'AIR AMERICA' DOWN TO NYC (Last Gasp for Air America?)

New York Post ^ | 4/21/04 | John Mainelli

[kattracks]

April 21, 2004 -- All-liberal "Air America" is down to one big-city station - in New York - after falling out for good with the landlord who kicked it off his L.A. and Chicago stations last week.

A judge ordered the all-lefty talk network back on in Chicago last Thursday - after a vicious, public fight over leased-time payments - but Air America said yesterday it will go silent there next week.

[jennyp]

down to one big-city station

Ah, the headline made it sound like they were down to one station, period. It's a little misleading.

[jennyp]

(Wishful thinking. :-)

[bellas_sister]

I think it's all going to be fine once the 9/11 commission is complete...

On the day Dr. Rice spoke every other station had it live and Air America waited till it was over to talk about it and only pulled snip-it's and brutally attacked Dr. Rice. I think they don't want to be forced to talk about it and show how biased it is and bring any more attention to how wrong it is that Gore-lick and Ben Vineste (sp?) are even on the commission...

Just a little conspiracy theory I've been workin' on...

[bellas_sister]

"I think it's all going to be fine once the 9/11 commission is complete..."

Then it will die by Sept. due to lack of market.

[boxerblues]

Ah, the headline made it sound like they were down to one station, period. It's a little misleading.

Dont you know those of in the middle of the country dont account for anything

[highlander_UW]

Then it will die by Sept. due to lack of market.

There's not market for it now...that's why NPR can only get by on our tax dollars.

Another Freeper pointed out that since Air America is having to pay to be on the air that they are nothing more than an infomercial (a dis-infomerical as another put it).

I was hoping Air America did well enough that the plug could be pulled on NPR by pointing to it....guess it won't last long enough for that.

[CDHart]

Neal Boortz said that he hoped the liberal talk shows would do well, because if they didn't, the libs would be more likely to shut down the successful radio talk programs using the courts or congress.

Carolyn

[Prime Choice]

Geez...Air America is self-destructing faster than even the most optimistic predictions. Amazing what a rubber check will do...

[Common Tator]

Radio station owners have total control over what goes on their air and total responsibility for it too.

Look at the Howard Stern case. Stern used illegal language on the air. He was not fined or punished at all. But some of the stations that carried the show,(the 6 clear channel stations) were fined nearly a half million dollars for what Stern Said on the air.

Under the law it is not necessary for Clear channel to know in advance what Stern was going to do before he did it in order for the station owner to be found guilty. Issueing a notice to Stern forbiding Stern to say such things does not mitigate the stations guilt. For clear channel to be guilty all the FCC have to prove is that Stern did it and Clean channel did not stop it before it happened. Actions after the fact do not count.

The other side of that coin is Clear channel can take any program off the air at any time for any reason or no reason. It is not necessary for Air America to say or do something before the owners take them off the air. It does not matter if the program supplier has already paid for the time in advance and the check cleared.

In order to hold clear channel or any other stattion owner totally responsible, they have to give the station total control of what is aired on the station.

Air America got some local judge to order their shows back on. But Air America chose to fold their case,because once it got to the FCC they were going to lose.

The station could have signed a contract with Air Amerian giving them the right to bounce checks, not pay anything ever with a provion the station could never for any reason take them off the air. It would not matter the FCC and federal courts would still rule that the station could refuse to air the programs.

The federal communications act says an owner may not delegate control of what goes on his air. A contract that allowed an Air America control woudl be found to be an illegal contract.

The question is, where are George Soros and other liberals who were supposed to be putting up the big bucks to do this show. Why did Air America stiff the station? Would they have stiffed the station if they had the money? I don't think they would have.

There is a name for females that promise a man a good time but never actually provide it. Perhaps all those rich liberal supporters of Air america are what we might call liberal apendage teasers.

[Adam36]

I'm sure with all the money Soros has, he'll get them back on the air.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

...Air America, which features Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo...

Fingernails scraping a chalk board would draw a larger audience than Franken and Garofalo.

[kittymyrib]

Airhead America got such a send off on all the BS TV networks, newspapers, Time and Newsweek...something Rush and Shawn never had. The only problem was that AA had the mean liberal message delivered by the unfunny Franken and Garafalo. I am freshly in awe of Rush, who has been on 640 stations for 18 years, and in spite of his health/drug problems and has rarely missed a beat. He truly has "talent on loan from God" to be able to do that for so long, but you will not hear the partisan media ever give him credit where it is due because they hate him.

[mhking]

Scare America Stations

On The Air New York City - WLIB 1190 Los Angeles - KBLA 1580 Chicago - WNTD 950 Minneapolis - WMNN 1330 Portland, OR - KPOJ 620 Riverside, CA - KCAA 1050 West Palm Beach, FL - WJNO 1290 Plattsburgh/Burlington - WTWK 1070 Key West, FL - WKIZ 1500 Portland, ME - WMTW 870 Chapel Hill, NC - WCHL 1360 XM Satellite Radio - 167 Sirius Satellite Radio - 125 Coming Soon San Francisco/San Jose KVVN 1400 San Francisco/Berkley KVTO 1430 Sacramento, CA KSQR 1240 Colorado Springs, Co KBZC 1300 San Luis Obispo, CA KYNS 1340 Santa Cruz, CA KPEE  Santa Fe, NM KOOT 101.5 Anchorage, AK KUDO 1080 Honolulu KAOI 1110 Boulder, CO KBAC 610 Memphis, TN WMQM 1600 Reno, NV KXTO 1550 Northhampton, MA WHMP 1400 Nashua, NH WSNH 900 Dish Network

[JZoback]

I listened to Air America via streaming and right away understood why it is doomed to fail.

The lunatic left operates in a fantasy world.

[PJ-Comix]

It looks like Randi Rhodes will soon be back to making just $15 per hour at WJNO here in Florida. Since she only worked 4 hours per day, 5 days per week, Randi was/will take home only $300 per week.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

Actually, Liberals are the single-most depressing people to listen to. They rant. They rave. They b*tch. They moan. They NEVER talk positively. There's always something wrong to them, and they never have a bright outlook. There is ZERO optimism.

Who needs to listen to that?

[Thebaddog]

I've got May 10 in the Dead Pool. Hang in there baby, 20 more days! You guys can do it.

[rotstan]

I think that *any* investor in this, no matter how ideologically motivated, must be having some serious doubts about the management team who put these deals together. Failing your first large payments in a such a spectacular, highly visible manner can only bode ill for future expansion plans. If I were a radio station owner considering Air America, I'd up the price another 20% just to cover the risk of their default.