Air America to Declare Bankruptcy (1 Viewer)

[Gill]

(full title)

EXCLUSIVE: AIR AMERICA TO DECLARE BANKRUPTCY, BUT PROGRESSIVE RADIO REMAINS STRONG

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.

http://thinkprogress.org/

It's been obvious for several weeks that major changes were taking place at Err America and that finances were in poor condition. I actually listen to AA when driving the 15-20 minutes to and from work. Randi Rhodes always gets me laughing with her complete irregard of facts. Yesterday, the station was completely off the air. And when they are on the air, there is an abundance of bumper music and public service announcements where advertisements should be.

With the loss of their flagship station in New York City, I wondered how long they would last. If they do fold, I have to admit I will miss them. Where else can I find a souce of amusement to match Err America.

 

[Trajan Octavian Titus]

Bye bye Frankin, Bye bye Gerafaloe, Bye bye Randi you sucked and you won't be missed.

 

[Gill]

Bye bye Frankin, Bye bye Gerafaloe, Bye bye Randi you sucked and you won't be missed.

Well, so far Franken and Rhodes are still on in their normal time slot. Janeane Garofalo already left.

 

[dsanthony]

NPR killed Air America. Liberals would rather suck at the teat of federal tax dollars than support a capitalist enterprise like AA.

 

[SixStringHero]

That's a shame. They were the only network I could listen to for objective and non biased information. :lol:

 

[Stinger]

Beat me to it!

I had a button on my XM for them. I'd tune in every once in a while but it was SOOOOOOO bad. And there are liberals out there that are or would be good. I used to bet people in my car that if I tuned in AA that within 15 minutes someone would say "Bush lied about WMD", and I ALWAYS WON.

 

[Stinger]

NPR killed Air America. Liberals would rather suck at the teat of federal tax dollars than support a capitalist enterprise like AA.

I never listened to much to them over the air, but they now have a channel on XM and MAN, I'm starting to get a little peaved. NPR is government funded liberal radio. First there shouldn't even be a NPR, second they should stay away from politics AT ALL since they could never be balance left or right. It should be apolitical.

 

[Navy Pride]

I tried to listen to it a couple of times but it was so over the top and off the wall I just could not do it................

It was also very boring.............

 

[Stinger]

It was also very boring.............

Yep, and key to their never getting an audience. I can listen to Ed Shultz and not agree with most of his positions on things, but I do listen to him sometimes if he has a good topic. But Randi Rhodes? For the life of me even if I were a liberal I don't think I could stand the woman. Not only does she come off as not very well informed and full of baseless assertions, but she reminds me of Gore in the first debate with the overblown gestures and signs. Why they didn't put someone interesting and entertaining in the spot is beyond me.

 

[SixStringHero]

Yep, and key to their never getting an audience. I can listen to Ed Shultz and not agree with most of his positions on things, but I do listen to him sometimes if he has a good topic. But Randi Rhodes? For the life of me even if I were a liberal I don't think I could stand the woman. Not only does she come off as not very well informed and full of baseless assertions, but she reminds me of Gore in the first debate with the overblown gestures and signs. Why they didn't put someone interesting and entertaining in the spot is beyond me.

I was able to tolerate Ed Schultz for the first month prior to the 2004 election.

After Bush won he did a complete 180 and starting spewing the same rhetoric and vitrol that Ranting Rhodes is known for ie republicans only care about winning and staying in power, bush lied blah blah.

I can't stand him anymore, he's a partisan hack and no better than Hannity.

Randi Rhodes is in a league of her own. I have heard her cut off plenty of callers who are democrats that don't even agree with her.

 

[danarhea]

NPR killed Air America. Liberals would rather suck at the teat of federal tax dollars than support a capitalist enterprise like AA.

I think you have a good point there, but there is more to it than that.

With the advent of the internet, political talk radio has been in a decline. Savage and others are still doing OK, because they benefitted from the Conservative radio bandwagon that began with Ronald Reagan in the 1970's.

Now that the blogosphere has become the media that readers and listeners are jumping on, getting a start-up radio network to stay in business is a daunting task, and orders of magnitude more difficult than when Conservatives took advantage of radio before the intenet became a reality.

For now, conservative personalities wont have much of a problem, although listeners are decreasing there too. They are entrenched, having mined their gold when radio was the rage, and will continue to own political talk radio for the forseeable future. Conservatives can thank the Gipper for starting that trend.

For anyone else, the blogosphere is the way to go. Political talk radio in general is going the way of the dodo bird, as new technologies and media are replacing it. The Liberals still own the blogosphere, but Conservatives are rapidly catching up. The playing field there will be fairly level in the not too distant future.

 

[Stinger]

I was able to tolerate Ed Schultz for the first month prior to the 2004 election.

My real complaint about him would be that he just seems to try and come off as a liberal Limbaugh. I don't want to say the he deliberately created the "persona" thinking, hey if it works there why not hear, or if he is really just comes off like Limbaugh. But he does at times make sense in his position and stands by it, even if I don't agree with it. Other times, yes he can get on a misconstrude point just like Rhodes.

I'm reading with Frankin has stated has hasn't been getting paid lately.

Randi Rhodes is in a league of her own. I have heard her cut off plenty of callers who are democrats that don't even agree with her.

I just find her grating and can't stand listening to her more than 30 seconds at a time. Wonder why they never got someone like Alan Colmes, Bob Berkle or someone like that? Or maybe those guys were just to smart to get involved in the mess it seems to be.

 

[hipsterdufus]

I guess the schadenfreude will have to wait for another day conmen. Sorry.
:2wave:

UPDATE: Air America responds.

If Air America had filed for bankruptcy every time someone rumored it to be doing so, we would have ceased to exist long ago; it may be frustrating to some that this hasn’t happened. No decision has been taken to make any filing of any kind, we are not sure of the source of these rumors and frankly can not respond to every rumor in the marketplace.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/13/air-america-bankruptcy/

 

[Gill]

I guess the schadenfreude will have to wait for another day conmen. Sorry.
:2wave:

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/13/air-america-bankruptcy/

We shall see. Are you really surprised that they are denying it? They are desparately trying to stay on the air through the Nov. elections.

Here's what Franken has to say:

"I don't know if that's true or not," Al Franken told Radar late Wednesday, 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."

I also know that the far left is in an uproar and vowing never to listen to AA since Mike Malloy was cut loose.

 

[Stinger]

I guess the schadenfreude will have to wait for another day conmen. Sorry.
:2wave:

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/13/air-america-bankruptcy/

Wait and see, they would deny it to the end. If Franken isn't getting paid, Garafolo AWOL and some of the previous reports about them not paying bills is true, there may well be an announcement coming up.

 

[Gill]

Wait and see, they would deny it to the end. If Franken isn't getting paid, Garafolo AWOL and some of the previous reports about them not paying bills is true, there may well be an announcement coming up.

I also just heard that they laid off 5 staff members on 9/11.

 

[easyt65]

NPR killed Air America. Liberals would rather suck at the teat of federal tax dollars than support a capitalist enterprise like AA.

What a surprise - the Rabid Voice of Left Wing Liberal Extremism going under?! And no one willing to pay for 'what they believe in - just lip service', which sums up the rabid liberals. Good point, though - why do you need Err Amerika when you have NPR? Oh yeah, that's right - because NPR was too tame for people like Franken and Garofalo and does not demonize and attack conservatism and the GOPs enough for their taste.

Why is it, do you think, that Conservatives are so successful with the radio talk format while the Liberals fall completely on their face with it?

 

[dsanthony]

Why is it, do you think, that Conservatives are so successful with the radio talk format while the Liberals fall completely on their face with it?

Well, I've just said why. NPR draws most of the liberal radio audience, leaving AA with scraps and the more rabid leftists.

 

[Navy Pride]

Well, I've just said why. NPR draws most of the liberal radio audience, leaving AA with scraps and the more rabid leftists.

And what really pisses me off is NPR is funded by the taxpayer.....

 

[TurtleDude]

One night I turned on Ranting Rhodes. 45 minutes of her whining about Bush lying about WMD. did some errands, came back an hour later. It was if I hadn't missed a minute-same rant, same stuff for another 20 minutes (the show ended then). repeat the same point at least 15 times. No facts, no professional delivery-same frantic screeching that went on and on and on

like Hannity, Rush or Levin or not-they are professional in their delivery, tone etc. Rhodes isn't.

 

[Diogenes]

I can listen to Ed Shultz and not agree with most of his positions on things, but I do listen to him sometimes if he has a good topic.

I was able to tolerate Ed Schultz for the first month prior to the 2004 election.

After Bush won he did a complete 180 and starting spewing the same rhetoric and vitrol that Ranting Rhodes is known for ie republicans only care about winning and staying in power, bush lied blah blah.

I can't stand him anymore, he's a partisan hack and no better than Hannity.

I listened to Ed Schultz quite a bit when he was based in Fargo ND (and when I was in range), and he was pretty good on local issues like the idiocy of banning dodgeball or other competitive sports from elementary schools because the losers would suffer a loss of self-esteem. He was occasionally right on issues at a state level, and almost always wrong about national issues. My chief objection to him is, and always has been, that he can't engage in intellectual debate - he shouts down or cuts off those who disagree with him.

 

[hipsterdufus]

Wait and see, they would deny it to the end. If Franken isn't getting paid, Garafolo AWOL and some of the previous reports about them not paying bills is true, there may well be an announcement coming up.

FYI- Garafolo quit AAR about a month ago.

I've always thought that the management at AAR was a bunch of knuckleheads from day one. They've made some moves with on air talent that defy all logic, but that's for another thread. It's surprising AAR has gotten as far as they have.

BTW- In the corporate world today, declaring bankruptcy is seen as just another strategy to clean up the balance sheets while the business keeps merrily running along.

 

[Indy]

I tried to listen to it a couple of times but it was so over the top and off the wall I just could not do it................

It was also very boring.............

NP, I agree with you. I don't like listening to hate from the right and I don't like listening to hate from the left. Really it wasn't anything more than a constant bitch session. Every liberal I know doesn't listen to talk radio anyways so I'm not sure how they stayed on so long.

 

[26 X World Champs]

And what really pisses me off is NPR is funded by the taxpayer.....

Except that only 2% of their funding comes from the government through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting...but that never stops people who cry "FIRE" in a movie theater to also write posts that make it sound like something more...but I will consider the source....

The NPR Web site offers NPR annual reports, 990s, and audited financial statements. According to the most recent 2005 financial statement, currently NPR makes just over half of its money from the fees and dues it charges member stations to receive programming. About 2% of NPR's funding comes from bidding on government grants and programs (chiefly the Corporation for Public Broadcasting); the remainder comes from member station dues, foundation grants, and corporate underwriting. NPR member stations raise money through on-air pledge drives, during which programming is interrupted and listeners are encouraged to donate money to keep the station on the air.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR#Funding

 

[Nexus]

That's how I feel about it too. It gets old very fast and it does nothing to further political discourse. I tried to listen to them for awhile but it was SSDD, same as the rightwing.