What's going on with Air America????

[Quixote1818]

I have heard Rush and Hannity say liberal talk is loosing affiliates and is doing poorly. Is this true? Anyone have any stats?

[Stephanie]

1. Whatever Rush and Hannity say must be true

What are you asking us for?

[Quixote1818]

4. I would still like to see the stats. Does anyone have any?

[Robbien]

8. Well I am sure Rush and Hannity have that proof to back up their

statements.

[Quixote1818]

15. They named the lost affiliates. You all are getting on my nerves

Look, propaganda can come from both sides. I am very liberal but you other liberals are starting to rub thin making fun of my question. All I would like is to see some facts so I can make an educated decision not another bias statement from the right or the left. It's possible Air America is not doing so well as liberal talk has struggled in the past. So is it a crime to want to know the truth based on solid facts not from Rush?

[Stephanie]

18. Please give an example where liberal radio has struggled

thanks

[Quixote1818]

23. Well, we still don't get it here in Albuquerque

Yet we get non stop Conservative talk. Why are so many city's left out?

[Unperson 309]

24. Bernie Ward.

You want an example of struggling LibRadio, Bernie's the example.

He went national several years back, was carried nationwide and was popular... but station managers dumped his show because station owners ordered them to take the show off the air.

IIRC, he lasted about six months. Just as I was beginning to get into a groove listening to him at night, FWOOMP! Gone. Apparently he was popular and was bringing in the ratings, but conservative owners didn't like him.

That's the problem in anutshell... MOST stations are owned by corporations. Corporations tend to be conservative. While management and talent might be liberal, they don't get much of a chance if the owners don't want them to.

309

[Stephanie]

29. "he was popular and was bringing in the ratings" - BUT THAT'S NOT STRUGGLE

You make the point perfectly. That was a successful show that was CENSORED. Big difference from what they'd like you to believe, which is that LW shows can't succeed. They can only succeed if they're ALLOWED to succeed.

[Quixote1818]

26. Sorry, I didn't understand the question. In the past a British sounding

guy named Michael Jackson (he was really great too)us to be on but he was cut. It seems a few other's tried but they got no traction either. The fact that I don't know their names shows that liberal talk has had a hard time getting traction. Mostly because they were too nice and too intellectual and didn't spout the same simple lines over and over. Talk radio has to be a little sensational to survive. The right has no problem lowering themselves just for ratings. The left seems to struggle with being nasty.

[Robbien]

27. Mike Malloy and Nancy Skinner had shows here in Chicago

Along with several other good liberal shows.

What happened to them is that the Rush dittoheads started calling and writing the sponsors of the shows. Soon the shows had to be dropped because the sponsors couldn't take all the grief meted out by the right.

Most of all the liberal shows still on the air are listener sponsored.

[PaDUer]

31. Send Seany boy

an enlistment form..He'd love it in Iraq..let the pretender "preppie boy" do his duty for the US.

[TheWizardOfMudd]

14. Arbitron ratings are a secret bible

And very expensive. Everyone is encouraged not to leak the costly info.

[No2W2004]

2. "I have heard Rush and Hannity"

That should give you your answer right there!

[Geo55]

3. Air America??

Was streaming it today (only way I can get it) and Randi Rhodes alluded to a problem with "management"....hope it doesn't take a dive

[Quixote1818]

7. I get 50 conservitive stations and not one liberal station.

[TexasSissy]

35. Same here (in Texas)

[Rosco T.]

36. Get an XM Radio ....

one Delphi SkyFi, a car cradle and a boombox for the house... you'll never turn'em off (We have three..)

[complain jane]

12. They had a problem

with management and I heard some management stepped down, including one of the co-founders of Air America. That sounded bad when I heard it. But today Randy Rhodes said something about management that had been really bad, and now they have much better management and stressed "who is democratic".

I found this on About.com, of all places:

Shakeup At Air America Radio: CEO and Program Director Out
From Corey Deitz,
Your Guide to Radio.

Dateline: 04/27/04
The Associated Press is reporting a shakeup in Air America Radio's top management.

Mark Walsh, has stepped down as CEO of the new liberal Radio network and its Program Director, David Logan, has been put on "administrative leave".

According to the AP, Walsh said, "he gave up his CEO title earlier this month but will continue to pursue deals for Progress Media." Progress Media is the parent company of Air America Radio.

There was no further clarification as to why Logan was no longer actively programming the network.

In the interim, Air America Radio is being run by David Goodfriend who is the company's lawyer. Goodfriend worked once as an advisor to the F.C.C. but reportedly has no other direct radio experience except for a one-time job as a DJ in Beloit, Wisconsin.

Taking over, at least temporarily, as Program Director is Lizz Winstead. Winstead is a host for Air America Radio and is also the co-founder of Comedy Central's "Daily Show".

[complain jane]

13. Then there was this....

More Air America Radio Top Execs Bail
From Corey Deitz,
Your Guide to Radio.

Dateline: 05/08/04
The Associated Press reports more top executives at the new liberal network, Air America Radio, have left the operation.
Evan Cohen, co-founder and his investment partner, Vice-Chairman Rex Sorensen are both stepping down from the board.

The Associated Press says both Cohen and Sorensen declined to say what they would do with their financial stake in the company.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

"Company President Jon Sinton told the Chicago Tribune...that Cohen resigned because other investors weren't happy with how he handled a financial dispute with affiliate stations in Los Angeles and Chicago, which resulted in the network's going off the air in those cities, with no replacements yet lined up."

The Times also reports, "Air America also missed its payroll this week by one day, for what insiders called technical reasons."

The exit of Cohen and Sorensen continue a string of departures.

In late April, Mark Walsh, stepped down as CEO of Air America Radio and its initial Program Director, David Logan, was put on "administrative leave".

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

19. Welcome to DU, satellitesister

:hi:

And thanks for the info.

[complain jane]

22. Thank you

and no problem

[Tansy_Gold]

34. I posted in another thread on this topic re Cohen and

Sorenson.

As reported in the Chicago Tribune last week

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-040506airamerica,0,5485438.story?coll=chi-business-hed

Cohen was a Republican political operative from Guam and a large investory in AAR; Sorenson owned some radio stations in Guam.

Go figure.

[Unperson 309]

20. From Recent news...

Well, my answer came... I found this:

CITY TALK RADIO MAY TAKE A LEFT TURN

Mark Oswald

for the Albuquerque Journal

... Steve Bumpous of Austin, general manager of Yellow Dog Radio, confirmed last week that he plans to put Air America's programming on an FM station licensed to Pecos that he purchased in January. "I will have a signal that will cover most of Santa Fe," ... he's also planning a studio in Santa Fe.

Bumpous said there's no definite timetable for getting the station -- KOOT FM at 101.5 on the dial -- on the air. "It will probably be June or July before we're actually on the air" Bumpous said.

...

KOOT is silent now. Bumpous said the station has provided programming from time to time in the Pecos and Glorietta areasince 2002 and that he will use a booster to bring the signal to Santa Fe.

*****


What a name! I suppose you could call that station "The Rumpus from Bumpous." or something... *sigh* June or July. *sigh* again. MOST of Santa Fe...

I've driven down to Pecos/Glorietta. It's about an hour's drive, maybe 70 miles distance from the City. I hope he's planning on moving to those SF studios! Pecos/Glorietta is a wide spot in the path. We're talking **real** adobe houses, not the rich folks faux manses. We're talking stop-to-let-the-chickens-cross-the-lane, "close the gate, please, as you leave the gas station" sort of place! They have a wonderful old cemetery with tombstones that go back to the 1500's with names of Spanish missionaries and conquistadors on them! SHEESH! I'm not even sure the place has a reliable supply of electricity! Last February it snowed and the place was literally snowed in when the one road in was buried. The power went out.

The station probably has to wait to go on until July so that they can chase the sow and piglets out of the transmitter room when the babies get big enough to escape the coyotes outdoors!

Why me, Lord?

309

[Robbien]

5. Rush and Hannity think torture is just fun and games boys play

They are such pillars of truth and lovers of brotherhood.

[Cleita]

6. Propaganda again. Do learn about it.

eom

[Shoedogg]

9. "The liberal radio network has had a bumpy first few months"

Air America shuts LA, Chicago sales offices

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4964751/

LOS ANGELES - Air America has shut its sales offices in Los Angeles and Chicago and is recasting its business plan, the network’s president said Wednesday as troubles beset the liberal talk show network.

Serious errors in business judgment account for Air America’s problems, rather than its slate of programming, say various radio industry insiders.

“It makes you wonder why everybody is leaving the company,” said Michael Harrison, editor for Talkers, a magazine about Talk Shows.

“I think the concept of liberal radio is great, but they went about it wrong. They first insisted that stations take an entire line-up. The odds of getting enough stations to take a whole line-up are so impossible.”

[Quixote1818]

16. Thanks for the info!

[KharmaTrain]

33. I've Posted On This Issue Before...Won't Anymore

I suggest those intersted to check out radio-info.com and all-access.com...radio boards that come from the inside. You decide.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

39. Thanks for the links, but all-access.com doesn't work anymore

The domain appears to be for sale.

Radio-info.com looks very interesting. Thanks again.

[BattyDem]

10. I think there's an organized effort to bring it down

The Daily News (NY) had an article today that absolutely trashed it. What was unusal about it was that it listed several of AirAmerica's sponsors - I don't recall that ever being done before when talking about any network, radio or television. They took some of the "nasty" (anti-Bush) comments out of context; listed a bunch of them and trashed Randi specifically. (It's funny, I don't recall any outrage in the Daily News when Rush said the Iraqi prison torture was just "frat boys" blowing of steam. :eyes:)

Anyway, after listing all the comments, the article went on to mention the sponsors. Any idiot could see that they were trying to incite a boycott. So much for responsible journalism.

By the way, the article also said General Motors pulled their ads from AirAmerica.


edited to add a bit more info :)

[Davis_X_Machina]

30. If GM is OnStar...

..they haven't pulled their ads.

[BattyDem]

40. I know OnStar is in GM cars ...

but I don't know if GM owns OnStar. :shrug:

According to the article, the last GM ad aired on Tuesday and they sent AirAmerica a cease and desist order to prevent them from playing any more ads. But I also heard OnStar ads on AAR today ... the one where the guy locks his dog in the car and another where the woman's house is on fire.

[kixot]

11. Fact is that it's reaching more people than cavle news networks now.

They can't stop it and it's really happening.

[complain jane]

17. Daily News trashing

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/col/story/192671p-166266c.html

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Liberal radio is airing bad jokes and worst taste

The United States "is on the slippery slope to theocratic fascism." "The Catholic Church has been secretly encouraging oral sex for years."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "ought to be tortured." President Bush should be taken out and shot.

Those are a few nutso nuggets from the hosts of Air America Radio, which calls itself the new liberal voice. The fledgling network is carried in New York on WLIB, 1190 AM. With the Iraq torture scandal everywhere, I tuned in, expecting to hear sober policy analysis mixed with glee over President Bush's political pickle.

Instead, I got 10 hours of rancid venom directed at the President, Rumsfeld, Rush Limbaugh, the Catholic Church and anyone else the hosts felt like slamming. If you're a card-carrying lib who likes crude sex jokes and a cartoonish echo chamber, Air America is for you.

[Stephanie]

21. "GM will not advertise on any Air America affiliates."

Here we go...

[Doctor_J]

25. that's going to be the biggest impediment

I am sure the sponsors are facing virulent boycotts. Gonna be tough.

[Davis_X_Machina]

32. If GM is OnStar...

...then this isn't true.

[Eric J in MN]

28. Michael Goodwin has taught at the Columbia University School of Journalism

Michael Goodwin has taught at the Columbia University School of Journalism, according to the bio on that webpage.

Yet he thinks it's appropriate to start an article with quotes taken out of context without attribution.

It's one thing to use anonymous sources when a source requests anonymity.

It's another thing to quote without attribution A TALK SHOW HOST's on-air comments.

Obviously, Goodwin is trying to avoid responsibility for distorting the comments by making it nearly impossible to track down the context.

[kaitykaity]

37. I don't know about elsewhere, but AAR

"owns Portland." They're getting news sponsors every
day, and they're advertising for account executives.

"Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

[DU GrovelBot]

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[SideshowScott]

41. Well we knew it would be an uphill battle.. AA isnt going anywhere

So dont worry..Did you think that Hannity, Limbuagh, Savage, O'Reilly, Drudge, Ingram, Humphires and the other cronies would welcome AA with open arms? Nope they want it stopped and so do the ones that holds the leashes to the right wing blare on the radio. We knew it was going to be a fight and anything worth having is worth fighting for. I feel that Air America is a Gem and I love listening to it..And I feel lucky that I can get it on the net. Keep supporting Air America!