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Venezuela: A new market for Air America?
After reading about misunderstood leftist hero and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez' plan to shut down the opposition's TV (and presumable radio) station, a thought occured to me: instead of moving to France, could Air America move to Venezuela and offer their services?
Now, hear me out. Without competition, anyone who wanted to listen to the radio would have only one choice. AAR wouldn't have to worry about NPR, Rush, Michael Savage, the local farm report, polka-only programming, and all their other current competition.
Venezuela could even get China to build special radios pre-tuned to the only station in the country. A special transmitter feature could be even built into each radio which would allow government forces to make sure the radio was being played several hours each day and thereby ensuring that AAR would have ratings! And, of course, Chavez would have no fear that they would criticize him. It sounds to me like a win-win for all concerned.
If anyone has a way to get a message to Air America, please suggest this plan to them.
Posted in Satire at 03:50 PM | Comments (1)
Which Air America stations are still broadcasting AAR? (Part 1)
Air America's list of stations is quite entertaining for those of us who follow their various antics. For instance, WDOD in Chattanooga, TN stopped broadcasting AAR in August, but it's still on the list. It would be interesting to see which other stations are in a similar position. Initially I thought about building a Google Maps mashup, perhaps with a Drupal backend that would enable visitors to this site to investigate each station and determine which format they've switched to.
Then, I realized that that would be a lot of work relating to AAR, and I decided to copy and paste instead.
So, here's about the first quarter of their list. Those that have dropped - or are about to drop - AAR are preceded by "OFF!" If you know that one of the other stations has switched, please leave a comment:
Akron, OH - WARF-AM
Ann Arbor, MI - WLBY-AM
Asheville, NC - WPEK-AM
Atlanta, GA - WMLB-AM
Bennington, VT - WBTN-AM
Binghamton, NY - WYOS-AM
OFF! Boston, MA - WXKS-AM
OFF! Boston, MA - WKOX-AM
Brattleboro, VT - WKVT-AM
Buffalo, NY - WHLD-AM
Burlington, VT - WVAA-AM
Chapel Hill, NC - WCHL-AM
Charlottesville, VA - WVAX-AM
OFF! Chattanooga, TN - WDOD-AM
OFF! Cincinnati, OH - WSAI-AM
Columbia, SC - WOIC-AM
OFF! Columbus, OH - WTPG-AM
Detroit, MI - WDTW-AM
Grand Rapids, MI - WTKG-AM
Greenfield, MA - WHMQ-AM
Huntington, WV - WRVC-AM
Ithaca, NY - WNYY-AM
Miami, FL - WINZ-AM
Montpelier/Barre/St Johnsbury, VT - WDEV-AM
New Haven, CT - WAVZ-AM
New York, NY - WWRL
Northampton, MA - WHMP-AM
Petoskey, MI - WWKK-AM
Pittsburgh, PA - WPTT-AM
Pittsburgh, PA - WURP-AM
Portland, ME - WLVP-AM
Poughkeepsie, NY - WKZE-AM
Rochester, NY - WROC-AM
Springfield, MA - WHNP-AM
State College, PA - WBLF-AM
Washington, DC - WWRC-AM
West Palm Beach, FL - WJNO-AM
Posted in Meta at 10:07 PM | Comments (11)
Merry Christmas from Randi Rhodes!
(If you don't get it, click here)
Posted in RandiRhodes at 04:16 AM | Comments (1)
Sheldon bombshell: egos, crony capitalism foiled Air America
All 1000 remaining Air America Radio listeners were shocked and saddened to read AAR co-founder Sheldon Drobny's exclusive, behind-the-scenes take on the downfall of that network: "AIR AMERICA RADIO: AN EXAMPLE OF EGO AND CRONY CAPITALISM" (that title will soon be converted to regular case by one of Arianna's minions).
I am not an accountant, but as near as I can figure it out the major investors elbowed out the minor investors, and even wanted to declare bankruptcy as early as September 1, 2006.
Like a shining knight, Sheldon and his wife rushed forward with a $2.5 million buyout plan, but were rebuffed:
But, the 3 people now responsible for running AAR post bankruptcy have a deal in the works and the old investors have been successfully eliminated despite their belief in the project.
Like martyrs throughout history, Shelly pledges to bravely soldier on:
As you may know, we have been doing our own syndicating with our company Nova M Radio and our first talk host, Mike Malloy is now in several cities and Sirius Satellite. We have other programming which will be quite compelling and help carry on the trend to break out of the beachhead established by AAR. And, we plan to take Nova M Radio public within the next 3 months to make the investment one that can be supported by the grass roots majority of this nation. Joe Trippe is working with us to help make that happen. Nova M Radio will have as its investors people that can legally invest in a public company for $50 or $5M. And they will have the pride of ownership of a radio network that will represent the shareholders and the general public and possibly change the face of media that was our dream in the spring of 2001.
Posted in Sheldon Drobny at 12:35 PM | Comments (4)
Air America Madison Mic 92.1 FM stays on air!
A massive victory for all 200 listeners to Air America's Madison Wisconsin outlet The Mic 92.1 WXXM FM loomed today, as under Congressional and U.N. pressure the GOP-controlled Clear Channel will keep AAR programming on the air and will not replace it with 24/7 cow, corn, and feed programming as previously reported, sources say. This comes on the heels of Cindy Sheehan having announced the construction of "Peace Village - North", a proposed communal village designed to put pressure on Clear Channel to keep Al Franken, Sam Seder, and various even lesser-known personages on the air.
Posted in Meta at 09:21 PM | Comments (3)
Terry Kelly doubles down on Air America Radio
Air America Radio investor Terry Kelly of Madison, Wisconsin - already on the hook for at least $460,000 in loans to AAR - is doubling-down, chasing good money after bad, and engaging in other activities related to signing a letter of intent to buy AAR out of bankruptcy, sources say.
The investor group he leads includes "a new strategic media partner he declined to name", according to the NYT. (George Soros? Time-Warner-AOL-Disney-Sun Microsystems? DreamWorks? Ted Turner? Adnan Khashoggi?)
In addition to watching his hometown's affiliate WXXM (FM 92.1) switch to Fox Sports, he can also watch as Boston's WKOX (AM 1200) and WXKS (AM 1430) switch to "La Nueva Rumba".
Posted in Meta at 01:36 PM | Comments (1)
Sheldon Drobny takes on the patriarchy
It's been a while since we last checked in with Air America co-founder, Nova M co-founder, and all around strange person Sheldron Drobny. In his latest he's taking on the patriarchy. Oh, and he also discusses the penis.
Posted in Sheldon Drobny at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)
Au revoir Air America, Bienvenue Aire Liberalisme!
Bienvenue a toutes les francaises! Bienvenue a cette "site" de l'Internet! Cette "site" a couvert "Air America Radio", lequel - comme toutes sait maintenant - est devenu "Aire Liberalisme" et est mouvee a France. Specificament, ils airent trois "stations" de le radio: Marseilles, Aulnay-sous-Bois (Paris), et Toulouse. Apres avoir achete le "network", nouveau dirigeur Alec Baldwin a dit, "Maintenant, je vive ma reve!" Defense de penser que vous etes presentee avec un "rejet" Americain! Non, c'est seulement une "new beginning".
En les moins ensuite, j'espere couvir le nouveau "network", et j'espere avoir "fun" pendant que Randy Rhodes apprend parler francais. Joinez, s'il vous plait!
Posted in Satire at 05:00 AM | Comments (3)
Bill Hess / WWRC, WaPo: enemies of Air America Radio
Bill Hess, operations manager of Clear Channel's WWRC (AM 1260) and WTNT (AM 570) is an enemy of Air America and liberalism in general, as is the Washington Post. Do not trust anything you hear or read from either source henceforth.Marc Fisher of the WaPo offers the incredibly biased article "Air America, in the Throes of Victory?", which could have been written by a BushCo flack. We're falsely informed that AAR is in "miserable condition" when in fact they've bounded from success to success.
Furthermore, we're informed that WWRC is dropping AAR shows such as "The Young Turks", which Fisher labels a "rambling roundtable of chatter". That's being replaced with Bill Press. Continuing the bias, he says that the DC outlet has an "almost imperceptible audience". Continuing with the hate speech:
[AAR's] nationally syndicated shows "were more interested in preaching than in entertaining," Hess says. "Look at Limbaugh: It was from the start a fun show, with his parody spots. The left is still hesitant about having fun on the radio; you have people that really care about the ideology."Then, Hess goes on to promote Big Dumb Ed Schultz, as well as the long-discredited meme that AAR loses audience to NPR and such.
Air America's afternoon host, Randi Rhodes, has been relegated to evenings on WWRC, in good part because Hess believes her show is unrelentingly harsh and bitter. "She's got unbridled passion, which is good," he says, "but my ears are going to bleed after 15 minutes. Man, how about a laugh now and then?"
Right after bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, we simply must do something about such hate articles from the WaPo.
Posted in Meta at 02:13 PM | Comments (2)
Quad Cities (IL, IA): Christian programming replaces Air America
"Liberals" throughout the U.S. responded with sadness, horror, and an even greater sense of dread as the news was released that yet another Air America Radio station had converted from secular progressivism to... a Christian format! This time it's WKBF (AM 1270) out of the "Quad Cities", which are Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa and Moline, East Moline, and Rock Island in Illinois. (In the Midwest, counting starts at -1).
The format will change with the new year, and right now, in an attempt to exorcise the daemons left behind by the previous programming, new owner Randy Melchert is playing all Christmas music. And, in another apparent slap at AAR, their new website is at truth1270.com.
Posted in Meta at 01:08 PM | Comments (0)
WKOX, WXKS: Vaya con Darwin, Air America
WKOX (1200 AM) and WXKS (1430 AM) out of Boston are saying, "Vaya con Dios, Darwin, Sheehan, Zinn, Chomsky, a tree, or whatever" to Air America Radio as well as the Jones Radio Network, as those Clear Channel-owned sister stations are switching to a Spanish format. Not only that, they're considering boosting the wattage of both stations to 50,000 from 10,000 and 5,000 respectively.
Posted in Meta at 01:02 PM | Comments (2)
Jerry Springer dumps radio show; WSAI dumps lib talk?
This should come as no surprise: Jerry Springer is officially ending his failed, boring radio "career" this week. Only about two dozen Air America affiliates were still running it, and moreover WSAI (AM 1360) in Cincinnati - a Clear Channel station - may decide to dump liberal talk entirely:[His] show and the station have rarely gotten over a one share and have consistently finished in the bottom third in the ratings out of some 30 area stations.Don't cry for Jerry, America!
It may be the success of Springer's appearance on "Dancing with the Stars" that forced his hand. Springer has had several offers to appear in commercials, movies and TV shows since the country was exposed to the self-deprecating, kinder, gentler Jerry.While waiting for his next career move, enjoy this flashback. Who could be dumb enough to pay a prozzie with a check? Jerry Springer, that's who.
Springer, who has recorded two CDs, may even rejuvenate his tongue-in-cheek country singing career. Country singer Sara Evans, a fellow "Dancing With the Stars" contestant, has asked Springer to make appearances on stage during her upcoming tour.
Posted in PureClass at 12:40 PM | Comments (6)
Larry Ellison to buy Air America Radio?
Will Oracle CEO/President/Owner/Chairman/Guiding Light Larry Ellison buy Air America Radio? That is the latest speculation that various highly-placed media watchers have divulged to this blogger. Under the planned scheme, much of Air America's programming will remain in place, with some minor changes. The name will be changed to "Lawrence Ellison's Air America Radio Global Media Network", and in order to make centralized control easier all operations will be moved to East Newark, in the Frisco Bay Area of California. A special headline-grabbing move will be a "pirate radio" broadcast from one of the billionaire's two luxury yachts which will be anchored in international waters - one off each U.S. coast.
Other possible buyers include:
Bill Gates: After having solved African poverty and after having destroyed thousands of would-be competitors, turning Air America around shouldn't be impossible.
Barbra Streisand/Martin Sheen/Ed Asner/Darryl Hannah (consortium): These four Hollywood actors intend to do for radio what United Artists did for movies, brining a professionalism to the medium heretofore lacking. Even more "progressive" than most AAR hosts, they pledge to bring the Democratic Party back to its populist, collaborationist roots.
Steve Ballmer: More "excitable" than Gates, the Microsoft CEO is also a billionaire. While he looks like the type of person that Democrats demonize, he is actually a committed leftist who created a secret museum in one of his properties dedicated to V.I. Lenin.
Eventually, AAR will be sold or go out of business, and there's a good chance it will be one of those above who buys it, or perhaps someone else entirely.
Posted in Satire at 09:13 PM | Comments (0)
Sources: Katherine Lanpher still incredibly depressing
Katherine Lanpher's publicist has been working overtime, resulting in no less than two articles about the former Al Franken sidekick. From the Happy Side, we get "Moline native writes of her 'Leap'". It concentrates only on the good things that happened after she moved after she moved to NYC, as recounted in her book Leap Days: Chronicles of a Midlife Move.
Meanwhile, over in the Depressing as Ibsen or Something department, we get "Uprooting oneself is risky business":
"I couldn't get the pathos of it out of my mind -- what happens to people that they would ... put import on something that shallow?" she writes near the end of Leap Days. "And then I wondered if I had done the same thing by moving to New York, if I had upset a good life close to friends and family, endangered a career, just so I could say I had gone to a bigger market, had worked on a national show -- things that, in the end, weren't really so important."
Posted in AlsoRans at 04:00 PM | Comments (0)
My Jerry Springer posts never existed, were always Stephanie Miller posts
Comrades:
I would like to take this opportunity to offer a full, complete, and entirely contrite apology and a full recount of my crimes against society.
In the past, this category has featured posts about a fictional character named "Jerry Springer". There is no such person, there never has been such a person, his website was never at www.springerontheradio.com, and he never had a radio show on Air America Radio (which is America's only source for the truth).
I was led astray by reactionary forces, which convinced me that this person existed and had a radio show. They were wrong. The pages from his site that can be found at archive.org have been planted there by anti-people forces that I shall shortly name. These forces are the enemies of the state, and I repudiate them and all that they stand for.
It will take much to make amends for my actions, which I shall do henceforth from a thatched hut in Indianapolis.
Posted in PureClass at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)
Air America bankruptcy hearing today...
Will Air America recover from recently going bankrupt? Will they be bought out? Or, will George Soros liberal investors decide to spend their money on a new yacht or something? Will they be forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy and all their assets frozen and sold off to pay off creditors such as Mike Piazza?
Developing...
UPDATE: There is no update.
Posted in Meta at 12:10 PM | Comments (1)
WCPT "Chicago": Springer out, Miller in, Franken going...
According to our sources, starting on December 11, Air America Radio's "Chicago" outlet WCPT (AM 850) will be changing their schedule around to be less AAR-y and more Jones Radio Network-y.
Bill Press: sign-on to 8am
Stephanie Miller: 8am to 11am (NEW!)
Ed Schultz: 11am to 2pm
Al Franken: 2pm to 5pm (new time, tape delay)
Randi Rhodes: 5pm to sign-off (also tape delayed)
Miller will be replacing Jerry Springer.
According to them:
WCPT shifts Al Franken's guest-intensive show to afternoons. Nobody gets better guests or offers more insight than Al... Some of you may be wondering why move Al to the later time slot. The truth of the matter is that we are uncertain of Al's future along with Air America's. We will continue to carry his show as long as we can, with the hopes that he will continue on, however we have no indication of Al's future.
Nothing like a vote of confidence!
On the wider issue, this site speculates:
If Randi lost her radio syndication home [due to AAR folding], we're wondering if Jones Radio would pick her show up as part of this move. That would certainly give them a very solid liberal talk block from 6 AM until 6 PM weekdays. As it turns out, Jones would then become the, well, defacto "liberal talk network" that AAR has tried to be all along!
Posted in Meta at 12:03 PM | Comments (1)
