Air America filing for bankruptcy

[nam78_two]

Edit:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/10/13/financial/f073745D72.DTL

Air America Radio, a liberal talk and news radio network, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a network official told the AP.


The network had denied rumors just a month ago that it would file for bankruptcy, but on Friday Air America said negotiations with a creditor from the company's early days had broken down.


The network will stay on the air while it resolves issues with its creditors, spokeswoman Jaime Horn told the Associated Press. A formal announcement was expected to be made later Friday.

[NYCGirl]

1. This doesn't mean the end — it just means restructuring, which might

be a good thing.

[Atman]

18. Exactly...don't let the right-wing tools say anything different.

This is exacly how the GOP encourages big corporations to screw their employees out of their pensions and options and such...just declare bankruptcy. They always claim it's okay when one of their big corporate donors does it. AAR is small, and I'm sure the restructuring will be a good thing, because it will undoubtedly require some additional oversight by some perhaps more "business minded" people.

.

[Warpy]

2. On line subscription may be the way to go

Most people I know who listen to it do so on their puters.

[nam78_two]

4. we don't really get it where I live

But on the plus side we get Michael Savage :banghead: :grr:

[Vexatious Ape]

9. That sucks

We lost Air America here in Atlanta earlier this year. Now it's all Boortz, Rush, Hannity, Savage and a few other un-notables. Every once in while I'll tune in to Savage since I'm always on the radio when I'm working. That guy is a blood thirsty loon. 5 minutes of him and I'm spinning on my head.

[april]

10. cant you get it on your comput?

[nam78_two]

11. I work in an Physics lab

Except when on vacation like now, all "unofficial"/political computer usage is forbidden....
So I can't really do that...

Its really annoying-even news is only via msn at work...

[Nimrod2005]

3. Doesn't mean much really, chapter 11 is reorganization move is designed

to restructure things in their financials, a good thing actually.

[bluestateguy]

5. They will be fine in the long-run. They will stay on the air.

I think I'm going to stay off of DU today. The usual hand wringing and whining is about to start, which will then be reproduced on the conservative sites that monitor this board's every move.

[BelgianMadCow]

8. Yes they will stay on, I believe. And true about the "told you so" factor

I am a strong Malloy supporter, but have enjoyed Randi very much. AAR was still worth listening to.

I mainly think this is intended as a restructuring and I will not start crying until all our fav hostst are OFF the air.

[clbuck]

6. Brian Maloney's going have an orgasm...

He's the right-wing "Radio Equalizer" blogger who's been rooting for the demise of Air America since the beginning.

EDIT: Apparently, his blog says that Sheldon Drobny was just about to buy out the network, but the plan was shelved at the last minute. Then again, he's not exactly a beacon of truth...

[maseman]

7. We knew this was going to happen

From the beginning AAR was doomed financially. They tried to buy radio stations or purchase their air time in major cities which cost them millions of dollars, let alone their business start up costs.

That sucked the life out of them even before they went on the air. Plus they are on mostly crappy AM signals in the large markets like WLIB in NYC (now on an even worse signal at 1600 AM), WCPT in Chicago and KTLK in LA. KTLK in LA was basically off for years and they have a terrible signal.

My guess is that you'll see most AAR hosts go away with the exception of Al Franken and Randi Rhodes. Sam Seder might make it also. I predict that Jones Radio will team up with those two or three shows and round out their new progressive network in addition to having Ed Schultz and Steph Miller. Lionel will still be with WOR and will most likely continue to be on a number of progressive talk stations.

The worst thing I hate about all this is that the right-wing jerk-off talk hosts will say "See!!! Progressive talk doesn't work." It does work and yields a younger, more valuable audience then the old school Rush Limpball talk. It was just AAR's business model stunk.

[LTR]

13. AAR and smaller AM's - a misconception

WLIB and KTLK have pretty decent signals. Keep in mind that in most markets, the really powerful Class A AM stations (50,000 watts) are, for the most part, doing well with whatever programming they're airing. These stations were not prospects. AAR did manage to get some decent signals in some big markets.

Meanwhile, there are a lot of 5,000 watt AMs that are often strong enough to serve a typical metropolitan area. Of course, some metro areas are pretty sprawled out, so it does indeed take stronger stations to cover the entire area.

But, as I said before, WLIB and KTLK are pretty strong signals. They may have been neglected in the past because during the late 80s and throughout the 90s, AM was very low in demand. Nobody wanted them. Now, AM has made a comeback, partly due to religious groups snapping them up, and companies like Disney trying to spread their ESPN and Radio Disney brands. And of course the whole AAR/progressive talk phenomenon. And AM radio is the best-served route to take. FM is, for the most part, out of the question. Many FM owners prefer music formats. And AM signals tend to carry farther.

For a startup network, AAR has amassed some pretty strong signals, as well as a few dogs (like WCPT and its daytime signal). But remember, Rush Lowbrow started out on some lousy signals himself.

[maseman]

14. Whoa there

You telling me that WLIB has a good signal compared to WABC, WOR, WCBS and WINS? Oh, forgot the Fan. WMCA has a better signal then WLIB. And now that they are on 1600 it is much worse.

Go to www.radio-locator.com and see the coverage maps for yourself. A 50K watt station high on the dial or very highly directional can have a much worse signal then a 5K watt station low on the dial. A good example of that is KLAC in LA. 570AM at 5K. Has a pretty good signal. However, KMPC is 50K watt during the day at 1540 and has a shitty signal.

And KTLK has one of the worst signals in LA.

WHAT in Philly, WKOX in Boston, WWRC in DC, KQKE in San Fran. None of those can compete with the major sticks in town.

AAR had a very big handicap from the beginning.

[LTR]

15. I didn't say that

What I said is that these were the best signals available, and many of the big AM stations (WABC, WOR, WINS, etc.) are firmly established, have good ratings, and/or make way too much money to ditch everything and go AAR. Do you really think a station like WABC, which makes a ton of money, could be persuaded to pick up AAR shows? Hell no!

KTLK is 50,000 watts daytime, and 44,000 watts night. Unfortunately, L.A. is a huge area to cover, and KTLK blasts much of its directional signal across the coastline and toward the west, meaning that the signal gets weak as one goes west toward Riverside and San Bernadino. In smaller markets, this signal would cover the whole market and then some. This is one reason why there are several Arbitron listening markets in the L.A. area.

And yes, you are right about dial placement. The lower the dial position, the more effective the power can be. KPOJ in Portland is a great example of this, as thier signal really gets out. Also factors are interference, shared or adjacent dial positions, and ground/water conductivity.

What I'm saying is that beggars can't be choosers. There are a limited amount of AM signals available. AAR probably did as good or better than another typical network, without buying the signals.

[maseman]

19. Point taken

I just get fiesty when I hear the blow-hards on the right say "Progressive talk doesn't work." What they fail to mention is that in some markets you only have one or two really good AM sticks and if they are both 100% conservative talk then duhhhh....they will get some ratings because there is nothing else for talk radio listeners.

KPOJ is a great example. Oregon is a very crowded talk market with long-time news/talkers KXL, KPAM and KEX. Plus I think they also have an FM talker now. But KPOJ took the market by the reigns.

[LTR]

21. I'm glad we're on the same page

Established profitable stations are not going to change what's already working. A good example is WHJJ in Providence, RI. They blew up their mostly-local schedule a couple years back and added AAR stuff. Ratings slid big-time, because local listeners were used to the local programming. As much as I'd like to see AAR expand and get into new markets, WHJJ picking up the programming was a stupid idea. Established live and local programming will often win out over syndicated fare.

It works both ways as well. KSTP in St. Paul, MN recently purged almost all of their syndicated talk shows. Rush and Insannity were shown the door, and Clear Channel had to blow up a powerful FM station to clear them in the Twin Cities.

KPOJ was a good example of how to do it. The station had floundered for years under a variety of different formats. When they picked up liberal talk programming, ratings shot through the roof. The same thing happened in other markets. Stations that hadn't even seen ratings in years suddenly started seeing some success.

Also, interesting to note that if AAR can hang around for a few years, trends may favor them. While conservotalk stations are still making money, their demographic numbers are becoming less and less desireable. Advertisers don't like older listeners much, as they tend to be more set in their ways and they're harder to sell to than younger ones. Conservotalk listeners on average are older than the listeners of other radio formats. The nice thing about liberal talk is that its listeners are somewhat younger, and this may bode well in the years ahead. If talk show networks were smart, they'd try to groom younger talkers as well to take advantage of this, or at least create shows that are a bit edgier, and not the typical middle-aged host arguing with callers. Stephanie Miller gets this, and she has become the biggest success story in the whole format. It's simply a fun, edgy, entertaining show. This is what will work in the years ahead.

[maseman]

22. I got my start in radio

at a local talk station with live local hosts from 6am to midnight including weekends.

The formula works if stations will pony up the money to do it. Short run it is costly, long-run it can be very profitable. Look at stations like KGO in SF, WLW in Cincy, and like you mentioned above KSTP. Local does work, if it is done well.

I'd love to see some stations hire more progressive local talkers and fill the gaps with some synidcated programming. A mix of both is acceptable and wise.

[maseman]

20. Point taken

I just get fiesty when I hear the blow-hards on the right say "Progressive talk doesn't work." What they fail to mention is that in some markets you only have one or two really good AM sticks and if they are both 100% conservative talk then duhhhh....they will get some ratings because there is nothing else for talk radio listeners.

KPOJ is a great example. Oregon is a very crowded talk market with long-time news/talkers KXL, KPAM and KEX. Plus I think they also have an FM talker now. But KPOJ took the market by the reigns.

[KharmaTrain]

12. Clear Channel & Jones Radio Are Ready To Fill The Void

Yes, this was sad, but not unexpected news. No need to write an obit at this point and I've posted plenty on the reasons AAR got itself into its current situation.

Clear Channel saw this situation coming...as did Jones Radio Network (the folks who syndicate the Ed Schultz show)...losing AAR abruptly would disrupt programming on dozens of CC stations that are doing well with Progressive Talk and need a more relaible source of programming. That's where this appears to come in:

http://talkprogress.com/

Looks like Jones is going to ramp up their network and fill the void. This could spell good things for folks like Jay Marvin, Stephanie Miller and dare I say, Mike Malloy.

The downside of AAR going down is this could hurt New York City listeners where AAR is buying time from WWRL and other affiliates that aren't owned by Clear Channel. Sadly, I don't see AAR coming out of bankruptcy...the hole was dug too deep and the radio advertising market remains in a near depression. You can sell only so many Orek vacuums.

As always I hope to see Progressive broadcasters start working closer together in using all types of media to interact and reach out.

[zulchzulu]

16. A couple Freepers at work mentioned this to me...

...and said that it would be OK to become a Republican...they would welcome me with open arms. I asked who was going to pay for the lobotomy...

[Sunshine Jim]

17. AAR a strange study.

nice to see some radio heads yakkin.

been involved with all the bloggies there since the start.

was a treat watching those communities form. the interaction of radio and comps has had some interesting developments there.

since i stream the show, i'd like them to put more emphasis on that medium.

i love watching the development of show/listener interaction.

think the call in/interview mix works well.

the numbers drop when it's just rant.

[Darkhawk32]

23. I love to listen to AAR, but here's the biggest rub I have with them....

Let's say, I start listening to Sam Seder... Bush bash about xxxx subject.

Listen to Randi Rhodes... Bush base about same xxxx subject.

My point is... I would like to see them have shows with discussions about various subjects and how to fix/implement them...


24/7 Bush bash starts to get a little old albeit it IS warranted.