Air America--ever in Boston?

[Mark Laurence]

On Monday, June 21, 2004, at 12:47  PM, Bob wrote:

>
> Meanwhile, Drudge reports that AA is in deep financial trouble
> (among other things, the $30 million supposedly raised for the venture  
> turned out to be $6 million, and they are said to be
> $2 million in the hole.
>
> http://www.drudgereport.com/flash8.htm

Drudge is probably relying heavily on a Wall Street Journal report,  
which I just read online:

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/newsflash/ 
get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?f0021_BC_WSJ-- 
AirAmerica&&news&newsflash-financial

Although both Drudge and the WSJ are conservative champions, I suspect  
there's a lot of truth in the story.  Randi Rhodes devoted a good  
amount of time on her show last week to the Air America naysayers and  
gave her rebuttal.  Much blame for the financial troubles goes to the  
investors from Guam, Evan Cohen and Rex Sorenson, who smooth-talked  
their way to the top positions at Air America, apparently with a lot of  
lies and exaggeration.  They're gone now, and if you listen to the  
network, you hear an impressive array of national advertisers.  Rhodes  
says they're doing radio the "old fashioned way" now, by selling time  
and paying the bills.  On the air, it sounds like she's right.   
Apparently advertisers are impressed by the early New York numbers, by  
the very large number of listeners to the streaming audio, and by the  
attractive demos the network is drawing.  Time will tell, of course.

Rhodes also said the Guam investors were Republicans who infiltrated  
Air America.  Sure enough, the Chicago Tribune, reporting last April  
when Evan Cohen moved to the top at AA, said, "He began his career as a  
Republican operative in his native Guam, serving as spokesman for  
Guam's Republican Party and as chief of staff for Sen. Tommy Tanaka, a  
pro-life Republican legislator."  It certainly adds an element of  
political intrigue to the whole story.

Mark