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Liberal talk-radio network Air America to cease operations

Taylor

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Air America, the talk-radio network that helped boost the careers of liberals Al Franken and Rachel Maddow, said Thursday it was going out of business.

In a statement to employees of the New York-based network, Air America's chairman, Charlie Kireker, wrote: "It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.
Liberal talk-radio network Air America to cease operations - washingtonpost.com

The thread they were hanging from finally snapped.

They're blaming their demise on the decrease in ad revenue that has plagued all of talk radio over the past couple years - but given that Air America didn't have much competition, the real problem was that nobody wanted to listen.
 
I thought those assclowns were defunct years ago.
 
I always thought Air America's biggest problem by far is that they never got over being reactionary, an "answer" to something else. They were never doing it for its own sake. That's especially true of Franken and Garofalo. They never took it seriously on its own terms. They weren't in it for the sake of serious talk radio, but for the spectacle.
 
I always thought Air America's biggest problem by far is that they never got over being reactionary, an "answer" to something else. They were never doing it for its own sake. That's especially true of Franken and Garofalo. They never took it seriously on its own terms. They weren't in it for the sake of serious talk radio, but for the spectacle.

I think it was just a medium that they saw right-wing radio making big money on and they tried to cash in on it. But it simply isn't a medium their crowd gets into.
 
Maybe, but there was all that fanfare and grandstanding right at the beginning. They were out to beat Limbaugh and other right-wing radio hosts at their own game.

As such, both Franken and Garofalo hosted shows which appeared to be liberal copies of what they thought those shows were. The problem was, it wasn't. They didn't understand the medium, they didn't understand what the other hosts actually do, and it showed.

The only "real" radio host who actually got it, in the first crop, was Randi Rhodes. Of course, she went nuts and turned ridiculously crude and nasty, and that was the end of that.
 
Breaking: Air America Ceases Live Programming, Will File for Bankruptcy

Breaking: Air America Ceases Live Programming, Will File for Bankruptcy - Big Journalism
It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon

Damn... I was really enjoying them the last couple days.

Perhaps if they repackage themselves as The Comedy Network 2 they might find tremendous success.

.
 
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Maybe, but there was all that fanfare and grandstanding right at the beginning. They were out to beat Limbaugh and other right-wing radio hosts at their own game.

As such, both Franken and Garofalo hosted shows which appeared to be liberal copies of what they thought those shows were. The problem was, it wasn't. They didn't understand the medium, they didn't understand what the other hosts actually do, and it showed.

The only "real" radio host who actually got it, in the first crop, was Randi Rhodes. Of course, she went nuts and turned ridiculously crude and nasty, and that was the end of that.

I wasn't really politically aware when all that started up. Ever since I have been, I know that the programming/numbers have been poor for them. I don't feel sorry for them though. Left-wing driven agendas have plenty of other outlets and resources from which to grandstand.
 
I've always thought that part of it was a lack of "core principles" necessary for a wide audience.

The Democrat party is a coalition of very diverse groups (many of them single-issue voters) and it's perhaps more difficult to come up with positions that all factions will agree upon or find interest in.

Conservatives have limited government, free market capitalism, individualism, etc.
 
I thought those assclowns were defunct years ago.

I listen to them now and again.
They're entertaining, and never more so than yesterday... I tuned in for about 6 hours.

My advice: They repackage themselves as The Comedy Network 2.0.
Then they'd find tremendous success.

.
 
There was no substance to their programming.
 
Liberal talk-radio network Air America to cease operations - washingtonpost.com

The thread they were hanging from finally snapped.

They're blaming their demise on the decrease in ad revenue that has plagued all of talk radio over the past couple years - but given that Air America didn't have much competition, the real problem was that nobody wanted to listen.


Air America would have probably done well if launched pre-2000. Radio was just a bad medium for these people to use. Sure it was great 20+ years ago but now it's becoming overly obsolete. The exceptions are those stations that broadcast online and are in major metropolitan areas with commuters.
 
Hmmm....they're blaming the economy.

Is the EI Network suffering under the "poor economy"?

No.

Why not?

Because Rush has something called "listeners".
 
I always thought Air America's biggest problem by far is that they never got over being reactionary, an "answer" to something else. They were never doing it for its own sake. That's especially true of Franken and Garofalo. They never took it seriously on its own terms. They weren't in it for the sake of serious talk radio, but for the spectacle.

Well, no one takes liberalism seriously, it's joke, that's why Limbauch makes a fortune making fun of it.
 
Hmmm....they're blaming the economy.

Is the EI Network suffering under the "poor economy"?

No.

Why not?

Because Rush has something called "listeners".
Primarily there is substance to his program.
 
Hmmm....you think that's why people listen to his show?

Why, of course it is.
I'll take that as doubt, but whatever. He is successful and the left sucks air. If you think that 20 years of success can be maintained without substance, then I suspect that you believe there is some other cause that could.
 
Re: Breaking: Air America Ceases Live Programming, Will File for Bankruptcy

George Soros finally decided there was no way to make them effective? Or maybe now that he has his folks in office there is no need for this particular propaganda arm?

What's Ed Schultz gonna do now? Or does he walk away with a pot full of money like Franken did?

So many questions, so little time ... :roll:
 
For whatever reason, lefties didn't tune it. Approximately half of Americans lean left, so I'm guessing that either the medium or format had little no appeal. I, for one, tuned in for about a week and that was enough for me. The ranting one-sidedness of what I had heard was enough for me to tune out for good.
 
I'll take that as doubt, but whatever. He is successful and the left sucks air. If you think that 20 years of success can be maintained without substance, then I suspect that you believe there is some other cause that could.

Nah, you're just not reading me right.

I listened to Limbaugh from the summer he went national. He has an amazing ability to both analyze a situation correctly and to lampoon the Left for taking the wrong side of it.

He's 90% substance.

I still listen on occasion, and he's still right

Why do Leftist radio shows suck big weinie, then die?

Because it's not possible to promote Ivory Tower Elitism without sounding like an elitist. Lies can't have substance. Eventually the listeners from the middle classes figure out that it's they who are the targets of the speaker's ire and spite, and that's when the radio dial shifts, to never return.

Mainstream America simply is not liberal. People in the middle class can't afford that nonsense in their lives.
 
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Re: Breaking: Air America Ceases Live Programming, Will File for Bankruptcy

Air America was totally effective, it got that idiot elected to the Senate.
 
Re: Breaking: Air America Ceases Live Programming, Will File for Bankruptcy

Rush, Hannity, Beck, Savage, Boortz...

They seem to be doing just fine...
 
It's a completely different demographic. Rush and more conservative commentators have a much older demographic, who still listen to the radio, read the newspaper, and leave their TV on news all day long. More liberal commentators have to focus on connecting to younger demographics through websites, podcasts, online streaming, and RSS feeds.

That's not to say substance is a requirement as well. I tried listening to Air America twice and couldn't last 30 minutes.
 
Liberal talk-radio network Air America to cease operations - washingtonpost.com

The thread they were hanging from finally snapped.

They're blaming their demise on the decrease in ad revenue that has plagued all of talk radio over the past couple years - but given that Air America didn't have much competition, the real problem was that nobody wanted to listen.

Didn't Maddow go on to host her own show, and Frankin become a senitor?
If they were two of the main draws, the loss of them would seriously curtail the add revenue.
 
Obviously it went out of business because conservative talk radio kept it from having a fair shake...

What? Isn't that part of the whole argument against conservative talk radio and why it must be destroyed, cause its not allowing for the other side to be presented? :)
 
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