Air America Radio Hits Five Year Anniversary

Image from source, LTR

Many people reading that headline might be confused. If you listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or watch Bill O'Reilly on FOX "News," you might think that Air America Radio expired long ago. It is true that they've had a rocky history, have filed for bankruptcy (and come through it). It is also true that their long-term future is far from certain, with all of the radio industry in much the same boat. But it says something that they've managed to stay alive so long, in a field that is so hostile to their format.

Now, the big question is, will former AAR star Al Franken be seated as Junior Senator from Minnesota? And will AAR still be around on the day that he is sworn in? I'm crossing my fingers for both.

[Excerpt]

Five years later: Air America and the mainstreaming of progressive talk

. . .Obviously, there was left-leaning talk before Air America. Perhaps we should go back in history to explain why and how Air America came into being. In the late 1940s, long before something like Air America was even imaginable, a non-profit organization, Pacifica, was founded with a somewhat similar aim in mind, albeit in a more cultural, less soapbox-like kind of way. In the late 1960s, free-form rock stations emerged on the then-obscure FM dial, complete with left-leaning disc jockeys free to express their views on politics and the emerging counterculture in between long music sets featuring artists like Bob Dylan and The Doors expressing views on the the same issues via their songs. Talk radio was then a novelty on AM, compared to today. Most AM stations still played music. But the talk stations that did exist were locally-oriented and featured a variety of views and opinions. . .

Read more at: LTR