Air America Complaint Department [Air America founder blasts Dem "elites" and Hollywood "phonies"]

Liberal site | Aug 25, 2006 | Sheldon Drobny

[summer]

Sheldon's new book, blasting "elites" and "phonies" in Dem Party who were too cheap to help start Air America

Believe it or not, I am not trying to offend anyone with my posts.

... many criticisms have been directed at me for the “problems” that Air America has had during its “birth pangs.” Almost 5 years ago I started the Air America project and invested over $3 Million on the start of a liberal radio network. In fact, Arianna invited me to her house in November, 2002 to present some of my ideas with a group of Hollywood elites trying to save Salon.com. At the time, I was a big donor to the Democratic Party and had personal contacts with Bill and Hillary Clinton as well as Al and Tipper Gore. They opened the door for me to meet with everyone on both coasts to try to raise some follow-on money for our project.

We had hundreds of meetings with the kind of people and organizations that collectively were worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Not a single one made an investment with us although many promises were made. The reason that happened is something I wrote about in my book, Road To Air America. I also had introductions to public and union pension funds with promises made to me that never came to pass. The reason was simple. I was not a part of any inner circle in the political or entertainment world. The cronyism is so horrible in the Democratic elite that they have no time for new faces or new ideas. So they continually talk to the same people over and over again with the same result. Nothing ever happens.

My new book is scheduled to be published in the fall and is pictured in this article. My last book was tame in comparison to my new book. The details will be much more informative to the people who look up to these power elites. You will all be shocked at the cronyism and incompetence in that world. Because of the lack of financial support we were obligated to turn over the project to another group that was totally responsible for the early problems of AAR. When we came back to help save AAR, I was the first to give almost $800,000 to save what I thought was a worthwhile project. While there have been substantial investments in AAR since that time, without my business skills and financial contribution in the summer of 2004, AAR would have been out of business.

The money that I put up for AAR was all that I could afford. I am not a mega millionaire nor do I need any handouts from the phonies in the elite to survive. I am doing fine in my business. I was misguided in the belief that these people really cared enough to support a noble project. AAR is going to be successful despite its shortcomings. I am no longer a part of management nor do I have anything to do with programming. I agree with many of the criticisms of AAR, but I am only a minority owner. As a result, my wife and I started a company to acquire radio stations to support the liberal talk format. We have stations in Phoenix and Little Rock and we saved Air America in Phoenix after a Christian radio company bought the AAR affiliate in Phoenix. With the help of the community and our resources, we paid $500,000 to get AAR back on the air in Phoenix. We handle our own programming in Phoenix and Little Rock and some of it is the best that Air America offers.

I do know how to run a business well and syndicated talk radio is not difficult. The program managers on most broadcast media are followers rather than leaders. They are not visionaries and generally look in the rear view mirror for programming ideas. If I were to have had control of AAR with the help of a little backing, things would be much different for AAR’s performance. I do think they are now going in the right direction and our radio company will do a lot to help the cause. The lack of financial support was a major disappointment for me and another example of the fact that “there is no good deed that goes unpunished.” I did not need to do AAR to make a livelihood. I did it because I was frightened about what was happening to our country.

As to Bill Maher and the other Hollywood phonies, please don’t count on them to help. They only care about themselves. It is interesting that shortly after I wrote my book about AAR, my publisher hired the finest PR firm to get some guest appearances for me. One of the firm’s contacts was to the Maher show. At that time, AAR was one of the biggest media stories in the country. And it was mostly positive and well supported. I watched with great interest that season the Ann Coulter premiere interview on the Maher show promoting her new book about how all liberals are insane perverts. That took precedence over a book about AAR, which could have helped publicize the network for the greater good. I did not write the book to make money and in fact I have spent close to $100,000 to get the AAR story publicized for the sake of some balance.

If anyone has any complaints about AAR, please direct them to the phonies in Hollywood and in broadcast journalism who grease each other’s palm instead of doing the right thing. Yes, I am angry with these people for their selfishness and disregard of the struggling constituency that they pretend to support. I actually was a true believer before this all happened. And for those of you who criticize me for my lack of tolerance of these crazy hateful people and their enablers, keep on watching these shows and make them all rich while your life goes down the drain.

Economics is a zero sum game. That is a fact and whatever share of the economic pot the wealthy elites have comes right out of your pocket. It is time for everyone to open up their windows and scream out, “I’m as mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore.”

[summer]

In much of the above rant, this guy sounds like he should be posting on FR!

[summer]

FYI.

[darkangel82]

hm...he says nothing about the $ they stole from that kids' charity, does he?

[summer]

FYI.

[summer]

Maybe that is a big part of his new book. Maybe not.

[darkangel82]

He can write it from his cell in Club Fed.

[Jet Jaguar]

"which could have helped publicize the network for the greater good. I did not write the book to make money and in fact I have spent close to $100,000 to get the AAR story publicized for the sake of some balance."

What a dumb ass.

[freedumb2003]

Economics is a zero sum game.

No it isn't. Anyone who would say anything so ignorant isn't worth listening to about what time it is, much less read a book.

That is a fact and whatever share of the economic pot the wealthy elites have comes right out of your pocket.

Only an unemployed person would think this.

[summer]

Whenever a real Dem insider writes about the Dem Party, it's always the same story -- how they don't listen, they don't care, etc. It's really not very inspiring to a voter sitting on the fence. At least the GOP reaches out as much as possible. The Dem leaders don't do that, unless it's ten minutes before the polls open.

[Liz]

Nice find---bump.

[okie01]

This was a very illuminating post.

Sheldon Drobny thinks he was screwed by the Democrat leadership. So, who hasn't been?

Sheldon Drobny thinks Err America can be a commercial success. Delusions of grandeur?

He sounds like a sane person. But he has some insane beliefs.

[hinckley buzzard]

You will all be shocked at the cronyism and incompetence in that world

Sounds like Juan Williams, who has discovered to his shock and dismay that liberals actually launch nasty personal attacks against those who challenge the received marching orders.

Makes one wonder where each of these yahoo's has been the last forty years.

[NonValueAdded]

You will all be shocked at the cronyism and incompetence in that world.

We're not shocked.

[summer]

Here's his bio:

Sheldon Drobny was the co-founder of Air America Radio. He is also the Chairman and Managing Director of Paradigm Group II, a venture capital firm specializing in socially responsible businesses. He has been the major force in developing Paradigm to the status it has achieved today. Mr. Drobny, a Certified Public Accountant and winner of the Elijah Watts Sells award for outstanding performance on the Uniform CPA Exam has practiced public accounting for over 30 years. Prior to entering public accounting, he had a number of years of taxation experience with the Internal Revenue Service. Mr. Drobny specializes in business and tax matters and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court as a non-attorney. Less than 200 non-attorneys have been admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court since its inception in 1942. Mr. Drobny received a Bachelor of Science Degree in accounting from Roosevelt University in Chicago and is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, an honorary fraternity recognizing acadamic achievement in colleges of business administration.

[summer]

LOL...true -- we're not shocked -- but many rank and file Dem voters will be shocked!

[dirtboy]

He sounds like a sane person. But he has some insane beliefs.

He's a typical liberal in wanting to think the market is anything other than what people are willing to pay for or listen to or watch.

[modhom]

Economics is a zero sum game.
This is exactly wrong. The first lesson in Economics is that it isn't a zero sum game. Just because someone wins that doesn't mean there is necessarily a loser. Everyone can win at the same time.

[HawaiianGecko]

The lack of financial support was a major disappointment for me and another example of the fact that “there is no good deed that goes unpunished.”

There is also no bad business decision that goes unpunished. Starting a liberal radio talk show was simply a foolish idea. It doesn't matter one scintilla how good a business manager one is, if the product doesn't sell, you will fail.  If liberal elites invest money in your venture, you will fail later. Don't blame these guys for making a sound decision by not backing you.
 

[telebob]

"I also had introductions to public and union pension funds with promises made to me that never came to pass."

Come again? The liberal elites promised him public funding or pension money from the working families of America? Am I reading that right?