Free Republic

On her MSNBC show last night, the left-wing Air America host Rachel Maddow took a swipe at the conservative Shirley & Banister Public Affairs firm, specifically President & CEO Craig Shirley. Maddow accused Shirley of being behind a grassroots Web site funded by the group Grassfire.org, based on research provided by the "independent watchdog group Public Citizen," and she showed still images from an incendary "Obama=Hitler" video that's still posted on the Grassfire's ResistNet.com Web site. BUT MADDOW WAS WRONG. THE PUBLIC CITIZEN WEB PAGE SHE CITED IS SEVERAL YEARS OLD. Shirley & Bannister hasn't represented Grassfire.org since 2004, and...

Air America Media (www.airamerica.com) has signed a multi-year deal with Montel Williams to host “Montel Across America,” debuting April 6. The program will air weekdays from 9am-12pm ET on radio stations across the country, and streamed live online. “Montel is a multi-media star and a familiar name to millions of people across the country,” said Bennett Zier, Air America Media CEO. “The addition of Montel to our talent line-up is an important step for the continued growth of Air America, as we look to distribute Montel’s show across America.” “After being on television for more than 17 years, I’m looking...

Senate candidate Al Franken says he will pay about $70,000 in back income taxes in 17 states going back to 2003. The Minnesota Democrat has been under attack by Republicans for failing to file tax returns in California for several years when the comedian-turned-candidate earned money there. Franken tells The Associated Press he never intended to avoid paying taxes.

Radio talker Randi Rhodes, who last week was suspended from Air America for obscene language at a public appearance, has switched to Nova M Radio, a competing syndicator. Clear Channel Denver announced Thursday that Rhodes will be reinstated in her afternoon timeslot (1-4 p.m.) on KKZN 760 AM, under a new contract with syndicator Nova M Radio, effective Monday. Nova M Radio, another progressive radio outfit, was founded by some of the originators of Air America. Celebrity voices will fill in for Rhodes until a replacement is named. According to Kris Olinger, who manages Denver's Air America affiliate, Rosie O'Donnell,...

Last week Air America suspended Randi Rhodes for abusive, obscene language at a recent public appearance in San Francisco which was sponsored by an Air America affiliate station. Air America Media was informed last night by Ms. Rhodes that she has chosen to terminate her employment with the company. We wish her well and thank her for past services to Air America. We will soon announce exciting new talent and programming that will accelerate Air America’s growth in the future.

Randi Rhodes, an afternoon host for the progressive Air America radio network, was suspended Thursday after repeatedly insulting Hillary Rodham Clinton at an event last month. Ms. Rhodes used vulgar language that likened Ms. Clinton to a prostitute at an event sponsored by KKGN, the Air America affiliate in the San Francisco area, on March 22. A video of Ms. Rhodes’ remarks was published to the video-sharing Web site YouTube on Tuesday, prompting condemnations by some bloggers.

A liberal talk radio network founded more than three years ago as an alternative to conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh is undergoing a "relaunch" this week, though media analysts say "the marketplace will tell the story" of whether the revamp will succeed in the long run. The Air America Radio Network this week began syndicating on 64 stations nationwide and XM satellite a retooled lineup of programs, introduced a more interactive website and launched an "I'm an Air American!" advertising campaign involving liberal celebrities. It's all part of what the network in a press release called "the official relaunch of...

New York -- A federal bankruptcy judge approved on Friday the sale of the liberal talk radio network Air America Radio for $4.25 million to Stephen L. Green, founder of a New York real estate firm. The approval of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain essentially transfers all the assets of Piquant LLC, parent company of the New York-based Air America, to a group including new and current investors. It gives a majority stake to Green Family Media LLC, an entity controlled by Green, and a minority stake to Democracy Allies LLC. That group includes RealNetworks Inc. Chief Executive Robert Glaser...

Lefty radio listeners are wondering what in the world is going on at KCTC (1320 AM), Sacramento's local Air America affiliate. The morning team of Scott & Sims has been off the air as of Monday, and afternoon drive-time host Enid Goldstein is gone, too.

ASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (Dow Jones/AP) — Air America Radio, the liberal news and talk radio network, has won bankruptcy court approval to sell its assets at an auction Friday, starting with a $4.25 million bid from a consortium of purchasers formed by Stephen L. Green, the chairman of SL Green Realty of New York. Judge Robert D. Drain of Federal Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan said on Friday that the consortium could receive a $150,000 breakup fee if its offer was topped at the auction. Competing bids, which must start at $4.6 million, are due by Thursday with a 10 percent...

Al Franken Leaving Air America by December 10.

Air America Radio is talking to several parties about a possible sale and is hopeful of reaching a deal before Thanksgiving, a lawyer for the liberal talk radio network told a bankruptcy hearing Tuesday. Tracy Klestadt told the court that the privately-held company was in discussions with seven different parties about a sale and was "very hopeful" of reaching a deal by Nov. 22, saying there was a "significant amount of interest." The network, which went on the air with much fanfare two years ago, filed for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 13 after discussions with one of its creditors reached...

The executive producer of Al Franken's Air America Radio show and two others were named on Tuesday to represent unsecured creditors in the liberal talk network's bankruptcy case. The U.S. Trustee's office, a Department of Justice division that monitors bankruptcies, appointed three committee members: William Kimball, the Minneapolis-based executive producer of "The Al Franken Show;" Sacramento, Calif.-based Diamond Broadcasting; and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists, a union that represents 70,000 journalists and entertainers in broadcast, radio and online. Kimball is owed $84,893 in back pay, according to court documents. Diamond Broadcasting is owed $500,000, but its claim...

<p>NEW YORK (AP) -- Air America Radio, a liberal talk and news radio network, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a network official told the AP. The network had denied rumors just a month ago that it would file for bankruptcy, but on Friday Air America said negotiations with a creditor from the company's early days had broken down.</p>

October 7, 2006 New York -- Six officials of the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club stole $1.2 million from the group, money meant for needy kids and seniors, a city probe has found. Investigations Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn calls it "disgusting" - the worst case of wrongdoing by a non-profit contractor she's seen since taking office. Thank goodness the thieves will be going to jail for a very long time - and paying back every cent, and then some. Well, actually, that's not quite true. In fact, nobody is going to jail. Not even for a single day. And...

Two former executives at a government-funded youth organization whose finances were scrutinized after it diverted money to the liberal radio network Air America were charged Thursday with misappropriating $1.2 million of the non-profit's funds. Charles Rosen, a former executive director at the Gloria Wise Community Center, and his former assistant director, Jeffrey Aulenbach, face charges of grand larceny and obstructing governmental administration. Rosen was also charged with forgery. New York City's Department of Investigation, which investigated the nonprofit for two years, said the men improperly took more than $290,000 from the organization for their personal use, on top of their...

NEW YORK - Two former executives at a government-funded youth organization whose finances were scrutinized after it diverted money to the liberal radio network Air America were charged Thursday with misappropriating $1.2 million of the non-profit’s funds. Charles Rosen, a former executive director at the Gloria Wise Community Center, and his former assistant director, Jeffrey Aulenbach, face charges of grand larceny and obstructing governmental administration. Rosen was also charged with forgery. New York City’s Department of Investigation, which investigated the nonprofit for two years, said the men improperly took more than $290,000 from the organization for their personal use, on...

A Bronx charity will pay the city back $625,000 that had been intended for children and the elderly but was improperly lent to Air America Radio... -snip The state attorney general’s office is continuing to look into the misuse of the funds, and the case has been transferred from its charities bureau to the criminal prosecutions bureau, two people close to the investigation said yesterday. City investigators found that the charity, based in Co-op City and formerly known as the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, lent $875,000 to Air America Radio. At the city’s request, the network put the...

Financially strapped Air America Radio, after star commentator Al Franken said his paycheck had stopped coming, acknowledged Thursday that it had laid off a few employees but insisted it has no plans to declare bankruptcy. "If Air America had filed for bankruptcy every time someone rumored it to be doing so, we would have ceased to exist long ago," Jaime Horn, a spokeswoman for the liberal talk show network, said in a statement. "It may be frustrating to some that it hasn't happened." Horn, without getting specific, said there were "a handful of layoffs" that followed a move of the...

Is Air America Radio filing for bankruptcy on Friday? That's what Think Progress, citing three sources, reported today. Calls to Air America executives weren't returned, but star talk-show host Al Franken confirms that, once again, the troubled network is facing a serious cash crunch. "I don't know if that's true or not," Franken tells Radar when asked about the bankruptcy report. "We do know that there have been cash-flow problems. I haven't been paid in a while. Like, there's no cash flowing to me."....."

Liberal Air America radio host Mike Malloy had his show abruptly “terminated” on Wednesday, allegedly for financial reasons. The network is failing but there could be another factor behind the Malloy debacle. There is still fallout from Malloy’s recent decision to turn over two-and-a-half hours of his three hour show to a former associate of ex-con Lyndon LaRouche, a perennial candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination who campaigns against what he views as British and Zionist control of the U.S. political system. The LaRouche organization is frequently labeled as a cult. The former high-level LaRouche associate, Webster Griffin Tarpley, was...

Nationally syndicated radio host Neal Boortz stated on his show today that Randi Rhodes might find herself in court if she continues to tell lies on the air during her radio program. Since the two appeared on the Larry King Live show a few weeks ago, Rhodes has been obsessed with Boortz after he made her look foolish on national television. At one point Rhodes claimed Boortz made a statement about Muslims that Boortz said he never made. Boortz then issued a challenge to Rhodes with a $5,000 bet. Rhodes accepted the challenge and then told Larry King and the...

Angry, left-wing, liberal, Randi Rhodes just went on a diatribe on Air America radio calling Ann Coulter a "whore"...and saying "she is a bigger terrorist than Osama Bin Laden..." This was all in response to Ann's new book GODLESS and her interview on the TODAY show where she defended saying: "Those widows who pushed for the commission to investigate the attacks are ``self-obsessed'' and act ``as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them..."

Remember all the media hype for Air America when it first launched a couple of years ago? Before even the first broadcast, the MSM gave us adulatory stories about how Air America would give conservative talk radio, namely Rush Limbaugh, a run for their money. Actually make that NO MONEY. Air America has had such LOW RATINGS that they have to rely on either leftwing moneybags like George Soros to come up with their revenue or raid Boys and Girls Clubs charities to pay for Al Franken's inflated salary. In fact, this year Al Franken demanded his years salary...

Just past its second birthday, Air America, the Left’s great hope to defeat the Right in the talk radio wars, has no reason to celebrate. Winter 2006 Arbitron ratings, leaked to Matt Drudge earlier this week and reported in greater detail by the invaluable Radio Equalizer blog, show Air America registering a weak 1.0 share in Los Angeles, an even tinier share in Chicago, and a catastrophic drop in New York City, where flagship station WLIB hemorrhaged nearly half its listenership over the last ratings period, falling from a mediocre 1.4 to a pathetic 0.8 share. That’s smaller than the...

The Dubai Ports World deal is waking Americans up to a painful reality [...] we've abandoned the principles of tariff-based trade that built American industry and kept us strong for over 200 years. The old concept was that if there was a dollar's worth of labor in a pair of shoes made in the USA, and somebody wanted to import shoes from China where there may only be ten cents worth of labor in those shoes, we'd level the playing field for labor by putting a 90-cent import tariff on each pair of shoes. Companies could choose to make their...

The former Bronx Boys & Girls Club at the center of a scandal over $875,000 funneled to the liberal radio network Air America is fighting eviction............ .........known as the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club until its charter was revoked by the youth organization's national headquarters, was ordered to turn in the keys............ Gloria Wise lost $9.7 million in city contracts...... because of an investigation of its finances. "There was a time when they provided services for senior citizens, the frail and for youth," said Herbert Freedman, chief officer of Co-op City's management firm, Riverbay Corp. "Now it looks like...

IT'S OFFICIAL: 2005 WILL BE the newspaper industry's worst year since the last ad industry recession. And things aren't looking much better for next year either, according to a top Wall Street firm's report on newspaper publishing. "Sadly, 2005 is shaping up as the industry's worst year from a revenue growth perspective since the recession impacted 2001-2002 period," says the report from Goldman Sachs, adding a warning that meaningful growth in 2006 is "very unlikely."

Al Franken Goes On NBC's TODAY SHOW: “I Think Rove And Libby Will Be Executed”...

Air America Radio grounded by WHAT-AM By Michael Klein INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Al Franken and Randi Rhodes are getting the boot from Philadelphia airwaves, as WHAT-AM (1340) is pulling off programming from Air America, the liberal talk-radio network. Friday will be the last day, and a new WHAT lineup will begin Monday, said general manager Kernie Anderson, adding that "things were not working out" with Air America after about a year. WHAT aired Air America's programming from noon to 7 p.m. weekdays, sandwiched between the rest of its lineup. The juxtaposition of liberal talk and WHAT's African America-targeted talk programming...

The liberal Air America Radio network this week announced the launch of a fundraising project to help its struggling programs expand into more markets. In an e-mail to supporters, the network announced the Air America Associates program, which encourages donors to give $50, $100 or $250 to the company. "When we launched the Air America Radio network one year ago," the e-mail states, "the country was being talked to death by conservative zealots like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and others." Since its launch in March 2004, Air America has expanded from 16 stations to 70 stations, and states...

We last covered Al Franken in "Saturday Night Live with Al Franken" when he spoke this past June at a Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party fundraiser. This morning we learned from Michelle Malkin and the Tax Prof Blog that Franken would be delivering the Dean's Lecture this afternoon at Yale Law School. Franken's talk was sponsored by the American Constitution Society, the folks who brought us the Constitution in 2020 conference at the law school that we covered courtesy of our New Haven correspondent in "The $80,000 misunderstanding" and "Red dawn." John subsequently reflected on the Constitution in 2020 conference in "What...

If you thought that the PBS pledge gifts were crummy, take a look at what you can get from Err America. Three, yes, three authentic bumper stickers for $50. Guess that's one for each member of your family's SUV's. $100 gets you the three stickers and a totebag. But if you're willing to give Al Franken $250, you get the three bumperstickers, the stylish totebad, AND they'll say your name on the air!!!

The New York Sun takes on the Air America story today and advances it by leaps and bounds, talking with the president of the non-profit which had its money taken by Air America founder Evan Cohen. It turns out that Cohen didn't just get money for the netlet, but also managed to get plenty for his own pockets as well while sitting on the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club board: Initially, members of the executive committee viewed Mr. Cohen fondly because he had thrown a tremendously successful fund-raising affair for Gloria Wise in Manhattan last year. They recalled being...

The comedian Al Franken, Air America Radio's most prominent host, said yesterday that he did not know whether the hundreds of thousands of dollars apparently lent to the radio network by a Bronx social-service organization had indeed been relayed to Air America by Evan Montvel Cohen. Mr. Cohen simultaneously served as director of the liberal network and development director of the nonprofit Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club.

Is there anything strange in the drinking water? I have to ask because the DUmmies must be drinking something that has allowed them to express their antipathy towards a second liberal Al within a day. This morning the DUmmies were irked at Al Gore’s dopey new channel and now they are flaming Al Franken as you can see in this THREAD titled, “Could Al Franken get any more annoying?” At this rate, I might have to issue mass prizes of Kewpie Dolls to the DUmmies for having brief moments of mental clarity. Yes, the DUmmies can no longer avoid...

Janeane Garofalo has a definite pattern to her love life. "Mostly I have quasi-long-term boyfriends," she says. "Then there's a space of time after we break up, and then (along comes) another boyfriend who would be a guy I already know, and that translates from friendship into sexual, and then we're dating and going out." She and Oak Ridge native Mitch Rouse dated in the mid-1990s, and are good friends today. She recalls fondly a Christmas she spent with Rouse and his family in Oak Ridge. Despite having had such a conventional-sounding relationship, Garofalo says she doesn't do the typical...

If you haven’t seen the documentary yet called “Left of the Dial,” I highly recommend that you do so. This documentary chronicles the first year of Err America Radio and shows them going down the economic tubes first by scam. Yes, it turns out that the first head of Err America was writing bad checks and didn’t invest even near the money in that failed enterprise that he promised. The funniest part of all is when the documentary showed the Err America staffers learning of their financial collapse via accessing the Drudge Report which most DUmmies pretend is unreliable....

Federal officials are reviewing a skit broadcast on the liberal Air America network that featured an apparent gunshot warning to President Bush. The audio production came during the opening minutes of a href="http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/randirhodes/index.php">"The Randi Rhodes show Monday night, according to the Drudge Report. The announcer said: "A spoiled child is telling us our Social Security isn't safe anymore, so he is going to fix it for us. Well, here's your answer, you ungrateful whelp: [audio sound of four gunshots being fired.] Just try it, you little bastard. [audio of gun being cocked]." "What is with all the killing?" Rhodes said,...

Cheers to Air America Radio (AAR) on their first anniversary!!! AAR is kicking ass and doing far better than anyone could of imagined ... AAR continues to grow faster than any network in the history of radio, and has become a national powerhouse...the right-wing is now beginning to take very public swipes at AAR. Are they scared?

Liberals rejoice: Chicago finally could be getting a "progressive talk" radio station showcasing such prominent voices as Jerry Springer, Al Franken and Ed Schultz. Nothing is official yet, but the bosses of an AM station in the market are shooting to launch the format by March 31 -- the one-year anniversary of Air America Radio's aborted attempt to bring its left-wing syndicated lineup to Chicago listeners. In its new incarnation, Air America's Franken and Randi Rhodes would be part of a programming mix of liberal talk shows that also would include Springer, whose Chicago-based radio show is syndicated by Clear...

NEW YORK -- Danny Goldberg, a longtime music industry executive, took over as chief executive of Air America Radio on Thursday in the latest sign that the liberal talk radio network is gaining its footing after a rocky start. Goldberg, whose New York-based record label Artemis represents artists including Steve Earle and the late Warren Zevon, took over from acting CEO Doug Kreeger, who stepped aside in December but remains an advisor and board member for the company.

Ushered out the door will be the Rush Limbaugh Show, Bill O'Reilly's Radio Factor, the Howie Carr Show, the Clark Howard Show and the Lars Larson Show.....In their places will be the Al Franken Show, the Ed Schultz Show, Unfiltered News with Rachel Maddow, the Majority Report with Janeane Garafalo and Sam Seider and the Randi Rhodes Show. Alan Colmes will round out the new lineup.BRATTLEBORO -- After years of airing conservative radio talk shows, program directors at a local AM station have decided to spin the dial towards the left. Starting next week, listeners tuning into WKVT-AM 1490 will...

Err America Radio is flopping bigtime in the ratings and the DUmmies analyze this situation in this THREAD titled, “Uh-Oh....Air America ratings slipping in NYC?” Yes, Err America Radio, launched with much fanfare a year ago, is going straight down the tubes. But the Left need fear not. They will still have National Public Radio if Err America gives up the ghost. As usual the DUmmie whinings are in Bolshevik Red while the commentary of your humble correspondent, wishing that he could receive Laura Ingraham on the radio, is in the [brackets]: Uh-Oh....Air America ratings slipping in NYC? This...

October 19, 2004 -- CRITICS said it wouldn't happen — but all-lib eral WLIB is seriously challenging talk-radio rivals WABC and WOR. According to Arbitron ratings released yesterday, WLIB thrashed WOR and nipped at the heels of top-dog WABC among the 25- to 54-year-old listeners advertisers chase. "The elections are giving them an added boost in a largely liberal town, [and] they're benefiting from the whole Bush-Kerry thing," said Mark Lefkowitz of the Furman Roth ad agency. "WABC has proven that it works in election years and not, [so] it'll be interesting to see what happens to WLIB . ....

Air America, the left-leaning national talk radio network, has landed a home on an Atlanta radio station — on the far right end of the AM dial. The voices of Chuck D., Randi Rhodes, Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo will be heard at AM 1690 sometime next week once technical issues are resolved, said Air America president Jon Sinton, who is based in Atlanta. The 1690 spot on the dial recently was running classic country music but is now playing nothing as station owner Intermart Broadcasting prepares for the Air America launch. Current call letters are WSWK-AM but Sinton said...

WHEN you work for a newspaper, you get used to it. "Your paper is too liberal." "Your paper is too conservative." "It's too this." "It's too that." Then there was the phone call I got last week from Mike Papantonio, a talk host on the Air America Radio network — the liberal answer to Rush Limbaugh and conservative talk radio. He wanted to know why we didn't cover a story — even though we did. Air America has 15 stations across the country, but none in Houston. You can hear it on Sirius and XM Satellite Radio, however. Papantonio challenged...