Air America Files Chapter 11

[jhunter1163]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15249280/?GT1=8618

This has been rumored to be coming for a while now, but apparently is now fact. They'll still operate for now, but I can't imagine any investor group continuing to pour money down that particular drain for any length of time.

Al Franken will have to find a new home. I hear Sirius is hiring...

[Sword_Of_Truth]

Air America has had issues from day one.

They did have the sense though, to unload CTist hosts before the embarassed themselves too much.

[firecoins]

Why did Janene Giraflo leave? Was she a CTer?

[TK0001]

Air America has had issues from day one.

They did have the sense though, to unload CTist hosts before the embarassed themselves too much.

Al Franken is a CTer? Is that what you're saying?

[Donal]

No, she is just so horribly unentertaining. Honestly, why is she famous?

I think another problem is they just didn't have enough radio people running things. They spent so much time on ideology, they lost sight of buissiness practicality.

[Gravy]

Al Franken is a CTer? Is that what you're saying?
No, Mike "Mad Dog" Malloy was, and Randi Rhodes isn't far behind. The Air America CT host in Phoenix who interviewed the head Loosers earlier this year lost his job recently.

[60hzxtl]

Here's a tip - sell ads.

That's the way radio works.

Air Am. bartered commercial time for radio space. They will give away the program so the local station could sell the commercial time.

The network was heard, but the advertising $$ went into the local station.

Makes for very little use of black ink, and a dependence on red ink.

[jhunter1163]

http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2006/07/janeane-garofalo-leaves-air-america.html

Here's a blog that has some stuff re: Garofalo. Seems she wasn't getting paid, which would, I suppose, be a fair complaint.

[Dog Town]

I can't imagine any investor group continuing to pour money down that particular drain for any length of time.

This is the fastest I've seen George Soros give up. I would bet half the money lost on that Network was his. O' well there's an election soon, I'm sure he needed to save up for that. LOL!

[Anti-sophist]

I've tried several times to listen to Air America... they cut to commercials three times as much as anyone else, and repeat the same 5 ones over and over. Hearing words like "oil-fueld bloodlust" every 3 minutes, from the same commercial... it's just hard to listen to something that's basically hate-spew. It's like listening to Michael Savage. It's fun for a bit, but after awhile it's hard to wrap your mind around the irrationality and emotion-based rhetoric.

[jhunter1163]

According to the MSN article, AAR lost $40 million plus in just two full years of operation. I think George Soros recognizes a non-starter when he sees one.

I had basically the same experience as AS listening to them... their people just weren't entertaining, thought-provoking, or even irritating enough to hold my attention. And the 25 minutes of commercials per hour made it a REAL hard listen.

[pgwenthold]

I still think Rachel Maddow has one of the best news programs around.

Not being a talkradio-call in show helps in that regard, though. She focuses on news, and news that you don't hear on the mainstream media. She's kind of like Fox in that regard, although she doesn't pretend to be balanced.

[Buckaroo]

I've tried several times to listen to Air America... they cut to commercials three times as much as anyone else, and repeat the same 5 ones over and over. Hearing words like "oil-fueld bloodlust" every 3 minutes, from the same commercial... it's just hard to listen to something that's basically hate-spew. It's like listening to Michael Savage. It's fun for a bit, but after awhile it's hard to wrap your mind around the irrationality and emotion-based rhetoric.

To be fair, that was AA's stated goal -- copying the MO of right-wing talk radio, rather than presenting reasoned and sober discussion. For the most part, they've succeded, which is why I can't stomach much of AA, either. Histrionics ain't innit.

I still think Rachel Maddow has one of the best news programs around.

Ditto. She's definitely one of the best on AA. Thom Hartmann is great, too. Beyond those two, I don't have much use for the network.

[Bell]

Why did Janene Giraflo leave? Was she a CTer?

Funny you should ask...

JDX's MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/johndoexpt)

One of JDX friends (http://www.myspace.com/janeanegarofalo) on MySpace

WTF?! :eek:

[Sally]

To be fair, that was AA's stated goal -- copying the MO of right-wing talk radio, rather than presenting reasoned and sober discussion. For the most part, they've succeded, which is why I can't stomach much of AA, either. Histrionics ain't innit.



Ditto. She's definitely one of the best on AA. Thom Hartmann is great, too. Beyond those two, I don't have much use for the network.



Third on Rachel Maddow being entertaining, reasonable and well informed. A great radio host. I hope see lands on her feet after all the dust settles.

I also enjoyed Marc Maron before the let him go he was off the edge at times but he is a comedian be trade and working with Mark Riley offered a good balance to him. When that show broke up I sensed the end coming..

[pgwenthold]

Third on Rachel Maddow being entertaining, reasonable and well informed. A great radio host. I hope see lands on her feet after all the dust settles.



Although she does say "kooky" a few too many times.

[Brainster]

No, Mike "Mad Dog" Malloy was, and Randi Rhodes isn't far behind. The Air America CT host in Phoenix who interviewed the head Loosers earlier this year lost his job recently.

Just to clarify here, Charles Goyette did not lose his job over CT theories. Air America Phoenix's station was bought out by a Christian broadcasting network late last year/early this year. They gave AAP a few months to find a new home. When that did not happen, AAP went off the air effective March 1. Goyette had a guaranteed contract from the stations' owners, who apparently cashed in pretty good on the sale, so there was no question of him not getting paid. When AAP came back on the air around April 1, Goyette was not in the lineup, but I suspect that was due to the new station operating on a shoestring, and not due to his 9-11 Denier theories, since the new owner is Sheldon Drobny, a CTer himself (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheldon-drobny/911-revisited_b_26556.html). Goyette has since been hired by another station, where he famously sandbagged the Popular Mechanics debunkers.

Indeed, AAP is 9-11 Denier-friendly, with positive coverage of 9-11 Mysteries and Loose Change. One of the local producers is Jeff Farias, who "lost" my email offering to come on the Mike Newcomb show to debate the Loosers a few months back. I later learned that he's a Denier himself.

[yodaluver28]

I'm not remotely surprised by this. I'm pretty darn liberal myself and I tried to listen to AA but just couldn't stomach the vast majority of what they aired. Malloy and Rhodes in particular are just complete kooks, as is their core audience. I think following the right-wing talk playbook of bile and venom based talk was a big mistake. While hard-core leftists might eat that stuff up, there are far more mainstream liberals and democrats who disagree with and can disagree with Bush and the Republicans without stooping to accusing them of heinous, elaborate, and unproven conspiracies.

[Sally]

I'm not remotely surprised by this. I'm pretty darn liberal myself and I tried to listen to AA but just couldn't stomach the vast majority of what they aired. Malloy and Rhodes in particular are just complete kooks, as is their core audience. I think following the right-wing talk playbook of bile and venom based talk was a big mistake. While hard-core leftists might eat that stuff up, there are far more mainstream liberals and democrats who disagree with and can disagree with Bush and the Republicans without stooping to accusing them of heinous, elaborate, and unproven conspiracies.

I for one think there does need to be a place for it. So many years of the pundits on the right attacking liberals to the point of making liberal a bad word and we on the left had to just role over and play dead because we are too good to stop to their level.

Mainstream America is far removed from the likes of Coulter, O'reilly, Carlson and the such but their voices get heard for being so freakin loud. Let the liberals yell the $%#^ back ...

[Donal]

I for one think there does need to be a place for it. So many years of the pundits on the right attacking liberals to the point of making liberal a bad word and we on the left had to just role over and play dead because we are too good to stop to their level.

Mainstream America is far removed from the likes of Coulter, O'reilly, Carlson and the such but their voices get heard for being so freakin loud. Let the liberals yell the $%#^ back ...

So what would you call what Jon Stewart and Bill Mahr do?

This was another thing that irked my about AAR. they made it like the left (can we find another term? I've grown tired of left and right) have no voice in the media. This couldn't be further from the truth (or Truth if you prefer). Television, movies, print and music all seem to attract a left point of view (I'm not calling conspiracy, I'm just saying that seems to be the leaning those fields attract).

And last I checked, the most well known radio personality wasn't very conservative. Bababooey.

[Polaris]

Almost none of those "personalities" had any radio experience. Not everybody can step in and do talk radio, despite multitudes of attempts based on just name recognition (Whoopi Goldberg, Oliver North, Al Franken, Janine Garofalo, David Lee Roth...).

That, combined with awful, monumentally bad business decisions, was the death of AAR.

I listen to talk radio - non-political - and I never heard AAR when I was scrolling through the dial.

[firecoins]

A little disclosure here. I listen to Rush Limbaugh during my lunch break. Rush has his good and bad points but he definately a great broadcaster as he is to talk radio what Babe Ruth was to baseball. I used to alternate with Al Franken. When AAR switch from 1130 AM in NY to 1600 AM, I could no longer get reception where I lived. Rush was a better radio personality by far from Al Franken. Franken was just annoying.

[Brainache]

I think I would go insane if I had to listen to radio in America. Thank the FSM for the good old ABC. (that's the Aussie ABC)

[Polaris]

A little disclosure here. I listen to Rush Limbaugh during my lunch break. Rush has his good and bad points but he definately a great broadcaster as he is to talk radio what Babe Ruth was to baseball. I used to alternate with Al Franken. When AAR switch from 1130 AM in NY to 1600 AM, I could no longer get reception where I lived. Rush was a better radio personality by far from Al Franken. Franken was just annoying.

Rush has always been in radio, though. He has the face for it and everything.

[jimtron]

...they made it like the left (can we find another term? I've grown tired of left and right)

OK, from now on, instead of "left" let's say, "penumbra" and instead of "right" let's say "solenoid." Or we could switch them...

[firecoins]

Rush has always been in radio, though. He has the face for it and everything.
Well that is sort of the point. Rush is primarily a broadcaster who created an audience over time. The liberals who created AA, were not broadcaster and assumed they would get an audience just because they were liberal.

[Rob Lister]

Well that is sort of the point. Rush is primarily a broadcaster who created an audience over time. The liberals who created AA, were not broadcaster and assumed they would get an audience just because they were liberal.

I'd say that pretty much sums it up, but you can't dis' the liberal ability to broadcast -- they trump conservative brodcasters in the visual media times 10.

That may be a clue as to the differing mindsets.

Or not.

[Architect]

http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2006/07/janeane-garofalo-leaves-air-america.html

Here's a blog that has some stuff re: Garofalo. Seems she wasn't getting paid, which would, I suppose, be a fair complaint.

<Gratuitous British Joke see http://www.gruffalo.com (http://www.gruffalo.com/) >

A garofalo, a garofalo, what's a garofalo? A garofalo, why don't you know?




:)

[TjW]

I think I would go insane if I had to listen to radio in America. Thank the FSM for the good old ABC. (that's the Aussie ABC)

Alcoholic Beverages Commission?