Al's hot air.Yes, we all love Al Franken  This article or section contains information about one or more candidates in an upcoming or ongoing election.Content may change as the election approaches. , but some of his conventional wisdom about the radio biz should not go unchallenged (Interview by Stephen Thompson, September issue). Franken postulates that liberal talk radio has had no "farm team" of local talents who can move on to become experienced radio veterans. Al, a pool of radio-trained liberal advocates has existed for decades. There is a vast army of public radio news and talk producers (I'm one of them) who are chronically underpaid and underemployed un·der·em·ployed adj. 1. Employed only part-time when one needs and desires full-time employment. 2. Inadequately employed, especially employed at a low-paying job that requires less skill or training than one possesses. . We are among the most experienced and skilled because our competition is robot-driven commercial radio. From the beginning, Air America's backers and architects copped a serious attitude about public radio. Well, they got it half right. It's true that the "corporate" side of public radio, the boring, big city, NPR NPR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Nepal Rupee. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. station side, has been co-opted into just another electronic McNews aggregator. But the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. still has hundreds of community stations that give free rein and training to thousands of radio producers of every stripe. Don't get me wrong, Al--I love your books and wish Air America the best. But I don't think you guys have listened to much community radio, and you should. It is the only remaining broadcast medium where anybody can get on, without a lot of PC gatekeepers, where there is interesting diversity, the best music, local news and talk, and the voices of your friends and neighbors, who you can call up and ask to play a song or bitch about the town council. Fortunately, community radio is going to be around for a long time. Unfortunately, we'll remain in competition rather than in league with you. Franken's cryptic response to community radio? "I'm not that leftwing." Hmmmm. Jon Kovash Moab, Utah
Moab is a city in Grand County, in eastern Utah, in the western United States. First, let me say that I'm a big fan of both Al Franken and Air America. Al and Katherine Lanpher Katherine Lanpher, was born May 27, 1959. She graduated with a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and with a master’s degree in American Cultural History from the University of Chicago. do an admirable job of mixing actual news with comedy and commentary. If the Fox network is more of a mouthpiece of the Republican Party than it is a clarion voice of true conservatism, then the opposite can be said of Air America. M Franken, in particular, seems far more interested in serving the advancement of the Democratic Party rather than addressing purely progressive points of view. Bill Ross Easthampton, Massachusetts The Town of Easthampton is a city[1] in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 15,994 at the 2000 census. History Easthampton was first settled by European immigrants beginning in 1664 and was originally considered part of |
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