Posted on 05/12/2004 6:58:39 PM PDT by nwrep
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Air America has shut its sales offices in Los Angeles and Chicago and is recasting its business plan, the network's president said on Wednesday as troubles beset the liberal talk show network.
With Air America not broadcasting in those two cities after a financial dispute in April, network president Jon Sinton said, "There's not much sense in having sales offices in cities where you don't control a station."
About 15 to 20 people were laid off in the closing of the sales offices, the latest sign of problems for Air America, launched on March 31 as a liberal alternative to the country's predominantly conservative talk show culture led by right-wing icons like Rush Limbaugh.
Since it started, Chairman Evan Cohen, Vice Chairman Rex Sorensen and Head of Programing David Logan have left while co-founder Mark Walsh has stepped down as chief executive to take a smaller role in the organization.
Sinton said Air America was in "high-level affiliate discussions in Chicago and Los Angeles" and other cities.
Sinton said the company had moved away from its original business model, which was to lease and totally control the radio stations in which its programing ran.
Rather, Sinton said Air America has found success with traditional affiliate relationships, under which it provides about 20 hours of programing per day in many cases in exchange for the ability to sell a certain number of minutes per hour of advertising.
"The business model has changed with our on-air success. The fact that we are moving the needle so quickly with affiliates has surprised us and negated the need for us to control our own stations," Sinton said.
After its launch, a dispute with business partner Multicultural Radio Broadcasting led to its programing being yanked from the air in Chicago and Los Angeles.
Air America, which is said to have more than $30 million in financing, is operating in about nine markets, and on satellite radio and the Internet. Its Web site said that 15 more stations will be coming in May.
"We're always looking for new financing, but the investors we have are committed and we would we like to raise more money," said Sinton, who said that certain people on the board with long-term radio experience have recently taken over key decision-making roles in a departure from the past.
Serious errors in business judgment account for Air America's problems, rather than its slate of programing, say various radio industry insiders.
"It makes you wonder why everybody is leaving the company," said Michael Harrison, editor for Talkers, a magazine about Talk Shows.
"I think the concept of liberal radio is great, but they went about it wrong. They first insisted that stations take an entire line-up. The odds of getting enough stations to take a whole line-up are so impossible."
AA reminds me of my friend who warned me the Saturday before GW was sworn in to sell any stocks or mutual funds whose main investment was in the Clintoons.
I ran into him recently, and asked him if that advise was still a guiding light for him. He noted that Buffet, Soros, Lewis and a few other super rich libs could be heading for a big fall. Any invested with their investments was at risk. He repeated the warning about California companies who invested heavily in Clintoon and Herr Davis.
Whenever, I read about Err America, I think of this friend's warning about liberal controlled/owned companies. For most of them, it is impossible to succeed unless the rats are in charge of the government and have their AG's in place at the state and federal level.
Good advice.
What will we do without that??
Have you seen any threads of India's plumeting markets since Ms Ghandi the Commie suprisingly got elected somehow???
"Have you seen any threads of India's plumeting markets since Ms Ghandi the Commie suprisingly got elected somehow???"
Have the markets in India dropped since the election of another communist in India?
At first he started to use the word "Crash" to describe it, then changed that to say "falling hard" and was adamant that it was due to the shocking election of an anti-social socialist right in the middle of a growing economy!!!
You know that ABCNNBC BS, the NY/LA Slimes, the Compost and all of the Gannett fish wraps will ignore that reality.
They love communists as peaceniks or dictators like their Uncle Fidel.
Now I'm off to Google to see what I can find, if anything... UNREAL!!!
Now I gotta find something on the Indian markets that Tom said were "tanking" in reaction to what would happen here if Scary Harry Kerry were to be elected!!!
All right!!! Put this "India+Elections+Economy+Stock+Markets" in you're Google and you'll get something that should have it's own thread on FR!!! (under "Braking News!)(huge grin)
http://indiaexpress.com/news/business/marketwatch/20040515-0.html
Sensex tanks 600 points in worst ever week in BSE history
14.25 IST 15th May 2004
By IndiaExpress Bureau
In the worst ever week in the history of Indian bourses, the sensex plunged by a record 600 points wiping out over Rs 1728 billion of shareholder wealth in five trading sessions as investors pressed sell button in reaction to political developments at the Centre.
The PSU and banking sectors were hard hit as their stocks faced the investors' wrath after the CPI-M and CPI, whose support is vital for the Congress to form the government, said on Friday that disinvestment policies be scrapped, indicating their opposition to privatisation of profitable PSUs.
As a result, both the sectorial indices recorded historic falls. The BSE-PSU Index collapsed by 903.80 points or 21.90 per cent to end the week at 3223.32 from 4127.12 last weekend.
The Bankex also dived by 540.31 points or 16.99 per cent to 2639.98 from 3180.29 at the last weekend.
The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index, which witnessed the fifth largest intra-day swing of 372 points on Friday, crashed by 599.71 points or 10.58 per cent to finish the week at six-month low at 5069.87 from last weekend's close of 5669.58.
This makes the largest ever weekly fall in terms of points in the BSE history.
The sensex had crumbled by 586.74 points in a week from May 8 to 12, 2000, when the IT bubble burst.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) which made heavy net sales of Rs 1897 crore in the first four days following indications of hung Parliament after the final round of elections on May 10 and the TDP's rout in AP Assembly polls, pressed across-the-board sell-off on the last day.
In FACT... There's a gob of lessons about "class envy" and "populism" and other "politics of envy" that are the center-piece of this REALITY occurring in India, NOW!!!
'The business model changes with our on-air success'...uh, 'the fact we've moved the needle so quickly negates the need to control stations.' PC speak for downward spiral as business drops dead. What we're seeing is the last muscle spasms, like legs flopping around.
I'm laughing so hard I'm crying. You guys are bad.
Get Liz to post it or someone else.
My time on FR will be limited today. Also, MSN is emulating the old Compuserve and AOL by being slow and even slower.
But this is getting pretty huge and pretty ugly!!!
I think the only thing I've learned by the India plunge is buy a put on the country's market index prior to an election. Looks to be a nice speculative play.
Or are they really saying 'we have no chance to get any replacement affiliates anytime for the forseable future.'
Franken--a man VERY full of himself.
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