« April 2006 | Main | June 2006 »
Meet Sheldon Drobny in Milwaukee tonight; bring money
Are you in Milwaukee?
Would you like to meet original Air America Radio investor Sheldon Drobny and kick in some money towards starting an AAR station there?
Hello? Is anyone still there?
Tonight Sheldon will be passing the hat and trying to start a co-op radio station in that city.
Backstory in "Sheldon Drobny looking for suckers in Milwaukee".
A special guest is promised. Whoever could it be? Will Bozo the Clown be driving up? Perhaps Rep. William Jefferson will be stopping by. Lyndon LaRouche? Feel free to leave your best guess in the comments.
UPDATE: Here's a picture of the antenna AAR's going to use for their station.
UPDATE 2: According to this, only 100 people showed up for the event. And, Drobny's having problems finding a station at his price:
"Let's say if it takes $3 (million), $3-and-a-half million, we might do it. It's a good investment, No. 1. No. 2, the community wants it."
Posted in Sheldon Drobny at 09:37 AM | Comments (0)
What would Al Franken do?
There's audio of Al Franken discussing his policies regarding illegal immigration here. At least I think it's Al, it might be someone else.
Posted in StuartSmalley at 09:46 PM | Comments (6)
Sheldon Drobny looking for suckers in Milwaukee
Wouldn't Air America be truer to form if, for instance, the listeners owned the means of production? Wealthy and wacky venture capitalist Sheldon Drobny - an original investor in the ever-fledgling network - is looking for comrades/sotrudniki/investors in a new Milwaukee outlet using that very same idea.
He's looking for smaller investors, as small as $10 or $100. Don't laugh! It's the same model that's been successfully used by REI, your local hippie co-op, S&H Green Stamps, and the Soviet Union (to a limited extent). Further, cheeseheads apparently refer to it as the "Green Bay Packer community model".
So far their search for a station has come to naught. We're informed that they were:
...rebuffed by Packers Hall of Famer Willie Davis, the owner of black talk radio station WMCS-AM (1290)... Air America representatives contacted WMCS and "we have absolutely no interest whatsoever," said general manager Bill Hurwitz.
Further, Clear Channel's WXXM-FM (92.1) already carries Al Franken and Stephanie Miller. So, what little market there is might already be saturated.
The article also contains the interesting info that their new Little Rock station was not an outright purchase, but a lease with an option to buy. Just in case...
Posted in Sheldon Drobny at 10:05 PM | Comments (0)
Jackie Guerra is not a racist
Air America's newest host, Jackie Guerra, is not a racist. Obviously, no Person of Color can be a racist, so this final paragraph of her HuffPost screed is not at all racist:
So the next time a balding white guy on TV tells you that people are rallying in support of illegal immigration, don't be fooled. And if getting into an elevator with two Mexicans makes you and your white-hooded friends nervous, get ready to piss yourself. Because now we're not just here to work--we're voting!
She is simply responding to the racial oppression of her people at the hands of the white oppressor, that's all.
Of course, this site has a few issues with her other statements:
I marched with 750,000 others in Los Angeles on May 1, where in spite of such a massive turnout, there was not a single incident with the police. That doesn't sound like a group of criminals to me. Yet when I got home and turned on the television, all I heard was "illegal, illegal, illegal, illegal." All I heard was that the rallies were in support of illegal immigration... But those rallies were not in support of illegal immigration. They were in support of the American dream.
Legal immigrants have no need to march, and none of the demands of the marchers involved legal immigration. And, all of the demands of the marchers involved legislation affecting only illegal aliens, not the legal variety. I guess she defines "American dream" as "massive illegal immigration, largely from one country."
They were in support of the idea that if you come to America, and if you work hard, sacrifice, and play by the rules, you can build a life for yourself and your family, and pass on to your children the opportunity to make even better lives for themselves. Those rallies were in support of the American dream. And there's nothing illegal about that.
Almost all illegal aliens have not played by the rules. Almost all of them crossed the border illegally or overstayed their visa illegally. And, there are all the follow-on crimes, such as using forged documents. So, almost all of the illegal aliens who were among the marchers had most definitely not played by the rules. And, her attempt to redefine the American dream to suit hardly bears mentioning.
The Huffington Post really needs an editor, because this article should have been sent back to Al Franken for a rewrite.
Posted in AlsoRans at 11:35 PM | Comments (4)
Ed Schultz' crazy conspiracy theories
Desperately trying to improve his loony-leftie street cred, Ed Schultz has decided to offer his own conspiracy theory:...Schultz says Christian stations are buying up the AM band to keep liberal talkers from getting too popular. He points to stations in Charleston, SC, Missoula, MT, and Phoenix, AZ.
Air America Phoenix, (KXXT) went from an unrated, unprofitable AM radio station to tying for 3rd place out of 25 AM stations in Phoenix, becoming profitable in less than a year. They did it by airing liberals- Jones Radio's Schultz and Stephanie Miller, AAR's line-up of Al Franken, Mike Malloy, and Randi Rhodes.
In February, progressive radio was silenced in Phoenix after KXXT was bought by Denver religious broadcasters, Communicom.
Was this a market decision? Sure doesn't look like it- not only was the progressive format kicking ratings ass, the Jesus market in Phoenix was already glutted with 7 Christian stations. "You won't find 8 rock stations in Phoenix, you can't find 8 sports talk stations," says Schultz, "Would it work to have 8 progressive stations? Of course not."
Posted in Ed Schultz at 05:15 AM | Comments (8)
Air America is not leaving Atlanta
No, they're just "pondering [their] options". Joe Weber - apparently of the bread Webers - bought Air America's current home, AM 1690. And, he is reportedly moving another station he owns (AM 1160) to the 1690 station. And, he's "negotiating with Air America to lease airtime on 1160. Atlanta-based Air America President Jon Sinton said the syndicate is pondering options."
Via this, which has more on the strength of the two stations involved.
Posted in Meta at 10:10 PM | Comments (1)
Doctor/clown Patch Adams, Dolores Huerta, Randi Rhodes to speak at Code Pink rally
Starting on May 13 at 3pm and ending 24 hours later, a group of far-left loons will gather in front of the White House and demand that we pull out of Iraq. The event is organized by Susan "Medea" Benjamin's Code Pink for Peace and:
Actress Susan Sarandon, Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan, Reverend Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus, journalist Randi Rhodes, singer/songwriter Jill Sobule, labor leader Dolores Huerta, and doctor/clown Patch Adams are among the hundreds who will participate...Cindy, Susan, Randi, and Dolores plan to horrify the world by baring it all. Or something no doubt similarly uplifting.
...The weekend plans include an evening concert, film screenings, workshops on legislative strategies, writing letters to Laura Bush, a pink pajama party, an interfaith service on Sunday morning, and a visit to Walter Reed Hospital to deliver roses to mothers/wives of injured soldiers...
...Susan Sarandon will be present from 1-4pm on Sunday, when organizers plan a dramatic action.
Posted in Meta at 10:59 PM | Comments (1)
Al Franken, Randi Rhodes, and the John Birch Society?
Will Al Franken, Randi Rhodes, Jerry Springer, Mike Malloy, and Janeane "Clear" Garofalo join with the John Birch Society and Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum to oppose president Bush?Will those who believe in black helicopters join with those who dream of piloting them? Would those who oppose World Government join with those "liberals" who are firm believers in foreign control of the U.S.?
A John Birch Society member makes a shocking proposal in the article "Now Is the Time for a Left-Right Alliance".
In frustration at the unconstitutional excesses of the Bush administration, I blurted out to [a friend]: "The only people doing any good out there are the people at Air America." I expected to shock him with the statement, but his two-word reply shocked me: "And MoveOn.org."Of course, then they went off on a rant about how all conservatives were racist xenophobes, then (after the break) they supported gun grabbing and Janeane chimed in with a plan to criminalize even more forms of speech and bring back the Fairness Doctrine so Air America could finally be a success and on and on and on.
...And although I got a few yuks out of quips about "Airhead America," I found that I agreed with the hosts more than I disagreed with them.
They criticized the Bush administration for deceiving us into the Iraq war. No problem there. They criticized Alberto Gonzales for his torture memos. Again, no problem. They criticized deficit spending, the PATRIOT Act, and corporate welfare. Hurray, hurray, and hurray!
Even if you restricted this to a small set of issues there are problems. Here's the proposed set of issues:
The issues the Right and Left are already working together on are related to the Constitution: (1) Exposing the Bush administration's policy to eliminate the right to trial, as in the case of Jose Padilla, (2) Stopping the Bush practice and advocacy of torture, (3) Ending the administration's unnecessary Iraq War, (4) Eliminating unconstitutional, warrantless wiretapping, and the most objectionable parts of the PATRIOT Act, (5) Stopping multilateral trade agreements such as CAFTA, renewal of the WTO, and the upcoming Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).One of the problems with #3 is that some of those in the leadership of the anti-war coalition are Communists, Stalinists, and the like. As for the last, many "liberals" don't completely oppose those hugely complicated "trade" agreements. They simply want to make them more comfortable; they aren't concerned with their effects on U.S. sovereignty.
Posted in Meta at 09:07 PM | Comments (1)
Bubba, Wesley Clark, Susan McDougal to rub off on your hands
From a press release:The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) will hold its 29th Annual Convention June 15-17 in Little Rock, Arkansas... The main evening social events will be held at the Clinton Presidential Library, the Arkansas Art Center and the Historic Arkansas Museum.OK, you caught me. I added the last event, but the AAR event is real.
A keynote by President William J. Clinton at a luncheon scheduled for Saturday, June 17 at the Statehouse Convention Center will highlight the three-day event... Gen. Wesley Clark (USA retired) will welcome attendees during the convention's opening evening social at the Clinton Presidential Library and Pulitzer Prize-winner Ted Conover will conduct two editorial sessions.
...4:45 to 6 pm: Air America Radio: An Alt-Weekly Partnership?
The new progressive radio network is interested in forming local editorial and business alliances with AAN-member papers. In this session, AAR representatives will discuss the progress of their network and will describe the various forms that a partnership might take. Air America's co-founder and president of programming, Jon Sinton, and Jaime Horn, vice-president of communications, will present.
6:15pm to 8pm: Trannies or Transgendered: Know your advertisers
Fabiola (Brasil) will discuss the different types of prostititutes who are the only advertisers that alt-weeklies attract. Are they trannies, transgendered, transexuals, or transsexuals? What do they specialize in? How can you tell the differences between the different types?
Posted in Meta at 12:05 AM | Comments (0)
Air America Milwaukee
Blogdom is abuzz with speculation that the Milwaukee area might get its very own Air America station. We're told we should continuously monitor airamericamilwaukee.com for the big news.
Rather than doing that, how about some fun speculation of our own?
1. Which state is Milwaukee in? Minnesota, Michigan, or Wisconsin?
2. Like lotto numbers, what do you think the rating numbers will be for AARM? I'll say 0.04 0.07 0.06 0.03
3. Which city will Air America's new station be located in: Kenosha, Racine, or Sheboygan?
Posted in Meta at 09:20 PM | Comments (2)
Rachel Maddow Show sponsored by SEIU
A weekly segment of the Rachel Maddow Show is sponsored by the far-left union SEIU, which is also a supporter of foreign citizens marching in our streets and making demands. From their May 4 entry:
Also on the show this morning, we saw massive immigration rights rallies around the country last Monday. Today, in our weekly segment sponsored by the Service Employees International Union, we're joined by the President of the National Capital Immigration Coalition, Jaime Contreras, to talk about the next step in the fight for immigrant rights.
All of those marching were doing so in support of illegal immigration; it's not about "immigration rights". It's about foreign citizens moving here and then making demands and making a show of force in an attempt to get us to capitulate and give them what we want. Obviously, Air America is on the side of the foreign citizens and not on the side of the U.S. citizens in this matter.
Posted in AlsoRans at 09:02 AM | Comments (1)
Which radio network would Jesus smite?
Air America also-ran and RFK Jr. consigliere Mike Papantonio is featured in a new documentary called "Jesus Camp". It concerns a summer camp for fundamentalist Pentecostals. As you might expect, it's a balanced view of religious folks, examining their trials and tribulations with an open mind and giving the viewer a deeper understanding of evangelicals.
Just kidding! It sounds like a hatchet job, with "Pap" being featured as the-religious-guy-who's-liberal-and-not-a-fundamentalist:
Papantonio, who co-hosts "Ring of Fire" with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., fires off one of his "Pap Attacks" in the documentary questioning the efficacy of the movement's position on the environment, creationism and other fundamental tenants.
It's a Florida paper, don't worry about it.
"There was 200 people waiting in line to get in," explains Papantonio after the initial "Jesus Camp" screening. "It's been sold out every night."
I'm sure it will be as big a hit as Air America itself.
Posted in AlsoRans at 03:46 AM | Comments (1)
Al Franken: God Spoke
There's a new Stuart Smalley film out, and it's a "documentary" about Franken's book tour for 'Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them'. The word "documentary" is in quotes, because it appears to be about as much of a "doc" as those "documentaries" done of pr0no stars.
And, just as AVN would "review" one of those type of "docs", there's a "review" of Stuart's "documentary" here. It sounds especially appropriate for those who can't get enough boorish, low-class behavior in their own lives:
My favorite segment was that of Franken attending a Newsweek party packed full of republicans, none of whom wanted him there. It's here that his scrappy outsider status is most obvious; he barely gets into the party, first of all, as the bouncer is convinced there's no way he was invited. Once inside, Franken's close to your worst nightmare as a guest, seeking out people like Henry Kissinger and Boyden Gray to mock with the kind of unselfconscious glee that makes him look slightly unhinged. He revels in the discomfort his presence causes, and refuses to be cowed. On the way home he mocks the grudging, blue-blooded accomodation of his hostess, Lally Weymouth.
Rest assured however: no chairs were harmed in the making of the "film".
Posted in StuartSmalley at 11:37 PM | Comments (3)
