Breaking: Air America Files for... NOTHING!

[johnfunk]

Al Franken breaking the non-news on today's show.

RELATED BREAKING NEWS: FReepers wail, whine, gnash teeth as no bankruptcy files.

UNIVERSE-SHAKING BREAKING NEWS: Air America. Jones Radio. Progeressive indies. They're here to stay.

[LSK]

1. DUDE!!! NO WAY!!!!!!

Dont they file bankruptcy every month??????? At least according the O'liely's wet dreams!

[RebelOne]

2. Oh, Sean Insannity is going to be so disappointed.

He's been salivating and gloating over the news that AAR would be filing bankruptcy.

[calimary]

9. Yeah? Well, some of us may have something to gloat about, too.

http://insideradio.com/pdheadlines.asp?phid=449931&PT=Today's+Top

Evidently that-guy-whose-name-rhymes-with-VANITY is on the way out at ABC Radio. His ratings are spotty, he costs too much, and he ain't LOCAL. The market, in regard to conservative hate radio, is now officially oversaturated.

[Eric J in MN]

11. Sean Hannity will probably go to Fox News Radio.

He's one of the top-rated radio hosts. He's not leaving the air.

[calimary]

18. No doubt. They'll cover his ass to keep him sounding and looking

like a "Stahhhhhh." But there are evidently some changes afoot at ABC Radio, which I think (could be wrong about this) is the larger and more prominent network. I was heartened to see this story, especially the part about his ratings not being stellar across the board. Look, if he were going great guns everywhere, and his ratings were unassailable across the map, there'd be no reason even to speculate that he'd be about to go. They wouldn't wanna touch him. They'd be doing everything to make him happy. Like it appears to me that the MSNBC people ARE doing for Keith Olbermann at the moment - they have him doing a book out of one of his show highlights, they're letting him say all kinds of stuff on the air without clipping his wings - amping it up every time he appears, they're trotting him out on the "Today" show, the "Tonight Show," the TV Critics Association junkets - which they FLEW him out for, and put him up for about a week out here (I've been at those things when some big name was brought in - via satellite, in a video conference from New York or somewhere else, 'cause they couldn't or wouldn't come out here to L.A.), the woiks! Olbermann is being treated as someone whose star is on the ascent. That other guy appears to be - uh - well - NOT on the ascent. And if Pox "news" ratings are sluggish these days, Pox radio probably is feeling it, too.

Wouldn't bother me about him. But then again, I stopped listening to KABC Talk Radio out here when they took (the OTHER) Michael Jackson - no, not THAT Michael Jackson - off the air.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. It was a sealed filing, to be revealed in 24 business hours

:rofl:

[LSK]

4. you didnt!

[mwooldri]

6. Absolutely. Sealed vs. Sealed.

Until the seals are removed, we'll never know. But pity them poor seals. Perhaps AAR should be boycotted for being "anti-seal"?

/Mark.

[mucifer]

5. On Al's show, Stuart Smiley said that AAR has joined

"debtors anonymous" :rofl: Stuart said an affirmation for aar. It was very cute. Apparently there really are financial problems. But, so far aar is still here.

[Cleita]

20. They have got to get some high powered sales people in there

to sell their airtime. They need people who can sell the proverbial refrigerator to eskimos. This is their problem. I noticed that the advertising isn't that diverse, a lot of commercials, but the advertising is not diverse. Any business runs on it's sales.

I believe that Mike Malloy was dumped because skittish advertisers were afraid to be associated with him. It had nothing to do with his numbers. Here they needed the sales rep who could have dissolved all the skittish advertiser's fears, who convinced them that this was really a good move. They need some high power closers.

[LTR]

26. Jones Radio Networks handles AAR's sales

They made that move two years ago.

[Cleita]

30. I have only one remark.

That is stupid. No matter how above board Jones Radio might be ethically, they aren't going to work as hard for AAR as they would for Jones Radio. AAR needs to take this bull by the horns themselves.

[johnfunk]

7. KICK! Ruin a FReeper's evening!

[Arugula Latte]

8. OMG!!11! This is not HUGH11!1!!1!

:woohoo:

[MzNov]

10. Here's an interesting and depressing article re AAR:

http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2006/09/think-progress-air-america-radio.html

AAR-NOT DEAD YET

[johnfunk]

12. Radio "Equalizer" = right-wing Troll

I'd believe the "Radio Squeakwalizer" about as much as I believe Michael "Savage" Wiener.

[sandyd921]

13. This guy is a freeper

who's been rooting for Air America to fail since day one. He could have some inside info but I doubt it. Not sure I'd put much credence in what he says.

[MzNov]

15. Good then. I'd rather not believe any of the crap. nt

[stevedeshazer]

19. Brian Maloney is a failed right-wing talk show host being paid to...

...host his blog, which is almost exclusively devoted to fanatic wet dreams of Air America's demise in particular, and more generally the failure of anything on radio to the left of El Pigbo.

His firing from KIRO-AM in Seattle is well-documented. Google it.

The guy has NO credibility.

[Eric J in MN]

21. How do you know he's paid to blog? (NT)

NT

[LTR]

28. He's tied in pretty tight with Michelle Malkin

And Bill O'Reilly brings him in as an 'expert unbiased source' when he feels like bashing Al Franken. Somebody must be paying him, since he hasn't had a radio job in two years.

[LTR]

27. THEEEE Radio Tranquilizer is an obnoxious POS

Brian Maloney is a RW scumbag. Whined like a bitch when he got fired from his radio job at KIRO in Seattle, claiming it was because he was bashing Dan Rather. Station claimed it was because his Sunday night radio show conflicted with Seattle Seahawks games.

After all, Republicans are always the victim, right? That's why they're "Crybaby Conservatives".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Maloney

[KharmaTrain]

14. For Now...Stay Tuned

This isn't just AAR's probblem. Here's a thread someone posted the other night on ABC letting Sean Hannity go:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2140223

Bottom line: Radio is dying...its drowning in its own largess. The large corporates are choking on a combination of over-valued properties with huge debts piling up and ever-shrinking revenues that have created a near crisis throughout the industry. AAR is sitting on the edge of the cliff and a very dark one it is.

All I see here is another semi-bail out that may keep the electric bills paid and the network cranking for another 6 months, but then what? There's precious little investor money out there...especially for such a limited venture as AAR and its poor economic history. Look to Clear Channel (themselves in a world of hurt) to be working behind the scenes here as AAR provides programming to a number of their stations, but this is just a band-aid on an industry that has screwed its own pooch.

Of the above networks, Jones is the strongest...they have several music formats that support the talk and the company plays it pretty straight.

The most overlooked resource Progressives have is non-commercial radio. There are thousands of community and public stations that are ideal platforms for creating and presenting informative content. The right wing does it with Christian networks like Salem and K-Love.

Without a George Soros or some other big money, AAR will again face a fiscal crisis as the situation in the radio industry continues to deteriorate. Stay tuned...

[Eric J in MN]

22. NPR isn't going to give Al Franken a show.

Maybe in the late 70s they would have, but not today's (more rightwing) NPR.

[Bucky]

16. Proud to deliver recommendation number five

Now this thread is among the greatest--and for a non news item, to boot

[BlueEyedSon]

17. Yeah but the Young Turks do suck.....

[Eric J in MN]

23. I'm not famliar with them. Why do you say that? (NT)

NT

[BlueEyedSon]

29. If they are who i think they are i have heard them on Sirius

not recommended

but i guess they are cheaper than Malloy was

why cant they put hartmann in the lineup??

[Nikki Stone 1]

24. So where did the damned rumor get started?

:kick:

[regnaD kciN]

25. ThinkProgress...

...which, coincidentally, used the same article to announce a "strategic alliance" between themselves, ClearChannel, and Jones Radio to develop new progressive talk show talent. Coincidence?

In the story, ThinkProgress said the report came from three independent sources. It was recently reported that there were a number of layoffs at AAR (exclusive of the Molloy situation). Is it possible that three of the people laid-off there called ThinkProgress to report that AAR was going down the tubes?

This is not to deny that AAR is probably in a pretty bad financial situation -- after all, they were a fairly ambitious start-up, and are only mid-way through their third year of operations. I would think that a serious business plan for such a venture wouldn't count on them breaking even until around year five. (Remember how long it took Amazon.com to stop bleeding red?) Bankruptcy probably remains a real possibility unless someone like George Soros were to step up to the plate and give them a blank check for the next few years, the way Rupert Murdoch did for Fox News. But there was something about the way this matter was announced that struck me as being driven by people with ulterior motives and/or axes to grind.

[Eric J in MN]

31. It bothers me that not one liberal billionaire has been...

...generous enough to AAR to prevent this situation where they're laying people off and are considering bankruptcy.

I'm not saying it's George Soros' responsibility.

But if any liberal billionaire were dedicated to making AAR succeed, he or she could get it on FM in every big city in America. That is one of the main things the Left needs.

[Nikki Stone 1]

32. Thanks. It's always interesting how these rumors get started and grow

I'm thankful that my Randi Rhodes afternoons are safe. :)