Lancing the Limbaugh boil, Hurling Hannity, Air America is on the Air

Wednesday morning brings a whole new spin on talk radio in the USA, as Air America takes to the air across the States offering up a LIBERAL dose of Liberal spin, opinion and a forum for anything anti Rush!

With talk radio the domain of the political right of late, Air America will try to wedge itself into the crowded American airwaves, to try and present the side of the argument regularly derided on most radio talk fests these days.

The right wing slant of talk radio has for a long time been the stone in the shoe of Democrats, unions and left leaning intellectuals for years. While NPR has filled the void, it doesn't have the same intense immediacy of the talk radio wars, letting the listener take part in the knock down, drag them out brawls that can sometime occur on the private radio stations. Air America will try and turn the radio spectrum into a battleground.

Air America is hoping to provide that Liberal counterbalance to the steady beat of the Right wing drum. And to lead the parade will be that well known agent provocateur, Al Franken. Author of Lies and the Lying Liars who tell them and Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot to name a few. So you can get the drift of where the head and air space is going to be on Air America. Franken true to his spirit, right from the start will poke a stick in the eye of the right. Naming his program the O'Franken Factor, he takes steady aim at the right wing stylings of Bill O'Reilly from Fox. Franken or O'Franken I guess, will take to the air in the mid day slot (12 noon EST, 9 AM PST) each week day offering up three hours of sarcastic wit, cynical observations of the Bush and Republican agenda and satirical wonders designed to have the Right Wing gnashing their teeth. For pure entertainment alone it should be a hoot to listen in for the first couple of weeks, as they'll no doubt want to bait that bear as many times as possible.

The programming schedule offers up an interesting mix of hosts and program ideas, starting with the delightfully titled early morning program THE MORNING SEDITION (6am-9am EST, 3-6 AM PST). It's followed by UNFILTERED runs (9 AM - Noon EST, 6AM-9 AM PST), which has among it's hosts the always controversial Chuck D. The O'FRANKEN FACTOR will rule the airwaves from (12 noon-3PM, 9AM-12 Noon PST), then it's the RHANDI RHODES program from 3 PM-7 PM EST 12 Noon -4 PM PST), Rhodes a fixture in Florida liberal circles will no doubt have an interesting comment or two on the Bush revolution in South. Marty Kaplan will host WHAT ELSE IS NEW a 1 hour newsmagazine on pop culture, politics, media and whatever else he can come up with , it runs from (7 pm - 8 PM EST, 4-PM PST). Wrapping up the broadcast day will be THE MAJORITY REPORT airing from (8 - 11 PM EST, 5-8 PM PST) Janeane Garofolo a high profile Liberal by way of Hollywood and New York, will handle the final shots of the Leftist day for Air America.

An ambitious experiment no doubt, and like any new venture it's sure to suffer a number of growing pains and probably won't be scaring the Limbaughs, Hannitys and Dr. Laura's of the on air world too terribly to start. Indeed, the reach of Air America may be a bit hard to achieve early on, for the most part it's airing on stations that have been mired so far down the radio ratings books that most folks probably don't even know the stations exist, but they have to start somewhere.

The timing is pretty solid for a debut, the American population is almost split down the middle as far as supporting the Bush Agenda or the Kerry alternative. Air America will be doing it's part to try and sway the voters to the Kerry side of the debate. In the talk radio world, President Bush already has a built in audience of loyalists calling Rush, Sean and Laura on a daily basis. Using humour, satire and a generous amount of righteous (or is that leftous) indignation it should be an interesting experiment of radio programming, in a medium that could use a new idea now and then!

The website is rather bare bones at the moment and may or may not offer a live feed, but if not, have no fear Podunk has found a back door if you will into the world of Air America.

The flagship station for the brave new adventure of radio is a station in Harlem called WLIB (no way, you say, W LIB, go figure) up until today it featured mostly Caribbean music and programming geared to the re-located island dwellers. A money losing AM station for years, they're hoping the buzz about Air America will breathe a little life into their ratings. To check out the progress of Air America, surf on in to the WLIB website and listen in!

Let the battle begin, an interested audience awaits the debut, ready to be entertained!