Air America To Immerse Itself Into New York City’s Homeless Population
April 28th, 2006 by Bitchfest
Dialing around on my XM Satellite Radio yesterday I landed on Air America’s Randi Rhodes Show. I must admit that I have never heard the program, and am unfamiliar with her work aside from the HBO documentary Left of the Dial, which portrayed her as the underappreciated second banana at the fledgling lefty radio startup, despite her copious radio experience.
The topic I happened to pop in on yesterday was health care, and Randi took the position that not only are HMOs choking out the working man, but that she herself was working check to check. More specifically, since pay day at Air America is Monday apparently, she further explained that she had no idea how she would “make it through the weekend.”
My initial reaction (inside my own head) was, “Well Randi, if you are the host of a nationwide radio show with your flagship in the world’s biggest market and turning tricks could be the only way you are going to eat on a Saturday, than I’ll bet nationalized health care is not going to solve your problems.”
Well, turns out I just lost five bucks…. to myself.
Mediaweek reports that as of the end of the summer (8/31), AA’s NYC station WLIB will be off the radio dial with the expiration of their lease. This is only the latest financial and managerial setback for the fledgling lib network, in fact it was basically the A-plot of Left of the Dial, and it has probably already given Matt Drudge a bakers dozen boners considering two days ago he relished in AA’s ratings free fall.
Considering Air America’s Jason Vorhees-esqe refusal to die, I would hazard a guess that this is far from over, but who knows, there might come a day that we will only be able to rely on Sum 41, Kanye West, Rolling Stone (the magazine), The Rolling Stones (the music men), Salon.com and Harry Belafonte for the “truth about Bush.”
• Nation braces for potentially devastating loss of smug [Mediaweek]
Leave a Reply
Archives:
Critical Acclaim:
— Tom Scocca, New York Observer
— J. Michael Robertson, Media Studies Department, University of San Francisco
— Shelly Smith, Comedienne of The Brothel
— Will Leitch, Deadspin.com
— mute_everything, MBF Commenter
