Latest Wild Air America Rumors

A commenter on the WFMU blog offers the latest rumored Air America Radio schedule making the rounds:

5 AM to 6 AM - The Mark Riley Show
6 AM to 9 AM - The Young Turks
9 AM to Noon - Sam Seder
Noon to 3 PM - The Al Franken Show
3 PM to 6 PM - The Randi Rhodes Show
6 PM to 8 PM - The Rachel Maddow Show
8 PM to 9 PM - Politically Correct [sic]
9 PM to 10 PM - Eco Talk
10 PM to 1 AM - The Mike Malloy Show

This is interesting.

Notes:

Mark Riley was rumored staying with WLIB, but that was before the Lord inspired the owners to go with an all-gospel format.

While there is absolutely no substantiation that The Young Turks are happening in AAR morning drive, they might be a good idea in that slot. After all, they're young 'n' hip, and they've subbed before on AAR (I think). I suspect, though, that their name is going to piss off Armenians, given that the original Young Turks were the Turkish revolutionary party that perpetrated the dastardly 1915 genocide. Of course, you won't hear them or Riley on the so-called "flagship" because it will retain its existing morning schedule, complete with the shill for No Child Left Unrecruited.

Sam Seder's new show might or might not be called Majority Report. In fact, it might or might not exist, though the Boston Globe seems to think it does. Sam has been pressing for a daytime shift, and he's a great talent who's growing into his job with every passing day. I hope AAR does not piss away yet another up and coming radio personality.

Note that any possible late morning Seder show would displace the poorly-received Jerry Springer from the daily AAR lineup. Would he stay in syndication???????

Franken's show is a crashing bore, he's flying blind without Lanpher, he's against withdrawal from Iraq, and he's already putting out feelers about running for the Senate. However he's still Air America's frontman, for better or worse, and his show seems helped out by brand name value. Guess it's asking too much for him to go to NPR, where he belongs.

Randi is popular, good for ratings, and a very engaging radio personality. Lately, though, she's been problematic, with the beginning of left wing burnout possibly setting in. She admits herself that talk radio is less fun when you're convinced the goons running the United States are about to get all of us incinerated. She has good and bad days. She's never had any trouble sustaining a 4 hour show, but the 4th hour does get a bit redundant and she might do better in 3.

Rachel finally escaping the early morning graveyard is the bright spot of this schedule, both for her and for the listeners. They will be pleasantly surprised by Dr. Maddow.

"Politically Correct," which I assume means Politically Direct, and Eco-Talk are two great little left wing shows which don't get their props on the weekends. If their producers can meet the daily grind of a weekday show, these have the potential to go somewhere.

Finally, Malloy remains on the network from 10 to 1. Good: This means that, in a week or two, Mike Malloy is back on New York City air, and the ridiculous Satellite Sisters can find a slot in the afternoon where they belong - on someone else's station. Bad: WWRL will cut off the last hour in NYC, same way WLIB did, and also don't forget for a second that at night WWRL stands for What Wretched RF Levels.

Meanwhile, flying low and slow under the radar is another rumor, that Randi Rhodes is moving her show back to Florida. Combine this with Malloy in Atlanta (where he's always been) and Franken in Minnesota (where he has delusions of running for office), and you get a network that starts to look a lot more like a diaspora.

Now, this is how syndicators do radio, but Air America has always tried to be more like an old-fashioned, New York-centric, network. While I love New York City dearly, AAR's Gothamcentricity is a bit quaint in this day and age. It's also a handy excuse for a little quick 'n' dirty right-wing derision every time the local "flagship" refuses to clear one of its shows.

In fact, the idea that AAR needs a flagship at all is kind of weird, and perhaps an unnecessary drag on the whole concept. NPR has done just fine with no geographical center at all, though of course it has its own satellite.

All this is undoubtedly rash speculation at best, and at least partly just plain wrong. Don't touch that dial, as Air America continues to make it up as they go along.