Posted on 01/25/2006 1:50:20 PM PST by PJ-Comix
Last year, I was privileged to work with Brian Maloney of The Radio Equalizer on an ongoing blog investigative series about beleaguered Air America radio's finances. Brian has continued to dig and dig deep on the story.
He has a new report here and will discuss it tonight on The O'Reilly Factor.
Brian asks: "Did Al Franken's outrageous salary demands hamper Air America's ability to repay the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club in 2005?"
Excerpt:
During the same mid-to-late 2004 period when Air America parent Piquant LLC was quietly considering how to resolve the still-undisclosed scandal, Franken was demanding everything, including the kitchen sink.
A June, 2004 Wall Street Journal investigative report on Air America stated Al was making "over $1 million a year". That was accurate, but not for long.
Despite mixed reviews, low ratings and a perpetually shaky cash outlook, Franken was handed a virtual blank check by Piquant. Even as the extent of the Gloria Wise crisis became clear to an ever-changing series of managers, Franken pushed ahead anyway with an eye-popping 2005 compensation package.
Included was a staggering base salary boost to $1,725,000, plus fringe benefits and potential bonuses, after less than a year on the air. Nor was his bloated staff left out. The result: what is quite likely talk radio's largest-ever and most overpaid entourage, mostly from the ranks of Al's Harvard research team.
The kicker: Franken successfully insisted the entire base sum be paid in advance, during the first week of January, 2005...
Read the whole thing.
Does anyone know what the financial state is of Air America?
Unless Soros is sending them a big check each month, where are they getting the money to pay these salaries?
Are their ratings any better than they were before? Do they even have a presence outside NYC these days?
I heard they got booted off the air in a few markets last year.
What the hey. If Stern can get $200 mil, I think they should pay Franken that much. Boys and Girls club are good for it, right?
I'd like to buy Al for what he's worth and sell him for what he thinks he's worth.
Occasionally I'll get into my car between 1500-1900 and the radio will automatically come on to WJNO/1290AM from West Palm Beach. Rush is on before Randi. She will screech and make my earwax run before I can change the station. When she's on, I call her show Radio Hanoi/Havana/Teheran
I saw it mentioned in Usenet's rec.radio.shortwave in that somebody in NJ caught the 5Kw station one night, a distance
of at least 250mi.
They could have had Lewis Black for half that.
They're still on the air?
In SF they replaced the "Morning Sedition" show with Will Durst (commie comic) and former SF mayor Willie Brown. Typically replacing nationally-syndicated stuff with local stuff is a cost measure, but I sure wouldn't dare to assume that that financial angle is something that is even relevant to AA prrogrammers. Dunno if that means anything nationwide either.
I saw Durst once on a TV show with Rush Limbaugh. Durst's ENTIRE shtick was to yell in a whiney tone, "RUUUUUSH!" whenever Rush said something even slightly UN-PC.
oops, jesse jackson needs some shakedown money to act like an ass, at least in public.....
Good list..
I thought bupkis was yiddish for 'nothing'. I guess I stand corrected on the definition, but somehow it all seems to fit Franken anyway.
It depends on the context. Saying that someone gets paid in "farts" is just a more colorful way of saying that he gets paid nothing.
c-o-r-r-e-c-t
FLASH!!! This very topic about to be discussed on O'Reilly in about 2 minutes.
He is associated with the Communist Progressive Labor Party in NYC, is known as the ‘Lenin of the North Bronx,’ and made contributions to John Kerry.
I know local untapped talent making more money than Franken makes.
He's not charged with any murder charges, his tour manager and roadie are though.
Absolutely. Two that I know of. One in the Denver market (Boulder actually) and one in Seattle. There's probably more.
The station in Boulder, CO isn't exactly a 1-watt college campus radio station. It's got a pretty good day and night time coverage area. I've heard it up here in NE Montana at night.
I think she really doesn't give a rip. I think she's happy she's got a national show where she can spew forth her garbage to a wider audience beyond the borders of Florida.
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