Liberal Extremism Doomed Air America's Success

Photo of Noel Sheppard.

This was certainly a bizarre headline to see in Monday’s New York Times: “After Bankruptcy Filing, Recriminations Fly at Air America.” Now, follow that up with these opening paragraphs (emphasis mine throughout):

In its search for a new chief executive this past summer, Air America Radio interviewed seasoned media executives in an effort to revive the faltering network. One interview took a bizarre turn, however, when the executive got into a political argument with Randi Rhodes, one of the network’s on-air hosts.

“I laughed and said, ‘You sound like Republican talking points,’ ” Ms. Rhodes recalled.

Yep. That’ll certainly help you recruit a top executive, Randi! Nice job! Yet, that was just the beginning of a startling analyis from an unlikely source as to how extreme liberal views made the success of this network almost impossible:

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At Air America, business and politics always mixed, and that was the problem, critics contendDetractors label the liberal network’s programming as combative, one-note and emotional. At least its business dealings seem to fit that last description…The search for new investors and managers has been marred by infighting among those who want the network to succeed, according to people in the organization.

Hmmm. You mean extreme liberal ideology can interfere with a corporation’s ability to succeed? Who’d of thunk it?

Fortunately for us, the chuckles in this article hadn’t ended: "This is only the latest twist in the short but contentious history of Air America. At the root of its problems, some critics and competitors say, has been an inability to negotiate a middle path between its political mission and its business.

Another element that won’t be at all surprising to some was how poorly these folks managed the finances of the network:

Air America ran into financial trouble within days of its appearance on March 31, 2004, when it turned out that its original chairman, Evan Cohen, did not have the backing he said he did. […]

Some people at Air America assert that, under Mr. Glaser and the team he put in place, the network was top-heavy with management, inept at selling ads, unwilling to make program compromises that veered from the liberal message and overstaffed with more than 100 employees when two dozen would have sufficed.

What they did for $45 million they could have done for $10 million,” said Sheldon Drobny, an investor with a contentious relationship with the network. 

Hmmm. Liberals overspending. What a shock. But, hold on to your seats, for the best was still yet to come: “Mr. Kelly said he was disappointed that rich Democrats did not step up to support the network’s political goals. On fund-raising calls, he said, he was often turned down because the business plan was too risky.”

Marvelous. So, these folks wanted rich Democrats to fund their operation, but didn’t understand that such folks actually were interested in the quality of their investment.

I’m verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.


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When are we going to hear the

When are we going to hear the last of Air America?  The AA station here in the Cinci area has converted to a self-help info station called "The Source".  Apparently, the management decided that the former listeners needed a therapy station to recover from the effects of Franken, Rhodes and the Young Turks.  Honestly, I couldn't care less what format they went to as long as it didn't include any more lies that AA continued to spew until its last day.

Air America

More than anything, I believe Air America was done in by their own viciousness. After all, it appears that a good deal of Americans are loony liberals. Some even believe what they are saying. AA should have been able to build a following but they blew it with their own negativity. They didn't even understand their own constituency. Mainstream liberals live in a la la land of "peace and love".They are too ignorant to see the real world. But the hatred expressed by the extreme left turns even them away.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

NEVER,NEVER trust a liberal

You have it right, iveseeni

You have it right, iveseenitall.

Most people who are Dems are not that way by choice, but by their environment. The average liberal cannot really argue politics at all beyond that conservatives are "mean."

Air America ran into this problem because it's pretty difficult to articulate for hours on end such a simplistic message.

Air America - what happens wh

Air America - what happens when whack job Liberals who know nothing about business - don't care that a business can't be run like it's a party game - except into the ground - and still learn nothing from the experience.

The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.

- Arabian Proverb

Did anyone ever explain Eco 1

Did anyone ever explain Eco 101 to these @&%%$#()) ?? Business Plan? Why? We get somebody to let us use one of the radio transmitter thingies, we sit in front of a microphone, bash Bush, republicans, conserviatives, and get paid - just because we ARE. What could be so hard? These business suits always make it out to be so hard - what do they know?

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad

Air America business plan

I would love to see their original business plan and see if they are sticking to it, or they have modified it, or if they are just plain off the reservation.

Our real problem, then, is not our strength today; it is rather the vital necessity of action today to ensure our strength tomorrow. Dwight Eisenhower

Their business plan was proba

Their business plan was probably the standard left-wing "throw enough money at it and it'll work" type of model, that's why it they had problems. "but, but, but...we had so much funding...there's no reason it didn't succeed! Same old bureaucratic strategies of which the left is so fond. It makes me laugh.

Gun Safety Tip #8: No matter how responsible he seems, never give your gun to a monkey. (www.imao.us)

Anyone who can think, knew th

Anyone who can think, knew that Airheads Scaremerica had no substance. Theoretically however, if it did have any substance(understood that this is an impossibility), It still would have failed miserably. The vast majority of liberals are liberals because they think they're supposed to be liberals and do not examine issues on a daily basis. They are the pawns of the MSM and fall prey to the MSM's talking points du jour.

Most of these useful retards would be bored to tears sitting through any amount of that garbage.

Airbiscuit Americathon was in a no-win situation from the start, due to their pathetic demographic.

Oh, I think an equally dim bu

Oh, I think an equally dim bulb like Randi should get the job.  Heheh.

Liberalism is a convenient lie.

Through my reading of the R

Through my reading of the Radio Equalizer's blog, it seems that most of AAR's financial woes stems from the excessive compensation for their on air talent and large staffs. RE has reported that Frankenfluff recently made $2 million dollars/yr; his executive producer made $600,000; and Rickety Rhodes made a substantial amount of money.

I'm not expert on what people in the radio industry earn, but I imagine that even big stars in large markets and others with nationally syndicated shows on 100+ stations that have already proven successful aren't paid what these AAR folks have been paid. Well, the really BIG names probably make BIG $$$'s.

If AAR wants to complain about anything that contributed to their demise, they should complain about the federally subsidized NPR. Government subsidies are an artificial barrier to new markets and competition. The government they love so much helped them fail.


Give a Democrat Party free America a chance!

AAR had other problems, too

But AAR had other problems, too..

John, I also read the Radio Equalizer and agree with almost everything you wrote, but I think you left out two things:

  1. Some of the shows are hard for a moderate to listen to.  Yes, they have the diehards, but Franken was boring when complaining about Bush and not funny when trying to be comical.  Kennedy, besides being hard to listen to for his words, also has that speech problem which makes his voice grating.  Rhodes also was hard to listen to for her "style".
  2. Lost momentum:  Even with low ratings, if they kept getting increases in listenership, no matter what the raw numbers were, they might have been able to establish a momentum.  They have been losing stations for some time now--momentum lost.

AA: Determined to make communism work at all costs

AA is just another example of lib insanity (doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different outcome every time).  They thought that they could run a command-style business model (give us money no matter how poorly we run the business because it's giving people work to do and we don't care if we have to make a profit because profits are evil) where results don't matter.  Have they learned nothing from the War on Poverty?  Have they learned nothing from the fall of communism?  But that's the beauty of insanity.  Our problem is that too many people fall for the twinkling lights.

They remind me of when MTV 

They remind me of when MTV makes the Real World cast host a radio or tv show. It's thrown together at the last minute because they've been out partying all night, and they have nothing of any substance to offer anyone.

"Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong."    - Ronald Reagan

AAR's success(?) verifies the

AAR's success(?) verifies the adage, "Ignore it and it will go away."

To his credit, I don't recall Rush ever making any comment about what the AAR crowd ever said on air.  He may have commented on their fund raising/spending practices. 

When Rush was out of town and his stand-in didn't have much to work with (slow news day).  I'd cruise over to our local AAR station.  It seemed they could only whine about a point Rush made but they couldn't refute it.  AAR lacked originality, style, and substance.

"Fighters are fun but bombers make policy"

More stakes for AA's "heart" NOW

Radio industry mag Radio and Records reports AA may be sold soon, giving this corpse another shot at what passes for a life. Also, Al Franken may be gone soon, according to UPI. He may be leaving to prepare to run for the Senate from Minnesota in 2008.

I just had a horrible thought. I live in a TV market that straddles the Iowa-Minnesota line. In 2008 I'll have to see campaign ads from Franken and Tom Harkin. AUGGH!