Air America Complaint Department [Air America founder blasts Dem "elites" and Hollywood "phonies"]

Liberal site | Aug 25, 2006 | Sheldon Drobny

[summer]

Sheldon's new book, blasting "elites" and "phonies" in Dem Party who were too cheap to help start Air America

Believe it or not, I am not trying to offend anyone with my posts.

... many criticisms have been directed at me for the “problems” that Air America has had during its “birth pangs.” Almost 5 years ago I started the Air America project and invested over $3 Million on the start of a liberal radio network. In fact, Arianna invited me to her house in November, 2002 to present some of my ideas with a group of Hollywood elites trying to save Salon.com. At the time, I was a big donor to the Democratic Party and had personal contacts with Bill and Hillary Clinton as well as Al and Tipper Gore. They opened the door for me to meet with everyone on both coasts to try to raise some follow-on money for our project.

We had hundreds of meetings with the kind of people and organizations that collectively were worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Not a single one made an investment with us although many promises were made. The reason that happened is something I wrote about in my book, Road To Air America. I also had introductions to public and union pension funds with promises made to me that never came to pass. The reason was simple. I was not a part of any inner circle in the political or entertainment world. The cronyism is so horrible in the Democratic elite that they have no time for new faces or new ideas. So they continually talk to the same people over and over again with the same result. Nothing ever happens.

My new book is scheduled to be published in the fall and is pictured in this article. My last book was tame in comparison to my new book. The details will be much more informative to the people who look up to these power elites. You will all be shocked at the cronyism and incompetence in that world. Because of the lack of financial support we were obligated to turn over the project to another group that was totally responsible for the early problems of AAR. When we came back to help save AAR, I was the first to give almost $800,000 to save what I thought was a worthwhile project. While there have been substantial investments in AAR since that time, without my business skills and financial contribution in the summer of 2004, AAR would have been out of business.

The money that I put up for AAR was all that I could afford. I am not a mega millionaire nor do I need any handouts from the phonies in the elite to survive. I am doing fine in my business. I was misguided in the belief that these people really cared enough to support a noble project. AAR is going to be successful despite its shortcomings. I am no longer a part of management nor do I have anything to do with programming. I agree with many of the criticisms of AAR, but I am only a minority owner. As a result, my wife and I started a company to acquire radio stations to support the liberal talk format. We have stations in Phoenix and Little Rock and we saved Air America in Phoenix after a Christian radio company bought the AAR affiliate in Phoenix. With the help of the community and our resources, we paid $500,000 to get AAR back on the air in Phoenix. We handle our own programming in Phoenix and Little Rock and some of it is the best that Air America offers.

I do know how to run a business well and syndicated talk radio is not difficult. The program managers on most broadcast media are followers rather than leaders. They are not visionaries and generally look in the rear view mirror for programming ideas. If I were to have had control of AAR with the help of a little backing, things would be much different for AAR’s performance. I do think they are now going in the right direction and our radio company will do a lot to help the cause. The lack of financial support was a major disappointment for me and another example of the fact that “there is no good deed that goes unpunished.” I did not need to do AAR to make a livelihood. I did it because I was frightened about what was happening to our country.

As to Bill Maher and the other Hollywood phonies, please don’t count on them to help. They only care about themselves. It is interesting that shortly after I wrote my book about AAR, my publisher hired the finest PR firm to get some guest appearances for me. One of the firm’s contacts was to the Maher show. At that time, AAR was one of the biggest media stories in the country. And it was mostly positive and well supported. I watched with great interest that season the Ann Coulter premiere interview on the Maher show promoting her new book about how all liberals are insane perverts. That took precedence over a book about AAR, which could have helped publicize the network for the greater good. I did not write the book to make money and in fact I have spent close to $100,000 to get the AAR story publicized for the sake of some balance.

If anyone has any complaints about AAR, please direct them to the phonies in Hollywood and in broadcast journalism who grease each other’s palm instead of doing the right thing. Yes, I am angry with these people for their selfishness and disregard of the struggling constituency that they pretend to support. I actually was a true believer before this all happened. And for those of you who criticize me for my lack of tolerance of these crazy hateful people and their enablers, keep on watching these shows and make them all rich while your life goes down the drain.

Economics is a zero sum game. That is a fact and whatever share of the economic pot the wealthy elites have comes right out of your pocket. It is time for everyone to open up their windows and scream out, “I’m as mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore.”

[ladyinred]

ROTFL! I am stunned to hear that there are democrats who are multi billionaires! My lib friends insist only republicans are rich like that! This guy got a taste of "communism in action." Loved it!

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Come again? The liberal elites promised him public funding or pension money from the working families of America? Am I reading that right?

I thought I was the only one who caught that little tidbit. The Justice Department should be subpoenaing Err America's books yesterday.

[shteebo]

Economics is a zero sum game. That is a fact and whatever share of the economic pot the wealthy elites have comes right out of your pocket.

Complete nonsense. Small wonder his business is in the toilet. The rich are NOT the enemy. "I hate you for what you have, but I wish I had it." It must be miserable to go through life with such silly self-mutilating beliefs.

[billhilly]

Think of one word that describes Mayer, Frankin, Olberman and their ilk. To me that word is smug. They are all so in love with themselves as to be repulsive.

Not only that, their men are smugly and their women are fugly.

[ClaireSolt]

I try to turn the radio off immediately after Rush. Otherwise I hear the start of Randi Rhodes. I used to listen to her for a couple of years when she was local. Now, she just gets worse and worse. One day this week she started with a sophomoric song about fat ass Nazi Rush. It really was juvenile and raunchy.

[hardworking]

We had hundreds of meetings with the kind of people and organizations that collectively were worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Not a single one made an investment with us although many promises were made

Babs: I really like this guy's ideas! I think we should invest!
Babs' Husband: Honey, I think you should talk to Franky your Financial Advisor at Goldman Sachs.
Babs: OK, honey.
Franky the Financial Advisor at Goldman: Ms. Striesand I can really appreciate your interest in this, but it is a BAD INVESTMENT and I cannot advise you to do so.
Babs: Well, Franky, you are the reason I have all those millions so I'll listen to what you say. Tell me again what you think I should invest in?
Franky the Fiancial Advisor at Goldman: Bank of America, GM, Haliburton, RJ Reynolds, Microsoft......

[Liz]

You are very welcome---bump.

[darkangel82]

Lol, our radio stations don't even carry Air America.

[jerry639]

Pouring money down the same rat hole does not lead to success. Air America has been and always will be a failure because the liberal Dim message is worthless and has been rejected by the voters.

The Democratic elite and Hollywood types only care about themselves. I am Shocked!

[Trueblackman]

Rush response to Rhodes's "Fat Ass Nazi Rush."

[fifthestate]

They tried to build a liberal radio dynasty from the top down instead of from the bottom up, like Rush, et al.

It helps to have listeners and to be marginally entertaining.

[Waco]

Most entertaining thing I've read today. What a maroon.

[woofie]

Economics is a zero sum game.

There is his problem right there. Rush Limbaugh makes money the old fashioned way ..he hawks products. The makers of Snapple or whatever make money ...the listeners drink the snapple that makes the money ...No one goes broke and it is not a zero sum game

[sergeantdave]

For all you youngsters out there, there existed a flying Air America, the good guys, before the radio Air America, the asshole one.

Air America, the flying one, involved itself in the southeast Asia area supplying various anti-communist allies like the Montegnards, our "secret war" allies in Laos and Cambodia's Prince Sihanouk.

Most of the action went on in the mid to late 1960s and we flew a hell of a lot of C-117s. That plane, in my opinion, was the best, most reliable transport in our flying "secret war" arsenal.

I'd guess there's still C-117s flying out of jungle airstrips all over the world.

And, yes, the planes had painted "Air America" on the fuselage.

It wasn't really that secret.

[darkangel82]

LOL!!!

[Wormwood]

Anything, Anywhere, Anytime, Professionally.

[CFC__VRWC]

Sheldon Drobny thinks Err America can be a commercial success. Delusions of grandeur?

What did it take them, all of six months to run off GM, their biggest advertiser? Less time than that?

[Chode]

HA ha...
and the RATS take another one in the...

[ArmstedFragg]

there is no good deed that goes unpunished

The first part of this sentence assumes a fact not in evidence.

[RegulatorCountry]

The most subversive thing any good FReeper could do in this instance would be to hold your nose, go out, and buy several copies of this ignorant, but oh-so-useful, screed. For one, it would help keep Err America afloat, and all it's doing is preaching to and further radicalizing an already radical, very small but very vocal choir, to the detriment of Dim aspirations, as the primary victory of that red diaper baby Lamont demonstrates.. And, secondly, the whiney attack on Dim leadership is priceless. It rings true, from the smarmy, victim-entitlement attitude of the author, straight through to the glib bloviation of liberal "elites."