Has Fox News picked this up?
Ping
Here is a tidbit. Did Soros buy them? Why was Clinton so interested?:
Soros Might Bail Out Air America
Jon E. Dougherty, NewsMax.com
Friday, Aug. 13, 2004
Bush-hater billionaire George Soros says he might bail out the ailing Air America radio network.
The Chicago Tribune quoted Soros as saying he was considering the venture but had yet to make any commitments.
"I am looking at it, but I can't say where we are on it," he said. "People have begged me to buy media, but I have resisted it."
He says he likes the network's programming. And at the urging of former President Bill Clinton, he has been asked to help bail the network out of its financial troubles.
But he said he wouldn't write a check without expecting a measurable return for his money. So far the network has shed stations and personnel, mostly because it has hemorrhaged money and is gaining slight market share ever so slowly.
Clearly the network fits Soros' agenda of defeating President Bush. Its leftist line-up includes Bush-bashing comedians Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo.
Defeating Bush "is the central focus of my life," Soros once told the Washington Post. "America, under Bush, is a danger to the world. And I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is."
The financially troubled syndicated radio network can use his help.
The network launched in four markets March 31: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. Founded by Democrat fund-raisers Sheldon and Anita Drobny, who later sold the venture to a group of investors led by former Democratic National Committee executive Mark Walsh, its line-up initially was broadcast from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time.
"Our business plan doesn't require us to get a whole lot of listeners right away. This is one brick at a time. We think our advertisers will be happy with the listeners we attract," Walsh told MediaWeek.com.
Today, the network has grown to 21 stations, is also being aired on XM and Sirius satellite radio channels, and has made inroads into "blue" areas of the map such as Chapel Hill, N.C., and Anchorage, Alaska.
Still, Air America has endured a number of financial problems.
Two months after its launch amidst a deluge of free media coverage via a sympathetic mainstream media, the network ran out of money to pay Franken, its marquee talent.
"We had some bad management," Franken told the New York Times in late May. He chose to provide his services for free, making him "an involuntary investor."
Walsh initially said the fledgling network was flush with cash: $20 million, which was more than enough to keep paying the on-air talent it hired for years to come.
But Walsh said he was "misled" about the amount supposedly raised by investors, telling the Times the network's business practices weren't "transparent."
By then Evan Cohen, David Goodfriend, who served as general counsel and later as acting chief operating officer, and Dave Logan, who served as executive vice president for programming, had all left the network.
The network's programming was dropped from its Los Angeles and Chicago affiliates over non-payment of fees.
Soros' Other Projects
As for Soros, he's been dabbling in other anti-Bush political funding as well. So far, the Hungarian-born investor has sunk $15 million into the effort and become the chief benefactor of two new Democrat groups: American Coming Together and MoveOn.org.
He's even gone so far as to say he would spend all 7 billion of his dollars if he was sure it would lead to Bush's defeat. Maybe he was kidding, but clearly the man is no fan of the president.
Soros represents "the new and surprising face of America politics," writes David Greising of the Tribune. Soros and others like him who have the means have increasingly dedicated huge sums of their fortunes to defeating or helping to re-elect U.S. leaders.
That's ironic, given the Democrat-led passage of sweeping campaign finance "reforms" a few years back. Those changes were supposed to keep the influence of money on politics at bay, but as Greising notes, just the opposite has happened.
Re Fox News and coverage on this criminal activity:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,164165,00.html
Funding Air America
New York City's Department of Investigations has shut down millions of dollars in city contracts to the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club after allegations of corruption. Part of the inquiry involves allegations that the community center's founder invested some city funds in the liberal radio network, Air America (search).
The Bronx News reports that hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars were diverted to Air America's former management company in the form of a loan, which was to be paid back with interest but was not. An Air America spokesman says, "We're committed to paying this money and the terms are being worked out... We are awaiting direction from the investigation into how to proceed."
Betcha the NYP is working on one...
Heh heh heh heh heh...
Well, in fairness, Limbaugh is newsworthy because he is a major public figure with 20 million listeners.
Air America, on the other hand, is little more than a blip on the nation's media radar screen, with almost no listeners.
So I can see why Limbaugh's problems are more newsworthy than Air America's.
But I take Hewitt's point just the same.
I have read some interesting speculation about me here. I am not the White House Correspondent for Air America.
Best wishes.
Paul Sanford
A story in todays NY Post, page 7, BAD AIR DAY. Lib radio loan $tink.
"even when bloggers have laid out the roadmap"
Hell no! You don't think the MSM will give one ounce of credit to the "bloggers" do you .. and once again the MSM is being shown up for their BIAS and elitist snobbery.
Can someone please explain the link between Air America and the Sundance Channel? I get Comcast Digital Cable with On Demand, that has two Sundance Channels. All these channels show all day long is: Bush's Brain, stupid Origin of AIDS conspiracy theory movies, left leaning documentaries, and every stupid Al Franken Air America interview ever. Just to make sure we don't miss any of it, they put it On Demand for free.
ping