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Air America Acknowledges Some Layoffs »
Posted by: jeremytoday 1 year, 11 months agoFinancially strapped Air America Radio acknowledged Thursday, after star commentator Al Franken said publicly that his paycheck had stopped coming, that it had suffered a small number of layoffs but insisted there were no plans for the liberal talk show network to declare bankruptcy.
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Comments: 60
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stephen-johnson
Sept. 14, 2006, 3:41 p.m.I'm surprised that AA couldn't cobble together some financing package to get through to the midterm elections, at least. For them to fold now would be a setback for the left wing.
Leftist blogs seem to be doing better than their righty counterparts. If the medium is the message, radio is the wrong medium for AA or AA's message is wrong for radio.
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hwywest
Sept. 14, 2006, 4:01 p.m.Well, goes to show that superficial banter from pseudo-intellectuals only sells in the coffee shops.
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rotnaple
Sept. 14, 2006, 4:57 p.m."Now,where are all the bigmouth LIBERALS who said there needed to be a left wing outlet on the radio.Oh Yeah.See Libs,you gotta have someone to bankroll your idea and believe in you.I guess now Rush Limbaugh can say it to al franken"YOUR THE IDIOT".Rush has been on how many years now,without financial problems.Libs come to radio and within a short time are having financial problems and do what they do best,cut someone out of a paycheck and lay them off.I could only hope that Rush sees this.All the big clinton backers,not a penny to support there cause.True liberalism in action.Do as I say,not as I do.Put on a show,but don't look for me to sponsor it.Oh no.Bye bye,Liberal radio.Pack it up and say good night. This is what happens when you armchair quarterback something you don't understand.You came,you saw,you went under!!" - Rich4810
ummm, who's the big mouth?
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wastedvoteinNY
Sept. 14, 2006, 5:30 p.m.They need a telethon, radiothon, fundraiser, bakesale, Chinese Auction, oh...excuse my insensitivity, AsianPersuasion Auction or dinner-dance to raise some cash. NPR does it, BAI does it, Pacifica does it. If they did one of those baseball dunk tanks, the neo-cons, (that is what they call us right, right?), would probably line up for blocks at $100 a throw. (I'd love to see Randi or Genine in a wet tee-shirt, but not that Franken guy. is that too homophobic?) Radio is a business, not a hobby. There has to be sponsors and profits and ratings, otherwise its nothing more than public access. Its not a free soap box or a bully pulpit. A limited scope audience (code-speak for liberal-left) may love it, but unless someone is making money from your pearls of wisdom it just can't survive. If you want to exercise your freedoms for free, Netscape and the other blogspots are the place.
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lord-of-the-rings
Sept. 14, 2006, 5:51 p.m.While i have never been a fan of Franken, he did start something..
Something no neo con can stop now..
Franken might be on his way out but big ed and randi are getting more and more attention every single day, and that my friends is a fact.
On top of it all, they might not have the money cushion hannity has, not that they need it, Randi beat the sh.. out of him recently and got more listeners in NYC than monkey H.
All that without spending 1.5 mill in promotions.
Nice job
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Peej
Sept. 14, 2006, 6:04 p.m.Don't count them out yet. I am sure the right would love to see them fail. It isn't going to happen. They provide a tremendous amount of information for those of us who are constantly on the run and don't have time to read the NY Times. Between the show hosts and the guests who join them, we get are able to put events in perspective based in no small part on their wealth of knowledge of previous administrations. They also expose us to the thoughts and opinions of the candidates running now. An informed public is the best asset for a country in debate. Air America has certainly raised the awareness of their listeners. The bunch inside the beltway are beginning to realize that people are paying attention. We knew when Roberts took the Intelligence Committee to a back room and stuffed the investigation on the wiretaps. They think they are getting away with this crap. We'll see what happens in November.
Trust me, if Air America has a fund raiser, they will do quite well.
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vipr232n
Sept. 14, 2006, 7:24 p.m.Ok, for the sake of length, I'll break this into 2 posts and curtail all of rich's comment... cause this is just too oppertuine to avoid.
"Now,where are ... believe in you."
That almost makes it sound like money is a prerequisite for ideals. Doesn't that then take the voice away from those sans-money?
"I guess ...without financial problems"
And why does that mean that Rush can say that? Doesn't it just mean he can say "I get more funding"?
"Libs come to ... lay them off"
... so? It just means their financial base isn't as big. Unlike many repubs, democrats don't have oil companies paying to keep them in. Big companies like more conservitive fiscal policies, so will pay to keep more conservitive people on air, it's just good buisness. Democrats or "liberals" don't have that conglomerate base so why fault them for that?
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vipr232n
Sept. 14, 2006, 7:27 p.m."I could only ..there [their] cause."
EEPPP, not rich, MONSTERS! -_- money isn't everything unless you're a libretarian who are so money hungry they consider the public school system wrong. They don't have big companies behind them, so they have less money, what's so hard to understand?
"True ..to sponsor it."
Wait, explain how fiscal problems without anyone there to provide sponsership is part of a liberal philosophy?
"Oh no..went under!!"
Guess you're right, democrats have never been as good with propoganda as the repubs,and that's what these stations are, attempts to get their idea out, even with false information, but the conservitives are backed by bigger companies. It's as simple as that. This is hardly a testimate to liberal ideology failing. Anyway, you act as though you believe they had no right to ever be on air, and I TRULY hope that I'm misjudging that and you believe they had the RIGHT to have their voice heard.
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ConquerorWyrm
Sept. 14, 2006, 8:02 p.m.AA fails with it's suits. the corporate heads seem to be intent on running themselves into the ground. seems like they got scared at what they started, and it makes me suspect they were setting it up to fail.
as for what AA started, what has escaped their bounds...the listeners are out there and they are hungry for a voice that doesn't fluctuate between administration mouthpiece stepford hosts (hannity), mentally ill druggies (fat man) and complete nutjobs who would rape their mothers if you gave them 5 bucks (savage)
AA has already shredded it's credibility amongst a huge percentage of their once faithful listeners (myself included) when they canned Mike Malloy.
basically, AA corporate has no idea who their listeners are and are really only concerned about making sure their revolving door CEOs get their golden parachutes...almost as if was a FOB run business like, well, enron...screw the consumer, give my my money!
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ArseholeMarsole
Sept. 14, 2006, 8:37 p.m.Bon Voyage, libs, and take the damn French with you. How can a conservative icon like Rush Limbaugh get PAID $20,000,000 or so a year while psuedo-intelectual Al Franken can't find a pot to ****** in? Americans hate liberals and liberalism.
This news could not have advanced the conservative movement any more than when we again hold both houses in Novemeber. What happended in 1994 that no one saw (even some high ranking republicans)? Republicans take Washington, D.C. What happend in 2002 that even Fatso Bill Clinton never did? That was GAIN seats in an off year election. 2004 - President George Walker Bush gets more than 50% of the vote and we keep both houses. This is 2006 and the libs will screw this election up; just like the past twelve years. Why? Libs have no real thought of their own. And, they all smell bad, like the French.
God Bless America
Arsehole J. Marsole, graduate EIB and the Rush Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies (RLIFACT)
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david_nwpa
Sept. 14, 2006, 9:08 p.m.Shall we set the record for all to hear? It was the liberals who started political talk radio. Don't believe me? Who, you ask started the political talk show gig? Franklin Roosevelt sat by a fireplace in the White House and addressed the nation with his Fireside Chats in the 1930s and 1940s. He started the concept of the Weekly Radio Address. FDR was an innovative communicator who knew how to speak to a nation in turmoil and woe. At the time we were deep in economic depression and struggling (eventually winning) the war.
Skip ahead a few decades and the right has taken to the airwaves in droves. They spread their message through AM Radio and attract a large gathering. The Democrats are by no means out of the radio business for good. Considering that Air America is relatively new, this is only a minor setback. Soon enough, they will raise the capital they need to remain solvent and continue broadcasting to America, at least I really hope so.
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mycatsneeze
Sept. 14, 2006, 9:11 p.m.Hey Rich4810,
News 4 you. the Christian right tried in Pheonix to squelch AA. They bought the station AA was on. But the people, the back of america sent money and AA is back on in AZ! I sent money to them to give America the truth! I live 2k miles away! I will give to AA to keep them up too. We have to have freedom of the air waves, Reagan took that away in the 80's, the start of the neocon fashism.
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ConquerorWyrm
Sept. 14, 2006, 9:28 p.m.Rush knows oxycontin and all-male sex junkets to Bermuda with handfuls of viagra...
the man lies, lies and lies...he's a draft dodger, a coward, a drug addict (shouldn't he be executed by his own rules? i hope he swallows a pipe), and a pervert by the Funnymentalist Evangelicult false-christian principles he pretends to uphold (how many wives does a family values man get to have?)...
Why do people follow this fool so blindly, like little brainless robots saying "ditto, ditto, ditto"...
i guest perverts must have heroes too
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TheHouseDivided
Sept. 14, 2006, 10:14 p.m.I'm a liberal, but I met Al Franken once, and he was really a JERK!
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silver48buk
Sept. 14, 2006, 10:50 p.m.To conqueror wyrm
What does that make you besides a coward and an atheist.
You sound like a person that is very unsuccessful and needs social programs to keep you prop up.
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THOMNH62
Sept. 14, 2006, 11:05 p.m.Silver, very well stated, probably on welfare blaming all white rich men for why they can't make it in the world,
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autoracer555
Sept. 14, 2006, 11:15 p.m.Why bother getting news from Air America or anywhere else?
Walton and Johnson are wear its at.
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silver48buk
Sept. 14, 2006, 11:17 p.m.If the libs can't stand Rush, they need to hear Boortz!
Neal will direct the libs which end of the cow to kiss.
Good statement THOMNH62
GO RUSH AND BOORTZ. OVER 40 YEARS OF RADIO EXPERIENCE, Al Franken another BUST just like his career.
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THOMNH62
Sept. 14, 2006, 11:19 p.m.I loved Al, and if he was on the air anywhere I could hear I would have, changed the station
But Gloria, and Jane are picking up where he left off, go girls
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THOMNH62
Sept. 14, 2006, 11:26 p.m.damn and whats with that face, he looks like, I know, a liberal who is constantly ******ed off, and now his face is stuck that way. I love to drive them nuts it is so much fun.
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