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Home Front: Culture Wars
Air America Finds An (Insider) Buyer
2007-01-30
Air America Radio, a liberal talk radio network, said Monday that it had reached a tentative agreement to be sold to the founder of a New York area real estate company. The network also said that Al Franken, its longtime headline personality, would depart next month.
And no one's gonna notice ...
That's not fair. I'm sure two out of three listeners will notice, though I'll agree it's doubtful the guy with the hat will.
The agreement with Stephen Green, the founder and chairman of SL Green Realty Corp., appears to rescue the struggling network, which has been seeking a buyer since last fall when it filed for bankruptcy reorganization after reaching an impasse with one of its creditors.

Any sale would have to be approved by the bankruptcy court. The company has signed what is called a letter of intent to sell itself to Green and expects to agree on financial terms soon, Air America spokeswoman Jaime Horn said.

Green is the brother of Mark Green, a longtime New York politician who has also appeared frequently as a guest on Air America Radio. Green's company is a real estate investment trust that owns and manages office properties, mainly in Manhattan, with 27 million square feet of space under its control.

The network said in a statement that Franken's last day on the air would be Feb. 14, and that his noon-3pm ET time slot would be taken over by Portland, Ore.-based talk show host Thom Hartmann. The network didn't specify why Franken was leaving, ...
... other than his ratings sucked ...
... but Franken told the AP earlier this month that he had contacted Minnesota lawmakers to seek advice about a possible run for the Senate.

Air America launched with much fanfare in 2004 as an alternative to conservative radio talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh. But it ran into several tough spots including a management shakeup just five weeks after going on the air that saw the departure of its chairman, Evan Cohen. Last April former music executive Danny Goldberg abruptly stepped aside as CEO. The current CEO is Scott Elberg.
Sounds like a shell game to defraud their creditors.
Posted by:Anonymoose

#11  I'd like to help out by donating a working FM transmitter. I got a new one for my MP3 player so they're welcome to my old one. They'll need to supply two AAA batteries.
Posted by: DMFD   2007-01-30 21:42  

#10  I get the feeling that Green is “Buying” Air Amerika to save some of its investors and not to make money per se. He “buys” Air Amerika and after some careful contemplation he sells off all the assets in a fire sale or there is an actual fire and everything is lost. The investors get a fat check and Green gets either a tax deduction or nice check from the insurance company. Either way I donÂ’t see Air America gaining any markets or continuing on the air. In Sacramento (a fairly Liberal market) KSAC (0.4) came in dead last behind KGO (0.7) and KNCO (0.5). That would not be unique except that KGO is from San Francisco and KNCO is from Reno NV.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2007-01-30 10:56  

#9  Laura Ingraham mentioned that buying Air America is akin to people with more money than sense buying up the last of the 8-Track producers.

I don't recall that, but then I avoided the 8-Track and stuck with the vinyl.
Posted by: eLarson   2007-01-30 09:50  

#8  Brother sucking sounds like a muslim tradition.
Are the Greens muslim ?
Posted by: wxjames   2007-01-30 09:43  

#7  It"s so nice to see them fall so hard. perhaps they"ll get the point and change programming gasp, wheeze, bwahaaaaaaa, sorry, couldn"t hold it in any longer, just impossible to keep a straight face.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2007-01-30 09:41  

#6  Yes, when I want someone to run a radio network, the first people I call is a real estate company.
Sounds like someone sucked their brother in bigtime...
Posted by: tu3031   2007-01-30 09:37  

#5  two out of three listeners

Hate to be nitpicky, but shouldn't that read as "two out of the three listeners"?
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839   2007-01-30 09:33  

#4  Green is the brother of Mark Green, a longtime New York politician who has also appeared frequently as a guest on Air America Radio.

Mark Green is a fricking crypto-commie. Even The Economist describes him as 'leftish.'
I'd sooner vote for Castro to head a human rights commission.
Posted by: Free Radical   2007-01-30 09:16  

#3  It's good when they find worthy projects upon which to throw away their money. So much less is available for mischief making later.

Nothing in Santa Cruz? I'll have to remember to ask my sister about that -- she's there studying for her PhD. Quite possibly in that market Air America is competing with the local independent and university stations.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-01-30 07:28  

#2  Found a new sucker investor. How can a liberal radio network not sell even one ad in Santa Cruz CA?
Posted by: ed   2007-01-30 02:16  

#1  The Clinton/Soros axis taking over?
Posted by: mojo   2007-01-30 01:31  

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