Air America files for Chap. 11

[Preechr]

I travel a LOT, so I spend a heck of a lot of time listening to the radio. FM music stations suck, so I tend to listen mostly to talk radio, which is largely conservative shows. I remember hearing a speech years ago given by Rush Limbaugh to some DC group regarding the issue of commercial break frequency and length, and unlike his talk show, it was actually quite impressive. That speech seemed to be delivered by a different guy than he who hosted his show. That sort of clued me in to the idea that Rush is mostly a character.

The problem, as he described it, was exactly what turned you off to Air America. People won't listen if you hammer them with too much commercial interruptions. Back then, most talk radio was just as annoying in that regard as has been Air America, but I've noticed mostly all of the shows I hear have toned it down as per Limbaugh's recommendations. The job of any talk show host is to keep you entertained just enough to hold you through the breaks. They basically spend 2-3 hours teasing what's coming up next and repeating the same 5-10 minutes worth of content over and over. Sometimes, the interviews are interesting... well, this isn't about if I get anything out of the experience...

I think the main reason for the failure of Air America is their hosts' fundamental misunderstandings of some key aspects to successfull talk radio programming. It's more about how you say it than it is what you say, for instance. I listened a little, and it always seemed their rythym was way off. Nevermind the generally vapid and immature commentary, their presentation was amateurish.

It just wasn't good radio.