The good news is that it is true that the internet blogosphere, news sites, community groups and activists are not only the equivalent of the conservative talk radio and cable combined, but create, literally, the opportunity of a lifetime to build a media megaphone for enlightened Americanism and a money machine of enormous influence and profitability.
The bad news, is, yet again, as Democrats lag behind Republicans in communicating message and mobilizing opportunity, Air America has neutered itself with the worst business plan and execution since the cave men first traded coconuts. My hope is to save Air America, not bury it, but whether it is through Air America, a progressive new competitor to Air America, or other multi-media ventures this is the wave of the present and future. It will happen, though sadly, without the magnitude of influence it should have for the historic 2006 elections.
Can we agree on this? Air America in content speaks to the aspirations of at least 40% of the American people, and should galvanize the attention of another 20% who are highly disillusioned with the direction of the nation, and very alienated by the mainstream media and the "fear and smear" media megaphone of the right. Yet with this potentially huge and giant audience in waiting, Air America is lucky to gain 1% audience in major markets that include New York.
I am referring to management, not the talent, which is disastrously served by management. At a minimum, discussed below, probably 60% of the shows on air should be able to double or triple their audience share, and dramatically enhance their megaphone power and their profitability, within one to two quarters. If Air America were a public company, there would be clamors for radical management change, demands for serious business plans, and proxy fights that would have prevailed and forced changes long ago.
Two brief examples from my own experience, to set the stage, then the call to action, and how it can be done.
Frank Sinatra was in my opinion the most talented force in the history of humanity, and equally interesting, he was backed by some of the most creative and brilliant business minds in the history of entertainment, who I played a modest role in working with. To understand modern entertainment marketing, check out the Duet series of albums, where Mr. Sinatra performed duets with artists such as Luther Vandross, Bono, Julio Iglesias and others who transcended all demographic, gender and ethic audiences. As a cross-over vehicle, each of the artists brought all of the other artists to new audiences.
How about Air America building new and powerful win-win alliances with not only with progressive internet sites, but with Hispanic and African American radio and television, mobilizing a huge democracy project to register voters, organize them, get out the vote, and respond aggressively and within minutes to reports of irregularities on election day? Not only would this mutually empower all participants and make 2006 a freedom fall season, analogous to the freedom summers that have been wisely suggested by others here, but this would attract major program sponsors and advertisers who feel comfortable paying to reach Rush's audience and owe loyalty to their customers who support our freedom fall season. You get the idea.
Why not have a special series of programs that would pair ten or twenty Afghanistan and Iraq or other veteran candidates, with one national Democrat per show including Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John Edwards, Wes Clark, Bill Richardson, Russ Feingold paired with one vet candidate person. And announced with a simple audience building news release.
Another example. When I worked for Lloyd Bentsen, one of his close friends and longtime Democratic collaborators was Lew Wasserman, who was to business what Frank Sinatra was to talent. Several times when they met in Washington, I was present to implement and at times advice while the two great men decided. Don't get me wrong, it was not Lloyd, Lew and Brent, it was Senator Bentsen, Mr. Wasserman and Brent and my modest role was to take notes and execute. But man, did I learn from those discussions!
What made Lew Wasserman so brilliantly unique and incomparable is that he was always ahead of the curve. Ahead structurally, moving from booking nightclub acts to agenting to running global conglomerates, and ahead in the media and technologies of his time, moving from saloons to radio, to motion pictures and television. I cant prove this, but I absolutely believe that if Mr. Wasserman were with us today, both as a visionary entrepreneur and a Democrat he would be putting huge money behind the massive multi-million member armies of the internet.
Had he gone to the Daily Kos convention wink> I believe Mr. Wasserman would have been writing million dollar investment checks to support and expand dozens of these sites, rather than serving the best shrimp scampi in town.
Regarding Air America and other ventures that would be far more powerful than Air America: I've done much business in the entertainment industry, and I have never seen an entertainment company that refuses to put out news releases and generate free media coverage, that does virtually no external advertising and marketing, and that as I understand, leaves some of the talent to find their own sponsors, which is absurd and unprecedented from my own experience.
Why not champion causes such as homeless veterans, who I call "homeless heroes" and reach out to gigantic potential audiences of religious groups and military families measured in tens of millions? Why not a broad assault on homelessness and hunger in America that highlights and showcases the many progressive Catholic, Jewish and Protestant leaders and brings their believers into the audience? Why not remember that Bill Clinton actually won the evangelical Christian vote, and reach out to them and go after major sponsor support for this programming and create charitable, win-win e-commerce programs during the Holiday Season?
I've suggested this before, why not create a real investigative news capability through high quality journalists currently on the internet, break real news, achieve major publicity, and dramatically expand the audience? And yes, I hate to say this, but there are brilliant people doing brilliant investigative work, and they should be compensated for this work, in real money, in real time, as a real investment in a real business. Does Air America believe there are no scandals or wrongs that should be investigated today?
Why not do what conservatives do, treat their media and megaphone as both a cause worthy of support, and as entrepreneurial ventures that yield high returns if properly supported. Conservative money is far more aggressively behind conservative media, conservative news, conservative publishing and conservative think tanks with echo chambers of mutual support, mutual financing, and mutual empowerment from cable television to talk radio, pushing their books, ideas, personalities and politicians.
Yet with a far larger potential base, there is virtually none of this from the progressive and Democratic side, by comparison.
Flood the airwaves with representatives of the twenty or thirty best blogs and news sites, who will bring their audience to radio and television, and, in reverse, expand their own audience by the exposure. These are no-brainer win-win propositions which are low cost, stratospheric yield, idea generating, and politically and financially empowering that clearly powerful models in traditional entertainment, in classic Silicon Valley venture and entrepreneurship, and hugely successful conservative enterprises with a smaller inherent base than we have.
So: it is a shame this will not have the power and influence it should, prior to the elections, but it will have enormous and lasting influence measured in decades. There are initiatives in the works not discussed publicly on the blogs because they are proprietary, and we should accelerate now our race against time for November, and build our arsenal for democracy with many tens of millions of Americans who reject both mainstream media, and smear and fear media, and await a place to bring their eyeballs and make their stand.
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