Al Franken, WLIB, New York City, Air America
MINISTER OF PROPAGANDA
Al Franken: Everything's A-OK!
Remember Iraqi Information Minister Muhammed
Saeed al-Sahaf? Astounding many with unwavering Saddam loyalty, even as allied forces seized control of Baghdad, he set a new standard for detached from reality media relations.
In the spirit of al-Sahaf is his American counterpart, comedian Al Franken, who may actually be generating a few laughs in his defense of Air America Radio.
While this rare bit of real comedy may seem a welcome change from Franken's usual routines, it's unfortunately accidental.
With the softest of softball questioning comes The Nation, wondering about recent "right-wing media" reports of troubles at Air America:
In just this one short piece, how many distortions and lies can we count?
1) Who said WLIB was going under? Our report suggested station control is about to be taken from Air America Radio and handed to new investors led by former Clear Channel executive Randy Michaels and Alta Communications of Boston.
That means a likely upcoming format change.
2) If Franken really cared about working people, he'd have denounced how his company obtained money to pay their bloated expenses: through shady "loan" transfers made up of taxpayer grants intended for an inner city children's charity.
3) The WLIB report didn't originate with Bill O'Reilly, it began here and was picked up by three daily New York City newspapers.
Only after that did O'Reilly even mention it, in a Tuesday Talking Points Memo segment.
Franken and Air America want to deflect the issue onto their own crusade against O'Reilly.
4) Franken dishonestly sidesteps the issue of where Air America might end up in New York City- if anywhere.
In the future, we don't we call him Al al-Sahaf? For liberal radio's least credible character, it's a good fit.
Chris Christner has his own take on this story, read it here. Additional tip: Pirate's Cove.
Happy second birthday to mAss backwards!
Thanks for your continued and vital Radio Equalizer support, via Amazon orders that begin with clicks here, regardless of what you ultimately order! Because this investigative work is taking an increasing amount of our time, it's needed more than ever.
Minister of Information graphic: Pete at IHillary for the Radio Equalizer
Al Franken: Everything's A-OK!
Remember Iraqi Information Minister Muhammed
Saeed al-Sahaf? Astounding many with unwavering Saddam loyalty, even as allied forces seized control of Baghdad, he set a new standard for detached from reality media relations.In the spirit of al-Sahaf is his American counterpart, comedian Al Franken, who may actually be generating a few laughs in his defense of Air America Radio.
While this rare bit of real comedy may seem a welcome change from Franken's usual routines, it's unfortunately accidental.
With the softest of softball questioning comes The Nation, wondering about recent "right-wing media" reports of troubles at Air America:
Air America's OK
Sam Graham-Felsen
If you read the New York Sun or the New York Post, you might be under the impression that WLIB, Air America Radio's New York City affiliate, is going under.
Last night, I attended a fundraiser for Al Franken's new political action committee, the Midwest Values Pac (MVP). The goal of MVP is to raise money for progressive candidates in Franken's home state of Minnesota as well as progressive candidates in other states, including Vermont's Bernie Sanders (for more on MVP, check out this BuzzFlash interview).
Franken gave a hilarious speech, but took a serious tone when he discussed the values that define MVP-- universal health care, a living wage, equitable funding for public schools, a just trade policy that protects the interests of working people, and multilateral cooperation, to name a few.
Anyway, towards the end of the night, I asked Al about the rumors regarding Air America. "Look," he told me, "Bill O'Reilly alone has said that Air America was on the verge of collapse thirty-six times. We're not going anywhere."
In just this one short piece, how many distortions and lies can we count?1) Who said WLIB was going under? Our report suggested station control is about to be taken from Air America Radio and handed to new investors led by former Clear Channel executive Randy Michaels and Alta Communications of Boston.
That means a likely upcoming format change.
2) If Franken really cared about working people, he'd have denounced how his company obtained money to pay their bloated expenses: through shady "loan" transfers made up of taxpayer grants intended for an inner city children's charity.
3) The WLIB report didn't originate with Bill O'Reilly, it began here and was picked up by three daily New York City newspapers.Only after that did O'Reilly even mention it, in a Tuesday Talking Points Memo segment.
Franken and Air America want to deflect the issue onto their own crusade against O'Reilly.
4) Franken dishonestly sidesteps the issue of where Air America might end up in New York City- if anywhere.
In the future, we don't we call him Al al-Sahaf? For liberal radio's least credible character, it's a good fit.
Chris Christner has his own take on this story, read it here. Additional tip: Pirate's Cove.
Happy second birthday to mAss backwards!
Thanks for your continued and vital Radio Equalizer support, via Amazon orders that begin with clicks here, regardless of what you ultimately order! Because this investigative work is taking an increasing amount of our time, it's needed more than ever.
Minister of Information graphic: Pete at IHillary for the Radio Equalizer
published by Brian Maloney at
22:28
12 Comments:
Speaking of distortions,
1.Who said WLIB was going under?
Good question! It's not in the Nation article, so it can't be a distortion or a lie.
2. The "Loan" you mention was not taken out by Al Franken. He only became aware of it after the fact. It's my understanding the "loan" has been repaid in full.
3. The Nation article was not solely or mostly about WLIB. It was about AIR AMERICA RADIO.
Careful not to hurt your shoulder while patting yourself on your back Brian.
4. Franken did not "dishonestly sidestep" the issue of Air America in NYC. Apparently that direct question was never asked. It's difficult to sidestep a question that you aren't asked.
Brian, why don't you stick with the facts, and quit trying to create fictional discrepancies in other people's reporting.
By
Ezsuds, at 13 March, 2006 01:50
Our report suggested station control is about to be taken from Air America Radio and handed to new investors led by former Clear Channel executive Randy Michaels and Alta Communications of Boston.
Alta ALREADY owns it. They might install a new CEO, but Alta has owned Inner City Broadcasting (and, by extension WLIB) for two years. There is no news in this.
By
Justin, at 13 March, 2006 07:33
fyifyi,
I doubt that there's any connection between Jerry Springer's departure from WTAM in Cleveland and what may be happening at WLIB in New York (other than the radio business!)
Regarding the rumored situation at WLIB - I thought it might be interesting to see what the impact would be if AAR went off the air in NYC entirely. It's pretty amazing at how much of AAR's audience is built around its local NYC affiliate.
By
Ironman, at 13 March, 2006 14:32
Speaking of Lies and Distortions:
The anatomy of a lie:
1) Rush Limbaugh, on his Feb 14 radio show, in talking about the Ohio Hackett/Brown Democratic Primary, said:
a. “And don’t forget, Sherrord Brown is black” – this was not a lie, but a mistake
b. He then said, “There’s a racial component here, too”
2) Rush was then informed by listeners via e-mails that Brown was not black, and was, in fact, white. Paul Hackett was white, as well
3) Therefore, there was no “racial element” to the story at all
4) Rush “corrected” his mistake that Brown was black, but DID NOT retract or apologize for the “racial element” remark
He made up the “racial element” angle, obviously. This was Rush’s lie. His next lie:
1) He said “I’m not gonna apologize, ‘cause I don’t think it’s an insult to be black”
2) Of course, this is a lie, too, because he should be apologizing for making up the “racial component” of the story
http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2006/02/rush-limbaugh-cincinnati-sherrod-brown.html (the link on Brian’s page is about to disappear forever)
Brian Maloney then reported on the story on Feb 20. He related the story as if the only element was the “error” Rush Limbaugh Made about Brown’s race.
Of course, the real story was the “racial component” that Rush made up and then refused to retract.
Hence, Brian lied as well.
The elements of the story as I’ve stated above are incontrovertible fact.
But don’t believe me, and don’t believe anyone else - Research for yourselves.
By
TJ, at 13 March, 2006 18:10
Air America is a J O K E, and I'm sure even the talent is surprised that they've managed to milk the Soros teat for this long with such piss poor ratings. Sooner or later they will run out of deep pocketed left wing ideologues.
By
Lidsville, at 13 March, 2006 19:19
FYIFYI said...
"hmmm, why did AAR last week terminate listing their affiliates on their website?"
that, apparently, was last week:
http://www.airamericaradio.com/stations
By
TJ, at 13 March, 2006 19:49
http://www.nysun.com/special_section/airamerica/19749F.php
how about some investigative reporting on THAT, Brian?
"Mr. Cohen told The New York Sun on Tuesday that other than himself, no one at Air America knew about the four separate transfers while they occurred, in late 2003 and early 2004. He said, however, that at least one other official from Gloria Wise knew "exactly where the money was going" and authorized the payments."
Hrmm...Cohen told the New York Sun that NOBODY at AAR knew where the money was going when it was transfered.
Funny, Brian - I've never seen you mention that....
By
TJ, at 13 March, 2006 20:52
http://www.nysun.com/special_section/airamerica/19749F.php
Oops - there's the whole link
By
TJ, at 13 March, 2006 20:53
http://www.nysun.com/special_section/airamerica/
the above +
19749F.php
paste em all together, and you have a link...
By
TJ, at 13 March, 2006 20:53
RE: Limbaugh canned on 'BAL:
This is I think the first really big station to dump Hush Bimbo as Savage calls him.
Now of course, the options are open including WCBM, a CBS-owned FM talker, or a new player in the game.
WBAL is a 50,000 watt blowtorch, whose 1090 signal hits the East Coast at night, including CT. And they are taking a HUGE risk by going local and dumping Limbaugh. Of course if people can get WMAL out of DC that would help.
I remember hearing that WLAD in Danbury carried him, but found him too expensive for ad rev. Airing from noon-3:00 is a one-hour newscast "Greater Danbury at Noon", and Dr. Laura, which takes things up to a local show at 4:00--and get this, WLAD, at 800 on the dial, also plays music--AC just to work its way around things.
But for the most part it's news/talk and sports--LOTS of football from Westwood One as well as UCONN hoops, NY Giants football and Yankees baseball.
By
The Real Bob Anthony, at 13 March, 2006 22:10
" no one at Air America knew about the four separate transfers while they occurred"
Obvious selective reading on FYI's part...no surprises, there...
By
TJ, at 13 March, 2006 22:14
bsdavis,
You make a number of good points. What you're describing is how businesses can be successful by segmenting into serving different market niches. The thing with market niches, regardless of business, is that the key to success is to find where your customers and draw them to your shop.
The radio business is maybe the best example of this. Where else can you find one business that's so clearly segmented into so many different niches for the sake of targeting different types of customers and attracting them to businesses that cater to people just like them?
AAR has been somewhat successful at doing this - the problem is that roughly half of their national audience is found in just five cities, and their largest local market is at risk given the situation Brian has reported.
Even with an average rating of 1.25 over the past year in New York City, that's a little over one-fifth of AAR's national audience (I estimate AAR's audience through WLIB represents around 224,000 listeners per average quarter hour).
Still, when you see the latest on what they're hyping as their "growth" plan over the remainder of this year, and looking at how they're doing where they broadcast today, you gotta wonder "are there really enough customers to support their product?"
And when it appears that they are struggling to support the cost of making their product with the revenue they bring in today, you really have to wonder how are they going to convince anyone they seek to do business with that they'll be around long enough to be worth taking the risk of going into business with them?
Not pretty.
By
Ironman, at 16 March, 2006 15:03
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