Air America Radio

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Air America Radio is a radio network and program syndication service in the United States, started on March 31, 2004. It features a liberal, left-wing, progressive point of view and specializes in presentations and monologues by liberal personalities, guest interviews, calls by listeners, and news reports. Some of the personalities who host shows on Air America Radio include Al Franken, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Mike Papantonio, Laura Flanders, Janeane Garofalo, Mike Malloy, Marc Maron, Randi Rhodes, and Jerry Springer.

The network's primary station is New York City's WLIB-AM and, as of October 2005, 68 radio stations in the US, as well as XM Satellite Radio offer some or all of the programs produced and distributed by Air America Radio.[1] This number is down slightly since August 2005 when AAR was carried on 70 stations in the United States, as well as XM Satellite Radio. Air America Radio also makes use of audio streaming on the World Wide Web, reaching a national and international audience. The two newest additions to the fold bring Air America back to 70 stations on 10/31/05

Contents

Programming overview

Like most talk radio outlets, Air America Radio's programming includes news, talk, comedy, interviews, guest editorials, and listeners' telephone calls. In various markets, there are traffic and weather reports throughout the broadcast day. The talk portions feature some extended host monologues in the classic talk radio format. Live and pre-recorded comedy routines, featuring various comedians, are also aired.

News, editorials and public affairs

Air America News and public affairs shows offer headline and short feature news reports, and, in some markets, traffic and weather reports as well. The news is a general purpose offering from standard wire service sources such as AP and UPI, however, the broadcast network puts some accent on labor news unlike other radio networks which tend to focus more on Wall Street reports and daily financial news.

The public affairs shows tend to closely follow the news of the day with monologues and reflections offered by the hosts. Listener calls are worked into these sections along with guest interviews. Air America Radio has a definite political orientation, and many broadcasts could be described as advocacy journalism or editorial and opinion pieces, but, in keeping with many of the principles of journalism ethics and standards, the hosts distinguish their own opinions from the factual reporting. Hosts offer frequent citations to news reports, studies and government documents to provide background information and sources for the views they express.

In general, the hosts, guests and viewpoints of Air America represent the left and center wings of the Democratic Party, or, in the case of Mike Malloy, the Green Party. Opponents of Air America claim that anarchist, communist, and socialist political theories and thinking are not only discussed, but are espoused. Supporters say this is untrue.

Samples of regular guests heard on Air America Radio:

In addition, there are Mother Jones minutes and commentary by Jim Hightower and others.

Comedy on Air America

See main articles at Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo, Mike Malloy, Marc Maron, Randi Rhodes, Sam Seder, Jerry Springer.

Each host on Air America has his or her own comedic style. For example, on The Al Franken Show, guests are introduced with parody theme songs, based on popular songs. Springer on the Radio and The Randi Rhodes Show have parodies and satires of commercials, humorous songs, longer skits, and sound effects such as buzzers and bells.

Sam Seder of The Majority Report occasionally records skits and prank phone calls for broadcast during the show. For example, Seder called the press department of a senator who claimed to have proof that Catholic leaders in Massachusetts were sinful due to an abundance of sinful women in the city's vicinity. Seder called the senator's press department asking if they had actual phone numbers of women of ill repute, so he could do further research personally. His co-host Janeane Garofalo focuses her humor mainly on current events. However, sometimes she does not go for a punch line on her assumption that some actions by right-wingers are so outrageous that they are intrinsically funny.

Listener participation

Listeners' calls are taken on most of the programs through a toll-free number, but are especially featured on Springer on the Radio, The Randi Rhodes Show, The Laura Flanders Show, The Mike Malloy Show, and Ring of Fire with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The listener calls are sometimes confined to a particular topic or feature, such as being a contestant on "Wait Wait, Don't Lie to Me" on The Al Franken Show or on Morning Sedition's "Liberal Confessional." At other times listeners direct the flow of the conversation.

The Majority Report only occasionally uses phone calls from listeners, and predominantly only when Sam Seder hosts the program. Janeane Garofalo is frequently scheduled off on Wednesdays, and on these programs Seder utilizes phone calls from listeners regularly. On Fridays, when Seder has the day off for religious reasons, Garofalo predominantly talks for the entire program with guest interviews occurring only occasionally. On these shows, the listener participation is very limited.

Weekday programs

Air America produces seventeen hours of weekday programming, including news summaries at the top of each hour.

Weekend programs (varies)

For those stations for which Air America has full control, weekends feature repeats and highlights from their weekday shows, combined with new original programming and some syndicated shows produced independently.

New network programming for weekends includes:

Complementary programming

Stations broadcasting Air America programming often augment or replace parts of the network's lineup with other programming, typically with a progressive or liberal political perspective. Some examples include:

  • The Stephanie Miller Show with Stephanie Miller (three hours: 9AM-12PM EST) (distributed by the Jones Radio Network)
  • The Ed Schultz Show with Ed Schultz (three hours: 3PM-6PM EST) (distributed by the Jones Radio Network)
  • The Lionel Show with Michael LeBron (three hours: 10PM-1AM EST) (distributed by the WOR network)
  • The Phil Hendrie Show with Phil Hendrie (three hours: 10PM-1AM EST / 7-10PM EST tape delay) (distributed by the Premiere Radio Networks)

Business plan overview

Air America is a relatively new entrant into the mature format of news talk radio, known in the radio industry as "talkers". The network was known as Central Air during its development phase.

Historical context

In formulating its programming decisions and business plan, Air America took into account the history of media and politics. Since the 1964 presidential election, opponents of the New Deal coalition had been building think tanks and media to formulate or contribute to a Republican alternative to what they saw as the liberal mass media. Groups with right-wing politics moved to harness the emerging alternative media formats, particularly talk radio, and for many years, the airwaves were dominated by Rush Limbaugh and others espousing various right-wing political views. Writers, including British journalists Jonathan Freedland, John Micklethwait, and Adrian Wooldridge, have credited this Republican alternative with shifting the tone of American public debate. By creating an electoral environment where Republican candidates are more able to succeed, Democratic candidates are forced further to the right in order to be "electable". Micklethwait and Wooldridge wrote about this in The Right Nation, and David Brock wrote about it in The Republican Noise Machine.

Conservative dominance of talk radio may have played an important role in winning a shift in the balance of the United States House of Representatives in the 1994 midterm elections, though other factors such as the Contract with America also may have played significant roles. That analysis also credits the media with hampering Clinton's second term by keeping alive stories of scandal in the White House, and contributing to the victory of George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election.

The growing realization that liberal groups were becoming ineffective in terms of getting their viewpoint across in the media was the reason the concept of creating a liberal talk radio network emerged as a serious idea.

Early start-up difficulties

Air America was the initial idea of Sheldon Drobny and Anita Drobny, who wanted to start a progressive radio talk network to compete with conservative talk radio. Air America was started as part of Progress Media, which said it had amassed $30 million in venture capital prior to its debut, a claim which later turned out to be untrue (only $6 million was initially collected). Two individuals from Guam, Rex Sorensen and Evan Montvel Cohen, were involved in raising the capital but denied any wrongdoing. [2] Cohen had an unusual background for someone in his position within a progressive radio network since he was a Republican political operative in Guam and former chief of staff for Republican Governor Tommy Tanaka. [3] Cohen dismissed concerns by saying he was a committed "progressive" and that Republicans in Guam "are left of Paul Wellstone." It was reported that Cohen had unpaid business debts in Guam, although Cohen denies this. [4] Tommy Tanaka pleaded guilty to corruption charges in 2003.

Two weeks after its debut, Air America Radio was pulled off the air by the owner of two stations that the network had licensed in Chicago and Santa Monica, California. This was due to a contract dispute between Air America and the stations' owner, Multicultural Radio Broadcasting. Air America alleges Multicultural Radio may have sold time on their Los Angeles station to them and another party, and stopped payment on checks to them while they investigated. Multicultural Radio alleges that Air America bounced a check and owes $1 million. Air America Radio filed a complaint in New York Supreme Court, charging breach of contract and was granted an injunction to restore the network on WNTD-AM in Chicago. On April 20, the network announced the dispute had been settled, and Air America's last day of broadcast on WNTD was April 30. The New York Supreme Court ultimately concluded that the injunction was improvidently entered and that Air America Radio's court action was without merit, dismissing Air America's complaint and awarding over $250,000 in damages and attorneys' fees to Multicultural. [5] According to a subsequent lawsuit filed by Multicultural, Air America Radio never paid the sums ordered by the court. [6]

Four weeks after Air America's debut, the CEO, Mark Walsh, and Dave Logan, its executive vice president for programming, left the network. One week after those departures, the chairman and vice chairman, Evan Cohen and his investment partner Rex Sorensen, also left. Some attributed Cohen's departure to investor unhappiness with how he handled the dispute with Multicultural Radio Broadcasting.

Columnist Michael Goodwin of the New York Daily News quoted a marketing communications manager from General Motors, declaring "GM will not advertise on any Air America affiliates." However, GM OnStar commercials have been appearing on the Internet stream since the fall of 2004.

As part of a reorganization, investors in Progress Media bought the assets of that company, creating its current owner, Piquant LLC. An important change which accompanied the reorganization was a decision to stop trying to buy radio stations and lease air time, or insist that stations carry all of the network's programming.

On February 28, 2005, a new CEO, Danny Goldberg, was named. Goldberg set a goal of getting the network in 90% of the country as soon as possible. Expansions early in his tenure included Austin and Dallas, Texas in March 2005, and a return to Chicago in May 2005. At a media conference in July 2005, Goldberg stated that Air America Radio would be on 75 stations as of August, and that Air America News would be relaunched in September as a much more expansive operation to "provide news for our stations and beyond."

A documentary on the network's rocky start and ultimate resurgence, Left of the Dial, premiered March 31, 2005 on HBO.

In April 2005, the studio of an AAR affiliate in Warren, Ohio, WANR-AM, was briefly occupied by a group that changed the locks and began broadcasting Christian programming until the police forced them to leave. [7] A few weeks later, the group seeking to switch the station's format to Christian programming was able to purchase the station, and the Air America programming was discontinued. [8]

On July 28th 2005, Sinohe Terrero, AAR's VP of Finance, issued a memo to employees advising that payroll direct deposits would be delayed by one working day and not post on Friday July 29th as expected. The memo stated "We have been advised by ADP that Direct Deposit will probably not post until Monday. [August 1st]"

Ratings

Air America affiliates have gotten off to a strong start in some markets, and have performed poorly in others. In Arbitron's Spring 2005 ratings book, the most recent available as of October 2005, Air America stations showed significant percentage gains in a number of large markets, including Los Angeles, Denver, Washington, and Phoenix, though ratings in most markets continued to lag well behind those of older, more established talk stations. The cumulative listening audience of Air America affiliate stations showed an increase from 1.3 million persons age 12 and up in fall 2004 to 3.1 million in spring 2005, much of which was due to listeners gained when the network added new stations around the country during that time. [9]

Image:Alfranken87.jpg
In New York City, Air America's flagship station WLIB won a 1.3-percent share of the market audience in the spring of 2004, the network's first full quarter of operation. WLIB's rating rose to 1.4 percent in the summer of 2004 before gradually declining to 1.0 by the spring 2005 rating period, where it remains today.[10] WLIB's The Al Franken Show is consistently beaten in its time slot by popular conservative host Rush Limbaugh on WABC, the flagship station of the ABC Radio Network, although Franken's program typically beats that of WOR talker Bill O'Reilly, whose long-running feud with Franken provides frequent material for both hosts, in the crucial 25-54 demographic.

Critics of Air America often deride the network's ratings on WLIB, which typically fail to outperform the Caribbean music format the station programmed before 2004; Arbitron's inability to "detect a measurable listenership" in Washington, DC [11]; and the fact that low ratings on Philadelphia station WHAT prompted the station's management to drop the network in September 2005. Defenders point to Air America stations' performance nationwide, which has trended generally upward, and in markets including Los Angeles (where listenership on station KTLK has tripled since the beginning of the year) and Portland, Oregon (where station KPOJ ranks second among AM stations and fifth overall).

A daily podcast of The Al Franken Show has consistently appeared in the list of the most popular podcasts downloaded each day from Apple Computer's iTunes website since being introduced in the spring of 2005.

For more ratings information, see the listings at Radio and Records, and search by call letter within the specific markets.

Support from Clear Channel

Clear Channel tested the format at KPOJ-AM in Portland, Oregon, the first station to join Air America as an affiliate broadcasting Air America shows combined with other programming. As a result, the station increased its ages 12 and up market share by nearly an order of magnitude. KPOJ's spring 2004 Arbitron ratings grew from a 0.4 to a 3.7.

The success in Portland led Clear Channel to switch more of its stations to the format, so that as of September 2004 over a third of Air America's affiliates are owned by Clear Channel. This includes stations in swing states such as Florida (West Palm Beach and Miami (12th largest radio market)), Colorado, Ohio, and New Mexico, as well as major markets such as San Diego (17th largest) and Boston (9th largest). Ratings in Boston (WXKS 1430 and WKOX 1200) have shown a lack of success, including a couple ratings periods where both stations got 0.0. In the summer of 2005, the stations got 0.4 and 0.2 respectively, while conservative talk stations like WRKO got 3.9.

Infinity Broadcasting is also testing Air America on its stations. On October 22, 2004, Infinity announced that it was switching one of its country stations in Seattle (1090 AM) to Air America.

The senior vice president of Infinity Radio Seattle said of the switch, "We believe this is distinctive programming. There are those in the radio business who believe that shows with a liberal perspective won't get an audience. Air America in recent months has shattered that myth."[12]

Community relations

  • Al Franken has taken his talents overseas for the USO carrying in the long tradition of U.S. entertainers of all backgrounds going to entertain military personnel overseas. Franken has done so in a non-partisan manner.
  • The Al Franken Show has gone on several road trips giving new audiences an opportunity to meet the hosts in person.
  • On the air, one show will have promotional spots in the other show.
  • Each program on Air America also has its own website in the blog format. These various blogs provide a text and graphics link between hosts and the audience. The blogs foster a feeling of community. In addition to these, several of the hosts have independent name blogs. see: External links
  • In addition to commercial sponsors, Air America also devotes time to public service announcements or PSAs. Some of the groups AAR has included are Operation Truth, the U.S. Government office of National Drug Control Policy, ONDCP, the Center for American Progress, and the Willie Nelson endorsed group NORML.

Promotion

Air America Radio's early promotions humorously describe the network as further to the left than a number of well-known right-wing groups, such as the NRA and the John Birch Society, as well as the fictional and apolitical character Betty Crocker.

Current campaigns (as of 2005) include outdoor advertising in New York City. Billboards and transit shelters feature pictures of Rhodes, Springer, and other hosts with the slogan, "The only talk radio left."

Archives

Air America Place is the official audio archive of all Air America Radio programs. The website also houses a blog and a message board for fans of Air America to post on. Air America Place is located at http://www.airamericaplace.com.

White Rose Society also has archives for Mike Malloy, Randi Rhodes, and numerous other liberal programs, some of which are on Air America affiliates. White Rose Society is located at http://www.whiterosesociety.org/

Affiliates

Please see List of Air America Radio affiliates for complete listing.

Controversies

Gloria Wise Loan Case

For main article, please see Air America-Gloria Wise loan controversy.

In July 2005, the Bronx News [13] reported Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club of Co-op City $480,000 was loaned to Progress Media, then owner of Air America Radio. The Gloria Wise group is a non-profit organization providing services for children and seniors in the Bronx. The amount was later determined to actually be $875,000. As the organization received substantial funding from the City of New York at that time, the legality of the transfer is under criminal investigation by NY State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.[14] The city has suspended further funding of the agency, and Boys and Girls Clubs of America has revoked the group's right to use their name, likeness or logo. At the time the funds were alleged to have been transferred, Evan Cohen, former chairman of the now-defunct Progress Media, was also Director of Development for Gloria Wise.[15]

"Shooting spoiled child" skit

Image:RandiRhodesMid.jpg

In April of 2005 one pre-recorded comedy routine broadcast during The Randi Rhodes Show sparked a minor controversy. The United States Secret Service reviewed and set-aside further investigation or action regarding an April 24, 2005 radio feature broadcast from New York City during the show—Rhodes was in a Florida studio. The skit featured an announcer staying: "A spoiled child is telling us our Social Security isn't safe anymore, so he is going to fix it for us. Well, here's your answer, you ungrateful whelp: (sound effect of 4 gunshots being fired). Just try it, you little bastard. [sound effect of gun being cocked]. The implication, according to Matt Drudge, is that the spoiled child is George W. Bush. Randi Rhodes apologized for that skit on Wednesday, April 27, 2005, admitting it was "an attempt at humor ... bad joke." Rhodes further stated "It was a bit. It was bad. I apologize a thousand times." Rhodes also said the incident should be seen as a call for major networks to pay more attention to what she considers the questionable journalism habits of her right-wing counterparts.

Jon Sinton, Air America's president of programming said "We are not under investigation from the Secret Service. We regret that a produced comedy bit that was in bad taste slipped through our normal vetting process. We do acknowledge that it was an internal error and internal discipline will be enforced."

UPI reported the Secret Service initially looked into the broadcast to see if it constituted a threat to Bush but later issued a statement saying they would take no action.

References:


Liz Winstead contract

A former on-air personality and executive with Air America, Lizz Winstead, is also suing Air America for breach of contract and unjust enrichment. [16]

Profitability

Due to several startup difficulties, payroll issues, and scandals, some conservative critics ([17], [18]) question AAR's profitability and overall financial health. However, the network is still relatively new, and there were no existing for-profit politically-centered networks with which to compare the business model. In September 2005, AAR established what they called the Air America Associates program to solicit donations from listeners.[19] Critics, such as Bill O'Reilly, point to this as evidence that the network is in trouble [20], but AAR claims contributions will go toward expanding the network into other markets around the country [21] and that the network is currently in strong financial shape.[22]

External links and references

Official websites

Air America fans

Air America critics

Air America Radio
Talk show hosts
David Bender - Angie Coiro - Chuck D - Steve Earle - Laura Flanders - Al Franken - Janeane Garofalo - Thom Hartmann - Kyle Jason - Marty Kaplan - Robert Kennedy, Jr. - Katherine Lanpher - Rachel Maddow - Marc Maron - Mike Malloy - Mike Papantonio - Randi Rhodes - Betsy Rosenberg - Mark Riley - Sam Seder - Jerry Springer
Air America programs
Morning Sedition - Springer on the Radio - The Al Franken Show - The Randi Rhodes Show - The Majority Report - Ring of Fire - The Revolution Starts Now
Other Air America related articles
Sheldon Drobny - Talk radio - Evan Montvel Cohen - Progress Media - Danny Goldberg - Air America-Gloria Wise loan controversy
Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/Air_America_Radio.html"


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