Jerry Springer appeared on Howard Stern’s radio show yesterday and the conversation got around to Air America. Stern then asked why liberal talk shows never do as well and Springer had an interesting answer: “Because the Liberals won.”

The sudden, shocking exit of Countdown host Keith Olbermann is still sinking in for many, but the true potential measure of the loss is illustrated by a weird coincidence: exactly one year ago today, Air America finished circling the drain, and announced it would cease live programming immediately. The troubled liberal radio network was also the farm system that spawned almost all of the liberals in MSNBC’s current lineup, and Olbermann’s exit is a pivotal moment for their toehold in the media landscape.

Bill Press is a member of an increasingly endangered species: the successful progressive radio host. With his new book, Toxic Talk: How the Radical Right Has Poisoned America’s Airwaves, my White House press colleague aims to diagnose, and treat, the left’s deficit on the dial. While it lives up to its title, Toxic Talk is much more than a catalog of crass conservative cacophony. Breezy and full of insights for left, right, and in between, Press’ book is essential reading for political media junkies.

Air America has folded — again, but, it seems, permanently. Two dominant reactions seem to have emerged: Disappointment that a liberal, progressive radio empire couldn’t make it, and an utter lack of surprise. The LAT’s James Rainey blamed Air America’s failure on “Bad radio. Boring radio. Preachy radio”; as the NYT’s Brian Stelter noted, Daily [...]

Now that Air America has folded, Ana Marie Cox is suddenly available. MSNBC should take note, and pick up the blogger-author-pundit to host a late-night show, and join MSNBC’s younger, hipper lineup somewhere between Rachel Maddow and Willie Geist.

Wow. Liberal America is not having a good week. Here is the latest bad news. Air America, the left-leaning national radio station, which recently re-launched its website, is “ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon.” The homepage of the website is running the following grim announcement.

It was a Very Special Super Chef Battle on Iron Chef America last night, featuring White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford, the White House vegetable garden, and garden proprietor (among other things) First Lady Michelle Obama. First Lady Obama joined Comerford, host Alton Brown, and the other Iron Chefs on the South Lawn to provide the night’s ‘secret ingredient’. The chefs had their fill of produce from the White House; the television event was intended to promote the benefits of home-grown vegetables and healthy eating habits.

Verena von Pfetten is Air America’s Senior Lifestyle & Entertainment Editor, and the former Living Editor at the Huffington Post, which makes her my former colleague and great friend. (She is also Canadian, as well as the former Verena van der Woodsen to my Blair Sklardorf). Verena had the good fortune, or misfortune, depending on [...]

When the decade began, the gay community was recovering from its unrequited love affair with the Clinton administration and worried about the culture war being waged by religious conservatives. By the end of the decade, the same people were dealing with their unrequited love affair with the Obama administration and, well, you know where this is going. Still, the decade was not without its highlights – we’ve still come a long, long way since 2000. So, on to the gayest moments of the Aughts!

Add one more personality to the increasingly disturbing game or rhetoric surrounding the current Health Care debate. In response to U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann‘s comment of “What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing,” radio host Montel Williams upped the ante in a shocking reply during his program on Air America. Listen for yourself after the jump.