Posted on 05/21/2004 9:25:54 PM PDT by Pikamax
Randi Rhodes announced today that she is quitting Air America. Rhodes made the surprise announcement in a prepared statement at the opening of today's broadcast of the Randi Rhodes Show.
On a related note the Arbitron ratings came out (for New York only) and it is not pretty. Air America on WLIB came in ranked #24 between #25 Mexican Radio and #26 Wall of Voodoo.
LEGAL CLARIFCATION REQUIRED: If you quit on a radio show with no ratings does that count as a resignation?
The Air America message board is in mourning.
In case you missed it...here is the updated timeline of the Air America Death Watch. I won't cheat and post it but I had meant to post a prediction that she would be the first to go. From what I understand she had a bigger audience in Florida then she was getting on AAR's "national" network. I don't think her little "assassination" joke helped.
Thanks. I hadn't heard of her before, so I figured she wasn't much of a threat.
I thought Randi Rhoades was a porn star.
Air America = Listener-Free Radio
She actually spent some time up here in Milwaukee as a morning DJ on one of the Rock & Roll stations before moving to Florida. Incidentally, that radio station no longer exists. Ahh, sweet irony . . .
With it's first bonafide NYC Arbitron ratings to be released today, Air Idiot announced it is looking for some new rubes:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Air America Radio, the upstart liberal talk show network that has been plagued by management troubles, is seeking to raise new money in efforts to pay off debts and steer the business back toward profitability.Having burned through the estimated $60 million they had backing their initial foray into the talk radio jungle without seemingly using at least some of that money to pay their bills, or even all their employees, Air Idiot now seeks to convince people to sink more dough into this sinking fast outfit,and are turning to some not unexpected sources for help:
Such Democratic heavyweights as Sen. Hillary Clinton, her husband, former President Bill Clinton and billionaire investor George Soros have been appraised of the money-raising efforts, according to a person close to the company.
The network has also made efforts to get Democratic party presidential nominee John Kerry to spend more of its campaign money on ads aired on Air America.A new business plan is being touted, where Air Idiot would "just own the New York station, and broadcast nationally via affiliates. That will result in lower costs, though with less revenues as well."
The only problem, which isn't broached in the Reuters article, is that Air Idiot does not own the NYC station. They lease the air time under a two year deal from owners Inner City Media. So I would imagine the first order of business would be to make an offer for the station with some of that new money. So, if today's Arbitron numbers are good, Inner City has no reason to sell. If the numbers suck, they have every reason to kill the leasing deal and go back to their Caribbean format.
Stay tuned!
* sniff *
I think I need a karmic hug.
Was she allowed to spout her politics on the Milwaukee station? (I grew up in Wisconsin; never lived in Milwaukee though, so I don't know the market.)
They also had the projected Colorado Springs station pull out due to AA's financial difficulties.
My first thought was Snow White.
I think you meant to say Air Head America.
Please don't leave us to the wiles of the conservative media. We need a station of truth tellers the get the word out there ... The station's only two months into it's on air life, please don't bail on us yet. We need you.
Everyone has to make their sacrifices during scary times to help save us from the evil that lurks in our midst. We're all doing our part, but your part is bigger than most. Please stick with us and don't leave us.... For whatever it's failings, Air America is our last, best hope. Please, _please_ don't abandon us. I know you'll land on your feet if you leave, and you'll be back on the air in some markets, but Air America has a national audience and a huge following. Continue to stand on your soap box and scream as loud as you wish, just don't silence yourself to the country now.
robert
I thought some goofy airhead yuppie woman executive wannabe wrote this plead to Rhodes and here it ends up it's some guy. Probably blonde, slender, and limp-wristed.
All the previous replies are probably true.
However, her "anchor" station is in the Palm Beach vicinty.
IIRC, she's friends with the wife of the Palm Beach prosecutor who's going after Limbaugh.
Supposedly, she's the one that pushed, both on air and off, for the prosecution.
That's from my memory last fall when the post-oxycontin problems, hit.
Yikes!! Perhaps she should have chosen "Morticia" as her radio name.
I'm a big time Bob & Brian fan. Those guys are great!
Well as conservatives we all have Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Who's bringing the chips ?
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