Originally Posted By Darkbeer <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/" target="_blank">http://thinkprogress.org/</a> >>Air America Radio will announce a major restructuring on Friday, which is expected to include a bankruptcy filing, three independent sources have told ThinkProgress. Air America could remain on the air under the deal, but significant personnel changes are already in the works. Sources say five Air America employees were laid off yesterday and were told there would be no severance without capital infusion or bankruptcy. Also, Air America has ended its relationship with host Jerry Springer.<<
Originally Posted By jonvn You are such a fraud. Do you really think you are fooling people with your selective quotes and out of context recitations? Air America may or may not be a well run company, but this is what the article actually says: The right wing is sure to seize on Air America’s financial woes as a sign that progressive talk radio is unpopular. In fact, Air America succeeded at creating something that didn’t exist: the progressive talk radio format. That format is now established and strong and will continue with or without Air America. Indeed, many of the country’s most successful and widely-syndicated progressive talk hosts — Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller, for instance — aren’t even associated with Air America. Radio giant Clear Channel is so committed to progressive talk radio that, this week, it will announce a partnership with the Center for American Progress and MSS Inc. to conduct a nationwide search for the next Progressive Talk Radio Star.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>In fact, Air America succeeded at creating something that didn’t exist: the progressive talk radio format.<< That's an odd claim for them to make. It's existed for years on KGO radio in San Francisco and in several other markets as well.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <Also, Air America has ended its relationship with host Jerry Springer.> Jerry's too busy getting ready to be on 'Dancing with the Stars' to spend time on a radio talk show.
Originally Posted By DAR Did Air America even make it past the major markets? I know there was some talk around here of us getting an Air America station in Milwaukee, but instead we got a new Sports Talk station. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, the hosts on that station really have no idea what they're talking about.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer <a href="http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2006/09/air-america-stiffs-franken.php" target="_blank">http://www.radaronline.com/exc lusives/2006/09/air-america-stiffs-franken.php</a> >>Is Air America Radio filing for bankruptcy on Friday? That's what Think Progress, citing three sources, reported today. Calls to Air America executives weren't returned, but star talk-show host Al Franken confirms that, once again, the troubled network is facing a serious cash crunch. "I don't know if that's true or not," Franken tells Radar when asked about the bankruptcy report. "We do know that there have been cash-flow problems. I haven't been paid in a while. Like, there's no cash flowing to me." It's not the first time Franken has gone without a paycheck. Air America ran out of money promptly after it launched in 2004, after disgraced former chairman Evan Cohen inflated the amount of money he had raised to fund the network. Since then, Air America has seen a litany of troubles, executive departures, talent shuffles, and lawsuits. Six months ago, the network was booted from its flagship station in New York City, WLIB, to a much weaker signal that doesn't cover the entire city, and it laid off five staffers on September 11, according to the New York Post. Franken isn't the only person Air America is in hock to. Last year, the network settled a multi-million-dollar lawsuit by Multicultural Broadcasting, the owner of its Chicago and Los Angeles stations, for its failure to pay for rented time. But according to Multicultural's attorney, Randy Mastro, the network still hasn't paid up. "It involved a structured settlement over time," Mastro says. "There is additional money owed. If it's true [that they're filing for bankruptcy], we'll have to do something about that."<<
Originally Posted By DAR <<It's not the first time Franken has gone without a paycheck>> Yes I hope poor Al Franken can pay his bills next month.
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>Radio giant Clear Channel is so committed to progressive talk radio that, this week, it will announce a partnership with the Center for American Progress and MSS Inc. to conduct a nationwide search for the next Progressive Talk Radio Star.<< Whattaya bet that after 16 weeks, they end up with Taylor Hicks?
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>...it laid off five staffers on September 11...<< Now there's a delicious irony.
Originally Posted By jonvn I hear Taylor Hicks is an SOB. We'll see about AAR. It sounds like one of their problems is that the original head of the thing screwed them over.
Originally Posted By friendofdd I'm trying to figure out what this discussion is about. Are the liberals saying the story is false or are the conservatives just making it up? How does business news develope into a political arguement? LPer are quicker than congress to blast away at each other. Oh well, I guess that makes us number one in that catagory. Hooray! We're number one! We're number one!
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>It sounds like one of their problems is that the original head of the thing screwed them over.<< You mean the guy who literally bilked orphans to launch the thing? You mean that guy? (And I hear that Al Franken is a pussycat.)
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>Hooray! We're number one! We're number one!<< No, no no. Hooray! They're number two! They're number two!
Originally Posted By jonvn "You mean the guy who literally bilked orphans to launch the thing? You mean that guy?" Is that what the orphan thing is in reference to? I haven't heard that story. I did read he caused quite a lot of problems, and got them off to a rocky start. I sometimes listen to the station. It takes effort. The endless drone of "everything sucks" is rather difficult to listen to, even if it is correct.
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>Is that what the orphan thing is in reference to? I haven't heard that story.<< Yeah, that's what that "orphan thing" is in reference to. It was one of the biggest stories the MSM wouldn't touch when it broke all over the blogosphere. Here's the closest to a "real" newspaper that I found that covered it. The Washington Times (go figure!). <a href="http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20050804-083242-5957r.htm" target="_blank">http://washingtontimes.com/com mentary/20050804-083242-5957r.htm</a> EXCERPT: >>First, a summary of the financial fiasco the liberal media won't touch: The New York City Department of Investigation has been probing allegations that officials of the nonprofit Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club and one of its affiliates, Pathways for Youth, approved "significant inappropriate transactions and falsified documents that were submitted to various city agencies." The charities receive large portions of their budgets from local, state and federal government grants. At the center of the controversy is Evan Montvel Cohen, the disgraced former chairman of Air America, who was in charge of the liberal radio network when he was Gloria Wise's director of development. The New York Sun's David Lombino reported this week Mr. Cohen received more than $800,000 in loans for himself and Air America during his tenure, according to Gloria Wise executive committee President Jeannette Graves. Ms. Graves alleges Mr. Cohen funneled $613,000 to himself and Air America without her authorization or knowledge. Other loans were approved by the Gloria Wise executive committee when Mr. Cohen claimed he needed money to cover medical expenses for himself and his father. As a result of an ongoing investigation, the city canceled its contracts with both Gloria Wise and Pathways in June -- causing a near-shutdown of services to poor minority kids, Alzheimer's patients, and other underprivileged clients until other nonprofit agencies took over the old management. Air America's ever-evolving statements about the controversy have raised more questions than they've answered.<< The only reason I heard anything about it was because the real media found novel ways to mention it obliquely. Here's the Philadelphia Inquirer, for example, with a story about how the new media (that's code for Right Wing Bloggers) was forcing the old media (that's code for newspapers like the Philadelphia Inquirer) to actually cover stories that make liberals look really, really bad. <a href="http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/12409629.htm" target="_blank">http://www.philly.com/mld/phil ly/entertainment/12409629.htm</a> EXCERPT: >>They're called "blogswarms" and you never know when they'll attack. Bloggers start taunting and disparaging the mainstream media - or MSM - for not paying attention to a story they deem worthy... Sometimes the MSM swat away the swarm. But sometimes they prick up their ears, as they did to the buzz about a scandal at Air America Radio that New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is looking into. He wants to know why $875,000 was diverted last year from a Bronx charity to a liberal radio network founded by millionaires. The story was largely ignored until last week, when conservative-leaning bloggers pushed the MSM into carrying it to the public square.<< And then of course, there's the coverage it got in the right wing blogs. Just google "Air America," Bronx, and Charity. Then be prepared to disinfect your keyboard.
