The O'Franken Factor?

Al Franken will launch a radio show opposite Rush Limbaugh this spring. I can hardly wait. Franken dishes it out, but Limbaugh and O'Reilly can't take it. One thing about Al Franken: he is droll, not shrill. Plus, he's smarter than Limbaugh and O'Reilly combined. Perhaps he's too smart. H. L. Menken said that no one ever went broke in the U. S. underestimating the intelligence of the public. (See the success of Limbaugh and O'Reilly.) Al Franken is correct, though: Rush Limbaugh IS a big, fat idiot. If this be (fair & balanced) malignity, so be it.

[x Washington Post]
A Liberal Haven on the Radio Dial
Talk Network Plans to Begin National Broadcast in Spring

By Jennifer Frey

The much-discussed liberal radio network, designed to challenge conservatives' dominance of talk radio, took its first steps toward reality yesterday, when newly formed Progress Media announced it had both signed comedian and author Al Franken to host his own talk show and completed its first distribution deal in a major market.

Franken's show is expected to air weekdays from noon to 3 p.m., in direct competition with the popular "Rush Limbaugh Show." Franken is the author of two best-selling nonfiction books, the first titled "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot."

Progress Media also announced that it had signed environmental attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to co-host another program for its anticipated lineup of round-the-clock talk radio.

"We're trying to give people an alternative," Franken said in a telephone interview. "We want to provide a change in the political landscape and a beacon of hope for ordinary Americans who work hard and play by the rules."

And of course he also wants another platform to attack his nemeses, including conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly.

"We're trying to get sued by a right-wing jerk -- hence the name of our program, 'The O'Franken Factor,' " Franken joked.

Though its name has yet to be chosen, the network plans to go on the air by March or April, according to Progress Media CEO Mark Walsh. According to Walsh, the first distribution deal -- a lease for round-the-clock air time at WNTD (950 AM) in Chicago -- will be followed by several others in the next two weeks, likely in the New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco markets. No deal with a Washington area station is imminent, although talks have taken place, Walsh said.

"There's been a lot of heat and light, and now we have some more traction in commitments to infrastructure and distribution," Walsh said in a phone interview.

The announcements came two months after a new leadership team bought the majority interest in the proposed network from Sheldon and Anita Drobny, major Democratic donors who formed AnShell Media early last year. The new owners -- led by Evan Cohen, a New York venture capitalist, and Walsh, a Chevy Chase-based Internet entrepreneur who has served as a technology adviser to the Democratic National Committee -- moved quickly to sign Franken, who from the beginning had been in talks to be the network's flagship talk-show host.

"I wasn't going to agree to get involved in this unless it had a chance to succeed," said Franken, who agreed to a one-year deal but would not disclose the terms. "There's always a risk. But I wanted to make a calculated risk."

Liberal talk radio has largely failed in the past in part because the industry is so heavily dominated by conservatives that liberal shows sandwiched between right-wing programming were all but destined to fail. As Franken put it, "That's like having three hours of country followed by three hours of hip-hop. It's not going to work." As an alternative, Progress Media plans to provide a 24-hour liberal-dominated home base for its talkers, albeit one that works in humor and an openness to debate.

"If all we are perceived as is being the mouthpiece of the Democratic Party, we have failed," Walsh said.

Walsh is tempering his expectations in the early going -- "we expect to have a pretty decent radio product that we hope gets some ratings; our ambition is not blockbusterish," he says -- and Progress Media expects to make a significant financial investment in the network as it attempts to expand its audience.

"Considering the state of politics, I believe that the times might be more fertile in the years ahead for liberals to be able to do what the conservatives have done, and that is to develop a core audience for liberal talk radio," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers, the leading trade magazine on the subject. "However, even with the times being right, it won't be easy, because it took Limbaugh years to develop his following."

©2004 The Washington Post Company