[Speed Gibson,
Saturday February 19, 2005 at 9:49pm]
Does Al Franken work for a living?
Remember back when people were speculating about President Clinton doing his own TV show after he left the Presidency? He didn't as we know. Rush Limbaugh predicted this, knowing first-hand that TV is hard work, and above all, you have to be on time, something Bill Clinton seldom is.
I'm listening to an archive recording of The Al Franken Show, from Feb 3, the day after the State of the Union speech. This is for an upcoming post series comparing various talk radio programs from that date.
Already one key difference is startlingly obvious: it sure sounds like Al doesn't work very hard at this. The first hour he opens "strong" - obviously reading prepared text. But once that minute is over, a torrent of hem's and haw's and but's and and's and ah's and tongue clicks punctuate loose prose laced with broken sentences. His "content-heavy" analysis is little more than jabbering around two or three talking points each hour, and were it not for Katherine Lanpher, he would lose all context by the bottom of each hour. He is clearly uncomfortable behind a live microphone, as he so obviously was during the Comedy Central coverage of recent Democrat and Republican conventions.
Now I would hope Mr. Franken would admit that he doesn't have the broadcast skills of most of his peers. He didn't grow up in radio like some, and he hasn't been on the air very long. But show preparation can close much of the gap, personal preparation that is, not trying to work off a list of points prepared by someone else.
Even as his show approaches the one year mark, it is surprisingly unprofessional in how it sounds, compared to NPR for example. It's the same message, but NPR understands the importance of what the business calls "production values." Yet I get the impression that Air America is perfectly content with the current product.
And for this half-hearted effort, Al Franken makes a million dollars a year?
I'm listening to an archive recording of The Al Franken Show, from Feb 3, the day after the State of the Union speech. This is for an upcoming post series comparing various talk radio programs from that date.
Already one key difference is startlingly obvious: it sure sounds like Al doesn't work very hard at this. The first hour he opens "strong" - obviously reading prepared text. But once that minute is over, a torrent of hem's and haw's and but's and and's and ah's and tongue clicks punctuate loose prose laced with broken sentences. His "content-heavy" analysis is little more than jabbering around two or three talking points each hour, and were it not for Katherine Lanpher, he would lose all context by the bottom of each hour. He is clearly uncomfortable behind a live microphone, as he so obviously was during the Comedy Central coverage of recent Democrat and Republican conventions.
Now I would hope Mr. Franken would admit that he doesn't have the broadcast skills of most of his peers. He didn't grow up in radio like some, and he hasn't been on the air very long. But show preparation can close much of the gap, personal preparation that is, not trying to work off a list of points prepared by someone else.
Even as his show approaches the one year mark, it is surprisingly unprofessional in how it sounds, compared to NPR for example. It's the same message, but NPR understands the importance of what the business calls "production values." Yet I get the impression that Air America is perfectly content with the current product.
And for this half-hearted effort, Al Franken makes a million dollars a year?