Air America Radio closing, filing for bankruptcy
Progressive radio network once aired commentary from Franken, Maddow
LOS ANGELES - Air America Radio, a radio network that was launched in 2004 as a liberal alternative to Rush Limbaugh and other conservative commentators, on Thursday shut down abruptly due to financial woes.
The network once boasted hosts such as Al Franken
and Rachel Maddow, but struggled from the outset, including multiple management shake-ups, a bankruptcy in 2006 and sale for $4.25 million the following year. Air America ceased airing new programs Thursday afternoon and said it will soon file to be liquidated under Chapter 7 bankruptcy. It began broadcasting reruns of programs and would end those as well Monday night.
"The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America's business. This past year has seen a `perfect storm' in the media industry generally," the company said in a statement on its Web site.
The New York-based network said its "painstaking search for new investors" came close to succeeding even this week, "but ultimately fell short."
New York real estate magnate Stephen Green and his brother, politician Mark Green
, bought the company out of bankruptcy in March 2007. Air America said 10 consecutive quarters of declining ad revenue and the difficulty of making money on the Internet contributed to its troubles.
The network had some 100 radio outlets nationwide.
Franken, a Democrat, hosted his own show from 2004 to 2007 before leaving to campaign for a U.S. senate seat in Minnesota, which he won last year after a recount battle decided by the state Supreme Court.
Maddow went on to host her own TV show on MSNBC.
This is just good news all the way around except I doubt the "very difficult economic environment" had anything to do with it.
6 comments:
The tough part wasn't about economics. It was about competition in an already flooded market.
How could Air America compete with the established MSM. AA was set up as a counter balance to Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, et al, nationally and locally. But isn't that ALREADY counter balanced by the MSM? Certainly the Talk Show guys admit that they are giving their opinions, from a right wing sensibility. But the Big 3, Ted Turners stuff and PMSNBC are touting themselves as objective, hard news.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Katie Kutiepie, and her ilk, fold, spindle and mutilate the truth until it is so full of their slanted view, that the truth is all but hidden. Or the news is simply made up, to fit an agenda like the Global Warming scam. It is, their opinion of events.
AA, with Franken, Maddow and all the others, was just one small voice, in an already crowded, liberal, opinion machine. Even Starbuck's eventually realized that you can over saturate the market!!
Don't forget about NPR. That is a commercial success. It hasn't increased its taxpayer subsidy by more than 10% for the last 10 years.
...and PBS too.
This is good news except for the fact that Sen. Franken-stien and Butch Maddow are now in positions where they can reach more people and do far more damage than before. That's not good!
Of course, in a just world, everyone connected with AA would have been exiled to N. Korea when the network went under. But that's just my opinion.
It's Rush's fault. And Savage, and Hannity. Only when these people are taken off the air and there's nothing else to listen to will Americans listen to Homos tell them how to live.
JUST KIDDING!
Americans will NEVER listen to that crap!
No? Then explain the last election.
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