Opaque Lucidity

The Liberals Giveth, Listeners Taketh Away

Air America has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. I have to be honest here: I'm smiling as I type this. I'm surprised they lasted this long.

I hope liberals in this country pay attention to the sad tale of Air America. First, they had no business plan. The network existed to slam George Bush and shape elections. They were good at the first and lousy at the second because most people who vote for Democrats don't listen to talk radio because it's more than a 15-second sound byte.

Second, not everyone is cut out for the radio. The radio professionals I have known in my life are very, very good at keeping a steady stream of conversation going on the air. When I did my little stint at WHAS helping with 84Online, our host was constantly stirring us up in order to keep us talking. My short exposure to Air America showed me that there was a lot of uninteresting filler, and it doesn't take much of that to turn people off.

Third, the folks at Air America never realized that their main job was to bring in advertisers. The fact is that mainstream advertisers are turned off by hate-mongering and repetitive talk that never varies. No one is going to advertise with Al Franken just because he's Al Franken. Corporations need to show a return for their advertisement dollar or they will move on to someone else. It's interesting to note (regardless of what you think of him) that Rush Limbaugh has had many of his advertisers for over 15 years. It has nothing to do with being conservative or liberal---it has to do with putting on a good show.

The final lesson is this: you can not be honest about liberalism and hope to be successful. Liberal politicians only win elections when they lie about their beliefs. The plain fact is that we are not a liberal nation. We're not especially conservative either, but more people relate to traditional values than not because they find the past comforting. You can argue about the correctness of that, but it doesn't change the numbers.