Air America $20 million in debt

[Doug Drown]

<<The first job of a radio talk show host is to entertain.  The second job
is
to entertain.  The third job is to entertain.  Therefore, the first job of
the people who are putting a talk radio network together is to HIRE
ENTERTAINING PEOPLE.  Ed Schulz is a case in point.  He is entertaining to
listen to, therefore, he gathers an audience, therefore, his show makes
money.>>

I couldn't agree more.  I've heard Ed Schulz only once, on WWKB in Buffalo
back in the spring.  Interesting show, thought-provoking, very engaging.  I
feel the same way about Howie Carr, and am a fairly regular listener to
Howie's show even though as a political moderate I disagree with many of his
views.  Some of what he says raises my hackles, but he seldom fails to be
entertaining.  What's more, there is no one --- regardless of his
conservativism --- who links New Englanders to Boston better than Howie.  In
a very real sense, he's the mouthpiece of the city.  -Doug


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <dslrpierce@peoplepc.com>
To: "Bob Nelson" <raccoonradio@gmail.com>; "RadioEqualizer@aol.com"
<radioequalizer@aol.com>; <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>;
"Donna Halper" <dlh@donnahalper.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2006 11:10 AM
Subject: Re: Air America $20 million in debt


> The first job of a radio talk show host is to entertain.  The second job
is
> to entertain.  The third job is to entertain.  Therefore, the first job of
> the people who are putting a talk radio network together is to HIRE
> ENTERTAINING PEOPLE.  Ed Schulz is a case in point.  He is entertaining to
> listen to, therefore, he gathers an audience, therefore, his show makes
> money.  Ted O'Brien was entertaining when paired with Janet Jeghelian, as
a
> solo act, not so much.  The list goes on.  As Donna has said, Air America
> made numerous poor business decisions, but the first, in my estimation,
was
> hiring a set of hosts primarily for their Progressive credentials, rather
> than their ability to put on an entertaining talk radio show.  This is a
> mistake, of course, that happens all across the business.  Witness the
large
> number of stations and networks that have hired people who are celebrities
> in other fields who turn out to be complete busts on the air.
>
> I still believe there is nothing intrinsically wrong with hiring people
from
> a left-of-center viewpoint to host radio talk shows, even on stations
> dominated by right-of -center hosts.  They must be entertaining people who
> engage their audience so that they can either build a large enough
following
> of like-minded folks to make the show profitable, or, even better, they
can
> build an audience of people across the ideological spectrum who tune in to
> be entertained, even when the host's views drive them crazy.
>
> Dan Pierce
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Donna Halper" <dlh@donnahalper.com>
> To: "Bob Nelson" <raccoonradio@gmail.com>; "RadioEqualizer@aol.com"
> <radioequalizer@aol.com>; <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
> Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 2:23 PM
> Subject: Re: Air America $20 million in debt
>
>
> > At 12:27 PM 10/13/2006, Bob Nelson wrote:
> >>The network declared Ch. 11 bankruptcy today (ability to stay on air
> >>while they reorganize and pay off debt). The Smoking Gun has details;
> >>they owe $20 million (assets of $4 million)
> >>including almost $10 million to Rob Glaser of Real Networks and $360,000
> >>to
> >>Al Franken.
> >
> > My well-informed sources (people inside Air America Radio) say that a
> > large chunk of the money Al is owed is money HE lent Air America during
> > some times of financial crisis, just to keep it on the air.  And one
other
> > well-informed source who is with a competitor tells me Al is quietly
> > shopping his show around to see if he can place it elsewhere, in the
event
> > AAR doesn't get back on firm financial ground.  There was a myth from
Bill
> > O'Lie-ly that Al was being paid 500,000 a year or something-- I've seen
> > some of the financials, and no he wasn't paid anything close to that.
> > Like him or not, Al really believes in progressive radio, and while AAR
> > has been run by some pretty inept people (including the dishonest
original
> > founder, Evan Cohen, who incidentally was a long-time Republican and
> > supporter of Bush the Daddy... I only mention that because some of those
> > who are gloating on the right are ignoring that a rightie is one of
those
> > who started this entire set of problems, which AAR then compounded with
> > some incredibly bad management decisions.)
> >
> > Interestingly, if it's "liberal talk" that is a failure, why are the Ed
> > Schultz Show and the Stephanie Miller Show, both syndicated by the Jones
> > Radio Network, either breaking even (Stephanie) or making a profit
(Ed)...
> > AAR's problems are more complicated than "oh progressive talk can't
work."
> > We've discussed this before, and I don't wanna beat a dead horese, so
I'll
> > just remind everyone from the right that it took Limbaugh SEVEN YEARS to
> > become a successful talker, and sponsors were hesitant about being on
his
> > show then, just like many are hesitant to start off with progressive
talk
> > now.  But when talk shows are interesting and are on stations where you
> > can actually hear their signal, and when there is a promotion budget to
> > support some outside events to bring in new cume, there are a number of
> > markets where progressive hosts are getting very good numbers.  The
format
> > is just 2 years old-- let's not write it off because AAR has never
figured
> > out how to run their business cost-effectively...
> >
>
>