Air America!

[eclipse525]

I'm not sure if this topic has been coverd but I thought I'd mention it. How many people are aware of the new radio station "Air America" <http://www.airamericaradio.com >? What's your take on it? I personally find it refreshing to hear today's issues being taked about in a stripped down, un-PC way. At times the sarcasim is a bit much BUT it's coming from an honest place and that is something that has been missing from the media for years now.


~e

[3rdpath]

i'm loving it.

franken is funny as hell , ntm, knows his stuff.

and randi rhodes is terrific...i'd love it if she was asking bush questions tonite.

she makes rush sound like a drug addicted windbag...oh wait...

[vwcruisn]

I'm not sure if this topic has been coverd but I thought I'd mention it. How many people are aware of the new radio station "Air America" <http://www.airamericaradio.com >? What's your take on it? I personally find it refreshing to hear today's issues being taked about in a stripped down, un-PC way. At times the sarcasim is a bit much BUT it's coming from an honest place and that is something that has been missing from the media for years now.


~e


I think the station got pulled today in Los Angeles. I turned it on today and it seems that it is now a mexican talk show.

[Taft]

I think the station got pulled today in Los Angeles. I turned it on today and it seems that it is now a mexican talk show.

Apparently, the station from which they had been "leasing" airtime says AirAmerica hadn't paid up on their contract. AirAmerica says that is a "complete lie." Nonetheless, AirAmerica has been pulled by the leasing stations in Los Angeles and Chicago.

[SlyHunter]

I just read this.

STATION OWNER CLAIMS: AIR AMERICA 'BOUNCES CHECK'; LIBERAL RADIO NET TAKEN OFF IN LOS ANGELES, CHICAGO AFTER ONLY TWO WEEKS
Wed Apr 14 2004 16:18:43 ET

After just two weeks on the air, Air America Radio, the fledgling liberal talk-radio network featuring Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo, appears to have encountered serious cash-flow problems.

The CHICAGO TRIBUNE is developing a story, insiders tell DRUDGE, on how the network was pulled off the air this morning in Chicago and Los Angeles, the network's second- and third-largest markets, because, the owner of both stations said, the network bounced a check and owes him more than $1 million! A charge the network strongly denies.

A Chicago source familiar with the situation said a Multicultural representative showed up at WNTD's offices Wednesday morning, kicked out Air America's lone staffer overseeing the network's feed to the station from New York, switched over to a Spanish-language feed, and changed the locks on the doors...

Air America filed a complaint Wednesday in New York state Supreme Court charging Multicultural with breaching their contract and seeking an injunction to force Multicultural to restore the Air America broadcast on both stations.

http://drudgereport.com/flash.htm

Drudgereport gets his news off of the AP wires just like everyone else only he reports things others tend to ignore.

This other guy calls Drudge a liar?

Insiders tell SLUDGE, that the reason the network was pulled off the air this morning in Chicago and Los Angeles, the network's second- and third-largest markets, was because, the owner of both stations, Arthur Liu of Multicultural Broadcasting, said, the network bounced a check and owes him more than $1 million! The run-on sentence, tortured grammar and the exclamation point clearly means it’s true!!

Only it isn’t.

Normally we’d let this go because “habitual liars” like Drudge are laughable, and ridicule is our business.

But Arthur Liu --- not funny. He lied to us, he ripped us off and now we’re chasing him down with a pipe wrench. It’s a metaphor.

Here’s what really happened:

This Liu-ser was ripping off our boss Evan Cohen big time (he can’t do that, that’s our job). Evan found out about it and he stopped payment on a check to keep Liu-cifer from ripping him off even more. You can touch Evan for the occasional meal or drinks but a million bucks is crossing the line. And if we ever get low on cash, we can always call Barbra Streisand. Or any of the
Baldwins. Except Stephen.

so I have no idea whats up. This link came from Drudge report too. One would think if he was lieing he wouldn't put up a link to the report that he was lieing?
http://www.airamericaradio.com/pub/resNews.htm

[zimv20]

Drudgereport gets his news off of the AP wires just like everyone else only he reports things others tend to ignore.

chicago tribune is carrying it (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-040414airamerica,1,1031586.story?coll=chi-news-hed)

[eclipse525]

The bounced check story is a complete lie.

According to "Air-America" honcho, there was a dispute with monies owed to "MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting". Supposedly, $315,000. was paid immediately. "Air-America" put stop payments on additional checks issued due to breach of contract on the distributors part. They are in court and should have some sort of answer by the morning, hopefully. Almost seems like some powers that be, don't peticularly care for the type of programming "Air-America" is boldly presenting. Just a guess.

Here's there short press release.

http://www.airamericaradio.com/main.cfm?actionId=globalShowStaticContent&screenKey=resPressRelease&htmlId=718




~e

[SlyHunter]

AIR AMERICA – TANGO UNIFORM IN LA AND CHI-TOWN
OK ... I put this last in today's notes .. but you know it had to be here. Air America, the much ballyhooed liberal talk radio network, is already on the ropes. Apparently they're bouncing checks.

Listeners in Los Angeles and Chicago, what few there were, tuned in to their favorite lib-talk host yesterday only to find some Spanish-language program on the air. The owner of the two stations reportedly kicked Air America staffers out and changed the locks on the doors. He waved a check to some members of the press .. purportedly from Air America and for over one million dollars .. which failed to clear the bank.

Air America, of course, is denying everything. They've even filed a complaint against the station owner who booted their shows.

Here's the key. What in the hell is Air America doing paying radio stations to air their programming? We don't. Rush doesn't, neither does Hannity. Is the liberal message so vapid and unappealing that these people actually have to pay stations to put it on the air?

Here's a little more information for you.

Jim Watkins is the program director for my affiliates in Naples and Ft. Meyers, Florida (WINK-AM and WNOG-AM). Several weeks ago he contacted the people at Air America to inquire about putting Al Franken somewhere on his radio station. Watkins remembered Al Franken from his Saturday Night Live days and felt that he might be entertaining and could draw an audience.

So ... Watkins gets an official from Air America on the phone. The Air America official asks Jim what other programs they carry. Jim starts rattling off the names. Boortz, Limbaugh, Savage .... At that point the Air America official says "Stop." He then informs Watkins that they won't allow their programming to air on WINK and WNOG. And why not? Because "We don't want our programming stained by being on a station that carries Rush Limbaugh."

Is that not amazing? Liberals are complaining that their voices aren't being heard on talk radio. They get a big donation from some liberal in Chicago .. and they set out to create a liberal talk radio network. At last, the liberal voice will be heard! Then they get a call from a radio station that wants to give these great liberal voices an audience in Southwest Florida .. and they say no! Why not? Because they don't want the same people to hear Rush Limbaugh listening to Al Franken. I wonder why that would be? Could it be because they know that their liberal message will not survive exposure to Limbaugh? Could it be that they know the liberal message only gets a foothold when there is nobody around exposing the lies, the half-truths and the complete lack of common sense and logic?


www.boortz.com

[Thomas Veil]

<snip>

www.boortz.com

Heh. Consider the source. Boortz sounds like a nut.

[SlyHunter]

Heh. Consider the source. Boortz sounds like a nut.
consider the message, the message sounds solid, accurate, and correct. Which is why I sometimes don't like posting the link too many people waste time arguing over the source and ignoring the message.

[poopyhead]

consider the message, the message sounds solid, accurate, and correct. Which is why I sometimes don't like posting the link too many people waste time arguing over the source and ignoring the message.

the source goes to credibility
if we are unable to judge the credibility of the source
how are we to judge the quality of the message?

I like boortz and have grown up listening to him (he is an atlanta institution) as entertainment
one of the most often repeated quotes on his radio show is "don't trust anything I say unless you can substantiate it yourself"
I have heard him lie
Royal Marshall his side kick has caught him in lies
he is known for at the very least bending the truth

[Desertrat]

Seems to me that Air America is in deep doodoo if they have to pay to get on the air. The usual routine is to persuade stations that by their carrying your program, they'll profit from advertising sales.

Don't syndicated radio programs pay folks like Boortz, et al, just as newspapers pay columnists? I doubt that Molly Ivins pays to be read...

'Rat

[SlyHunter]

FYI just reported on TV Judge ordered station in Chicago to put Air America back on the air.

[IJ Reilly]

No, radio and newspapers don't work the same way. A nationally syndicated radio program comes with its own advertising and pays the radio station for airtime, otherwise the radio station gets nothing for the deal.

[SlyHunter]

No, radio and newspapers don't work the same way. A nationally syndicated radio program comes with its own advertising and pays the radio station for airtime, otherwise the radio station gets nothing for the deal.
Rush Limbaugh, Neal Boortz, WJRR, Sean hannity, The Factor are syndicated and they sell their services to radio stations. The local radios stations play their own commercials and collect the moneys for doing so themselves not the syndication. The syndication's home station does play commercials but only for their home area unless others decide not to play their own and I don't know anyone who does but then I don't know everyone. Now then the hosts also sell their services for reading commercials where they sit in a sound booth a read scripts for a variety of local radio stations but they get paid extra for that and the radio station itself is still responsible for selling the advertising space in the first place.

[jefhatfield]

Heh. Consider the source. Boortz sounds like a nut.

i took his interesting libertarian quiz and i landed in the left liberal quadrant with leanings towards a centrist and libertarian...i have some libertarian ideas but i thought i was clearly a centrist, not just close to one

whew! i am somewhat fiscally conservative and i am glad that i did not land on the conservative quadrant ;)

[Desertrat]

Jef, why worry about labels? I'm "a conservative" on many issues; I'm libertarian to liberal on others, albeit fewer. Somebody had one of these Internet political tests which concluded I'm a "paleo-libertarian", whatever that is.

As long as you've earned respect for honesty and integrity, whatever political label gets hung on you doesn't matter one iota.

'Rat

[Thomas Veil]

Is there a way to plug AirAmerica into iTunes as a radio station?

[jefhatfield]

Jef, why worry about labels? I'm "a conservative" on many issues; I'm libertarian to liberal on others, albeit fewer. Somebody had one of these Internet political tests which concluded I'm a "paleo-libertarian", whatever that is.

As long as you've earned respect for honesty and integrity, whatever political label gets hung on you doesn't matter one iota.

'Rat

the liberal/moderate press has come to tag the conservative more as a social conservative instead of a fiscal conservative, but i really believe a generation ago, the gop was truly into small government (less spending) and leaving people alone

but since the change starting with reagan, i have despised some of the social conservative's agenda...but i don't know if that is a skewed press who likes to make the gop as villains...and the best way to do so is to give a lot of press to the more preposterous members of the gop

at my core i am a conservative...but in terms of conserving money

another label which used to fit me was the term conservative christian which meant i believe in the bible over some politically charged/motivated denomination or sect who modifies the scripture for their benefit...but today conservative christian often means a republican who is into social conservatism and may not even be a follower of christ...in that case, they should call themselves social conservatives, not christians...being a christian is a personal choice, not a political membership in the gop or any other group ;)

when i used to think muslim, i would think of a religious person, but some extremists of late have really painted a bad name on the faith

[SlyHunter]

Despite a court order to return the all-liberal radio network to Chicago, it appears the Windy City won't have Air America by the end of this month, leaving New York City as the sole Top 10 market for the fledgling company.

The Chicago Tribune reports Air America will cease broadcasting over WNTD-AM in Chicago April 30, and will remain off the air for now in Los Angeles, where it was yanked from KBLA-AM last week by station owner Multicultural News Radio.

Los Angeles and Chicago are the nation's No. 2 and 3 media markets respectively, according to ratings service Arbitron.

Besides No. 1 market New York, Air America's next largest region is No. 16 Minneapolis, with other affiliates in Portland, Ore., Riverside, Calif., West Palm Beach, Fla., Key West, Fla., Chapel Hill, N.C.,and Plattsburgh/Burlington on the New York-Vermont border.

Programming also can be heard on XM Satellite Radio as well as the Internet, and the company says "coming soon" markets include No. 4 San Francisco.

Air America features liberal personalities including comic and author Al Franken and actress Janeane Garofalo, and was floated as an alternative to conservative radio talent such as Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and Sean Hannity.

As WorldNetDaily reported last week, the network was silenced in both L.A. and Chicago during a payments dispute with Multicultural Radio, which alleged Air America had bounced checks, a charge strongly denied by the liberal network.

A Chicago source familiar with the situation told the Tribune "a Multicultural representative showed up at WNTD's offices, ... kicked out Air America's lone staffer overseeing the network's feed to the station from New York, switched over to a Spanish-language feed, and changed the locks on the doors."

Air America has since won a court order to return it to the air in Chicago, but yesterday said that it would stop broadcasting on WNTD at the end of this month as it reached a deal with Multicultural.

"We are pleased that we reached a negotiated settlement," said David Goodfriend, executive vice president of Air America, in a brief statement.

"We've been vindicated," Gene Heinemeyer, general manager of Multicultural's New York stations told the Tribune. "It was a dark day in radio for what they did."

Air America isn't giving up on Chicago, however, and is reportedly in preliminary talks with another station, WONX-AM.

"If their money is green and there's enough of it, OK," station owner Frank Kovas, a self-described political conservative, told the Tribune.

Industry analysts say Air America definitely has an uphill battle in reaching financial success in broadcasting.

"The liberal talkers are not only battling the conservatives for air time, they are up against the sports talkers, on-air counselors, medical advisers, computer talk geeks and so on," writes Jeffrey McCall, professor of communication arts and sciences at DePauw University in Indiana. "This is a tough party to crash."


http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38152