Tab article on Air America Radio

[Dan Strassberg]

If you heard Malloy, although I can't imagine you'd agree with him, you
might just think his show is GOOD radio. I find it absolutely compelling!
Now, part of that is because I agree with him, but he is not simply
anti-Bush; he is anti the entire Republican establishment and everything it
stands for. And BTW, Fox News seems to be doing just fine with a slate of
right wingnuts who are no less extreme on the right than Malloy is on the
left. I say "seems to be" because I don't have cable, so I can't watch Fox
news, nor would I. My impressions of Fox News are based on what I've heard
about it, not what I've seen of it. But remember, the number of
left-of-center people in the nation is almost equal to the number of
right-of-center people. (Some say the number left of center is greater than
the number of right-of-center, but that doesn't have to be true for me to
make my point.) You don't have to have a product that appeals to 100% of the
population to have a commercially viable product. Salem's talk product
probably appeals to only 20% or so of the population. Even so, I would be
surprised if Salem's talk network isn't already making money. My impression
is that Salem is a very well managed company. Maybe they are willing to
support the talk network even if it loses money because they feel that the
message is so important, but I suspect that making money is a top priority.

--
Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
eFax 707-215-6367

----- Original Message -----
From: "SteveOrdinetz" <hykker@grolen.com>
To: <bri@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2005 8:14 AM
Subject: Re: Tab article on Air America Radio


> Dan Strassberg wrote:
> >Springer's radio program is not in any way salacious or titillating. My
> >impression is that
> >that show was marginally less dull than Springer's, although it too was
> >pretty dull.
>
>
> Haven't heard him yet, but he can't be much duller than Franken.  Alas, he
> (Franken) is AA's sole "name" act so I doubt he's going anywhere.
>
> >In my opinion, the AAR talent who deserves wider exposure is
> >Mike Malloy. He is often riveting and he pulls no punches about his
hatred
> >for Bush et al. WKOXKS carries, at most, only a couple of hours a week of
> >Malloy reruns.
>
>
> And this makes good radio how?  Other than the die-hard Bush haters,
aren't
> most people totally sick of politics and flaming rants about Iraq?  If AA
> wants to make any significant impact, they're gonna have to appeal to
> moderates and/or thinking people instead of just the "Bush sucks"
> crowd.  This means cooling the inflammatory rhetoric and discussing topics
> where they're not totally preaching to the choir?  Is AA trying to be a
> left-wing version of Salem?  Bad radio is bad radio.
>