Wednesday, July 14
Adjusting Air America
If perception is everything, especially in a hype-driven medium like radio, Air America must sever its creative ties to NPR. Yes, public radio is a hotbed for progressive politics, but it is still a far cry from progressive entertainment. A few suggestions:
I really like the team of Franken and Lanpher, but Katherine still REALLY needs to loosen up. Unless she's being instructed by Al to do otherwise, she sounds best when she's not playing the role of traffic cop but as an active participant. Franken's got her doing some flashes of entertaining stuff. Let's hear more. We know he's brilliant. She still sounds like his handler.
Sam Seder, Garofalo's partner, MUST stop his fixation with the 360 machine. That's the sound-effects-on-demand contraption which he screws up 75% of the time. Take it out of his hands and hire someone who knows the show to use it SPARINGLY.
Get some real newscasters, not just news readers. Bill Crowley's just about the best newsperson they have - the rest still sound like they've just stepped out of broadcasting school. An interesting newscaster would make that seven-minute speed bump at the top of the hour a lot more bearable.
I got a slight hammering on my calling "So What Else Is News?" a snorefest. But a mostly-scripted newsmagazine following the fiery Randi Rhodes at 4pm in the west makes the airbags deploy in my speaker. This is death in commercial radio, and another NPR program idea that just doesn't fit.
There's my two bucks. Keep the change and get more affiliates, AA. You're probably just as tired as we are of good shows being sponsored by t-shirt shops and the Ad Council.