SF Chronicle staff writer Jane Ganahl reports that Al Franken campaigns for the left, bringing his radio show to San Francisco.

Franken is like a tight coil that could spring into the air at any moment. And he’s clearly psyched at the way things are going.

“Air America’s doing great now, after we shot ourselves in the foot pretty seriously right out of the gate,” he says, referring to the network’s initial financial woes. “It’s been a big experiment, but it seems to be working out. In Portland, we’re now beating Rush. We went from 22nd in that market when we started in March, to third.”

Now in 25 markets across the country, the fledgling network will get its chance in the Bay Area, where it has taken over the dial location — 960 AM — previously occupied by KABL, which moves to 92.1. The new call letters for the station? KQKE — “the Quake,” which is not unfitting, given the network’s desire to shake things up.

I hadn’t known until just now that Air America finally secured a Bay Area affiliate. Now I’ll have something to listen to on the way to work in between KCBS traffic reports.