http://www.sharewatch.com/story.php?storynumber=234817"Last Updated: 24-October-2006 00:24:04
"Nova M Radio, a Phoenix-based network formed by Air America co-founders Anita and Sheldon Drobny, will make its first broadcast on Oct. 30, said Mike Newcomb, chief executive and chairman of the network.
Shortly before Air America filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, Newcomb said he and the Drobnys made a proposal to take a controlling interest in Air America, but the offer was declined two weeks before the company's reorganization petition was filed.
Newcomb said the new network is a competitor to Air America and that the Drobnys invested in Nova M Radio because they believed in the business model of liberal talk radio and wanted it to continue to grow."
"Joe Trippi, who helped run Howard Dean's Internet-fueled presidential campaign in 2004, also will serve as a media and communications consultant for the network Nova M Radio is leasing and running KPHX-AM in Phoenix and KDXE-AM in Little Rock, Ark., and has commitments from other stations to run its programming. The network also intends to lease or buy other stations, Newcomb said."
I did not realize they were competing with AAR...actually competition might be good for both of them.
I did not realize the Drobnys offered to bail out AAR.
Interesting.
Also Mike Malloy's interview with Creative Loafing.
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=135707"Air America was born to give progressive talk a home. Earlier attempts, including one by a union-owned network where Malloy worked, had failed to gain traction. Air America immediately ran into big trouble. Investors and management were replaced and replaced again. Ex-CEO Evan Cohen, a Republican activist, created a scandal by diverting money from a youth club to Air America. The network's star, Al Franken, called Cohen a "crook."
Last spring, Air America lost its full-time Atlanta affiliate (full disclosure: CL hosted a show on that station). Then, in August, the network went from its New York flagship, WLIB, to a lower-power station. Air America is now under the control of Rob Glaser, who founded the RealPlayer software company. Glaser has brought in an odd duo of bosses: CEO Jim Wiggett, who has no broadcasting experience, and CFO Bob Ennis, who previously worked for Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp.
Wiggett concedes severe financial problems, but says, "We're still broadcasting." Ennis says Malloy's suggestion that he's Murdoch's stealth saboteur is a "clever conspiracy story. It shows the depth of Mike's delusion."