Air America Stiffs Franken

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LIVING ON AIR Franken

Air America Stiffs Franken

Is Air America Radio filing for bankruptcy on Friday? That's what Think Progress, citing three sources, reported today. Calls to Air America executives weren't returned, but star talk-show host Al Franken confirms that, once again, the troubled network is facing a serious cash crunch.

"I don't know if that's true or not," Franken tells Radar when asked about the bankruptcy report. "We do know that there have been cash-flow problems. I haven't been paid in a while. Like, there's no cash flowing to me."

It's not the first time Franken has gone without a paycheck. Air America ran out of money promptly after it launched in 2004, after disgraced former chairman Evan Cohen inflated the amount of money he had raised to fund the network. Since then, Air America has seen a litany of troubles, executive departures, talent shuffles, and lawsuits. Six months ago, the network was booted from its flagship station in New York City, WLIB, to a much weaker signal that doesn't cover the entire city, and it laid off five staffers on September 11, according to the New York Post.

Franken isn't the only person Air America is in hock to. Last year, the network settled a multi-million-dollar lawsuit by Multicultural Broadcasting, the owner of its Chicago and Los Angeles stations, for its failure to pay for rented time. But according to Multicultural's attorney, Randy Mastro, the network still hasn't paid up. "It involved a structured settlement over time," Mastro says. "There is additional money owed. If it's true [that they're filing for bankruptcy], we'll have to do something about that."

Norman Wain, a Cleveland-based former radio executive and investor in Air America, says he hadn't heard about any financial difficulties. "I know nothing about it," he says. "They don't communicate with investors very well. They only come to us when they're looking for more money." The last time that happened, he says, was "three or four months ago."

If bankruptcy is imminent, the timing couldn't be worse for Franken: His new movie, Al Franken: God Spoke, opens today in New York. In a statement, an Air America spokeswoman said "no decision has been taken to make any filing of any kind."

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2006...ffs-franken.php

Air America To Declare Bankruptcy, But Progressive Radio Remains Strong

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/13/air-america-bankruptcy

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The good news is that Lib talk radio is being revealed for what it really is.....a phony echo chamber for the extreme Left which simply does not resonate w/ the American public.

The bad news is that if the Dems get control of the House again, they'll likely try to reinstate The unFairness Doctrine, which basically mandates 'equal time' of how much political speech private radio stations can air. Never mind that there is NPR and almost every media outlet on tv and newspaper print is overwhelmingly liberal.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

The bad news is that if the Dems get control of the House again, they'll likely try to reinstate The unFairness Doctrine, which basically mandates 'equal time' of how much political speech private radio stations can air. Never mind that there is NPR and almost every media outlet on tv and newspaper print is overwhelmingly liberal.

There was a democrat senator a couple of years back that wanted to form a committee to see if American troops were not getting enough leftist propaganda broadcast to them on Armed Forces Radio. He summized that the only reason the troops were overwhelmingly politically conservative was because we were unfairly subjected to conservative talk radio. He actually threatened to block funding votes unless DoD gave NPR more airtime on AFR.

This is the lineup for us servicemen overseas. We get 4 hours of NPR each and every day of the week.....and an additional 2 hours of that liberal "progressive" Ed Schultz. To counter this garbage, we get 40 minutes of Rush Limbaugh 5 days out of the week. No Sean Hannity, no Dennis Prager or Laura Ingraham.

Maybe this is why we are much more likely to vote Republican. We are force fed this liberal propaganda ad nauseam.

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Air America Stiffs Al Franken

THAT'S AL, FOLKS Franken wants a paycheckIs Air America Radio going belly up? The troubled left-leaning network is dismissing yesterday's report by Think Progress that it plans to file for bankruptcy on Friday. But you know things must be bad when even your top star can't get paid.

"I don't know if that's true or not," Al Franken told Radar late Wednesday, when asked about the bankruptcy report. "We do know that there have been cash-flow problems. I haven't been paid in a while. Like, there's no cash flowing to me."

Gee, their radio star isnt even getting paid...Pathetic!!!! They even screw over their people who are actually doing the work.

It's not the first time Franken has gone without a salary. Air America ran out of money promptly after it launched in 2004, after disgraced former chairman Evan Cohen inflated the amount of money he had raised to fund the network. The debacle nearly killed the network in its infancy, and led to a legendary incident in which Cohen reportedly sent an executive to Franken's apartment to hand-deliver an envelope purportedly containing all of his back pay. It was empty

.

Lied about the funding from the start. An entire business model based on lies from day one. An ideology of empty ideas SCREWS folks with empty pay envelops. How freaking perfect is that?

Franken isn't the only person that Air America is in hock to. Last year, the network settled a multi-million-dollar lawsuit from Multicultural Broadcasting, the owner of its Chicago and Los Angeles stations, for its failure to pay for rented airtime. But according to Multicultural's attorney, Randy Mastro, the network still hasn't paid up. "It involved a structured settlement over time," Mastro says. "There is additional money owed. If it's true [that they're filing for bankruptcy], we'll have to do something about that."

Air America screwing minorities, well how damn perfect is that! Just more empty promises from those that cant live by the rules the rest of us do.

And then there's the matter of the $875,000 the network owes to the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club. As has been extensively covered on right-wing blogs, Cohen convinced the nonprofit club—he sat on the board—to OK a massive interest-free loan to keep the network afloat in its early days. When news of the arrangement broke—liberal radio net steals from poor kids!—Air America agreed to repay the loan in full, and the New York City Department of Investigation started looking into the propriety of the transaction.

All you need to hear is a massive interest-free loan to know this was screwing the Boys and Girls Club from the outset. Now they are declaring bankruptcy so they never have to repay a cent they stole from poor kids. Typical Liberalism...Could you have a clearer example of screwing the good guys here. Bet you dont hear any indepth reporting from ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, etc on this one. Nope, You wont hear a peep from NPR either. Not a word...

Air America says the money is in an escrow account controlled by its lawyers, who have been instructed by the DOI to wait until their investigation is complete before transferring it back to the Boys and Girls Club. But neither Jack Kiley, an attorney for the Boys and Girls Club, nor Emily Gest, a spokeswoman for the DOI, could confirm that the escrow account actually exists. Asked whether she was certain that Air America had indeed deposited the funds in an escrow account, Gest would only say, "The Department of Investigation expects Air America to uphold its commitments to repay the victims of this scheme." Kiley says that a small portion of the loan has been repaid, and he expects that the remainder is forthcoming.

Yeah right...Wonder why they wont even admit that there is an escrow account?

Janeane Garofalo, who quit her job as co-host of the network's evening show Majority Report in July, says her paychecks had been arriving on-time, and that her departure had nothing to do with the network's finances. But she didn't have kind words for the "radio suits"—guys like interim CEO Jim Wiggett, network president Gary Krantz, and president of programming Jon Sinton—who have been running the place into the ground.

"They've been making bad decisions since the day I got there," Garofalo says. The network's staff, Garofalo says, is tireless and committed to the cause of progressive radio. "And then you have a handful of business people with no politics whatsoever. I can't fathom the decisions they make."

Gee Janeane, think that may be why they are bankrupt? No one understands why business decisions have to be made?

Tom Embrescia, a former radio entrepreneur and Air America board member, says no specific bankruptcy proposals have been presented to the board. But he's circumspect about his faith in the current management. "They're losing money," he says. "That's common knowledge. I think all along they've had some questions about what they're doing. They're always talking about raising more money, and there's always been times when [chairman of the board and Real Networks founder] Rob Glaser has come in to save the day." As for why Air America can't seem to turn a profit, Embrescia says it may have been a mistake to launch an entire left-wing talk radio network in one shot. "Maybe it should have been one or two programs," he says.

Two words guys: Market Saturation. When 3/4 of radio in America is Left Wing why bother to flood the market with even more? The whole business model was predicated on there not beinig enough Liberal slant to the news. I think they can safely say now that Market Saturation IS the problem and that the business model was shear lunacy.

Norman Wain, a Cleveland-based former radio executive and investor in Air America, says he hadn't heard about any financial difficulties. "I know nothing about it," he says. "They don't communicate with investors very well. They only come to us when they're looking for more money." The last time that happened, he says, was "three or four months ago."

If bankruptcy is imminent, the timing couldn't be worse for Franken: His new movie, Al Franken: God Spoke, opens today in New York. In a statement, an Air America spokeswoman said "no decision has been taken to make any filing of any kind."

Gee, Liberalism dies away without govt support, cant survive on its own. Who knew...(dripping with sarcasm)

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Wow. Liberalism is bankrupt in more ways than one.

What these tired hacks don't seem to get is that, for the vast majority of Americans, Liberalism has been viewed as an abject, indisputable failure. Lyndon Johnson's Great Society program, the apotheosis of liberalism and Keynsian economics, gave us a stagnant economy, rotting inner cities, plummeting educational standards, increased crime, mushrooming government and punitive tax rates, decreased competitiveness, and an entire host of other ills. But... But....

THEY DON'T GET IT.

Yet liberal Democrats keep looking backwards with nostalgia at this era, even refusing to admit the success of Welfare Reform. So, as a result, they are viewed as increasingly out of touch with reality and the lives of ordinary Americans. It used to be that Democrats were the party of ordinary laborers, farmers, and working class people. Now it is the party of celebrities, artists, and university professors--none of whom have the vaguest grasp of what it means to scratch out a living.

The Republicans seemed to get it for a while. But after finally assuming control of Congress and White House, they've blown it. They've really blown it. The pork barrel spending, the freewheeling profligate spending of our profligate Congress, makes Tip O'Neill and Robert Byrd seem like the very models of economy and restraint. The only thing that will save the Republicans over the next several elections is the fact the demographic trends in this country are more and more beginning to favor traditional Republican strongholds.

So what's needed? A third political party in this country. A political party that is about ruthless opposition to more government spending and vigorous protection of American interests abroad. A party whose social platform isn't the wet dream of a bunch of fundamentalist halfwits. Put together a party like that and it would be off to the races in the next election.