Air Ameirca Is No More

[Signal_Faded]

From Al Peterson at NTS Aircheck:

Air America Pulls The Plug

In a statement released to staffers today AAR head Charlie Kireker said, “It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon,and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.” More details soon at www.ntsmediaonline.com.

[OhioMediaWatch]

More details on Air America's website, which is just a statement now.

http://www.airamerica.com/

They'll run repeats through Monday, then go dark completely.

[The Ultimate Warrior]

We need a fairness doctrine!

I just wanted to be the first to say it.

[Sean Gilbow]

It's now official...the undisputed leader in liberal talk is Dial Global.

[ctk]

i hope people aren't going to pile on and say the reason it failed was because it was liberal talk radio and liberal talk radio can't sell and doesn't work with the people.  that is completely and totally BS.  the reason that air america failed was because it was run by people who by all rights had no idea what they were doing in the radio industry.  they started with a whimper and a fall in their first month and never produced enough competant radio people to be taken fairly seriously until it was pretty much way too late.  losing thom hartmann in my opinion was the death strike.

my only question now is what happens with the weekend programming?  i particularly like ring of fire radio.  i hope dial global picks them up for a weekend gig.

[Wyatt Cox]

I second ctk's comment.  Air America failed not because it was liberal radio, but because it was awful radio. 

[The Ultimate Warrior]

Go watch Left of the Dial, this thing was doomed from day 1.

Bonus feature: Randi Rhodes' getting upset when Micheal Moore had no idea who she was.

[Sean Gilbow]

I third ctk.

As for Randi...keep in mind her syndicator is Premiere, home to Rush, Beck and Hannity.

[OhioMediaWatch]

If I'm not mistaken, if a station still wants to do full-time liberal talk, all weekday dayparts are covered by other syndicated product now (Dial Global, Premiere with Randi, the new Norman Goldman show, etc.).

This may not knock off many stations.  WZAA in Washington DC (Air America lease of the Bonneville station) would be the obvious exception to that...

[Sean Gilbow]

Between 6 a.m. and midnight EDT, that would be correct OMW.

6 to 9 a.m.--Bill Press
9 a.m. to noon--Stephanie Miller
Noon to 3 p.m.--Ed Schultz or Thom Hartmann
3 to 6 p.m.--Randi Rhodes
6 to 9 p.m.--Norman Goldman
9 p.m. to midnight--Mike Malloy