Air America DOA
It took a little longer than we thought, but everyone knew the day would come that Air America, the network of liberal talk radio shows intended to challenge Rush Limbaugh's dominance, would die. There were at least three very good reasons for the Chapter 11 filing that Air America began late last week:
1) Lack of market. As Rush says tirelessly, the Left has a firm monopoly on opinion at CNN, MSNBC, NPR, PBS television, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine, Newsweek, etc. ad nauseum. The nightly news on ABC, CBS and NBC also tilt Left, (especially CBS, which has used forged documents to affect the outcome of a presidential election) so there really was nothing new that the liberals could bring to radio. Therefore, Air America never even tried to survive using market forces, ie. never relied on ads for financial support. Instead, donors like George Soros purchased air time for the hosts to use.
2) Liberals don't listen to the radio. They watch TV and movies. Judging from the growth of the netroots, there are easily enough liberals in the country to support radio hosts if only they wanted to listen. Yet, for eighteen years, no liberal talk show host has even begun to approach the listenership of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Neal Boortz, and all of the smaller conservative hosts who have multiplied like kudzu in the last decade. Fundamentally, it must be true that liberals don't listen to the radio.
3) My favorite reason: lack of creativity. This is a plague on the Left, manifesting itself in a number of areas. I never listened to Air America, but the lack of creativity diagnosis is inescapable if one only considers the title of the featured show. Al Franken brought his views to light with "The O'Franken Factor," a highly unoriginal aping of Bill O'Reilly's highly successful TV show on Fox News.
For more examples of lack of creativity, consider last week. Three books by liberal authors appeared: Brainless, Soulless, and the creatively titled I Hate Ann Coulter. All three books attack Lady Ann, but the first two merely mimick her last book's title and the third one is even less creative. Fox News interviewed Susan Estrich about her contribution, Soulless, during news coverage at about 2:00 in the afternoon last Tuesday, I believe. Point of fact: Estrich's book will not likely be a bestseller. When was the last time you saw CNN interview Ann Coulter about any one of her five #1 Bestsellers?
1) Lack of market. As Rush says tirelessly, the Left has a firm monopoly on opinion at CNN, MSNBC, NPR, PBS television, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine, Newsweek, etc. ad nauseum. The nightly news on ABC, CBS and NBC also tilt Left, (especially CBS, which has used forged documents to affect the outcome of a presidential election) so there really was nothing new that the liberals could bring to radio. Therefore, Air America never even tried to survive using market forces, ie. never relied on ads for financial support. Instead, donors like George Soros purchased air time for the hosts to use.
2) Liberals don't listen to the radio. They watch TV and movies. Judging from the growth of the netroots, there are easily enough liberals in the country to support radio hosts if only they wanted to listen. Yet, for eighteen years, no liberal talk show host has even begun to approach the listenership of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Neal Boortz, and all of the smaller conservative hosts who have multiplied like kudzu in the last decade. Fundamentally, it must be true that liberals don't listen to the radio.
3) My favorite reason: lack of creativity. This is a plague on the Left, manifesting itself in a number of areas. I never listened to Air America, but the lack of creativity diagnosis is inescapable if one only considers the title of the featured show. Al Franken brought his views to light with "The O'Franken Factor," a highly unoriginal aping of Bill O'Reilly's highly successful TV show on Fox News.
For more examples of lack of creativity, consider last week. Three books by liberal authors appeared: Brainless, Soulless, and the creatively titled I Hate Ann Coulter. All three books attack Lady Ann, but the first two merely mimick her last book's title and the third one is even less creative. Fox News interviewed Susan Estrich about her contribution, Soulless, during news coverage at about 2:00 in the afternoon last Tuesday, I believe. Point of fact: Estrich's book will not likely be a bestseller. When was the last time you saw CNN interview Ann Coulter about any one of her five #1 Bestsellers?
posted by Bountyhawk at 9:56 AM
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