Despite this delusional pronouncement from the heir to the Kennedy name, Air America remains one of the great failures in the history of broadcasting.
Hide the Jack Daniels. Crazy Uncle bobby is coming over to visit and you need to protect him from himself.
Now, we’re only hypothesizing that it was alcohol talking, but what else could explain RFK Jr’s bizarre claim that Air America was more popular than conservative radio?
Despite this delusional pronouncement from the heir to the Kennedy name, Air America remains one of the great failures in the history of broadcasting. It has a horribly flawed business model, few stations, and few listeners. In the few major markets where it had affiliates, it had one sixth of the listeners of conservative talk radio.
Tavis Smily, any Kennedy and PBS. Mix ‘em all together and you’re sure to get some absolutely stupid comments.
Even though we know Hartmann is a lunatic lib, we’re still surprised that he would do a TV show for the Russians.
Much to our surprise, former Air America host and left wing lunatic Thom Hartmann is a fan of IHateTheMedia.com. Well, that may be overstating it just a tad, but he is a fan of one particular IHTM story.
Liberal Thom Hartmann loves conservative IHateTheMedia.com. Sort of.
A couple weeks ago we did a story called The Encounter. It was a parody – a tale of an enhanced TSA pat down disguised as softcore porn.
The Encounter got picked up by a lot of other websites and got a lot of attention.
Rich Albeen, the guy who wrote it, is an old friend of the Editor. Rich was amused when he received his own story in an email from another friend. Then he was enraged when someone else was credited as its author at the bottom of that email. Rich’s son was so irked that he took it upon himself to send an email to or leave a comment on every site that carried it without crediting IHateTheMedia.com and his dad.
Now back to Thom Hartmann. Apparently he has a TV show. A writer for that show tracked down the author The Encounter and the following exchange of emails took place:
From: Sam Sacks
To: Rich Albeen
Sent: Tue, December 21, 2010 3:41:33 PM
Subject: TSA Romance novel
Hi Mr. Albeen –
I’m a writer for the Big Picture with Thom Hartmann – a TV Show on RT America.
I’ve been trying to track the origin of this piece:
“He grasped me firmly but gently just above my elbow and guided me into a room, his room. Then he quietly shut the door and we were alone…”
And it seems like it traces back to a post your (sic) wrote on IHateMedia.com back in November – is that correct? Or did you get it from someone else as well?Any info would be great.
Thanks,
Sam Sacks
The Encounter, a tale of two strangers doing what strangers do in romance novels, coming soon to bookstores near you
From: Richard Albeen
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 8:03 PM
To: Sam Sacks
Subject: Re: TSA Romance novel
Sam,
I wrote the piece, originally titled The Encounter, for my friend … who owns and runs the website www.ihatethemedia.com.
The piece appeared in November.
(The Editor) and I have been friends for years. I’m a professional writer, and (he) asked me to do a piece on the current spate of TSA complaints for his satiric, parody-ish site. I agreed. It was fun.
I never knew it would have the impact that it evidently has. So, in short, I wrote the piece, it was entertaining, and the rest is, well, as you know.
Does this help?
From: Sam Sacks
To: Richard Albeen
Sent: Tue, December 21, 2010 5:34:18 PM
Subject: RE: TSA Romance novel
That’s helps a lot Rich – we really got a kick out of it over here and are thinking about using it in a piece on the show…just wanted to give credit to whoever originally wrote – you.
So thanks for the info.
-Sam
Here’s what Thom Hartmann’s The Big Picture program did with our story. We appreciate the newly-shorn Hartmann’s outstanding reading (he had just the proper degree of quiver in his voice) and the finely-acted final scene. Of course, it would have been nice if he had actually mentioned IHateTheMedia.com, but you can’t win ’em all.
We’re hit whores here at IHateTheMedia.com and we don’t care if Hartman’s a big lib. Our assumption is that almost anyone, regardless of political leanings, would find The Encounter funny. We’d love to have his lefty viewers come over here and leave their loony comments.
But we did wonder about Thom Hartmann’s TV show. We’d never heard of The Big Picture nor a television network called RT America, so we went to the website indicated on Sam Sacks’ email.
rttvamerica.com immediately refers over to another site, rt.com.
RT.com seemed to have a lot of Russian content, so we went to the bottom of the homepage where we found a copyright that said, “TV-Novosti.”
We googled TV-Novosti and found out that it is the Russian state-owned news agency. Here’s how Wikipedia describes it:
Russian International News Agency (RIA Novosti) is a Russian state-owned news agency based in the capital Moscow.
… By a decree of USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, “On the Establishment of the Information Agency Novosti,” the Information Agency Novosti (IAN) succeeded APN on July 27, 1990. “To provide information support for the USSR’s state domestic and foreign policies and proceeding from the interests of the democratization of the mass media,” the Novosti Press Agency was renamed the Information Agency Novosti (IAN). IAN’s tasks remained the same – preparing and publishing printed, TV and radio materials in the USSR and abroad; studying public opinion on Soviet foreign and domestic policies in the USSR and abroad.”
So the question is, why does Thom Hartmann, an extreme liberal radio talk show host, do a TV show produced by the Russian state-owned network?
The guy’s radio show has about a dozen listeners on a good day, so we’re not surprised that no American TV network is willing to offer him his own show. (Sure, we know that Rachel Maddow came out of AirAmerica, but she had that lesbian thing working for her. Hartmann doesn’t have that advantage).
Call us naïve, but even though we know Hartmann is a lunatic lib, we’re still surprised that he would do a TV show for the Russians. Obviously, his political philosophy is aligned more closely to that of the leftist dictatorship than it is to that of the American people, but what the hey? Do they not even try to hide it anymore?
Only in America, we suppose, would a failed liberal talk show host be given a TV show on a TV network run by an enemy of America.
Let’s see, Air America broadcast the most toxic programming in the history of radio. They stole money from a children’s charity. They stiffed their own employees for wages and benefits. And then they went bankrupt. Twice. Well, they’re out of business now, so there’s nothing more Air America can possibly do to hurt anyone. Not so fast.
Let’s see, Air America broadcast the most toxic programming in the history of radio. They stole money from a children’s charity. They stiffed their own employees for wages and benefits. And then they went bankrupt. Twice.
Well, they’re out of business now, so there’s nothing more Air America can possibly do to hurt anyone.
Not so fast.
Turns out the bankruptcy administrator is now selling off Air America’s “not be divulged to any third party” newsletter list and calling it “intellectual property.”
Here, from David R. Malt & Co.’s 435-item listing for the Air America bankruptcy auction, is the relevant portion highlighted in yellow.
It may say “January 21, 2010” on the death certificate, but Air America really died the day it was born. Mallard Fillmore explained the problem six years ago, soon after the lefty network went on the air.
It may say “January 21, 2010” on the death certificate, but Air America really died the day it was born. Mallard Fillmore explained the problem six years ago, soon after the lefty network went on the air.
This may come as a huge surprise to most Americans, but Air America is on the air. No. Correction. Make that was still on the air. The little-listened to lefty radio network just announced that it will case live broadcasting and file for bankruptcy.
This may come as a huge surprise to most Americans, but Air America is on the air. No. Correction. Make that was still on the air.
The little-listened to lefty radio network just announced that it will cease live broadcasting and file for bankruptcy.
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.
The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America’s business. This past year has seen a “perfect storm” in the media industry generally. National and local advertising revenues have fallen drastically, causing many media companies nationwide to fold or seek bankruptcy protection. From large to small, recent bankruptcies like Citadel Broadcasting and closures like that of the industry’s long-time trade publication Radio and Records have signaled that these are very difficult and rapidly changing times.
Those companies that remain are facing audience fragmentation as a result of new media technologies, are often saddled with crushing debt, and have generally found it difficult to obtain operating or investment capital from traditional sources of funding. In this climate, our painstaking search for new investors has come close several times right up into this week, but ultimately fell short of success.
With radio industry ad revenues down for 10 consecutive quarters, and reportedly off 21% in 2009, signs of improvement have consisted of hoping things will be less bad. And though Internet/new media revenues are projected to grow, our expanding online efforts face the same monetization and profitability challenges in the short term confronting the Web operations of most media companies
When Air America Radio launched in April, 2004 with already-known personalities like Al Franken and then-unknown future stars like Rachel Maddow, it was the only full-time progressive voice in the mainstream broadcast media world. At a critical time in our nation’s history — when dissent on issues such as the Iraq war were often denounced as “un-American” — Air America and its talented team helped millions of Americans remember the importance of compelling discussion about the most pivotal events and decisions of our generation.
Through some 100 radio outlets nationwide, Air America helped build a new sense of purpose and determination among American progressives. With this revival, the progressive movement made major gains in the 2006 mid-term elections and, more recently, in the election of President Barack Obama and a strongly Democratic Congress.
Laws have changed for the better thanks to this revival…..but all the same our company cannot escape the laws of economics. So we intend a rapid, orderly closure over the next few days. All current employees will be paid through today, January 21. A severance package will be offered tomorrow to full-time current employees with more than six months of tenure.
We will strive to assist affiliates and partners in achieving a smooth transition. Starting at 6 pm EST today, we will provide our affiliates, listeners and users a selection of encore programming until 9 pm EST on Monday, January 25, at which time Air America programming will end.
We are proud that Air America’s mission lives on through the words and actions of so many former radio hosts who are active today in progressive causes and media nationwide. In the years ahead, as we look back, we should all be proud of our passionate determination to assure that our nation’s progressive voice would be heard loud and clear. Through the hard work and dedication of current staff, and those who preceded you, a lasting legacy was forged which will now continue through other voices and venues.
Thank you.
No, thank you, Air America. Thank you for the years of laughs you gave rational Americans.
Thank you for providing radio jobs for untalented leftist hacks who couldn’t possibly have found them anywhere else.
Thank you for helping left wing millionaires piss their money away when it could have gone to far more effective uses.
“Why is he saying those terrible things?” is the easy part. Left wing lunatics just don’t like you, Glenn. The tougher question is, “Who the hell is Beau Friedlander?”
“Why is he saying those terrible things?” is the easy part. Left wing lunatics just don’t like you, Glenn. The tougher question is, “Who the hell is Beau Friedlander?”
Turns out Beau (apparently his real name) is the editor-in-chief of Air America. We were shocked when he wrote an article in the Huffington Post demanding that Fox News fire Glenn Beck.
Don’t get us wrong. We weren’t shocked that he wrote the article. No. We were shocked to find out that Air America is still in operation.
It seems that Beau was hired by Air America to bring their internet-based reporting up to the level of a really bad Jerry Springer episode. Beau, to his credit is trying, first demanding that everyone forego Fox News or be branded un-American. Then, saving his liberal funniest for last, remarking that Van Jones is no more communist than (wait for it)…Glenn Beck.
That got us scrambling (in vain, it seems) for Glenn Beck’s admission of being a communist. Maybe Beau can get a copy of Glenn Beck’s confession from Dan Rather or better yet, maybe Air America can hire Dan and they can work together on stories.
To study Beau at work, and to see the sophisticated methods that Air America utilizes to determine which stories are the most timely and important, watch the embedded video.
Former Air America host Rachel Maddow. Or current Air America host Ron Regan, Jr. We're not sure which.
Air America breathlessly announced yet another corporate restructuring this week.
It’s starting its own network sales division, which will pitch all the company’s radio, video and online content directly to ad agencies instead of depending on third party rep Westwood One for ad sales.
“Agencies are sophisticated in their planning and their creative approach in making strategies for their clients, which will hopefully become our clients,” said Air America Media CEO Bennett Zier. “Because Air America is a particular type of company, and a left of center company, there are certain companies that want to advertise with us, and we want to be able to facilitate that and work with them more directly.”
“Air America is turning into a multimedia company,” Zier said. “And we are looking to attract listeners, viewers and readers with the radio and airamerica.com.”
The good news is that Air America’s management has finally discovered capitalism. The bad news is that it probably won’t trickle down to the air talent.
Stephanie Miller showed up on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” about ten days ago and hinted at a nefarious plot on the part of conservative radio station owners to bring down the “highly successful” lib talk juggernaut.
“Well, you know – I just did a panel on the Fairness Doctrine,” the unfunny Miller said. “I have to tell you, I brought ratings information. And people like me and Ed Schultz are consistently beating conservative shows in many, many markets. And yet – there is 10 percent liberal radio in this country. Ninety percent of the stations are conservative. You just cannot argue anymore it’s because liberal radio can’t compete.”
That would be impossible – and she knows it – for one very simple reason: neither Miller nor Schultz air in “many, many markets.” If the information on her website is up-to-date:
Miller has affiliates in just 50 markets (a dreadful total after years of flogging this dog in syndication)
She has affiliates in only nine of the Top 50 markets.
Eight of those nine have ratings below 1.0 (again, dreadful is the only appropriate word)
Three of her Top 10 market affiliates have zero ratings.
Eight of her 50 affiliates air her program only on weekends.
Thirteen of her 50 affiliates air only a portion of her program or air it at odd hours (or both).
Twenty of her 50 affiliates are in markets ranking #120 or smaller
Twelve of her affiliates are in markets too small to be rated.
Even worse for Miller, her syndication efforts are going full speed in reverse. She’s lost a startling 62.5% (15 of 24) of the Top 50 affiliates she once had and her problem seem to be accelerating. In the last few months she’s lost affiliates in Miami, Phoenix and Columbus and gained none.
The bottom line is pretty clear:
Stephanie Miller’s talk show is a ratings disaster. Instead of blaming “conservative” station owners, she should put the blame where it belongs. On herself.
AN ADDED NOTE: Is it our imagination or is Miller beginning to look just like Gloria Allred?
Air America is going into the syndication business. And its first outside client is a Newsweek Magazine radio production called “Newsweek On the Air.”
In keeping with Air America’s corporate mission statement, the program has been on the air for 27-years, but no one is known to have ever actually listened to it.
In reality, this isn’t news. It’s merely the continuation of a long, friendly relationship between the two lib media sources. Like when Chris Dodd goes to dinner with Ted Kennedy.
For example, back in 2004 when Air America first hit the airwaves, Newsweek covered the event with an effusive story that was long on compliments and short on reality.
It is surely no coincidence that this “big” announcement falls on a week in which Newsweek’s cover story attacks conservative icon Rush Limbaugh, Air America’s arch enemy.
This really is an almost Zen-like concept: A radio network no one listens to syndicating a program no one’s ever heard from a magazine no one reads.
Former trash TV host and current presidential coin conman Montel Williams is joining Air America. He has the perfect resume for floundering libtalk network – no radio experience.
“Montel Across America” debuts in April. Here’s how Air America describes this momentous occasion in a press release:
“Meet Air America’s newest addition, Emmy award-winning host Montel Williams! His new Air America program is called ‘Montel Across America,’ and it debuts April 6 airing weekdays from 9am-12pm EST on radio stations across the country.”
“On radio stations?” Most press releases include the number of radio stations. Like “Dennis Miller will debut in 73 markets.” Or “Rush Limbaugh is heard on 600 radio stations.” But Air America really doesn’t want to get into that sort of thing because they have so few affiliates.
So let’s just leave it at “…debuts April 6 from 9am-12pm EST on radio stations….”
“Next up on Air America, Rikki Lake asks teenage girls, ‘Who’s your baby daddy?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0RCJdjUfO4Add a dollop of dementia. A pinch of paranoia. A smidgeon of socialism. Mix it all together into an ideological olio and half-bake at 450 degrees. Voila! You have the next MSNBC primetime host.
Ever since news got out that MSNBC wants to create a new show for its 7:00 p.m. time slot, fans of libtalk radio have been flooding the lefty cable network with unsolicited endorsements of various libtalk hosts
Two fan-based Facebook groups have been founded to promote Cenk Uygur of “The Young Turks” internet radio show and Sam Seder of Air America.
We say either of these guys is perfect for MSNBC. No one’s ever heard of them. No one’s ever listened to them. And no one will ever watch them.
The “On the Air” sign has been turned off for the last time at floundering libtalk network Nova M Radio.
Nova M’s employees remain unpaid for the past two weeks and the company will reportedly seek bankruptcy protection next week. Lunatic talkers Randi Rhodes and Mike Malloy had been the network’s two “big” stars. We use the term “big” advisedly, because Malloy’s program was carried by only eleven radio stations.
Nova M was founded by Anita and Sheldon Drobny, the financial wizards who previously founded Air America, another floundering libtalk radio network.
This is like the old joke. How did Sheldon Drobny make a small fortune in talk radio? He started with a large fortune.
Senator Debbie Stabenow and husband Thomas Athans want to kill your choices in Talk Radio
When you’re listening to someone from Washington, DC, what they don’t say is often more important than what they do say.
For example, Democrat Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow says she wants to bring back the Fairness Doctrine. What she doesn’t say is that her husband, Thomas Athans, is the Executive VP of floundering Air America.
“Whether it’s called the Fairness Standard, whether it’s called something else,” she told Bill Press, “I absolutely think it’s time to be bringing accountability to the airwaves.”
When asked if she would push for hearings in the Senate this year, Stabenow said, “I have already had some discussions with colleagues. And, you know, I feel like that’s gonna happen. Yep.”
“A law that would force people to listen to me,” Press thought to himself. “That sure seems a lot easier than having talent.”
As a public service, we occasionally feel obligated to translate some of the crap found in the media. In this case, we find ourselves translating a Rachel Maddow interview in the NY Daily News.
“During the election last year, Maddow established herself as one of the big three at MSNBC, which had its best run ever, with her show following Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann.” (Translation: Her initial ratings were through the roof, but they are sinking faster than the Titanic.)
“But she was a charter host on Air America in March 2004, so she and the radio network have now figured out a way to give her an ongoing presence there.” (Translation: Maddow dumped Air America because low-rated television hosts make a lot more money than low-rated radio hosts.)
“She also notes that she and her MSNBC colleagues ‘don’t exactly march in lockstep. Sometimes when we’re doing a panel, we have no agreement at all.'” (Translation: Some of them are Stalinists while others are Maoists.)
We feel like one of those guys at the UN with the earphones and microphone who instantaneously translate speeches from Urdu to Tagalog. Except that translating Liberal is a lot tougher.
The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America’s business. This past year has seen a “perfect storm” in the media industry generally. National and local advertising revenues have fallen drastically, causing many media companies nationwide to fold or seek bankruptcy protection. From large to small, recent bankruptcies like Citadel Broadcasting and closures like that of the industry’s long-time trade publication Radio and Records have signaled that these are very difficult and rapidly changing times.
Air America is going into the syndication business. And its first outside client is a Newsweek Magazine radio production called “Newsweek On the Air.”
As a public service, we occasionally feel obligated to translate some of the crap found in the media. In this case, we find ourselves translating a Rachel Maddow interview in the NY Daily News.