Any Good News They Can Get

David Kopel writes the first decent reveiw I've seen of FrankenNet so far.

He starts:

The network's flagship program is The O'Franken Factor, co-hosted by comedian Al Franken and Katherine Lanpher (10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Colorado time, weekdays). The two make a good team and, overall, the show is about equal in quality to many of the syndicated right-wing talk programs, such as the Sean Hannity or Michael Medved programs.

Er, wait.

That damns Hannity with faint praise. But comparing Medved's blazingly intelligent show with the snarky, smirky Franken show?

Kopel doesn't listen to much radio, does he?

Right-wingers sometimes ask, "Why does the left need a talk radio show? They've already got NPR, The New York Times, CBS, ABC, NBC and CNN." Well, it is true that all of those news outlets (and much of the news staffs at both The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News) tilt left. However, the need to maintain a veneer of impartiality usually prevents direct ideological instruction.

Freed from the pretense of impartiality, talk radio hosts (like newspaper columnists) provide the audience new frames for understanding the news. The best columnists and hosts do not just talk about the events of the day, but advance the story.

Like Rush Limbaugh, Franken is unabashedly ideological but brings enough new information to his program so as to be persuasive to some moderates, and worthwhile listening even for ideological opponents.

Kopel's looking to get booked as a guest, I'd say. I'll admit my bias - toward listenable radio - but I have heard nothing on Franken that would connect with anyone that's not a confirmed moonbat.

Let me know if I"m wrong.

Unfortunately, Franken is followed by four hours of The Randi Rhodes Show. A good radio host knows much more than the average caller, but Rhodes does not. Last Monday, for example, several callers raised issues (including Colorado Springs Bishop Michael Sheridan's controversial voter instruction letter), about which Rhodes had no idea. Like KHOW 630 host Scott Redmond on a bad day, Rhodes had a single idea (Donald Rumsfeld is responsible for Abu Ghraib) which she vainly tried to stretch into a full program...

For someone with such a smug sense of intellectual superiority, Rhodes is remarkably ignorant. Monday, for example, brought the bizarre claim that United States bombed Dresden after the Germans had surrendered in World War II. Actually, the bombing was three months before the Germans surrendered.

I can't see Medved blowing that one.

Posted by Mitch at May 24, 2004 05:17 AM