Left of the Dial: America Undercover

New York City, March 19, 2004. Twelve days before launch, Air America Radio is abuzz in excitement as rehearsals for its block of daily shows commence. Al Franken goes through his paces with co-host Katherine Lanpher. Their show, “The O’Franken Factor,” will air from noon to 3 and will launch the network, to be followed by “The Randi Rhodes Show” (3-7 p.m.). A brazen radio veteran who doesn’t mince words, Rhodes sums up the station’s challenge: “This is a full-blown, full-throttle, shock-and-awe war of words…This is the battleground for the next election.” The ringleader of this endeavor is Evan Cohen, Chairman of Air America. But while Cohen is committed to bringing liberal talk-radio to the people, he’s also understandably concerned with his bottom line. With this in mind, he enlists David Goodfriend, a college chum, to become Air America’s General Counsel. Cohen is cautiously optimistic, saying, “If we succeed, we’ll succeed fabulously, but if we fail, at least we’ll fail spectacularly.”