The Demise of Air America
January of 2010 marked a number of anniversaries, ranging from the notable to the negligible. Barack Obama marked one year in office and the deadline he set for closing Guantanamo Bay came and went with a curious lack of closure. The Democratic Senate supermajority expired like milk sitting for too long in the refrigerator. And with far less fanfare, Air America Radio shuttered the windows, turned off the lights, and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.
The network which had billed itself as the progressive movement’s answer to Rush Limbaugh had gone on the air in early 2004, immediately skyrocketing to previously unseen levels of audience share and cultural influence. Well … at least you’d have thought it did if all you listened to was their promotional spots, which aired constantly in place of advertisement slots that nobody was purchasing. As the New York Post pointed out on the occasion of AA’s demise, their ambitions were probably thwarted from the start by the star power they attracted for their lineup.
Leading them off on the non-hit parade was Al Franken, who the management assumed would come with a built-in audience. Franken had serious name recognition from his days on Saturday Night Live, and while most regular readers of this space will likely disagree, he was — on occasion — a funny guy. But one thing he was not was a radio guy. Following Al they had Janeane Garofalo, who had been a mostly underground success as a stand-up comic in the bigger urban areas. She loved to talk about politics, but she had a screeching, nails-on-blackboard voice and a tendency to fly off into incomprehensible obscenities any time she attempted to discuss George W. Bush. This certainly held some mostly unintentional humorous value, but it didn’t make for very good radio.
One of the real surprises probably turned out to be Rachel Maddow. She had a great voice and a very camera-friendly face for promotional shots and public appearances. While veering about as far to the left as one could imagine, she almost always maintained a steady stream of patter and handled herself quite well. Too well, as it turned out, because she was one of their only serious talents when she walked out the door to take up more fiscally promising digs at MSNBC.
One of the biggest problems for Air America seemed to be that they spent more time fending off rumors of their impending doom than building an audience. That, combined with their inability to pick up national outlets for their feed, made them more a topic of political discussion than a source of it. But given the popular theme of their message, how did it all go so wrong?
Air America foundered because there wasn’t a large enough market for strident vitriol. It is too much to hope for that the crew goes down with it. One expects MSNBC and PBS to save them.
Do no forget Randy Rhodes the Joy Beha or talk radio. I use to listen to her once in a while on an affiliate in Fla that carried Rush. I could take the foul mouth witch for about two minutes before I either turned the radio off or put a bullet in my brain.
Could not believe it when I heard AA was signing her up.
I used to listen to Rush a great deal before I moved to Canada (and got married, which tends to Eat time). At one point the fools who fouled the airways on AA tried to claim that people listened to his show because they wanted to hear what was next to buy in the commercials, or some such stupidity.
I managed to stomach a few hours of a foul-mouthed biotch on a Western NY station, so I could see what kind of commercials were playing. With a few regional differences they were advertising identical goods.
But then, like fraudulent ‘man-made’ global warming, it had been a foregone conclusion.
’twas nice to hear they’d finally bled out, after cutting their own throats for 6 years.
These are the guys who don’t understand the nature of the free market and insist on equality of outcome regardless of all other factors. If they were meeting a need, they’d find success. Apparently, no one needs uninformed, juvenile, foul-mouthed arrogance; they’ve already got two teenagers at home.
AA had very little to say other than Bush/Cheney are Hitler, evil, stupid, dumb, etc. Additionally, leftist beliefs are mostly based upoon feelings not substance. To fill air time you need substance. AA had none.
Bush and most of his folks were thrown out of office and the corruption was finally slowed down or stopped as most of the Bush administration were jailed or decided to resign. Then OBAMA was elected and the worst of the right was thrown out of office in 08…Hence, air america fulfilled its purpose and the money and investment dried up. Its the natural flow of things. The opposite of the party in power usually rules the airwaves as the disgruntled listen for some quiet solace while wallowing in their party.s inherint failure(s). As for one of their best? Franken is now in the Sentate and its a loss, because he was really funny as a comedian but has vowed to be more serious as an elected official. Shame on him. We could all use some laughter these days…dont you agree?
I too remember when Rush said that they first needed to be entertaining,
which they were not, however he also said if I recall that they also lacked
a firm belief in anything, resorting instead to spouting vitriol every day.
Saying you hate Bush and Conservatives all the time adds nothing to the debate. I am finally glad they have gone.(A Rush listener for 20+ years)
Poor Citizen — oh, you mean Air America (the radio station) was flying so high during the Bush years? Seriously? Then why did it need to stay alive by raiding orphans’ funds in the Bronx?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America-Gloria_Wise_loan_controversy
Actually, as a believer in the free exchange of ideas, I’m sorry to see the fools at Air America go. The more they made idiots of themselves, the better it waw for the country.
But as a Vietnam vet and a member of the Air America Association, (of people who used to be involved with that noble enterprise), I’m glad and relieved that they’re no longer usurping the good name of the real Air America.
‘The opposite of the party in power usually rules the airwaves’
Sorry, but that really is POOR, citizen. Conservative radio has ruled the market since the late 80s, no matter which party was in power.
I’d tune in occasionally because I thought there might be good entertainment value in the absurdities of the far left and, besides, we should keep apace of what the opposition is up to. It was absolutely dreadful radio; you simply couldn’t listen to it. And anyway, my local station in the good liberal, government town of Sacramento, was one of the first to go. Sacramento, of course, is where Rush got his start.
And as for the “natural flow of things,” right wing talk radio thrives and prospers regardless of who’s in power.
The problem with liberal talk radio, in my opinion, comes from the fact that most contemporary liberal ideas are not based on logic or reason, but instead on emotion. Talk radio restricts communication to only word selection and voice tone/inflection (i.e. you can’t use imagery like MTV can).
Word selection and structure is used to convey the logic and reasoning of the idea … and the tone and voice inflection (and perhaps some ‘colorful’ words as well) conveys the emotional aspect.
Since liberal ideas are almost entirely rooted in emotion (i.e they lack a logical / rational foundation) it is very difficult for them to organize their thoughts into a coherent logical framework … all that remains is tone/inflection; so that is what they use.
This is why liberal talk radio ended up sounding like infantile rage, instead of a logical / rational argument. This is why people don’t like to listen to it and why it failed.
-”Liberals should never lead, but they should always advise.”
I used to listen every once in a while, just to see what the other side had to say. But their hatred and vitriol finally got to me, so I ceased to even try. Rush is frequently described by Lefties as “mean-spirited”, but these AA people actually defined the syndrome. Good riddance!
Actually there is a fairly successful liberal talk radio program in the U.S. Eagen and Braudy in the Boston market air on the same station that features Jay Severin, Michael Graham and other conservative/libertarian hosts. And while I don’t often agree with them, they do have a successful program. But they maintain an even keel instead of veering so far left that they’re taking in water over the port side.
Snapshot of my experience with AA:
Rush hour, Los Angeles. A big terrorist plot against L.A. had been uncovered, and some rumor started that the L.A. mayor found out about it through the media. The outrage spread like wildfire on all the radio stations; I heard it spreading in real time as I inched through traffic on the 405 South. Flipped through all the stations and they were all doing the same story.
On the conservative/libertarian station, KFI, a correction came out quickly that Bush’s Sec of Homeland Security had personally phoned the mayor at home to inform him of it. Exact quotes. A phone interview with a mayoral spokesman to correct the story. I flipped around. The other stations issued the correction. Flipped to AA. They were ranting about the supposed insult/slight/oversight for hours. They never got the story straight. NEVER.
They didn’t even do a decent job of delivering the frakking news.
AA also failed because it was in direct competition with Legacy Media. AA was a bad NPR without news. Why switch?
I think the main reason Err America failed is because, as all on here would know, it was not necessary. Why would you want to spend time listening to their rants when you could flip to the mellow sounds of NPR’s leftwing stooges?
Besides, I’m paying for NPR so I might as well get my money’s worth and tune into them for my traffic and weather in between stories praising Fidel Castro.
The problem is that in the era of Ipod only older and a male audience(That has to face longer commutes) cares about AM radio.
It has been pointed out that other syndicators like Dial Global (Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz) have had at least some success.
Still not nearly the numbers Rush, Sean, Glenn, or (local)
Howie Carr get.
One thing I got a kick out of was the total FAIL libtalk had in New England, perhaps the blue-est part of the nation. Clear Channel placed it on stations in Boston, New Haven, Providence, etc. Poor ratings all around; the CT & RI outlets went to ESPN and conservative talk, respectively, while Boston’s (which admittedly took shows from other sources as well as Air America) went to Spanish. The latest rub salt in the wound: now they have boosted power and are going conservative talk, in April. Meanwhile some guy has been buying time on a weak sports station to put prog talk on and it doesn’t show up in the ratings.
In Boston. (Though many listeners of this stuff are probably
glued to NPR instead.)
The problem with Air America is that they tried to accomplish in one fell swoop what it took conservative talk radio more than a decade to build. Conservative talkers like Rush and Dr. Laura started small and built up a network of successful stations over time. It wasn’t purpose-built like Air America. Nobody said “hey, let’s create a nationwide network of right-wing talk radio stations.” It happened that way because that’s where the ratings and revenue led them.
Air America tried to put the cart before the horse, and it’s not surprising that they failed.
Air America failed for a number of reasons. First, they attempted to be the liberal version of Limbaugh. Rush made his reputation and built his audience as the voice of those that didn’t hear their opinions anywhere else in the media. He consistently broke news that was under reported elsewhere on the largely liberal television networks and in the major newspapers. Most of the “news” on AA was old and already out there. Second, the ugly truth is that many liberals just don’t care to be as informed as they should be, regardless of topic. Music, television, and entertainment in general holds their interest far more than following a bad piece of legislation through congress ever would. Third, and probably most damning, was that the demographics that appealed to advertisers were almost non-existent. Add to that the anti business message that the AA hosts spewed most days did nothing to endear them to major advertisers. Big companies will throw a few advertising dollars to small, lower rated radio stations if they feel that they can reach potential customers (like low powered urban radio and small market stations), but who wants to give money to an outlet that just got done accusing you of greed, racism, polluting, theft, etc. Air America died because it deserved to.
It’s even simpler than ‘be entertaining’. Even a boring program can survive if it is WHAT SOMEONE WANTS TO HEAR.
AA never said anything that a substantial part of radio listeners wanted to hear. The true saturation of people who believe the same as Garofalo and Maddow do on issues is significantly less than 20% of the total radio listenership, and even that number is concentrated in a handful of very obvious areas– S.F., L.A., Mass, Chicago, far south Texas, etc etc… bluest parts of blue states.
They simply had too few people that they might win to their programs… most people simply thought they were crazy. Even left wing voters.
According to AA, everyone is racist except the people working in their studios.
errah, the people who USED to work there, anyways…
The entire premise of AA was based on a false assumption. Liberalism was already being troweled out in media outlets all over the country. The entire MSM, NPR, Newspapers, you name it. There was no need for more of it because the libs already could get a healthy dose from existing sources. Talk radio doesn’t have as many liberals because it operates like a real business and audience share is an economic driver. Outlets like MSNBC survive because ideologues in management are willing to suffer low ratings just to keep their propaganda machine running.
“Bush and most of his folks were thrown out of office and the corruption was finally slowed down or stopped as most of the Bush administration were jailed or decided to resign.”
Poor Citizen, Bush was not “thrown out of office”, read the 22nd admendment to the constitution sometime.
Additionally, not one Bush cabinet member was indicted.
Are you sure you’re not thinking of Cisneros, Espy or Hubbell? Oh, wait they were members of Clinton’s cabinet who were indicted.
News flash PC, you and the rest of the trolls provide us with pure unadulterated comedic relief every day, not to mention schadenfreud.With all the bad news this week it must be awfully melancholy for the trolls.The good news is, it’s only going to get worse for them.
Next, let’s stop the mollycoddling of negroes: enough with their dominance through quotas.
The ‘greatest’ thing about AA was their callers.
15-19 year old kids espousing their ‘knowledge’ of events and Rhodes, Garofalo et al. would run with these kids rants to nowheresville.
Each and every program sounded as if the host was disgruntled rather than privileged to be there.
Now that I think of it all of ‘em sounded like a burned out professor I sat through, pimping their crummy, low selling book to the masses..
Good riddance AA..
Troll alert in slot #25!
Sheldon Drobny must have flushed millions down that toilet. Tough luck, Shelly! People just weren’t interested in a one-trick Bush-bashing pony. I think Obama’s finding that out now.
I have never heard this abortion of a radio show mostly because of the lunatics they had and the fact that I do not think the even had coverage in my area. I thought they went bankrupt quite some time ago, but is nice to know that finally they have. Liberals seems to think they can sell their ideas by just buying the necessary equipment and then start broadcasting and voila they will beat out shows like Rush or Sean or Mike Savage.
Well it is good to hear of their demise, I hope someone lost millions in the process!
After reading the comments, it sounds like most of AA’s listeners were conservatives trying to balance their knowledge base.
@6. Poor Citizen: – Bush and most of his folks were thrown out of office…
Check the facts, troll. GWB was elected twice. Outside of the normal turnover that has been part of almost every administration, Bush and his administration finished both of their terms. He was never “thrown out of office,” contrary to your insane historical revision, which is just another example the ignorance and stupidity you insist on relentlessly demonstrating here.
- … most of the Bush administration were jailed or decided to resign.
MOST of them?? Really? Who were those, exactly?
- Then OBAMA was elected and the worst of the right was thrown out of office in 08.
The fact is that those who voted for BHO are now looking at his utterly failed presidency and seeing what a monumental mistake they made. The death of AA is just one symptom of that awakening. And it’s only going to get worse.
- …air america fulfilled its purpose…
Air America never had an audience OR a purpose, except to disseminate socialist propaganda to its 38 dedicated listeners. It’s had financial problems for years because it could never find an audience. Garrison Keillor was more adept at pursuing AA’s “purpose” than AA itself ever was.
- The opposite of the party in power usually rules the airwaves …
Until the rise of wildly popular FNC, which now dominates cable, The Left Wing Media has enjoyed a monopoly on public information via television and print news since the ’70s regardless which political party has been in power. The Democrat party has never ruled the radio airwaves in any way, shape or form during that time. AA has done nothing but preach to the (ever-shrinking) choir since it was created.
You’re right about one thing: Franken was always, and continues to be, a sad, tired joke.
P Rabbit nailed it. A.A. stood for Air America, but more correctly – Angry Adolescents.
Thinking people just have no stomach for the perpetually whining teenagers of the left. Good bye to to the factually challenged, logic free drivel of Al franken and his cohorts. You won’t be missed.
Im not here to teach, and I will not even begin to touch on the “overwhelming” material on the Bush legacy of Iraq/national fraud and corruption during his eight years in office. However, as far as he..his legacy and his administration and his congress being thrown out of office I chose one headline Nov 7, 2008 that summed up about a thousand or more papers that day….to prove my point…
Nov 7, 2008 lead story(s): OBAMA wins !! Democrats take control of Congress !!
McCain, Republicans Congress Defeated in historic turn around !!
Jan 19, 2009:(right wing editorial) OBAMA to be sworn in Tomorrow in Washington as a result of Americans going to the polls last November… the result…Bush, his cronies and many of his fellow Republicans will now be “almost literally” thrown out of office after tomorrow…
so there you go…read/weep/filter…then accept…”your history” and the facts… oops, in your case..at least try to accept some of the facts…
lest we forget.
Poor citizen, I have a few quick questions:
1. What % of the American public is able to vote?
2. What % of that % actually voted in 2008?
3. What % of the answer to #2, voted for obama? (that’s the Easy one!).
And finally, 4. How many people actually voted for obama?
I think you’ll find that your ‘history lesson’ is rather pathetic. btw, quoted a few headlines does not prove ONE single thing you claimed. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Wishful thinking does not put people in jail.
@33. Poor Citizen: – Im not here to teach, …
No news there. The very idea that you think you could teach is ludicrous on its face. It shows how completely arrogant and deserving of ridicule you are, since you’ve already demonstrated that everything you think you know is wrong. To wit…
- … I will not even begin to touch on the “overwhelming” material on the Bush legacy of Iraq/national fraud and corruption during his eight years in office.
Because, of course, you can’t.
- However, as far as he..his legacy…
Did you develop that stutter after watching too many reruns of BHO’s speeches?
- … his administration and his congress being thrown out of office…
The headline you made up isn’t proof of anything, you clown. Again, Bush’s second term simply ended. And the Republican majority in Congress didn’t end in 2008, it ended in 2006. Think hard – it’ll come back to you. That was when the trend toward a balanced budget was reversed, federal tax revenue began dropping like a stone, and the economy started to take a nose dive in response to the socialist, anti-business policies of the Democrats. At least try to LOOK like you’re making an attempt to keep up!
Bush wasn’t “thrown out” of anything. His presidency ran its full course. All four years. Just like Clinton’s. Just like Reagan’s. Just like Carter… oh wait… Carter never got a second term, did he. Neither will BHO – he’s already seen to that. His latest attack on the banks – a rookie response to polls of MA voters who rejected socialized medicine – will further torpedo the real economy, forcing a double-dip recession. All he needs to do now is look favorably on the notion of pushing socialized medicine through using “reconciliation”, and that will be all she wrote. Even The Left Wing Media can’t lie that one away.
- Nov 7, 2008 lead story(s): … Democrats take control of Congress !!
LOL!! I notice… no links. That’s because your “headline” is a lame, deceitful fabrication. The Democrats ALREADY HAD CONTROL of Congress on November 7, 2008, you silly troll. You need to go back to your “facts” and try to get them straight. There was no Congressional “turn around” in 2008, just a media-rigged election and a socially suicidal outcome.
The Left Wing Media handed the Democrats’ the majority in both the House and the Senate in November of 2006 – after four straight years of journalistic deceit, propaganda, spin and outright lies about every major global and national event and every aspect of the Bush administration itself. Oh, and that was only a scant 23 months after Michelle Obama’s claim that BHO “hadn’t done anything” that made him worth being considered a candidate for President. The subsequent “achievements” that made BHO think he was eligible comprised… racking up the most far-left, socialist voting record in the Senate, campaigning for a communist thug (yet another “agent for CHANGE“) in Kenya at Taxpayers’ expense and managing his next campaign for his next higher office – which, so far, looks like the ONLY thing this marxist ideologue knows how to do.
As for ‘historic’, the only thing historic about November, 2008 was the historic level of outright fraud in BHO’s campaign donation scam, the historically inept campaign McCain ran after he realized that Sarah Palin actually gave him a chance to win, the historic “coincidence” that the credit market melted down at precisely the point where McCain/Palin took a lead in the polls, the historic level of civic ignorance possessed of those who voted for BHO and the historic level of Left Wing Media propaganda that was employed to skew the election.
Here is a remarkably simple equation for you.
The Left believes that truth is relative and subjective. Therefore you can believe whatever you want to.
So why pay for it, either in money or time? What incentive is there? Your entire worldview has already rendered information and evidence irrelevant.
Outrage and ignorance are already free.
Sounds like Poor Citizen is self-medicating again.
The most noteworthy thing Randi Rhodes was known for at AA was when she fell on the sidewalk outside her apartment after getting tangled in her dog’s leashes.
Poor Citizen, I hope the anger you exude here isn’t passed on to the patrons for whom you make coffees, lattes and espressos.
If so, then I’m sure you’re missing out on some suhweet gratuity..
@38. jomo2009: – The most noteworthy thing Randi Rhodes was known for at AA was when she fell on the sidewalk outside her apartment…
I think that was the second most noteworthy.
First on the list HAD to be the outstanding detective work and subsequent revelations regarding who started the Malibu Fires back in October of ’07… and why!
I was with Air America for over 13 years. By this, I mean, the REAL Air America. The Air America owned and directed by the C. I. A.. Why the unlearned who started this radio outlet used this name – I, and many of my compatriots, still wonder about. For those, whom knowledge is of import, please google “Air America CIA” and learn.
Thank You
Capt. E.G.Adams
Air America / 1962-75
http://www.air-america.org/Articles/Fall_of_Saigon.shtml#adams
please reply to my e-mail My mom always talks about you that you was a second dad to her but I been researching for the right person and you kind match E.G Adams that was a pilot CIA flying in udorn etc.My e-mail is francaise1484@yahoo.com
Please reply if is the right person my mom always been wondering all her life how you doing.
Thank you very much