Are American radio listeners ready for The O'Franken Factor? Moreover, is The O'Franken Factor really ready for them?
This past week, after more than a year of planning and pitfalls, the Air America radio network, comprising a handful of politically liberal shows airing on four stations, announced plans to begin operations March 31.
"We are not ceding this territory any more," comedian and writer Al Franken said from the network's New York offices Wednesday. "To their credit, the right wing has captured radio. We are going at them, and going hard."
The network will be heard initially on WLIB in New York, WNTD in Chicago, KBLA in Los Angeles and a San Francisco station to be named later, according to Mark Walsh, chief executive officer of Progress Media, Air America's parent.
Walsh, a former television anchor and Internet entrepreneur whose previous jobs include stints at HBO and America Online, also announced the network's full lineup.
Franken's show, whose title is a takeoff on Fox News' popular The O'Reilly Factor, is set for noon to 3 p.m., with co-host Katherine Lanpher; satirist Mark Maron will be host for the 6-9 a.m. morning show, with co- hosts Sue Ellicott and Mark Riley; Lizz Winstead, of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, will be joined by rapper Chuck D and co-host Laura Flanders from 9 a.m. to noon.
Veteran Florida talker Randi Rhodes will be on from 3 to 6 p.m. followed by a one-hour, Los Angeles-based news commentary show with Marty Kaplan as host. Comedian Janeane Garofalo, with co-host Sam Seder, finishes up from 8 to 11 p.m.
Weekend programming is to include "Champions of Justice," a show about legal and social issues with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papatanio.
"The nation is more divided than anyone can remember, and in division is a media opportunity," Walsh, 49, said. "We want to have a full broadcast day - not just one liberal show bobbing in the bile and spew of conservative talk."
The network lineup, which will also include a daily report from online magazine Salon, is meant to be "entertaining, informing and comedic," and a counterpoint to what's already on the air, said Walsh.
Bumps in the road
The new network was conceived more than a year ago as a way to get liberal voices on radio airwaves dominated by conservative talk shows like Rush Limbaugh's syndicated program, heard on about 600 stations. It prompted a flurry of media attention but encountered several bumps in its development.
