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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Well, that didn't take long
Posted by Jill | 6:46 PM
As the indispensable Liberal Talk Radio blog (which you should read instead of that wingnut Maloney if you are interested in such things; after all, how can you trust someone who defends a man who wants the economy to collapse because he thinks that will make people vote Republican?) is reporting, Sheldon and Anita Drobny's second experiment in progressive talk radio, NovaM, is no more. And if you go to the network's web site, you'll see that already there's a new banner for "On Second Thought: Talk Radio for Independent Minds" and a message from "Chief Technical Officer" Ben Burch, which makes him sound a bit like one of the guys in red shirts from Star Trek.

From what I can gather, after searching through various and sundry screeds (it seems there are a lot of people who don't like this guy), Ben Burch runs the White Rose Society, which archives progressive radio shows and he seems to have had some kind of volunteer connection to NovaM. What this means for subscribers, I have no idea, but I hope they aren't planning to automatically renew memberships until we know exactly what the product is going to be.

The full update and straight poop about the Randi Rhodes/NovaM situation is here.

UPDATE: Well, it looks like Mike Newcomb, who started out as CEO of NovaM and apparently left after a falling out with the Drobnys, has come back to take over the scraps. The entire lineup now consists of Newcomb, Nancy Skinner, who was subbing for Randi Rhodes, and Mike Malloy. So unless they were to do something like bring Maron and Seder into the fold, means I won't be renewing my subscription.

At one time I would have been begging for an upstart broadcasting outfit to hire these two guys, but they seem to be doing fine right where they are. Sam is in a fight-to-the-death battle with Cenk Uygur, now also "banished" to the Web, lobbying for the 10 PM MSNBC slot (and I can think of worse things than for the two of them to work together, with Maron as roving correspondent), but Break Room Live is starting to get its sea legs, and is even getting some press attention:
Fairly Aggressive Jews
Radio’s next great duo isn’t on the radio at all

[snip]

Along with Maron and Seder, the film’s cast reads like a who’s who of alternative comedy, including Sarah Silverman, Janeane Garofalo and Jon Benjamin. Like most of Seder’s forays into the entertainment industry, however, the movie’s destiny was ill-fated.The words, “This film was entirely written and shot by June of 2001” grace the back—a sad but necessary disclaimer. Three months later, few would be jumping at the chance to distribute a comedy that opened on its protagonist aiming a rocket launcher at a New York skyscraper.

Both men also did time in Air America’s radio studio during the station’s heyday. Maron co-hosted Morning Sedition with radio vet Mark Riley. Seder, meanwhile, did The Majority Report with Garofalo. After a fair deal of shifting, Seder and Maron ultimately left the station. And now, five years after first helping the station get off the ground, both men have returned to Air America—or Air America’s kitchen.

[snip]

After introductory statements, which find Maron declaring his hate—and then love—for Seder (“let’s not rebound too far to the other side,” retorts Seder), things take a turn for the serious.The interplay between the somber and the comedic is another balancing act in the hour-long show. For a new program, however, Break Room Live has done a good job maintaining stasis. “A lot of people are active and a lot of people are progressive, but a lot of people don’t know what the fuck is going on,” Maron explains to me after the show. “And I think our dynamic speaks to that.”


Here's Maron flying solo in yesterday's show. He's GOOD at this. It isn't every day you see cogent political commentary about Afghanistan coming from a guy who looks like the homeless man on the subway distributing 9/11 truth tracts.

Webcasting allows people like Maron (and I would guess someday, Randi Rhodes), who have this peculiar kind of genius, to have an outlet that doesn't involve trying to satisfy guys in suits who have to worry about whether the SelectQuote guys are going to continue feeding Dan Tullis and Joel Clark to us.

The problem with Web-based broadcasting, however, is that it isn't Right There yet. If I want to watch or listen to a radio broadcast or video, I have to turn on the PC, launch the browser, and navigate to the site. If I'm on our desktop PC, I'm confined to our home office. If I want satellite radio, I have to buy a receiver, pay a subscription fee, and if I want to listen in the house, it's highly likely that I'll need an antenna, which takes us back to the days of analog TV. Terrestrial radio, however, is Right There. And until Web radio is Right There, it's always going to be the Designated Family Shithead of radio, despite the ads for Select Quote, and listening to Thom Hartmann shill for some dentist, and Rachel Maddow selling face cream, and various penis enlargers and anti-anxiety tape courses, and the rest of the snake oil that does its marketing on AM radio.

However, Melina sent me this post by Darren Murph at Engadget, pointing out that $7.2 billion in the stimulus package is dedicated to expanding broadband internet access, with the FCC being instructed to create a national broadband plan to ensure that everyone in the U.S. has broadband access. The question about this, however, is how this access is going to be delivered. Of course what I would like to see is a the economies of scale that would come with ubiquitous, taxpayer-financed wireless access, but somehow I don't think the telecom and cable companies are going to allow Congress to go along with that idea, and as we know, money talks and we as citizens don't. But ubiquitous Wifi and internet radios on every kitchen countertop would certainly make AM radio, and the limited access that alternative voices have to it, the equivalent of a black-and-white set with rabbit ears after the whole thing goes digital.

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2 Comments:
Blogger Mr. Natural said...
I stop in at The White Rose Society now and then and leave an opinion or two. It is a gathering place for progressives and those who like to argue with them. It can be found at http://oldamericancentury.org

Not being near a large metro area where I can get any progressive radio anyway, I get my lefty inspiration from the web and nite-time MSNBC. Rachel rocks!
2/18/09, 10:21 PM  
Blogger Melina said...
First of all, get yourself an internet radio. You of all people should have one. I have a Chumby, but there are others available. You program in your favorite stations, and you can even play Pandora on it. Im gonna look around and will forward to you what I find in the tech world.

Secondly, there is technology for wireless hubs that stretch as far as 50 miles, that has to be developed in this country. The problem that we face is if wireless access is viewed as a capitalistic business or a right. Considering how important it is for education, and the clear divide between the work turned in by kids without access to computer/internet/supplies, I think its a right.

Third...I trust that Obama, having put this in the stim package anyway, which is a freakin miracle in itself, is into it...and though it may take some time, and that money may all go for studies and comittees, it really is just a matter of time before clock radios are routinely put together with a little wireless chip to pick up your music or stations....the wifi ipod is a signal...afterall, doesnt every clock radio these days come with a plug or dock for the pod?...once it can use wifi, we will see wifi in all broadcasting devices.
Just my opinion, but I see it as being alot closer than it was before Obama got into office.

Oh, also, I doubt that Nova M or whatever they are called these days, can afford even the most basic syndication fees for breakroom live. I am so glad that the boys didn't go over to Nova...not that they woulda anyway. Cancel your subscription before they renew you.
Randi will land on her feet on a local station back home and work from there....I have faith that she will be back soon. Heaven knows that the bankrupt sirius XM needs some better hosts on their left channel...How Lynn Samuels keeps working is beyond me!
2/19/09, 8:59 PM  
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