Air America, RIP

[Jim Hall]

I agree with you. When WXKS/WKOX was running a mixture of Jones Radio (now
Dial Global) and Air America programming, it was the Jones programming that
claimed my attention. 

Although humor is a big part of radio, I think Air America erred by hiring
too many stand-up comics as their hosts (Mark Maron, Janeane Garofalo, and
even Al Franken). Some people turned in expecting a 3-hour comedy show
rather than political talk and were disappointed. Others did not take Air
America seriously because of the presence of so many comics. I think you
need to be a radio host who is humorous, rather than a comedian who has a
talk radio show.

-----Original Message-----
From: boston-radio-interest-bounces@tsornin.BostonRadio.org
[mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@tsornin.BostonRadio.org] On Behalf Of
Donna Halper
Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 5:47 PM
To: bri@bostonradio.org
Subject: Air America, RIP 

I'd like to say I'm shocked by the announcement that Air America 
Radio has gone bankrupt, but I'm not.  It was poorly run, wasted a 
ton of bucks, and did a lot of other things wrong.  But this is NOT 
the end of progressive talk.  Air America's main competitor, 
Dial-Global, formerly Jones Radio Network, continues to be 
profitable, with hosts like Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller and Thom 
Hartmann.  So, I expect this may actually be good for those talk show 
hosts, since they'll pick up some new stations.