An Open Letter to WWRL 1600 Radio

Mr. Rennie Bishop
Program Director
WWRL 1600 Radio
333 Seventh Avenue
New York NY 10001

Dear Mr. Bishop,

I am an Air American – listening to Air America Radio from Day One -- and a sometime WWRL listener who is extremely disappointed with the lack of Air America Radio shows on the schedule of WWRL, the supposed flagship station of Air America Radio. I would appreciate your consideration of my critical comments which follow.

Sammy and Army are awful, (im)pure and simple – and didn’t Armstrong Williams in the past receive payoffs to talk about certain issues?

Richard Bey – His show is lightweight and his singing syrupy and egotistical. He is a poor substitute for AAR’s Richard Greene whose CLOUT aims to foster much needed liberal/progressive political activism. (WWRL’s failure previously to carry Mark Riley’s Air Americans may have contributed to its quick demise.)

Alan Colmes – This is the person Al Franken referred to in his Lying Liars book as Colmes – I tried to listen, wondering if there was some substance there somewhere. I gave up after a number of poor caliber non-informative, limitedly entertaining shows. Part of his show conflicts with that of the superior and informative This is America -- Jon Elliott’s show – and you carry none of it regularly (though I will grant you that I have heard “A Best of” show over the weekend at some strange hour – and I would have a difficult time finding it.).

Sam Seder on Sunday Show – we get only an hour of an already truncated three hour show (even that is NOT enough – instead Air America has mistakenly given us nauseatingly puerile Lionel – not your fault – actually in this case I would appreciate your broadcasting some other progressive show – maybe re-air Jon Elliott in the 9 to noon weekday slot!) Please carry Sam’s full show. (I wish that AAR would give us MORE of Sam on a daily basis.)

WWRL seems to run a lot of (TOO MANY) health infomercials. I am a firm believer of alternative medicine and herbal remedies but WWRL’s programming is way overboard for a flagship station. Undoubtedly, these must be money-makers but please note that YES, I DO support sponsors when I can. (I have purchased a number of items recently from TekServe on 23rd Street – and I told them about hearing their ads on WWRL.)

Thank God for podcasts, but as a political activist I know that it is easier to recommend slightly older Democratic/political activists listen to certain radio shows rather than ask them to subscribe to and/or download a podcast. Besides, there is the immediacy of the original show. I stream AAR or WWRL while at work and frequently when I am home – Living in Queens I get way too much bleeding from the Disney channel after dark but it is sooooo nice not to be tied to the computer to hear good progressive programming.

All of this said, thanks for carrying Thom Hartmann and Rachel Maddow, my favorites – and I love Bobby and Pap’s Ring of Fire and Welton’s State of Belief, and enjoy Mark and Arianna’s 7 Days in America, but we need to give New York City’s radio listeners the ability to hear the best of the progressive radio shows, not pale substitutes or infomercials. With Sammy and Army, Richard Bey, and Colmes, a case could certainly be made that WWRL is complicit in the dumbing down of New Yorkers. Please. You can do better. Please do.

I welcome a response.

Thank you.


Respectfully,
Kate Anne

VERY IMPORTANT: PS, PPS, and PPPS re Laura Flanders, John Edwards and more

cc: Mr. Mark Green
President
Air America Radio
641 Sixth Avenue – 4th Floor
New York NY 10011