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| Femtalk Flop |
| 2007-08-08 |
| I have honest to God never heard of this thing. Which is usually a bad sign... In a major blow to its high profile backers, including Gloria Steinem, Rosie O'Donnell, Jane Fonda and others, feminist talk radio network Greenstone Media is about to shut down, according to several trade reports this morning. No Oprah? Despite its famous investors, ready access to cash and relatively high profile in the industry, Greenstone struggled to gain affiliates. And those who did carry its lineup of "chick chat" shows tended to be tiny outlets in peculiar places. Good chick chat. Ya can never get enough of that. Perhaps foreshadowing the network's failure, a number of executives had departed under mysterious circumstances in recent months. Couldn't they find a Boys and Girls Club they could loot? In March 2006, your Radio Equalizer broke exclusive details of Greenstone's secret connections to Air America Radio and in September discussed a cocky interview Gloria Steinem gave to the New York Times on the network and its future. Also that month, Rush Limbaugh skewered Fonda and the network's backers over their plan to challenge his ratings supremacy. Come and get me, chickies... Around that time, Fonda gave her own over- the- top performance on NBC's Today Show, asserting her view that it would succeed. Jane Fonda wrong? Well can ya beat that? Not only was Greenstone partially tied to Air America, it shared the same peculiar habit of making arrogant assertions that its programming could overtake conservative talk radio. In this case, the company claimed there was a large group of female listeners that had been underserved by traditional talk formats. Sounds like there's a reason for that... Hey Jane, Rosie and Gloria: who did your market research? You should demand a refund. Nah. Rosie's too busy dropping acid, figuring out how to melt steel and playing with her webcam... Now, a few questions remain: how much did they lose and what will they say about fem- talk's spectacular failure? Who will Steinem blame? Oh, I'm sure it's a long list. And none of "the girls" will be on it. But I'll bet Bush is... |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #11 Most of the potential listeners found that they couldn't listen and watch Lifetime without achieving toxic levels of bitterness. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2007-08-08 22:00 |
| #10 Here's their lineup... http://greenstonemedia.com/ It ain't exactly Murderers Row. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-08-08 21:47 |
| #9 That one may call for the Industrial Strength stuff and the steel wool, RC! |
| Posted by: BA 2007-08-08 21:36 |
| #8 Nah. Rosie's too busy dropping acid, figuring out how to melt steel and playing with her webcam... Oh great. There went the last of my eye-bleach. It takes GALLONS of that stuff to reach your mind's eye. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2007-08-08 19:48 |
| #7 FemSTFU would be nice. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2007-08-08 18:34 |
| #6 So, basically, America needs femtalk like a fish needs a bicycle ... to use one of Steinem's classic phrases. |
| Posted by: Beau 2007-08-08 18:07 |
| #5 As God is my witness, I thought this was a $1.99/min smut line. |
| Posted by: Herb Tarlek 2007-08-08 17:20 |
| #4 ... discussed a cocky interview Gloria Steinem gave to the New York Times on the network and its future. Interesting choice of words given the context. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2007-08-08 17:12 |
| #3 Bad Business model + Bad Programing = Guaranteed failure. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-08-08 16:54 |
| #2 Change the name from "Chick Chat" to "Vagina Voice" and the listenership should go up. Well at least for the first show. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2007-08-08 16:22 |
| #1 ...tiny outlets in peculiar places. An interesting phrase. Any speculation on what they might be? |
| Posted by: DoDo 2007-08-08 15:32 |