liberal talk to be establish in three major cities in US

Original article By JACQUES STEINBERG (NYT)

Originally Published: March 21, 2004

The creators of a fledgling liberal talk radio

network who hope to challenge the

dominance of conservative voices on the

nation's airwaves said yesterday that its programming would make

its debut on March 31 on low-rated stations in New York, Los

Angeles and Chicago.

Mr. Franken's program will be called ''The O'Franken Factor,'' in a

barb aimed at Bill O'Reilly, the host of ''The O'Reilly Factor'' on

the Fox News Channel. Fox News sued Mr. Franken and his

publisher last summer in an unsuccessful effort to block

distribution of his book, ''Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell

Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right'' (E.P. Dutton,

2003). The network charged that the book's use of Fox's ''fair and

balanced'' tagline would tarnish its image.

For all Air America's relative star power and connections -- Mark

Walsh, the network's chief executive, has donated more than

$100,000 to the Democratic Party and has served as an adviser to

the presidential candidate John Kerry on Internet issues -- the

network faces enormous hurdles. They include making money for

its investors and unseating the biggest conservative voices in talk

radio, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, whose programs appear

on hundreds of stations. Nonetheless, Mr. Walsh said the effort had support, including an

initial investment of more than $20 million provided by several

backers, including Evan Cohen, a venture capitalist, and Rex

Sorensen, a entrepreneur. Cohen and Sorensen are media entrepreneurs and investors, originally from Guam. Sorensen owns radio stations in Guam and Saipan. Cohen has invested, owned and operated ad agencies and publishing companies on Guam and throughout the Pacific Rim. Cohen tells reporters “This is not completely uncharted territory. Compelling, political talk radio is produced every day and listened to by millions of Americans. We’re just tweaking the model a little. There are millions of hungry ears waiting for something else. If we can create compelling content day in and day out, this business will work. Of course, in a politically charged atmosphere, you’re going to get commentary from everybody. That’s just part of the business.” Cohen adds, “Franken brings a lot of buzz, but I think you’ll see, in the end, that the talent pool is pretty deep and the opportunity pretty significant. It is risky though.”

The network, known as Air America Radio, said its hosts would

include Al Franken, the comedian and political satirist, whose

program will be broadcast from noon to 3 p.m.; Janeane Garofalo,

an actress whose program will be on from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.;

Chuck D, a hip-hop artist, who will be a co-anchor of a morning

program; and Martin Kaplan, a media analyst who has previously

appeared on National Public Radio.

''It's tough to build a syndicated show, let alone a whole array of

syndicated shows,'' said Michael Harrison, a former radio station

owner who is the publisher of Talkers, a trade magazine.

In New York, for example, Air America will broadcast on WLIB,

an AM station that was ranked 24th in the metropolitan New York

market last fall, according to Arbitron; WABC, which broadcasts

Mr. Limbaugh and Mr. Hannity, was ranked 12th. Similarly, in

Chicago, Air America's affiliate, WNTD, was ranked 32nd; the

Limbaugh affiliate, WLS, was ranked fifth. In Los Angeles, Air

America will be broadcast on KBLA, which ranked 30th.

Mr. Walsh said that he expected the network, whose parent

company is Progress Media, would offer something unique on talk

radio -- a megaphone for liberals -- and that by the end of the year

he anticipated its programming would be carried by stations in at

least a dozen other markets, including San Francisco. Mr. Walsh

declined to name any other cities where the network was pursuing

stations.

Mr. Franken, who described himself in a telephone interview as ''a

comedian first and a citizen second,'' said he intended his show to

be ''entertaining, funny and hard-hitting.''

''This territory has been ceded to the right way too long,'' he said.

''We're going to take it to them.''

Mr. Franken said that he had called his show ''The O'Franken

Factor'' with the hope that it would ''annoy and bait'' Mr. O'Reilly.

Robert Zimmerman, a spokesman for Fox News, said: ''One of this

country's founding principles is the right to free speech. We wish

them well.''