Air America: Saving The World From Satanic Forces

"We tell the truth," claims Al Franken early in HBO's documentary about liberal radio station "Air America," entitled "Left of the Dial," which chronicles the burgeoning station from it's infancy, over the thin ice of finances, and through the 2004 election. The almost two-hour film gives a candid look at the personalities involved, the financial troubles, and the station mission of taking down the "satanic forces of the night;" the Bush administration. It depicts the clash of liberal ideals and the real world, as it plays out not only in front of HBO's camera's, but in front of America itself on the a.m. dial.

"The Talent"

There is no shortage of neurosis from the "talent;" Randi Rhodes is obsessed with her lack of media coverage and being the last person to get a station pass, and is downtrodden when Michael Moore gives her the brush off. Marc Maron is simply useless, nasty to on-air partners who step on his jokes, and wonders aloud why the whole thing can't be "about me."

Jeanine Garafolo obsesses mercilessly about the "religious right" and spends half of her time in the film unable to even best her own father in a debate, be it over the phone or in person. Al Franken warms up for his first show by shadow-boxing in the studio, which is a pitiful sight to behold, and one can't quite help imagining him in a floral-print housedress.

Perhaps one of the high points of the film was Rhodes mercilessly berating Ralph Nader on the phone, who is ultimately forced to hang up in frustration. "I'm very angry with you," leads Rhodes, before launching into an insulting tirade designed to shame Nader out of the race. It's all poor Ralph can do to get in a word or two about the million people who put their trust in him, who Rhodes could care less about. She starts screaming at him to get out of the race and calling him names before Nader finally hangs up in frustration, noting her very poor interviewing skills and calling her an "overtalker."

Towards the end of the film, Rhodes is confronted by a caller asking about Theresa Heinz-Kerry's questionable charitable giving. Rhodes has no idea what the caller is talking about and finally screams "bitch," and hangs up. "What a witch," she notes for the listening audience, not once but twice.

"Glitches"

Equipment failures are a real problem and the entire station runs on stereotypically liberal organizational skills, which is to say a total lack thereof. A desperation sales drive and attempts to squeeze free advertising forces even the NYT editorial board to ask the station if they are "progressives or capitalists," to which management doesn't quite know how to answer.
Before technical and sales problems can be worked out, Air America has lost their two major markets, Chicago and L.A., to bounced checks. Scenes ensue with managment spinning like madmen, "O.k., here's what we say...," "it's just contractual differences," this is the sign of a healthy company that knows how to push back," "we're good for the money," before they are ultimately found culpable in both instances.

All the while, employees are finding out about the company's dire troubles via the Drudge Report. All hell breaks loose when employees learn that their health care deductions have not been used to pay premiums. Earl Miller lambasts ownership "They're fucking millionaires," he yells and wonders why they can't just pay the bill, lamenting "they're leaving us without health care." His sentiments are shared by many employees.

Thus begins a roughly 30-minute segment of scrambling for new investors, "teetering on the edge," according to management, and driving with cell phones. In perhaps the supreme example of the station's sense of self-importance, new CEO Carl Ginsburg notes, "if there is no money Bush will run roughshod over the world." Investors appear to be lying to employees about the future of the company, while some employees have yet to be paid anything at all. Rhodes complains that the station has even put her in debt through failures to reimburse.

New investors are finally brought on board in one of the few scenes that HBO wasn't allowed to film, and slowly but surely the station starts working toward the election.

"Election Day"

Since the beginning, the station talent has been absolutely self-assured that if they can just get on the air, their presence will mold the course of human events. Rhodes calls AirAmerica "the battleground for the next election," tells listeners that "Satan is Bush's campaign manager," and that he will "fuck the world."

Tactics include ravaging Rush Limbaugh, including a bumper that notes, "Air America. Rush Limbaugh would listen to it if he hadn't lost most of his hearing to drug abuse." Rhodes finally gets her magazine cover, but notes it isn't as good as Franken's. All systems are go, and the station is on message as election day arrives.

"If Kerry wins we can change the world," Rhodes encouragingly states to fellow employees on election day. "I know Kerry will win," adds an optimistic Garafolo. But as the day wears on the excitement turns to awestruck silence that spreads through the station like a virus. One employee finally breaks the silence, running outside and yelling, "Am I in a democratic bubble? The whole country is red!" Rhodes, outside for yet another smoke break, attempts to quell the anxious employee's fears by noting "nobody lives there anyway," followed by describing middle America as without water and adequate food supplies to support life.

Maron is on the air obsessed with gay marriage, Rhodes offers a slew of comparisons that could only be intended as insults to Bush voters, wrapping up with "we were offered wisdom and we chose stupidity." Another host laments the future, now in the hands of "religious fanatics in the face of science, truth and reality."

New CEO Doug Kreeger, in yet another example of the station's overinflated sense of self-importance states, "I thought we could pull it off." The next morning Maron is still unglued and a show producer offers "We got fucked...so fuck you" as an idea for a new direction for the station.

"The Year That Was"

Air America currently has 48 affiliates and may actually be turning a profit on it's 2nd anniversary, which is a bit amazing given the level of debate that was featured by HBO. Not once in any of the footage of on-air give and take is their a sole example of a platform, an argument in favor of anything, or the liberal message for the future.

Essentially the hosts engage entirely in belittling the Bush administration, disparaging christians, and making dire predictions about the future, most of which have since proven to be false. One ofthe charges most frequently bandied about was of Bush's "cooking the books" on WMD intelligence, which coincidentally has proven to be false, as of this very day.

Still, hosts are obsessed with it, and the only personality in the film who would prove to be right about the situation would be Garafolo's father, who is the only Republican to appear in the film.
The HBO documentary is amusing to watch in that it reveals the liberals at Air America to be guilty of many of the things of which they accuse the Bush administration. Not providing health insurance, lying to the press and to the employees, supressing democracy (Nader), and disdain for voters. In fact, from beginning to end the station talent is totally convinced of their ability to manipulate voters into a desirable result for the progressive-secular cause, all the while making their case almost solely by repeating that Bush is the one, in fact, manipulating the voters, as often as possible.

If nothing else, the documentary reveals that the forces driving Air America learned that liberal values and philosophies are great in theory and for the consumption of an easily manipulated public, but have no place in running a radio station.

Which, if one chose to think about it, is kind of fitting. The struggle to insert idealogical liberal beliefs into a real life is an impossible one, unless everyone else is also a liberal. Once it is placed against the backdrop of a real world, it is no longer tenable. Realizing that may have been the one moment of stark truth in the film, and may even be credited with the station's continued survival.