Air America Radio, a liberal talk radio network, said Monday that it had reached a tentative agreement to be sold to the founder of a New York area real estate company. The network also said that Al Franken, its longtime headline personality, would depart next month.
The agreement with Stephen Green, the founder and chairman of SL Green Realty Corp., appears to rescue the struggling network, which has been seeking a buyer since last fall when it filed for bankruptcy reorganization after reaching an impasse with one of its creditors.
Any sale would have to be approved by the bankruptcy court. The company has signed what is called a letter of intent to sell itself to Green and expects to agree on financial terms soon, Air America spokeswoman Jaime Horn said.
I love that description of Air America as "a liberal talk radio network," as if it were one of many such.
Stephen Green is a brother of Mark Green, a particularly obnoxious leftist political commentator and landslide failure in a run for mayor of New York City several years ago.
The rumor is that Franken is leaving to make a run for a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota.
The network has been in disarray from the beginning, both on the air and behind the scenes. Although the founders had what appears to have been a reasonable, achievable goal, the venture never took off and failed to develop a following. Many reasons have been suggested as to why this was so—and this analyst has contributed in the past here and elsewhere—but it appears to me that the main reason for the network's failure was that nobody wanted it.
I rather doubt that the change of ownership will alter that market reality. The only way for Air America to survive will be to change. Real change at the net, however, hardly seems likely.
From Karnick on Culture.
3 comments:
STK, you talk about "many reasons" for Air America's failure but you list the main reason as "nobody wanted it." C'mon, we all know the real reason. Liberals aplenty would want it...if they didn't have NPR.
Sure, it may seem unnecessary to re-hash that fact, but we all know it shows that NPR is just another government subsidy for liberals (on top of forced political money from unions, government money for Planned Parenthood, the National Endowment for the Arts, and boatloads of funding funneled to "civil rights" groups for all their so-called good works).
The best part of this story? That even more liberal money and credibility will go down the sinkhole in this "investment." For people who used to say "It's the economy, stupid" these folks know next-to-nothing about economics.
I think the real reason Air America sucks is because... well, it sucks. Its shows are boring. Al Franken and Rhandi Rhodes were the most interesting and they sucked at doing radio. I don't think Air America ever quite got the showmanship part of talk radio. Whereas someone like Michael Savage is at least entertaining all the time, even when he's a complete lunatic.
Liberals aplenty would want it...if they didn't have NPR.
Oy. How do you refute a comment that's 99% ideological fabrication? By lending it no credence. Evanston, you don't know what you're talking about. Really. We've had this discussion before: Just because reality doesn't reflect your preconceived notions doesn't mean there's media bias.
Anyonymous,
Oy, how do you refute a comment that's 99% ideological fabrication? By lending it no credence. Anonymous, you don't know what you're talking about. Really. We've had this discussion before: Just because reality doesn't reflect your preconceived notions doesn't mean NPR isn't liberal.
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