A funnier Air America on tap?
TEXT OF STORY
SCOTT JAGOW: Air America is losing one of its founders, but it’s found somebody to buy the radio network. Host Al Franken will do his last broadcast in a couple weeks. Franken may run for Senate next year in his home state of Minnesota. A New York real estate mogul is taking over the bankrupt network. More now from Ashley Milne-Tyte.
ASHLEY MILNE-TYTE: Buyer Stephen Green says he wants to stabilize Air America’s finances and concentrate on the network’s lineup.
Good idea, says Matthew Felling of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, because talent is key to drawing listeners. Having hosts who come across as smug and condescending has the opposite effect.
He says Al Franken and his colleagues make for tough listening, even if you agree with their views.
MATTHEW FELLING: There is a fresh approach that they can take that will be more conversational and, dare I say, be more fun. How can a show featuring a Saturday Night Live performer be so damn unfunny?
He says for Air America to attract listeners and advertisers, it has to lose the classroom vibe — and pick up more of a bar room one.
In New York, I’m Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.
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