Air America Radio

Business plan overview

Air America is a relatively new entrant into the mature format of news talk radio, known in the radio industry as "talkers". The network was known as Central Air during its development phase.

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Historical context

In formulating its programming decisions and business plan, Air America took into account the history of media and politics. Since the 1964 presidential election, opponents of the New Deal coalition had been building think tanks and media to formulate or contribute to a Republican alternative to what they saw as the liberal mass media. Groups with right-wing politics moved to harness the emerging alternative media formats, particularly talk radio, and for many years, the airwaves were dominated by Rush Limbaugh and others espousing various right-wing political views. Writers, including British journalists Jonathan Freedland, John Micklethwait, and Adrian Wooldridge, have credited this Republican alternative with shifting the tone of American public debate. By creating an electoral environment where Republican candidates are more able to succeed, Democratic candidates are forced further to the right in order to be "electable". Micklethwait and Wooldridge wrote about this in The Right Nation, and David Brock wrote about it in The Republican Noise Machine.

Related Topics:
1964 presidential election - Opponents - New Deal coalition - Think tank - Republican - Right-wing - Talk radio - Rush Limbaugh - Jonathan Freedland - John Micklethwait - Adrian Wooldridge - The Right Nation - David Brock - The Republican Noise Machine

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Conservative dominance of talk radio may have played an important role in winning a shift in the balance of the United States House of Representatives in the 1994 midterm elections, though other factors such as the Contract with America also may have played significant roles. That analysis also credits the media with hampering Clinton's second term by keeping alive stories of scandal in the White House, and contributing to the victory of George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election.

Related Topics:
United States House of Representatives - 1994 - Midterm elections - Contract with America - Clinton's - Stories of scandal - White House - George W. Bush - 2000 presidential election

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The growing realization that liberal groups were becoming ineffective in terms of getting their viewpoint across in the media was the reason the concept of creating a liberal talk radio network emerged as a serious idea.

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Early start-up difficulties

Air America was the initial idea of Sheldon Drobny and Anita Drobny, who wanted to start a progressive radio talk network to compete with conservative talk radio. Air America was started as part of Progress Media, which said it had amassed $30 million in venture capital prior to its debut, a claim which later turned out to be untrue (only $6 million was initially collected). Two individuals from Guam, Rex Sorensen and Evan Montvel Cohen, were involved in raising the capital but denied any wrongdoing. http://www.kuam.com/news/10010.aspx Cohen had an unusual background for someone in his position within a progressive radio network since he was a Republican political operative in Guam and former chief of staff for Republican Governor Tommy Tanaka. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0404270148apr27,1,4508151,print.story?coll=chi-business-hed&ctrack=3&cset=true Cohen dismissed concerns by saying he was a committed "progressive" and that Republicans in Guam "are left of Paul Wellstone." It was reported that Cohen had unpaid business debts in Guam, although Cohen denies this. http://www.makethemaccountable.com/articles/Radio_Daze.htm Tommy Tanaka pleaded guilty to corruption charges in 2003.

Related Topics:
Sheldon Drobny - Progressive - Conservative - Venture capital - Guam - Evan Montvel Cohen - Tommy Tanaka - Paul Wellstone - 2003

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Two weeks after its debut, Air America Radio was pulled off the air by the owner of two stations that the network had licensed in Chicago and Santa Monica, California. This was due to a contract dispute between Air America and the stations' owner, Multicultural Radio Broadcasting. Air America alleges Multicultural Radio may have sold time on their Los Angeles station to them and another party, and stopped payment on checks to them while they investigated. Multicultural Radio alleges that Air America bounced a check and owes $1 million. Air America Radio filed a complaint in New York Supreme Court, charging breach of contract and was granted an injunction to restore the network on WNTD-AM in Chicago. On April 20, the network announced the dispute had been settled, and Air America's last day of broadcast on WNTD was April 30. The New York Supreme Court ultimately concluded that the injunction was improvidently entered and that Air America Radio's court action was without merit, dismissing Air America's complaint and awarding over $250,000 in damages and attorneys' fees to Multicultural. http://michellemalkin.com/archives/mrbidefault.pdf According to a subsequent lawsuit filed by Multicultural, Air America Radio never paid the sums ordered by the court. http://hyperion.hmdnsgroup.com/~malkin/archives/files/mrbi052405.pdf

Related Topics:
Chicago - Santa Monica, California - Multicultural Radio Broadcasting - Los Angeles - New York Supreme Court - Breach of contract - April 20 - April 30

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Four weeks after Air America's debut, the CEO, Mark Walsh, and Dave Logan, its executive vice president for programming, left the network. One week after those departures, the chairman and vice chairman, Evan Cohen and his investment partner Rex Sorensen, also left. Some attributed Cohen's departure to investor unhappiness with how he handled the dispute with Multicultural Radio Broadcasting.

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Columnist Michael Goodwin of the New York Daily News quoted a marketing communications manager from General Motors, declaring "GM will not advertise on any Air America affiliates." However, GM OnStar commercials have been appearing on the Internet stream since the fall of 2004.

Related Topics:
Michael Goodwin - New York Daily News - General Motors - OnStar

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As part of a reorganization, investors in Progress Media bought the assets of that company, creating its current owner, Piquant LLC. An important change which accompanied the reorganization was a decision to stop trying to buy radio stations and lease air time, or insist that stations carry all of the network's programming.

Related Topics:
Progress Media - Piquant LLC

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On February 28, 2005, a new CEO, Danny Goldberg, was named. Goldberg set a goal of getting the network in 90% of the country as soon as possible. Expansions early in his tenure included Austin and Dallas, Texas in March 2005, and a return to Chicago in May 2005. At a media conference in July 2005, Goldberg stated that Air America Radio would be on 75 stations as of August, and that Air America News would be relaunched in September as a much more expansive operation to "provide news for our stations and beyond."

Related Topics:
February 28 - 2005 - Danny Goldberg - Austin - Dallas, Texas

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A documentary on the network's rocky start and ultimate resurgence, Left of the Dial, premiered March 31, 2005 on HBO.

Related Topics:
Left of the Dial - March 31 - HBO

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In April 2005, the studio of an AAR affiliate in Warren, Ohio, WANR-AM, was briefly occupied by a group that changed the locks and began broadcasting Christian programming until the police forced them to leave. http://www.ominous-valve.com/blog/2005/04/air-america-under-further-righty.html A few weeks later, the group seeking to switch the station's format to Christian programming was able to purchase the station, and the Air America programming was discontinued. http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/randirhodes/messageboards/index.php?showtopic=51116&pid=427706&st=0&#entry427706

Related Topics:
Warren, Ohio - Christian

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On July 28th 2005, Sinohe Terrero, AAR's VP of Finance, issued a memo to employees advising that payroll direct deposits would be delayed by one working day and not post on Friday July 29th as expected. The memo stated "We have been advised by ADP that Direct Deposit will probably not post until Monday. "

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Ratings

Air America affiliates have gotten off to a strong start in some markets, and have performed poorly in others. In Arbitron's Spring 2005 ratings book, the most recent available as of October 2005, Air America stations showed significant percentage gains in a number of large markets, including Los Angeles, Denver, Washington, and Phoenix, though ratings in most markets continued to lag well behind those of older, more established talk stations. The cumulative listening audience of Air America affiliate stations showed an increase from 1.3 million persons age 12 and up in fall 2004 to 3.1 million in spring 2005, much of which was due to listeners gained when the network added new stations around the country during that time. http://www.airamericaradio.com/node/657

Related Topics:
Arbitron - As of October 2005

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In New York City, Air America's flagship station WLIB won a 1.3-percent share of the market audience in the spring of 2004, the network's first full quarter of operation. WLIB's rating rose to 1.4 percent in the summer of 2004 before gradually declining to 1.0 by the spring 2005 rating period, where it remains today.http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRRatings/DetailsPage.aspx?MID=184&RY=2005&RQ=3&MP=2&OTHER=2&MN=New%20York&MS=NY&MR=1&12P=15283100&UP=9/19/2005%2012:00:00%20AM&SU=CM&BPER=17.5&HPER=19.1&OPER=&NSD=10/17/2005%2012:00:00%20AM&CE=0 WLIB's The Al Franken Show is consistently beaten in its time slot by popular conservative host Rush Limbaugh on WABC, the flagship station of the ABC Radio Network, although Franken's program typically beats that of WOR talker Bill O'Reilly, whose long-running feud with Franken provides frequent material for both hosts, in the crucial 25-54 demographic.

Related Topics:
New York City - WLIB - Rush Limbaugh - WABC - ABC Radio Network - WOR - Bill O'Reilly - Long-running feud - Demographic

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Conservative critics of Air America often deride the network's ratings on WLIB, which typically fail to outperform the Caribbean music format the station programmed before 2004. Defenders point to Air America stations' performance nationwide, which has trended generally upward, and in markets including Los Angeles (where listenership on station KTLK has tripled since the beginning of the year) and Portland, Oregon (where station KPOJ ranks second among AM stations and fifth overall).

Related Topics:
Los Angeles - KTLK - Portland, Oregon - KPOJ - AM

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A daily podcast of The Al Franken Show has consistently appeared in the list of the most popular podcasts downloaded each day from Apple Computer's iTunes website since being introduced in the spring of 2005.

Related Topics:
Podcast - Apple Computer - ITunes

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For more ratings information, see the listings at Radio and Records, and search by call letter within the specific markets.

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Support from Clear Channel

Clear Channel tested the format at KPOJ-AM in Portland, Oregon, the first station to join Air America as an affiliate broadcasting Air America shows combined with other programming. As a result, the station increased its ages 12 and up market share by nearly an order of magnitude. KPOJ's spring 2004 Arbitron ratings grew from a 0.4 to a 3.7.

Related Topics:
Clear Channel - Portland, Oregon - Affiliate - Order of magnitude - Arbitron

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The success in Portland led Clear Channel to switch more of its stations to the format, so that as of September 2004 over a third of Air America's affiliates are owned by Clear Channel. This includes stations in swing states such as Florida (West Palm Beach and Miami (12th largest radio market)), Colorado, Ohio, and New Mexico, as well as major markets such as San Diego (17th largest) and Boston (9th largest). Ratings in Boston (WXKS 1430 and WKOX 1200) have shown a lack of success, including a couple ratings periods where both stations got 0.0. In the summer of 2005, the stations got 0.4 and 0.2 respectively, while conservative talk stations like WRKO got 3.9.

Related Topics:
As of September 2004 - Swing state - West Palm Beach - Miami - San Diego - Boston

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Infinity Broadcasting is also testing Air America on its stations. On October 22, 2004, Infinity announced that it was switching one of its country stations in Seattle (1090 AM) to Air America.

Related Topics:
Infinity Broadcasting - October 22 - 2004 - Seattle

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The senior vice president of Infinity Radio Seattle said of the switch, "We believe this is distinctive programming. There are those in the radio business who believe that shows with a liberal perspective won't get an audience. Air America in recent months has shattered that myth."http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2002069848_airamerica22.html

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Community relations

• Al Franken has taken his talents overseas for the USO carrying in the long tradition of U.S. entertainers of all backgrounds going to entertain military personnel overseas. Franken has done so in a non-partisan manner.
• The Al Franken Show has gone on several road trips giving new audiences an opportunity to meet the hosts in person.
• On the air, one show will have promotional spots in the other show.
• Each program on Air America also has its own website in the blog format. These various blogs provide a text and graphics link between hosts and the audience. The blogs foster a feeling of community. In addition to these, several of the hosts have independent name blogs. see: External links
• In addition to commercial sponsors, Air America also devotes time to public service announcements or PSAs. Some of the groups AAR has included are Operation Truth, the U.S. Government office of National Drug Control Policy, ONDCP, the Center for American Progress, and the Willie Nelson endorsed group NORML.

Promotion

Air America Radio's early promotions humorously describe the network as further to the left than a number of well-known right-wing groups, such as the NRA and the John Birch Society, as well as the fictional and apolitical character Betty Crocker.

Related Topics:
NRA - John Birch Society - Betty Crocker

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Current campaigns (as of 2005) include outdoor advertising in New York City. Billboards and transit shelters feature pictures of Rhodes, Springer, and other hosts with the slogan, "The only talk radio left."

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