Stephanie Miller on MSNBC

True dat.

 

Yes, but that would have involved hiring people based on their radio skills. Air America hired people based on celebrity status and ideological purity. That's no way to succeed, regardless of what point of view you're pushing.

 

That's the second good line of yours I've seen today.

Clearly, I need some sleep.

 

As a southpaw, I hated AA. I hated the business model, the reliance on celebrities, the fact that Franken tried to make the usual pile of Beltway drones cool -- Norm Ornstein! Jonathan Alter! -- and, worst of all, the complete and utter disregard for the talent they did have, expecially Sam Seder, who's been shuffled off. (I was never a Marc Maron guy. Bad stand-up is bad stand-up, whether you're sitting down or not.)
Luckily, though, my local AA outlet picked up Stephanie's show at 10 a.m. It was goofy, and she's the furthest thing from a wonk, but it was damn good radio. And, as somebody pointed out, Jim Ward is the greatest voice guy alive. His regular updates from Kim Jong-Il were a scream
Naturally, when AA went down here, Steph's show went with it.
Kim out!

 

I maybe have heard her show ... I think it plays on the weekends where I live.

What about Ed Schultz? He seems more nuanced in his thinking than the AA model.

 

Ed's OK -- my station picked him up for evening drive -- and was better than anything on AA except Minority Report, but he does the man-of-the-people shtick too heavily. I don't care what small animal you shot last week, Ed, and he's in the pocket of that towering pile of Jell-O, Tom Daschle.

 

Sometimes there's very good reason for a radio show to not see television. Put another way -- the first time I saw what Garrison Keller looked like, I made sure it was the last time.

 

i like Stephanie Miller. Always have.

 

Well, if she's a southpaw, then I suppose it's a great hire. That makes all the difference.

 

Can she get righties out too or is she just a specialist?

 

I hope they have Whoopie's show on there. Now that would be a morning pick me up.

 

Something I've been wondering (in light of the recent WKRP thread) . . .

Stephanie's show plays small clips of music at the beginning of each segment.

Twisted Sister at the top of the hour, and then all kinds of various musical intros at the other breaks (ABBA, ZZ Top, Toni Basil, Beatles and dozens more). She even plays Flintstones music when going through "fun facts."

Are there any rights fees involved in playing this music? Does the very short length they are used make a difference?