Justin Gerdes, Editorial Intern

Fans waiting for the follow-up to Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (as well as those who can't abide the author) will soon have a new source of Franken fare: the radio. In January, Al Franken inked a one-year deal with Progress Media to host a live, weekday radio talk show. Franken's program will occupy the same midday time slot dominated by Rush Limbaugh. Though Franken will share Rush's time slot, he insists he won't be imitating Limbaugh's format – described by Franken to the Associated Press as "non-guested confrontation." Instead, Franken says he will fill his three hours with interviews, calls from listeners and comedy sketches.

Franken's show will anchor the schedule for Program Media's as yet unnamed 24-hour radio network, which is set to launch this spring. Promoted as a liberal alternative to ubiquitous conservative talk radio, the nascent network announced on the same day as Franken's signing that it reached its first major distribution deal – with the Chicago AM station WNTD – and is negotiating deals in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.

Asked why now was the time to sign on with the start-up radio venture, Franken conceded that broadcasting in a presidential election year holds considerable appeal, telling the Chicago Sun-Times that "quite simply, my plan is to alter the political landscape, drive this radical right-wing president from office and stand as a beacon for ordinary Americans."

And the response from the Right? Jonah Goldberg of the National Review Online predicts Franken will "bomb," not only "because people don't want to hear what he has to say," but because there is no Franken audience waiting to be tapped. Goldberg argues that conservatives thrive on radio because most "talk-radio-listening America believes the mainstream media is liberal" and "radio serves as a truth squad for people who don't trust Peter Jennings." Suzanne Fields of the Washington Times similarly predicts Franken's demise, observing that Rush and Bill O'Reilly succeed on radio because "they speak with voices that a lot of people have longed for a long time to hear."

Franken, for his part, is optimistic, but doesn't hide his hope for some unexpected publicity: "We're trying to get sued by a right-wing jerk – hence the name of our program, 'The O'Franken Factor.'"