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1/29: Bye Bye Al Franken
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Al Franken is leaving the beleaguered Air America liberal talk radio network after nearly three years, possibly to run for senator in Minnesota. His last day is Feb. 14. He has been on AM1690 from noon to 3 p.m., the only show remaining from the days the station aired Air America, but 1690 owner Joe Weber Monday said he will not likely take the Franken replacement Thom Hartmann, a syndicated host. He hasn’t decided what to replace Franken with at this point.
Franken’s the last of the prominent celebrity names left on the network. Actress Janeane Garofalo left last July and rapper Chuck D spent a year on the air through spring of 2005. Randi Rhodes, a long-time radio talk show host, is one of the few original hosts left.
In the meantime, Air America Radio, in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings since October, was rescued at the 11th hour by Manhattan real estate developer Stephen L. Green. Green is the brother of Mark Green, the New York Democrat who served as the city’s public advocate in the 90s and ran for mayor against Michael Bloomberg in 2001. Here’s a story.
Air America can be heard on XM satellite radio locally.
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By homonomo
January 29, 2007 4:21 PM | Link to this
He’s a homosexual. At least he looks like it.
By Eric
January 29, 2007 6:11 PM | Link to this
Wow, Randi Rhodes is the only one left…she couldn’t possibly be the best of the group. She’s awful. That voice is pure pain to listen to. Is Al Franken really worse than that? I know there isn’t much to talk about with left wing shows because you can only go so far without stumbling onto awful things called facts that mess up the show, but someone like Stephanie Miller seems to do a good job by injecting humor into the equation. Ridicule right in humorous way and don’t tread too strongly on issues = best success that the left airwaves can hope for.
By Bud
January 30, 2007 8:54 AM | Link to this
You can’t build a radio business by paying celebs a lot of money to talk and paying a lot of money to radio stations to play their stuff and hope to recoup it in ad revenues.
I’ll miss Air America once it is finally dead dead dead…it’s a great radio network…for me to poop on!
By Lynda
January 30, 2007 12:56 PM | Link to this
I like AA, but Rhodes is the Sean Hannity of the left. The truth doesn’t stop either one.
By bud
January 30, 2007 3:10 PM | Link to this
I’m to the right of Attila the Hun, but Hannity gets on my last nerve. It’s the tone of his voice drives me insane…so snotty and holier-than-thou…he’s like that kid we all new in school who snitched on people and brown-nosed every teacher he could to get ahead. Heck, I can’t wait for his sex scandal to crop up…it happened to Limbaugh and O’Reilly, so it’s gotta happen to him as well. The word for this is Schadenfreude, and, as Lewis Black pointed out, even though it’s a German word, I like it!!!
By John
January 30, 2007 6:26 PM | Link to this
Randi Rhodes was the best one on that network, and she was terrible. With all the liberal talent in Hollywood, they couldn’t come up with anything better than that. Franken is not funny or interesting. It hurt to listen to him. I am moderate right, and listening to AA pretty much solidified by right-leaning views. I agree with Bud about Hannity, though, he hit the nail on the head.
By Big Fan
January 30, 2007 6:45 PM | Link to this
Stuart Smalley leaves the airwaves….don’t worry, he will be back ….like a wart that always comes back.
Then again, a wart is more significant than Al Franken aka Stuart Smalley….