GreenStone

The power of talk radio cannot be underestimated. Predominantly conservative, it's the townhall for millions of people.

Of course, I like the personalities, but it's the exchanges between the "highly-trained broadcast specialists" and the callers that I find fascinating.

Can you think of another medium that allows anyone to call in to a show to voice an opinion, and be heard by thousands of people, millions of people in the case of syndicated programs?

Very empowering.

Now with Internet streaming, a talk radio show can virtually reach around the world.

It's incredible when you think about it.

I think conservative talk radio's phenomenal success has a two-fold explanation.

First, it provides information and analysis that the mainstream media don't provide. Without question, that makes it the thorn in the lib media's side.

Second, it's endlessly entertaining. There are always new things to talk about, and there are talented hosts who present the material in a compelling as well as humorous fashion.

Clearly, libs find the power and influence of conservative talk radio to be threatening. That's why they've struggled to copy its success.

Air America, the supposed answer to the conservative big guns that rule the airwaves, has been around for over two years and it still hasn't managed to build up an audience.

Simply put, it's a failed experiment. The big hopes for its success have fizzled. Now success for lib radio is measured by whether it remains on the air, even if it's only on stations with signals as powerful as a baby monitor.

In spite of the performance of the floundering Air America, some women have joined forces to launch a new left-wing radio network called GreenStone.

From NewsMax:

Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem and Rosie O'Donnell are backing a new left-wing radio network that plans to appeal to women listeners and counter the dominance of conservative talk radio and its "male point of view."

The new talk radio network is called GreenStone and will be officially launched on Sept. 12, 2006. Its Web site describes it as "a clear alternative to the polarizing, highly political talk commonly heard on AM radio."

When you think of a polarizing figure, does Jane Fonda come to mind?

How about the shrill Rosie O'Donnell?

Gloria Steinem, Fonda, and O'Donnell are highly political talkers and extremely polarizing.

How in the world could something they come up with be an alternative to AM talk radio?

What planet do these libs live on?

Steinhem, in a recent interview with the New York Times, has also made clear that her network is at war with Rush Limbaugh for audience share.

Earth to Steinem: Women listen to Limbaugh and other male hosts because they find their programs worth their time.

"We know what women want," says GreenStone's mission statement, "and have the entertainment, political, social and business connections to deliver it . . . . Our goal is to build the leading brand for women's talk programming."

I really don't like the stereotyping that Steinem engages in so freely.

GreenStone doesn't know what I want.

I'm certain that the Fonda-Steinem-O'Donnell brand of talk would not interest me in the least.

What women want to hear on the radio, according to GreenStone's Web site list of topics, ranges from plastic surgery to feng shui, and from how to work at home to cooking and spring cleaning tips.

Plastic surgery?

Sounds like stimulating radio.

I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT ON THE RADIO.

I suppose that would appeal to the glitterati lib women maimed by serial cosmetic surgical procedures, but I'm not interested.

Haven't feminists fought for decades for women to be seen as having value beyond their physical attributes?

"Women are ready for a new kind of talk that speaks directly to them on the issues they care about most," says GreenStone's Web site, quoting research it commissioned. "Women want ‘useful information,' something ‘lighter and more entertaining' than political talk shows . . . " The network says it will offer a "steady diet of entertainment, health and fitness, and relationships – delivered with lots of fun and laughter."

This sounds incredibly sexist to me.


The assumption is that women don't care about politics and social issues. That's for men.

It's too heavy for our little minds. We need to be entertained with celebrity gossip, and fed fitness and relationship tips.

What is that?

GreenStone is looking to create a separate and unequal place for women.

Personally, I find that sort of pigeon-holing troubling.

GreenStone claims it will deliver de-politicized, de-polarized talk radio by women hosts for female listeners.

Laura Ingraham hosts one of the top-syndicated political radio shows in the country. There are other successful female hosts, like Monica Crowley, Lores Rizkalla, and Jessica McBride, to name just a few.

Interestingly, their shows don't cater to females. Their audience is the same as male hosts.

I don't think Laura Ingraham has plans to throw out her political talk for Feng Shui.

But among this new network's creators and biggest investors – who as of last March had secured $3.1 million in venture capital to launch it - are left-wing activist-actress Fonda, radical feminist Steinem and O'Donnell, the strident, liberal, anti-gun crusader comedian and new co-host of 'The View.'

"The radio has become overbalanced toward the ultra-right," Steinem said in a recent New York Times Magazine interview, making clear she doesn't like the political slant of Limbaugh, America's top talker.

"AM talk radio does not reflect the fact that only 30 percent of the country, at the most, is anywhere near Rush Limbaugh," Steinem said.

Among GreenStone's nine corporate directors are Fonda and Steinem. Its board also includes Robin Morgan, the "Global Editor" of the radical feminist magazine Ms., founded more than two decades ago by Steinem.

Morgan is a former child star and longtime left activist who once staged a witchcraft protest against the House Un-American Activities Committee. She is editor of the classic radical feminist anthology "Sisterhood Is Powerful."

"White males," Morgan wrote in a 1970 essay, "are most responsible for the destruction of human life and environment on the planet today."

Another GreenStone board member is Gail Evans, who "participated in the founding of CNN in 1980" with former Fonda husband and liberal activist Ted Turner.

GreenStone is made up of libs with a very defined agenda.

Are we to believe that these feminists want to have a radio network devoted to "cooking and spring cleaning tips"?

Furthermore, if the network is truly meant to be "de-politicized," then why aren't there conservative women calling some of the shots at GreenStone?

When Steinem was asked by the New York Times Magazine if "your radio network [is] the female version of Al Franken's left-leaning Air America Radio," she replied: "No. No. They are very Washington-directed, very argumentative. What we are doing is more populist, centrist and community-oriented."

Steinem distances her new network from Air America Radio, but GreenStone has been renting studio and satellite time from Piquant LLC, the corporate entity that owns Air America Radio.

In spite of Steinem's claims that GreenStone is not affiliated with Air America, there clearly is a relationship there.

Through its business ties, GreenStone has reportedly made payments to Piquant that average more than $25,000 per month for spare broadcast facilities. GreenStone has thereby helped keep Air America Radio on the air.

Did Steinem, Fonda and GreenStone's other left-activist board members, managers and investors really expend huge effort and more than $3 million to create a new "niche" radio network merely to air "centrist" talk shows that tell female listeners how to clean their closets and cook a mean meatloaf?

If GreenStone is merely a money-making attempt to attract women with a female-oriented network, its other investors like tennis star Billie Jean King ought to know that previous attempts to do this – such as the cable TV channels Lifetime and Oprah Winfrey's Oxygen – have had only limited success. ABC Radio failed in its attempt to build 24/7 female-oriented talk radio programming in Los Angeles, and its lifestyle-focused, female-oriented national show "Satellite Sisters" has had a hard time gaining affiliates.

GreenStone appears to be like a front group created with the purpose of keeping Air America afloat.

Or could GreenStone be a "stealth" network designed to wear a disguise of apolitical camouflage so it can fly below the radar to conquer American women with its concealed left-liberal agenda?

I don't think so.

Fonda, O'Donnell, and Steinem aren't "stealth."

Moreover, there's no way that their Leftist agenda will be concealed, but it doesn't matter.

American women won't be brainwashed by these libs. Female talk radio listeners aren't going to be drawn to GreenStone.

I think the whole GreenStone premise is suspect. The people behind the network are not the types that would want to be apolitical. I don't know if they could be if they tried.

At first blush, the network's radio hosts aren't known as polemicists. GreenStone's midday host is Rolanda Watts, a veteran of Los Angeles radio, New York City television and (like Bill O'Reilly) the syndicated entertainment show Inside Edition. Its morning hosts, "The Three Ritas," are writer-comedians Cory Kaheney, Nelsie Spencer and Maureen Langan, recipient of Planned Parenthood's Maggie Award. Its afternoon show is hosted by author Lisa Birnbach, author of "The Official Preppy Handbook." Its later show, "Women Aloud," is co-hosted by actor-comedienne Mo Gaffney and either fellow feminist-actress Kathy Najimy or actress Shana Wride, star of the stage play "Women Who Steal." Except for Watts, GreenStone's hosts have little or no proven experience as radio hosts.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Hosts with little or no experience will doom the network.

Didn't they learn from the Air America experience?

In sum, if the goal is to cut into Limbaugh's audience, that's not going to happen.

The female conservative talk radio audience is not about to jump ship because there's a new network, especially one run with input from the likes of Steinem, Fonda and O'Donnell.

Simply put, GreenStone doesn't know what women want.

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And in a related story, Air America is reportedly filing for bankruptcy.

How's this for spin?

EXCLUSIVE: Air America To Declare Bankruptcy, But Progressive Radio Remains Strong

The right wing is sure to seize on Air America’s financial woes as a sign that progressive talk radio is unpopular. In fact, Air America succeeded at creating something that didn’t exist: the progressive talk radio format. That format is now established and strong and will continue with or without Air America.

I almost feel sorry for the libs -- almost. They so badly want to rule radio.

Tsk, tsk.

It's a harsh reality, but you can't always get what you want.