Road to Air America" by Sheldon Drobny, is a candid look behind the scenes of the politics, wealth, and news media that inspired Mr. Drobny's vision and nearly derailed his ability to get America's first all liberal talk-radio network going. From his meetings with President Bill Clinton to his hiring of Al Franken as his marquee on-air talent, Drobny has plenty to say about where our nation's government is heading - and why the news media must stop being a slave to its corporate-owned puppeteers.This book shares numerous anecdotes of what its like to be a player in the Democratic Party, including his meetings with Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, and presidential candidates John Kerry, Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt."I'm here to show the nay-sayers are wrong," says Drobny. "You can launch a radio network successfully despite the challenges to get funding, despite the right-wing media's slanted coverage and despite getting no cooperation from major distributors or station groups. The liberal voice needs to be heard and here it is.
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"(The Drobnys) want to do something good for our country by working to restore a sense of balance..." -- Bill Clinton, Chicago magazine, December 2003
From the Publisher
This very timely book gives an eye-opening perspective on what it is like to be a mover and shaker in liberal politics.
Provides first-hand, behind-the-scenes accounts of Air America Radio’s origins-and how it almost didn’t make it off the ground.
And, perhaps most important, it explains media bias, i.e. how the media serves the agenda of its corporate ownership–and why this "corporatocracy poses a danger to having an informed public.
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36 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing, and a bit disturbing,
This review is from: Road to Air America: Breaking the Right Wing Stranglehold on Our Nation's Airwaves (Hardcover)
I long suspected it, but my suspicions were confirmed that the "liberal media" in America was vanishing after reading this book. A handful of major corporations with strong ties to Republican conservatives now owns the bulk of radio and TV stations, as well as strings of newspapers. Trying to overcome this stranglehold of corporate-owned media is a major part of the Air America story. It's an inspiring story about how one person -- admittedly one with a lot of financial means and people in high places -- can change a landscape if he or she doesn't give up. I listen to Air America from time to time, and while it's clearly a fledling network that's still got a ways to go, it's a refreshing change from the other right-wing AM stations who repeat the same misinformations all over the place. By the way, if you're interested in this title, you should really check out "Outfoxed," a documentary about Fox News and Rupert Murdoch. I watched it after finishing this book, and it echoes what is said in this book.
22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
interesting tale of Air America Radio's beginning,
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This review is from: Road to Air America: Breaking the Right Wing Stranglehold on Our Nation's Airwaves (Hardcover)
I would give this book 3 stars for writing quality and 3.5 stars for content, but I was extremely interested in the story, so I'm rounding it up to 4 stars anyway. The author and his wife are venture capitalists who were convinced that corporate-owned media were unwilling to cover stories such as Prescott Bush's (W's grandfather) collaboration with the Nazis, and they were inspired to respond to the stranglehold of right-wing radio after Al Gore's "defeat" in the 2000 fiasco.
The story of the beginning of Air America Radio is quite compelling, though the book suffers from repetitiveness and a lack of detail. This is definitely the story from Drobny's point-of-view, and it lacks interesting information that he was either not privy to or chose not to share. For instance, I was interested to know how and why the station started, but when it came to learning about how they found and negotiated with on-air talent, we get only a little information about Al Franken and nothing about anybody else! Also, there was a bit of a fiasco with early financial dealing, but we get only sketchy details from Drobny. As for content, while Mr. Drobny seems like a very nice fellow and an angel for the left, the book was unintentionally revealing regarding some of his weaknesses. On several occasions, we learn, the Drobnys were asked to give interviews to various networks about the new station, but they declined to do so, fearing that the story would get negative spin!! No wonder they had troube getting initial investors, when they were perpetually declining free publicity! Drobny spends a lot of time lamenting the difficulty in finding finanial backers, but it never seems to have occurred to him to have the station be a non-profit organization funded by contributors. I think a lot of people, myself included, would have donated generously to have a liberal radio station. Later, the management spent a fair amount of money having a PR firm decide on a name -- why not ask potential listeners to try their hand? Despite the flaws of the people who started the station and the weaknesses of the book, I fully support AAR and bless the Drobnys for getting it on the air. It's a terrific radio alternative, and it has kept me sane through the mire that is politics today. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Drobny!
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed,
By Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Road to Air America: Breaking the Right Wing Stranglehold on Our Nation's Airwaves (Hardcover)
In late 2002, venture capitalist Sheldon Drobny decided that there was an untapped audience waiting for a liberal talk radio network. After more than a year of organizing, Air America Radio (AAR) was born, appearing on 100 stations, including eighteen of the top twenty markets. Two weeks after its launch, on March 31, 2004, AAR lost two of its three key stations (in Chicago and Santa Monica), and was close to collapse. During the subsequent endeavors to save AAR, Sheldon Drobny penned this book, his explanation for why he started AAR.
First of all, I found this to be a disturbing book. Mr. Drobny shows a great deal of venom for those with whom he disagrees, reminiscing about his father who would wish death upon those he disliked, or worse, "Dad said cancer was too good for him and wished for him to be paralyzed." (Page 17.) "I believe to this day I am still mentored by his spirit." (Page 25.) In his analysis of modern American radio, Mr. Drobny discusses the corporate ownership of stations, but does not discuss National Public Radio (NPR), which holds a very large liberal audience. What this book is, in fact, is an apologia for Mr. Drobny, a place for him to air his grievances and explain his thinking. As for me, I was hoping for a book on Air America Radio, what went right and what went wrong. This is not such a book. If you are interested in Mr. Drobny as a person, then you will probably like this book, but if you are interested in the history of AAR, then you will be disappointed - as indeed I was.
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