Air America Filing For Bankruptcy, Ceasing Live Broadcasts -- their statement:

[DearAbby]

It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.

The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America's business. This past year has seen a "perfect storm" in the media industry generally. National and local advertising revenues have fallen drastically, causing many media companies nationwide to fold or seek bankruptcy protection. From large to small, recent bankruptcies like Citadel Broadcasting and closures like that of the industry's long-time trade publication Radio and Records have signaled that these are very difficult and rapidly changing times.

Those companies that remain are facing audience fragmentation as a result of new media technologies, are often saddled with crushing debt, and have generally found it difficult to obtain operating or investment capital from traditional sources of funding. In this climate, our painstaking search for new investors has come close several times right up into this week, but ultimately fell short of success.

With radio industry ad revenues down for 10 consecutive quarters, and reportedly off 21% in 2009, signs of improvement have consisted of hoping things will be less bad. And though Internet/new media revenues are projected to grow, our expanding online efforts face the same monetization and profitability challenges in the short term confronting the Web operations of most media companies


More:
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/air-america-filing-for-bankruptcy-ceasing-live-broadcasts.php

[Arugula Latte]

1. And the hits keep coming.

[uponit7771]

2. damn, when it rains it .....shit....I forgot the rest....

[DearAbby]

3. I am not surprised

they got rid of their best talent, or screwed them over.

[WCGreen]

4. Air America, we hardly knew ye....

At least in any market around me...

[John Kerry VonErich]

5. There's always Nova

nt

[wildflower]

10. Nova M went under last year, unfortunately

Or do you mean the show Nova?

[John Kerry VonErich]

15. Nova M, my bad

Totally forgot about that. sorry

[Gold Metal Flake]

6. Well, at least we have all of the rest of the liberal media.

[Octafish]

12. LOL! Exactly.

[madinmaryland]

13. ** crickets **

:evilfrown:

[SoCalDem]

7. I'm not surprised.

They started out chaotically, and the chaos never ended.

Right wing radio evolved ...over decades, and was always well funded/supported.

Air America tried to hit the ground fully-formed and ready to do battle with the gargantuan network of righties.. It was a folly from the get-go.

and they also tried to be "entertaining", instead of being hard-hitting & fact-based.

Most of what they produced, was not all that great long-term.

Right wingers knew that they needed a few "stars"...and they took decades to buid up, but most of their force was in the 2nd & 3rd tier..the farm team..

By cross-pollination & guest hosting each other's "shows", they created new markets for each other..

and since marketing & advertising is the life-blood of radio, we were at a disadvantage from day one.


It's kind of surprising they lasted this long.. So long, AA

[DearAbby]

8. Sweet babies in your signature line

off topic in my own thread...hee hee

[LSK]

9. I feel bad for Seder and Maron but I dont know anyone else who works there

Randi, Thom, Mike, Rachel all now have their own things now.

Stephanie and Ed were never with them.

[Sebastian Doyle]

16. Poor Sam got shafted by Mark Green over and over again.

First they cut Majority Report, which Sam was basically carrying himself, as Janeane was off filming "24". Then they pulled his morning show before he had a proper chance to find an audience. And they finally killed his Sunday show, only to replace it with that David Bender snorefest.

Mark Maron got shafted by them too, though morning sedition was on too early for my time zone.

[Canuckistanian]

11. So much for "the liberal media"

Although you and I know that AA lost it's relevance to hardcore liberals when they FIRED all of their top-performing progressive hosts.

Now, when I think of Air America, I think of..... (shudder)....Lionel.

[RagAss]

14. WBAI New York, New York