Politics aside, it will be hard for any new liberal radio network to outdo the professionalism of NPR.

The reason that conservative talk radio works is because there is an audience for it.

If a liberal News channel were launched it would fall flat on its face.

Conservative talk radio works because there are lots of conservatives who are convinced that they are not getting the whole story from the regular media.

So along with several very popular Internet sites, talk radio has served as alternative media that gives listeners information that they otherwise would not hear.

But the threat posed by the radical Islamists represents an unusual conflict, unlike any experienced by our nation before: we face an enemy that is not a state.