Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Air America

Now that it is available in Austin I find myself listening to Air America on my commutes. NPR isn't on all the time and I rarely hear anything worth listening to on the music stations. What's interesting about Air America is that it's a hybrid between good and evil. On the one hand, it is definitely promoting liberal and often progressive values, which is always a good thing. Another plus is that the format probably attracts a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't care about politics. On the other hand, there are as many ads as your average Clear Channel station and you have to put up with the usual radio "personality" bits. It's just like right-wing hate radio, only they're not lying about the bad things the other side is doing.

I wish there was a station that would combine the overt liberal bias of Air America with a toned-down presentation. I don't need the fancy sound effects, or the producer who occasionally chimes in with playful banter, or the three-minute intro and exit music. A radio equivalent of a political opinion magazine like The Nation would make my day.

,

3 comments:

  1. KPFT!!!!!!!

    KPFT.

    I swear, H-town is so lucky to have KPFT. I never understood why progressive people got all disappointed that Air America wasn't coming to Houston. As if there wasn't already something that was there that was in so many ways better.

    Of course, I would have welcomed the arrival of Air America.

    Yeah, i can see how I would be real turned off by the ads and the lame tactics.

    Makes me love KPFT all the more!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sheet. I wish Denton had EITHER one. haha

    Oh well. Thank god for the internet. Or the internets, as Bush would call it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I listen to AAR compulsively as I write (heaven only knows how polemical it is making my dissertation to have this ranting going on in the background all the time), but it just bolsters my sanity to hear people saying the kinds of exasperated things I say to myself when I witness the craziness unfolding all around us at the moment. But definitely I agree with you about the awful borderline fraudulent commercials they play incessantly -- it reminds me of the old Woody Allen joke. "Yes, yes, I'm a hypocrite. But, you know... for the left."

    ReplyDelete