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Coinciding with the presidential ceremonies, Air America will launch its brash Bush-bashing talk-radio format onto the airwaves in President Bush's backyard -- Washington, D.C. -- as well as Detroit and Cincinnati, bringing its total nationwide reach to 45 markets.
It's a remarkable feat for a network that was nearly given up for dead just last year. After a hype-filled launch in March, stoked by the passion of the presidential-election campaign, the network ran out of money within six weeks and was kicked off the air in Los Angeles and Chicago, leaving it with just a New York station and two smaller markets. Critics predicted the company wouldn't recover, especially after the election ended and interest in politics faded.
But with an infusion of new financing and new management, the radio network has won high ratings in some of its local markets and has garnered the support of radio-industry giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. It has signed three-year contracts with its top two stars, Al Franken and Randi Rhodes, and raised an additional $19 million from private investors. People familiar with the situation say Air America is also finalizing a deal that would get it back on the air in Los Angeles via KXTA-AM, a Clear Channel sports station.
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When Air America was launched last April 1, Clear Channel tested it in Portland, Ore., on a poorly performing golden-oldies station, KPOJ. Results were startlingly good. Among its target audience of adults aged 25 to 54, the station moved from No. 26 to No. 3. The company started slipping in Air America programming in place of low rankers all around the country, including former sports/talk station WINZ in Miami, former nostalgia station KABL in San Francisco, and former Spanish-language station WKOX in Boston.
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB110616841893830479,00.html?mod=todays_free_feature
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