The O'Franken Factor...

[The Jesus]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/03/3...eut/index.html

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- The gloves are coming off on talk radio.

Comedian-provocateur Al Franken is anchoring Wednesday's launch of a new liberal radio network -- Air America -- that promises irreverent voices from the opposite end of the political spectrum to conservatives like Rush Limbaugh who dominate talk radio.

"We're going to listen to (Limbaugh's) show and hold him up to scorn and ridicule," Franken said in a telephone interview.

The debut is auspiciously timed: the presidential candidates have come out swinging and liberal anger at Republican President Bush is at a fever pitch.

Network chief executive Mark Walsh said the goal was to skewer "pomposity" in high places regardless of political affiliation. "We're not in regime change radio," he said.

Walsh said his most recent job was as "the Internet guy" for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Franken also knows Kerry, who along with filmmaker Michael Moore is a likely Air America guest.

The network will also feature other radio neophytes such as actress Janeane Garofalo, rapper Chuck D and activist Robert Kennedy Jr. Each will be paired with a radio veteran.

Franken has kicked off with a three-hour midday show, "The O'Franken Factor," a mocking tribute to his broadcasting foe Bill O'Reilly's show on Fox News.

A former writer on NBC-TV's "Saturday Night Live", Franken wrote the best-selling comic diatribes "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot" and last year's "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right." The latter triggered a short-lived lawsuit from Fox News.

Wine and cheese, or red meat?
A onetime high school wrestler, the 52-year-old Franken's recent antics have earned him the label of comic brawler: he tackled a heckler at a political event and offered to fight a magazine editor who said Democrats had "sissified" politics.

Franken turns serious when discussing Bush.

"This is a president who ran as a uniter not a divider and he's the most divisive president that I can remember," Franken said. "He had an opportunity to lead us in a new American century united in purpose and sacrifice and blew it completely. He wanted for some reason very, very, very badly to attack Iraq ... (which) I think has damaged the war on terror."

Limbaugh and other conservative radio figures such as Sean Hannity and Michael Savage -- whose dominance of talk radio balances what some see as mainstream media's liberal bias -- have already begun mocking the upstart network.

"They're saying we're a bunch of wine-swilling cheese-eating liberal idiots; that it'll never work; that liberals don't listen to the radio; that all we did was hire a bunch of comics and not anybody that knows anything about radio," Walsh said.

Franken admitted he drinks wine occasionally but doesn't know the difference between labels. "I do eat cheese; they're more accurate than usual there."

Observers are unsure about Air America's chances of success but it has drawn an avalanche of publicity as the first liberal-minded radio network.

In truth, the serious-minded Pacifica network and segments of National Public Radio have already staked out liberal positions.

"If these guys succeed, you know who's going to be banging down their doors to get them on? All the guys running conservative talk radio. Radio's not a political business. Politics is just a product ... a prop," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers, a magazine that covers the industry.

Air America is armed with $30 million in investor cash and a $30 million credit line being used to lease AM stations in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with more stations promised.

[johnny861]

As if the airwaves weren't polluted enough with limbaugh.. we've gotta have Franken on the air too?

[Adam D]

I can't stand Franken and his petty anti-conservative dribble. He's like the O'Reilly for liberals. No real substance, no real ideas, that way he can attack everybody.

[kezarmyaj]

true, but at least hes funny about it.

[Adam D]

that's debateable.

[kezarmyaj]

I guess all humor is up for debate really. one mans george carlin is another mans carrot top.

[USAcommitteeX]

Comedian-provocateur Al Franken is anchoring Wednesday's launch of a new liberal radio network -- Air America -- that promises irreverent voices from the opposite end of the political spectrum to conservatives like Rush Limbaugh who dominate talk radio.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Dionysos]

Originally posted by Adam D
I can't stand Franken and his petty anti-conservative dribble. He's like the O'Reilly for liberals. No real substance, no real ideas, that way he can attack everybody.

You just described Garafalo for me.

[mc E]

i am certainly no o'rielly lover, but at least he makes an attempt to be a real "journalist" and a slight attempt at objectivity. Franken is pure satire and idiosy w/ no substance.

.02

[moshen]

i really like the guy, i think he's funny.
his last book was great.
loved his stuff on SNL.

its quite obvios that bill O'reilly is not objective i mean just watching 30 seconds of his show makes it painfully obvious.

by the title of al frankens show, do you think anything will believe he's trying to be objective? on a liberal radio network?

listen to franken to laugh at christian fundamentalists trying to be politicians.

listen to NPR for objectivity.

franken is an entertainer by trade after all.

[Ryan]

I love how the people who spend a great portion of their day listening to conservative pundits who make big business off of spinning facts into lies and telling people what they want to hear now get huffy about liberal journalists doing the same thing. O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Boortz, Savage - all of them are total sensationalists who always show one and only one side of the story - the conservative side. I think it's nice to see a little more balance in this neocon-monopolized cesspool that is talk radio.

[Dionysos]

Originally posted by Ryan
I love how the people who spend a great portion of their day listening to conservative pundits who make big business off of spinning facts into lies and telling people what they want to hear now get huffy about liberal journalists doing the same thing. O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Boortz, Savage - all of them are total sensationalists who always show one and only one side of the story - the conservative side. I think it's nice to see a little more balance in this neocon-monopolized cesspool that is talk radio.

That sure doesn't sound like the Republican you professed to be earlier!

[Ryan]

Originally posted by Dionysos
That sure doesn't sound like the Republican you professed to be earlier!

Oh yeah, I forgot. Viva el Jefe!

[USAcommitteeX]

I would like to see Louis Farakan replace Jerry Springer, that would be neat and racist.

[mc E]

Originally posted by Ryan
I love how the people who spend a great portion of their day listening to conservative pundits who make big business off of spinning facts into lies and telling people what they want to hear now get huffy about liberal journalists doing the same thing. O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Boortz, Savage - all of them are total sensationalists who always show one and only one side of the story - the conservative side. I think it's nice to see a little more balance in this neocon-monopolized cesspool that is talk radio.

i reread every post on this thread and saw no one being huffy