Back in March 2004 the BBC were bigging up the launch of Air America, billed as the “liberal answer to the right-wing shock-jocks which fill the U.S air-waves”. and “regime change radio“. News stories, the Today programme, Front Row (the show that gives ‘liberal arts’ a bad name) were all on the case.
Fiona ‘Fi’ Glover and the Radio Four “Broadcasting House” team even moved to New York to present March 28th’s edition.
“We’re in New York for a special programme examining the launch of new, multi-million dollar, US radio network. ‘Air America’ wants to challenge the dominant right-wing talk shows in the US with a new brand of liberal political shows. We talk to the main players involved and ask can ‘Air America’ succeed ?”
Well, two years on, there are plenty of Air America stories around – mostly negative and on the lines of ‘how long can they survive ?’. Their president has just resigned after a year. The wikipedia entry, while sober, is not a cheerful read. Yet the BBC don’t seem to want to revisit the story on which so much money was lavished two years ago. Can’t imagine why. Come on, Justin, Matt. Come on, Fi !