Liberal Air America Radio Files Chapter 11

(CBS)  Air America Radio, a liberal talk and news radio network that features the comedian Al Franken, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a network official told The AP.

The network had denied rumors just a month ago that it would file for bankruptcy. On Friday, Air America spokeswoman Jaime Horn told The Associated Press that the filing became necessary only recently after negotiations with a creditor from the company's early days broke down.

The network will stay on the air while it resolves issues with its creditors, Horn said. In addition to Franken, the network also features shows from liberal talk show host Randi Rhodes and Jerry Springer.

Horn declined to name the creditor with which talks had reached a logjam. The company will operate in the interim with funding from its current investor group.

Air American also said Friday it had named Scott Elberg as its new CEO. Elberg, a former general manager of the radio station WLIB in New York, has been with the network since May of last year.

The filing marked the latest turbulence at the liberal talk radio network, which went on the air two years ago. This April, Danny Goldberg stepped down as CEO and was replaced by an interim chief executive from a management consulting firm.

"Nobody likes filing for bankruptcy," Elberg said in a statement. "However, this move will enable us to concentrate on informing and entertaining our audience during the coming months."

The goal of Air America was to counter conservative talk-radio.

"Republicans have spent 40 years trying to make 'liberal' pejorative. They associated it with welfare, dope, having sex, doing drugs and being lazy," Franken told CBSNews.com in 2004, when the network was starting. "And it [liberalism] means saving capitalism twice in the 20th Century, during the Progressive Era and the New Deal. It means we are all in this together."

[ronniehm]

alphaa, I asked for no stats from book to back up his argument. There are none. Spare me your lies about what I demanded. I sold radio advertising years ago, and I'm right. The end.

[alphaa10-2009]

Book5452134 and RonnieHM%u2013 1

Ronnie said-- "book54552134, it doesn't help your argument to just make up statistics."
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Despite your belief that book54552134, in speaking of a radio demographic, quoted statistics, he clearly did not. Instead, he used a very broad verbal description not directly keyed to any statistic. In contrast, media / market statistics are quite specific and always involve raw numbers and percentiles.

So, it does not help your reputation for consistency to demand book54552134 buttress his argument with market stats, while you refuse to do the same. And even with the relevant lapful of market stats in hand, there are also questions about which urban market, what region, time of day, etc., which quickly will wear down any tendency to hasty generalization.

But since no stats in a precisely meaningful frame or context are in play here, I must mix my vote. I guess intuitively most Limbaugh/O'Reilly/Hannity listeners do not routinely use a computer, but do prefer to turn on and tune a radio or TV. (This is not to say some excellent conservative blogs and websites do not exist, but that is on the production, not consumption side.)

[alphaa10-2009]

Book54552134 and RonnieHM%u2013 2
Likewise, for whatever reason, non-conservatives (a very wide spectrum defying descriptives like "liberal") and those who, regardless of party ideology, reject Bush, his policies and record (an even wider spectrum), tend to favor the blogosphere in both production and consumption roles.

Where this leaves liberal POV on the radio is still an open question-- I would like to know more about what led the underwriter and Air America into disagreement. But Air America will stay on the air, since apparently there are alternative sources. On the question of revenue, itself, some very good content goes begging because it does not appeal to businesses with deep pockets.

Of radio and blog venues, which is the better route to the voter? As you point out, the ability to spell is "importnat" (I have committed misspellings, and so have you), but more to the point, the overriding objective is to tell the truth. Statistics, as you well know, can be interpreted as if to lie.

[ronniehm]

book, you most certainly alluded to statistics on the listening habits of two different demographics, and you were just plain wrong. No, I'm not saying professionals don't listen to the radio. Is that how you comprehended what I wrote? I certainly hope not, because that would be weird. Contrary to what you wrote, professionals do not have more time to listen to the radio, and you'll have to forgive me if I don't hunt down the exact numbers for you. I already know it for a fact, so if you don't know, go find a scarborough research report or something for yourself. And next time you're confused about who has time to listen to the radio, spend a day in a professional environment and compare it to a day at a construction site. I wonder where you'rll be more likely to hear a radio ... and I wonder if it will be tuned to Air America.

[book54552134]

RonnieHM - I quoted no statistics in my post. If you will read correctly, you will see that I was writing in general terms. & are you saying that professionals don't listen to the radio? By the way, I didn't see any statistics in your post to substantiate your claims.

[ronniehm]

You may certainly disagree with the ideas that come out of this administration, but to say they are not substantial is nonsense. Going to Iraq, for example, is a profoundly substantial idea with incredibly significant consequences, but since Democrats still haven't laid out a plan, it just so happens to be the only idea on the table for holding Saddam accountable for violating a number of UN resolutions. So either present your alternative or continue to lack substance. Don't confuse bad ideas with no ideas.

[huskerarmy]

Isn't the term Conservative idea an oxymoron?

[huskerarmy]

"...start saying something substantial..."

Cathaleen,

You can repeat that tired old talking point ad nauseum, but there has not been a "substantial" idea come out of this administration since it's inaugeration. And saying it's so doesn't make it so. Beat that drum all you want. Beat it along with that trickle down nonsense, moral superiority nonsense, race baiting and gay bashing nonsense. The voters are tired of hearing your empty rhetoric.

[huskerarmy]

"If The New Deal is the last liberal idea that Franken can cite, with no current ideas, then the Democratic Party is dead for sure."

Where does Frankin say the New Deal is the "only" idea he can site? Man the conservative spin makes one dizzy. Although anyone with a 6th grad education knows there has of course been a litany of Democratic ideas since the New Deal (Ever hear of the Civil Rights Act?) the GOP has now made saving the progress that middle class Americans made as a result of the New Deal a priority.

[ronniehm]

book54552134, it doesn't help your argument to just make up statistics. Having worked in radio for a few years, I know that radio listenership is higher among Democrats than Republicans. TALK RADIO listenership is what's higher among Republicans. It's not a question of whether they have time to listen; it's about what format they prefer. And by the way, if you're under the impression that professionals just sit around listening to the radio all day, you are a long way from learning what it takes to become a professional at anything.

Other than that, your post was right on the money; i.e., most of it was spelled correctly.