Here’s what new owner Mark Green has to say about the focus of Air America:
Air America will aggressively cover national politics and policies in ways that will be informative, opinionated and entertaining. All three. We’ll be full of news and views. Two views especially. First, America should stop attacking Muslim countries in ways that multiply terrorism. Second, instead of only talking about exporting democracy, Washington should begin practicing it here at home, for example by making sure elections aren’t auctions.
For the full article, click here.
Air America has an interesting history here in the People's Republic of Madison, WI. Last year, Clear Channel, a strongly right-leaning corporation that happened to own Air America, announced that it would be pulling the show from the Madison market and replacing it with, of all things, high school sports programming. From an economic point of view, pulling progressive talk radio out of Madison would be like pulling Jerry Falwell out of the Christian Coalition: one could not hope for a better audience than Madison for progressive talk radio. Obviously, Clear Channel's decision was a political one, not an economic one.
Fortunately, listeners screamed and, more importantly, radio advertisers began cancelling their contracts. Clear Channel noticed, and within about two months announced that it had reversed its decision and keep Air America on the air.
Despite this reversal, the episode made me acutely aware of how fragile is the "right" of free speech in America: America's media outlets (television, radio, newspapers & magazines) are nearly all owned by a few big corporations, which have their own agendas about what they want Americans to see and hear. It also made me wonder how many American communities are no longer receiveing progressive programs, like Air America, because their communities were not as left-leaning as Madison's. What I realize now is that Bush's very low 30% popularity rating is likely being propped up by overwhelmingly right-wing propaganda from the major media outlets. If Americans were able to hear more truth about his disastrous policies, I suspect it would collapse even farther.
What about pirate radio? We don't need no stinkin' FCC license!