Tips for Al and Katherine

As Air America Radio starts its second week, I'm hoping Al and Katherine will find their groove. I listened raptly last week, the rabidly angry liberal inside of me unleashed like nicotine from the Nicorette gum Randi Rhodes chewed all through her afternoon stint on air. I streamed the show through my headphones at work, my cackling and desk-pounding cracking the atmosphere of the quiet office. Made the work of inserting hard tabs go that much quicker.

But I found Al Franken's show a bit of a letdown. I'm sure they'll get it off the ground. I know Lanpher from her MPR days, and she's got an excellent way with a radio mic, handling guests the way a crocodile will hold its young between a pair of massive jaws. Her cackle, if given a chance, can't help but break Gotham's notoriously steely indifference, once they figure out she's not a drag queen. Al just needs to let her talk more. Take more of a lead. Just calling out the toll-free phone number and cutting off Al's ramblings for commercial breaks is a waste of her imminent talents. Right now it's like she's trying to help her aged grandfather cross the street to feed the pigeons. Al will start clipping along, but until he does he should defer to the pro.

Randi Rhodes is a whole different cup of tea. She's been No. 1 in South Florida for-evah but returned to her native New York to steer Air America into the afternoon. By three pm she's gotta have like six sticks of Nicorette stuck in her craw, cause she gets manic and raspy, equally insulting and self-deprecating. I love it. Here's her and Ralph Nader, via New York Metro:

“I’m angry at you! I’m angry at you! I’m a genuine person who is angry at you!!”

Randi Rhodes, the afternoon drive-time host, was screaming at Ralph Nader on her first day on Air America.

“You’re ruining the first day of Air America,” Nader whined, having called in to what he thought might be a receptive liberal audience.

“I’m not ruining anything!” Rhodes shouted.

“You’re a terrible interviewer,” Nader said plaintively.

“I’m not interviewing you!” Rhodes screeched. “I am mad at you—don’t you understand ?! You screwed up the last election, and now you’re going to screw up this one! Sometimes I look at a fabulous pair of shoes and I can’t afford them. I can’t afford you !”

Nader hung up on her. Rhodes laughed. On talk radio, this is a major score.

She's tapped a scary alter-ego within me, one that will suck up with glee anything that insults conservatives. I grew up in a household where Rush Limbaugh ruled the kitchen all afternoon; dad at the kitchen table drinking diet Pepsi and giving shout-outs to The Leader. I suffered him in silence ... only to find that a part of me craves a verbose anger that speaks what I think. And it does make formatting manuscripts go that much quicker.

Bunsen blogs Franken.

New York Metro offers it's own review.

The O'Franken Factor blog .

Posted by Jason at April 5, 2024 11:14 PM