contrast, Randi Rhodes, is a three hour drudge-athon: Randi complaining about X; Randi astonished by Y; Randi outraged by Z.

It's hard to listen to... even when you agree. OTOH, Franken is better. Moves seamlessly back across the line from serious commentary to satire and is quite good at both.A good deal is not overtly political. No surprise, Franken's ratings are the best at AAR.

Most of the other AAR on air folks are closer to Randi than they are to Al, style-wise. But they're doing OK; AAR is in its infancy , so I'll cut them some slack.

[zann725]

13. While I'm a great fan of AAR, and think that article is crap...

Franken is my LEAST favorite show on AAR. He's so middle-of-the-road, so safe.

While Randi does rant, her show is so well-researched, I always learn something from listening to her show. (On the Right, Limbaugh makes a living from ranting. No one complains.)

And other AAR shows such as Laura Flaunders, Morning Sedition and Ring of Fire are AM Radio "professional."

Their ratings and number of stations are skyrocketing, and it's not only from the "message."

[physioex]

16. I agree the right is slicker...

But look they stoop down to the lowest common denominator. It's easy to convince Americans to buy an SUV, but try and sell em a 4 cylinder Camry. Try and sell americans a value meal and McDonalds then try and sell them fresh fruits and vegetables........

My point is that it is very easy to appeal to a persons reptilian insticts but harder to engage them intellectually......

[Smarmie Doofus]

22. No argument about that. But...

I really think we have to learn from them in this area. And we have... the material that was produced by Move.on and others in the '04 campaign were top-notch, IMHO; much better than the left has produced previously in terms of potential to persuade.

But the RW understands the process much better since it's corporate in nature... and the corporate world wrote the book about this ( i.e. persuasion).

PS: "reptilian instincts"... I like it.

[physioex]

23. Why thank you very much....

But I cannot take credit. The term was coined by the marketing strategy of the Hummer. I saw it on a documentary once...... :)

[safi0]

24. I gotta admit I agree

with this. I simply don't enjoy Randi's show. The structure is a lot like a Left-wing Limbuagh, in that her show is pretty much her ranting for 4 hrs. obviously she takes phone calls so that puts her about a thousand notches ahead of Limbaugh and while I want Randi to be successful I can't listen to her show for more than a half an hour consecutively. Al on the other hand while he may be too moderate for some people's tastes hes got a great mix of satire and with the exception of Mark Luther usually gets great guests. When I'm at the computer during the 2-5 period I usually listen to the much more moderate Schultz instead of Randi for one main reason and that's guests. Randi never has guests on her show, while Schultz gets a who's-who of Democratic leaders on his show.

[vince3]

4. The right is afraid of AAR

Their monopoly is shrinking all the time. Pretty soon they are going to be receiving a fair fight.

[FreedomAngel82]

17. You got it vince3

They are afraid of AAR. Remember a lot of them kept saying it wasn't going to work and people don't want to listen to liberal radio? Too bad, it worked! 53 stations and strong. I wish we could get them here. *sigh* That would be nice. But for now I'll stick to listening to them online. I'm glad they're doing so well and in such a short ammount of time too! It took the republicans thirty years to get to where they are now. Look how far AAR has gotten in a year! It's amazing.

[ComerPerro]

5. Yeah. The media is liberal, but Air America is failing because

no one wants to hear liberal ideas.

Right.

No one can honestly hold all of the conflicting Conservative "beliefs" at the same time.

[FreedomAngel82]

18. Isn't it funny?

Now they can't claim "liberal media" because if the media was liberal AAR wouldn't be on just 53 stations. So they kinda fucked up that.

[driver8]

6. I read this article this morning and almost choked on my cereal...

Especially this paragraph:

"Sure, talk radio is partisan, sometimes overheated. But it's also a source of argument and information. Together with Fox News and the blogosphere, it has given the right a chance to break through the liberal monoculture and be heard. For that, anyone who supports spirited public debate should be grateful."

The "liberal monoculture"?? "Spirited public debate?" Give me a freakin' break. Is that what Rush Limbaugh does every morning...spirited public debate?

This guy needs to pull his head out of the sand.

[illini]

7. Did you notice that he never names a liberal by name except for..

Cuomo who failed. He does mention Air America by name but not as many times as he mentions conservatives by name. HMMMMM???

[illini]

8. Also...

he makes an unfair comparison to Bennet's show and the whole network. Bennet has a built in audience AAR doesn't. You can put Bennet in some other cons spot and the audience will never blink an eye. How many people even know AAR are is on the air yet. I think their growth is good. I am not sure about Springer though.

[zulchzulu]

10. On the Springer thing...

I've tried giving him a listen a few times...not sure if he's good for the fight...he's a tad stale and has the baggage someone like Geraldo has for the "Right".

I could do without him and Marty Kaplan on AAR. We need to draft Bernie Ward.

[FreedomAngel82]

19. I like Bernie and Springer

I like them both. :)

[zulchzulu]

9. Sounds like someone doth protest too much...

AAR is doing fine and it's scaring the Rethugs.

Perfect!

[bluestateguy]

11. Air America is slowly, but surely creeping into every major media market

A few new stations every month. You don't unravel 20 years of a conservative monopoly over talk radio overnight, or in one year. Evidently, Clear Channel Communications, long a venue for conservative programs, thinks that AA has promise because they keep signing up new stations all over the country. It's going to take time, but I'm pleased with where AA is today.

His remarks on the arbitron ratings (which many advertisers routinely ignore) do not include the many listeners Air America gets from the internet.

This guy may think he knows how conservatives think, and I'll grant him that, but if he thinks he knows how liberals think with regard to the media he is out of his mind. I know of no liberals who are "satisfied" with the MSM. The corporate consolidation. The celebrity show trials. The pack journalism mentality. The glorification of war and militarism. I know of no liberal who likes the MSM in the least bit.

[KharmaTrain]

21. Ratings Realities

I posted this earlier, but worth posting again.

About Bennett...as someone above properly noted, he's got a built-in network. His show is syndicated by Salem who OWNS most of the stations he's on...and a majority of them are the power of your blowdryer and have very, very small audiences. 300 stations in places like Roast Beef, Kansas and Mayberry, North Carolina doesn't mean popularity...just like that red (or if you're Jeff Gunkert...Green) map. Salem stations reach more ears of corn than human ears.

A majority of the AAR stations are in major markets that cover more with one signal, than Salem does with a dozen. While AAR isn't on the biggest stations, yet, Progressive talk is showing a lot of promise and if it continues to grow, so will the quality of the stations its on...or other similar stations.

Regarding the ratings, this goon was quoting 12 plus numbers...yes, again as noted above, one advertisers ignore. AAR does well with the 18-35 and 25-54 target audiences...and the audience profiles and market testing (things this moron wouldn't have a clue about) are attracting more and more interest to the format.

My major complaint is the need to localize these stations and open the doors to more local voices and personalities. The real success of this format is when it's talking local and national and tie Democrat and Progressive ideas together like the Conservatives do.

The hallmark you're doing well or making an impact is when your target competitor says you're not making an impact...or you're on the edge of failure.

There's a lot of changes about to happen in broadcasting...satellite, internet/celluar/wi-fi radio and other alternatives...those who are poised to meet the future will create the new rules.

Cheers

[mountainvue]

12. That article is long on bullshit and

short on facts.

[MattP]

15. Air America

If Air America wasn't making them scared they wouldn't be saying shit!

[FreedomAngel82]

20. So true

Whenever they whine and kick and scream about something the democrats are doing they're on the right track. Isn't it nice to see them squirm in their undies?

[Nothing Without Hope]

14. Biased article by REGNERY HACK. AL FRANKEN MUST BE ALLOWED RESPONSE!

This was a real slash job. I recommend reading the entire article, you will be shocked. It's labeled as a "commentary." If they don't allow Al Franken to respond, this partisan attack will be allowed to stand unchallenged. Al, of course, would pin this fool's neocon ears if given a chance.

After a long series of lies and distortions, Anderson concludes with this final diatribe:

Sure, talk radio is partisan, sometimes overheated. But it's also a source of argument and information. Together with Fox News and the blogosphere, it has given the right a chance to break through the liberal monoculture and be heard. For that, anyone who supports spirited public debate should be grateful.

Then, in the note at the end, we get to the only true statement in the whole travesty:

Brian C. Anderson is senior editor of City Journal and author of "South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias," newly released from Regnery.

Does anyone know if Al Franken plans to respond, and if so, whether the LAT will print it in the same amount of space? I just checked the AAR site and the associated blog and saw nothing related. I'll sending an email to AAR. Surely they know about this LAT article, but who knows? Here's the Al Franken Show blog site: http://www.airamericaradio.com/weblogs/alfrankenshow More messages would be good. He really needs to respond to this travesty of an article.