Time to peel up that AAR bumper sticker...
Submitted by Spunk-Monkey on Sun, 06/01/2008 - 4:37pm.
My sister-in-law used to be the gorgeous, quick-witted, well connected go-getter. She was a swimsuit model for a spell, has always loved animals, and is great with kids. In the ten years I've known her she's developed the chain-smoker's leather skin, sunken eyes, tired. She lives off of her unemployment insurance, won't apply for a job, spends all her money on alcohol and cigarettes, visits family just to use their laundry facilities or raid the fridge... everyone wants to help, but continuously they get burned. Ever opportunity she's provided gets wasted, and she continues to drive herself into a worse situation while crying "poor little me".
Why do i bring this up? Because today feels exactly like so may times when she stops by unannounced to visit (and raid the fridge). You can try to help, point out what is clearly in her best interest, arrange a job interview, give her AA info subtly or shake her and refuse any more money... but the result is the same. She goes through the motions and pretends to listen until the laundry is done. She always manages to convince even the most cynical that this time she really will make it to that AA meeting. But in the end: she's drunk again, has no job, is getting evicted, needs to borrow money, Lionel is on the radio, and Sam is having his last scheduled show.
Every call to AA brought variations of the same advice: don't help her. Stop doing anything for her; don't let her come over, arrange no help, change the locks if necessary. She has to discover her own rock bottom if she's every going to try and help herself. Until then, all we're doing is enabling her downward spiral.
It's time now to wash my hands of AAR. Until Sam gets a regularly scheduled show, i'm not listening. This has been too painful to watch over these years, and it's not getting any better. I'm not going to watch this happen to Thom and Rachael as well. AAR is dead to me, because it's proven to be dead to itself.
I'll still be around the blog, hoping to find news that AAR makes the right choice.
Cheers!
- Your Friendly Neighborhood Spunk-Monkey
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agreement
Total agreement. I almost ditched AAR after they fired Maron for the 2nd time (Marc Maron Show). But I had meantime become a Sammyfan. Then they dropped him to once a week, and I still stayed as a premium subscriber. After they lost Randi (who I didn't really care for anyway) and it didn't seem like they were going to give the spot to Sam, I canceled the subscription and sent them a letter explaining myself.
Aside from the Sam and Maron fill-in shows, I haven't listened since.
One would think that after losing Randi, who really was paying all their bills, they would be forced to do the right thing and hire these two guys back. But then again, their last good programming decision was giving Maddow her own show...
Heya, Cranes!
When AAR started, I had just been laid off and had a daughter on the way... i was in no position to support AAR other than through a sticker on my helmet, one on the minivan, and letting their advertisers know when i had heard of them through those ads.
So to you and others who have paid over the years as sponsors and premium members, i than-you. I appreciate all of the help that provided to keep AAR as good as it was, back.... well, when it was. (It's hard to think of anytime during a bush administration as "better days").
The AAR line about Randi's "issue" made no sense then or now, but her side actually does. And her side is believable, since it dovetails with other AAR decisions. They don't seem to realize that it just makes listeners feel less and less important, and more cynical. I'm surprised there are any listeners anymore; we're generally idealists by nature, so we expect the same from AAR.
I'm now at a point where I can feel like i've tried my best to support and defend AAR. If it does die i'll feel sad but not guilty, as though i should have done more. We're trying to feel the same for my sister-in-law's situation, but that's much harder to do. In either case, if there's genuine progress towards recovery, we'll be there. We're a hopelessly hopeful lot, and would return in a NY minute if Sam gets a regular on-air gig. At least there's the blog here as a great source of news and community.
Wow, i do have more and more rant inside me. I'll shut up now while i can. ;-)
Enjoy!!
-sm
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