Liberal radio "Air America" pulled from 3 markets

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Fly320s

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"Air America" apparently has some financial trouble.

http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=10660_Air_America_in_Financial_Trouble

I’ve been a little busy today and just got to the dozens of emails that came in about this story; Air America has bounced a check and is off the air in Chicago and Los Angeles: Fledgling liberal radio pulled from stations in dispute.

I thought George Soros was supposed to be behind Air America.

Just two weeks after launching, a new radio network aimed at liberal audiences suffered a setback Wednesday when a dispute with a business partner resulted in the network’s signal being pulled from stations in Chicago and Los Angeles.

The owners of Air America Radio filed a lawsuit in New York’s Supreme Court against the New York-based MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting Inc. after the radio company dropped Air America Radio’s signal from its stations WNTD in Chicago and KBLA in Los Angeles.

MultiCultural Radio did not return phone calls for comment, but the Chicago Tribune quoted the company’s owner, Arthur Liu, as saying that Air America bounced a check to them on Wednesday. Air America claims in its lawsuit that its payments are up to date.

“MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting’s conduct in this matter has been disgraceful,†Evan Cohen, the chairman of Air America Radio, said in a statement. “To shut off a broadcast that listeners rely on without warning and in the middle of discussions is the height of irresponsibility and a slap in the face of the media industry.â€

Air America claims in its lawsuit that MultiCultural Radio removed the network’s signal in Chicago without notice and changed the locks on the station’s offices.
 
I’ve been a little busy today and just got to the dozens of emails that came in about this story; Air America has bounced a check and is off the air in Chicago and Los Angeles: Fledgling liberal radio pulled from stations in dispute.
Click to expand...

If a liberal radio program can't manage to stay on the air in THESE TWO markets they are in "circling the drain" territory.
 
I dialed it up (the Randy Whosit Show) a few days ago.

It is little more than stream-of-consciousness rambling, sometimes advancing to ranting.

My time is important to me. I won't waste it on AirAmerica again.

Rick
 
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Before You Put on the Dancing Shoes

This was in the comments of the LGF story:

Multicultural Radio's owner Arthur Liu claims (l/p:free_read/readfree) that one of Air America Radio's checks to him bounced and that the network owes him more than $1 million. Air America chairman Evan Cohen responded to the charge by saying, "That is an outright lie." Cohen has previously stated that Air America Radio has enough money to keep it running for at least two years before turning a profit. ( more) It seems unlikely Air America Radio would have brought on 6 more stations (as it did recently) if it were having money problems. Further, one would expect problems at other stations as well; both the stations that went off the air today are owned by the same individual.

Air America has filed a complaint in New York's supreme court charging Multicultural Radio with breach of contract and is seeking an injunction to bring Air America Radio back on the air in Chicago and LA.

Progress Media's chief operating officer recently told Randi Rhodes' audience the details behind the dispute:

There are two contracts with Arthur Liu, the stations' owner; one for the Chicago station (WNTD) and one for the LA station (KBLA). Progress Media learned that Liu had been charging two different entities- Progress Media and another party- for time on the LA station at the same time.

Progress Media objected to this, figuring that charging two different entities for time on the same station at the same time amounted to theft, and disputed some of their charges related to the LA station. They did send Liu his checks on time but instructed Liu not to cash those checks until the dispute had been settled, and began negotiating to settle the dispute. Meanwhile, they allowed Liu to cash the checks for the Chicago station, since their dispute was related to the LA station only.

In the middle of negotiations over the contract dispute in LA, Liu pulled the plug not only on the LA station but the Chicago station as well, in violation of the Chicago station contract.

Again, no checks have bounced. Liu has been asked not to cash checks for the LA station until disputes over charges for that station's service are settled.
 
It would appear that Lui was looking for a way out of this contract, and is using the dispute over the LA sation charges as a way out of what he realizes is a losing proposition? Or maybe a personal fued, there is not much honor among thieves...
 
I've noticed they took the place of local foreign (minority, it goes without saying) language broadcasts and in NYC it bumped a long-running black radio show, commonly credited with bringing votes that elected David Dinkins mayor.

Democrats as friends of the minorities, huh?

I understand they were paying to get their airtime. Ummm...Limbaugh, Hannity, Boortz, and Hamblin don't pay for their programs to be syndicated...they charge for the feeds, the dirty capitalists!

I suppose this confirms there is no profit incentive in liberalism in America unless it is by tort action.

IIRC Matt drudge had an item about a Chicago judge issuing an injunction to get them back on in that market. No new details as of this writing.

I doubt they could buy airtime in Texas unless Molly Ivins owns a station I don't know about. Maybe Austin, but that's the Timmay of Texas.

Regards,
Rabbit.
 
Multicultural Radio's owner Arthur Liu claims (l/p:free_read/readfree) that one of Air America Radio's checks to him bounced and that the network owes him more than $1 million. Air America chairman Evan Cohen responded to the charge by saying, "That is an outright lie." Cohen has previously stated that Air America Radio has enough money to keep it running for at least two years before turning a profit.
Click to expand...

Something just occured to me on this. Since when do radio shows PAY radio stations to carry them? Isn't this supposed to work the other way around? The station is supposed to pay to air the show so that they can get the advertising revinue from the ratings it generates without having to pay for the production of a show of their own. So why is "Air America" cutting checks to their stations in the first place?
 
Because if they didn't pay them, the programmers wouldn't put it on the air. You have to figure that advertising revenue will tank when the advertisers figure out that nobody is listening.
 
Ronaldus Maximus said something along these lines:

If it doesn't work, subsidize it.
If it works, tax it.
If it works too well, regulate it.



:D
 
There are two contracts with Arthur Liu, the stations' owner; one for the Chicago station (WNTD) and one for the LA station (KBLA).
Click to expand...

Hopefully Liu will turn out to be one of those people that wound up owning a few radio stations as a result of the rules the Liberals forced the FCC to adopt encouraging "minority ownership." :D

The limousine liberals are now shocked that one of the "oppressed" who would never have "made it" without the Liberals largesse and paternal guidence is playing hardball like any other businessman. Ingrate! Liu is another Clarence Thomas! :D

:fire: :cuss: :mad: :fire: :fire: :mad: <--- Liberals right about now.

Poor Liberals, they'll have to content themselves with:

The Washington Post
The New York Times
The Boston Globe
The L.A. Times
The S.F. Examiner
The Atlanta Journal Constitution
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Freep
USA Today
etc...

ABC
CBS
NBC
PBS
NPR
UPN
BBC
All major Hollywood Studios exclusive of 20th Cent. Fox
etc...

Time
Newsweek
etc...

AOL
etc...

US State Department
US Dept. of Education
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Smithsonian Institution
etc..
 
I would love to hear a successful liberal (whatever that is) radio program. If, however, the sponsors haven't figred out that it is entertainment first, business second, then there will be no success.

People listen to politics because it is entertaining.

We really do need something other than the current fare. In my city talk radio is just saturated with libertarian and "conservative" talk. Just recently a liberal has showed up on the dial and people are beginning to listen. Too much of anything will correct itself.
 
If you would like to read more about this story you can check out www.thesmokinggun.com they have the papers filed by Air America in New York Stata Court. It turns out that AA is leasing radio time from this radio station. That is the only way they can make it on the air in the 2nd and 3rd largest markets in the US. I am pretty sure that most radio stations are paying Rush to be able to air his show. It sounds like this liberal radio network is bound to fail.

Here is the link directly to the papers
 
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