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The progressive network Air America tonight scoops up the slings and arrows it aims at President Bush and moves them to its new home a few blocks downtown. Starting tomorrow, Air America will be heard on WWRL (1600 AM), ending a 29-month run at WLIB (1190 AM). -snip- The move to WWRL will reduce Air America's coverage in some parts of the metropolitan area, since WWRL's signal isn't quite as strong as WLIB's and there are areas where it is hard to pick up. Questions continue to circulate about the financial health of the network, which has experienced cash crises...

WLIB (1190 AM) is switching from the liberals to the Lord. After 29 months as the flagship station for the progressive talk network Air America, WLIB will become a full-time black gospel music station on Sept. 1. It will be "music-intensive," says Vinny Brown, operations manager of sister station WBLS (107.5 FM), "but will not exist in a vacuum, just playing songs. It will be heavily involved with the community, because in many ways the church is the community." Vice president/general manager Deon Levingston says while the "Praise and Inspiration" format will not have talk shows "per se," some shows...

NEW YORK, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- The liberal radio network Air America is moving to a weaker AM signal in New York due to down ratings and shaky finances, the New York Post reported. The talk radio network failed to renew its two-year lease with the owners of WLIB (1190 AM), forcing left-wingers such as Al Franken to broadcast from WWRL (1600 AM) -- which has a weaker signal -- beginning Sept. 1, the newspaper said. "Air America" executives had previously run into trouble at WLIB after the station's owners -- Pierre Sutton and his father, former Manhattan Borough President...

THE liberal Air America radio network is going to be harder to hear in New York. Next month, it is switching stations - to a weaker AM station, WWRL (1600 AM). Al Franken and his lefty colleagues are leaving WLIB (1190 AM) apparently because they couldn't come up with enough cash for the owners, former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton and his son, Pierre. Starting Sept. 1, Air America will be on WWRL, at the top of the dial where AM signals are weakest - especially at night, when greater FCC restrictions apply. As The Post reported last March, the...

This just in! Err America radio, who has been paying WLIB-AM for 100% of its airtime, has lost its home. They found a new station, WWRL, has a transmitter located in New Jersey and is a 25kW datytime, 5kW nighttime station. The directional antenna patterns are very tight to the Southeast to cover NYC, with a lobe to the NW towards Paterson, NJ during the day that is eliminated at night. WLIB is 30 kW daytime and 10kW nighttime, its daytime pattern similar to WWRL's but not as tight and with a lobe to the east that gets it into...

*** Exclusive To The Radio Equalizer - Part One ****** Updated With Breaking News Below *** It has long been reasonable to characterize Air America Radio as having an every man- for- himself work environment, where the name of the game is to see who grab the most cash before the whole mess finally comes crashing down. Add to the mix a nearly- constant stream of financial support from Real Networks honcho Rob Glaser and billionaire currency raider George Soros and the greedy temptation to push for obscene salaries, perks and benefits simply becomes too great to resist. Central to...

Air America Radio will lose its New York flagship station, WLIB-AM, on Aug. 31. While the left-leaning radio network’s original lease for the Inner City station ran out March 31, AAR managed to get an extension which only lasts until Aug. 31, according to an informed source. Through an agreement with ICBC, WLIB will be operated as a joint venture and be programmed by P1, a company run by former Clear Channel and Jacor Communications executive Randy Michaels. Michaels is expected to program a progressive talk format, but replace AAR’s network programming with more local programming. A likely addition to...

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...

Local progressive talk format to launch August 31st. Radio Business Report: Quote: Randy gets a New York stick Former Clear Channel Radio CEO Randy Michaels is set to return to operating a major market radio station. RBR has learned that Michaels will take over programming of WLIB-AM New York when Air America Radio's current LMA expires August 31st. The station will continue to have a Progressive Talk format, but Michaels will replace Air America's network programming with a series of new local talk shows with a liberal bent. Michael's deal with licensee Inner City Broadcasting won't be an LMA, but...

Air America Radio will lose its New York flagship station, WLIB-AM, on Aug. 31. While the left-leaning radio network’s original lease for the Inner City station ran out March 31, AAR managed to get an extension which only lasts until Aug. 31, according to an informed source. Through an agreement with ICBC, WLIB will be operated as a joint venture and programmed by P1, a company run by former Clear Channel and Jacor Communications executive Randy Michaels. Michaels is expected to program a progressive-talk format, but replace AAR’s network programming with more local programming. A likely addition to the new...

If you read the New York Sun or the New York Post, you might be under the impression that WLIB, Air America Radio's New York City affiliate, is going under. Last night, I attended a fundraiser for Al Franken's new political action committee, the Midwest Values Pac (MVP). The goal of MVP is to raise money for progressive candidates in Franken's home state of Minnesota as well as progressive candidates in other states, including Vermont's Bernie Sanders (for more on MVP, check out this BuzzFlash interview). Franken gave a hilarious speech, but took a serious tone when he discussed the...

New York Arbitron RatingsWLIB - Air America RadioSummer 2004: 1.6 Rating Summer 2005: 1.2 Rating Down 0.4 or 25% from last Summer.

WLIB-AM Wi'05 - 1.2 Sp'05 - 1.0 Su'05 - 1.2 Fa'05 - 1.4 Wi'06 P1 - 1.4 Wi'06 P2 - 1.2

Liberal Talk network Air America Radio's CEO Danny Goldberg issued a memo to his staff denying published reports that the company had lost its N.Y.C. flagship, WLIB/New York, and was facing financial challenges, reports Radio & Records. In the memo, Goldberg stated, "In almost all cases, the people who say bad things about our company's business are conservative ideologues who have a particular interest in damaging Air America for one reason and one reason only: the political opinions expressed by our on-air talent." Of AAR's financial status, Goldberg said, "Our board continues to be very supportive of our company, and...

Air America found itself on the defense for the second time this week following reports in both the New York Post and New York Daily News today (March 7) implying that the liberal talk network was about to lose its New York flagship station, WLIB-AM. The Post, in particular, seemed to offer a sensationalist slant to its reporting of the alleged loss of WLIB. Reporter John Mainelli wrote, “Air America is close to losing its New York flagship station, knocking Al Franken and his liberal colleagues off the air on the second anniversary. Losing its New York outlet would be...

March 7, 2006 -- AIR America is close to losing its New York flagship station - knocking Al Franken and his liberal colleagues off the air on their second anniversary. The network has a two-year lease with WLIB (AM 1190) that is reportedly set to expire April 1 - and at least one reliable report says it is "extremely likely" the deal will not be renewed. Losing its New York outlet would be a serious blow to the fledgling liberal radio network. "Radio Equalizer" blogger Brian Maloney - who blew the whistle on questionable loans to the lefty network last...

WLIB, Air America, New York City, ICBC, Randy Michaels WORST CASE REALITY Air America Appears To Lose Flagship Station Exclusive To The Radio Equalizer By Brian Maloney While Air America Radio's loss of two affiliates in Phoenix and Missoula, Montana is generating news this week, the company itself probably hasn't been able to give either city a second thought. Why? In a development sure to rip the heart right out of the liberal radio network's already ailing body, it appears extremely likely their leased New York City flagship station WLIB-AM will soon abandon Air America programming. Even worse, litigation looks...

While Air America Radio's loss of two affiliates in Phoenix and Missoula, Montana is generating news this week, the company itself probably hasn't been able to give either city a second thought. Why? In a development sure to rip the heart right out of the liberal radio network's already ailing body, it appears extremely likely their leased New York City flagship station WLIB-AM will soon abandon Air America programming. Even worse, litigation looks probable over the station's lease. While the network's last day on WLIB isn't known for certain, an internal source providing backing documentation points to the end of...

All Access confirms Malloy will not be getting cleared in New York but not because of ABC's "The Satellite Sisters." Inner City Broadcasting, owner of WLIB, is reclaiming Malloy's hours and will be broadcasting Caribbean music. WLIB had a full-time Caribbean format (with somewhat better numbers)prior to AAR's launch and has continued to broadcast Caribbean programming during the overnight hours (AAR has leased the station from 5 am to 12 midnight). The third hour of Mallow's show has never been cleared in New York. So, far the Satellite Sisters weekday show airs only on XM Radio (12 pm to 3...

While conservative news-talk stations begin to dig out of their giant post-election ratings hole, Arbitron trends released late Monday reveal more bad news for the troubled liberal Air America Radio network. From New York, Long Island, Los Angeles and Chicago, there wasn't one piece of good news for Franken and Friends, according to figures posted at Radio & Records.

Russ Gilbert has been named vice president of Interactive for Air America Radio, including the network and its flagship station WLIB AM New York. The announcement was made by Air America President Gary Krantz. .... “I'm looking forward to working with the incredible talent at Air America to take www.airamericaradio.com to the next level,” said Gilbert.

Air America and the race hustlers By Michelle Malkin COLUMNIST Where are they? Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are the supermen of the civil rights establishment -- able to leap tall buildings in a single bound to get in front of a picket line. When victim politics calls, the demagogic duo leap into patented action: March. Boycott. Shakedown. Repeat. But the raging reverends are nowhere to be found as a scandal involving the liberal radio network Air America and a Bronx, N.Y.-based inner city charity for poor children brews. Why the silence? It's all about the Benjamins, as they say....

Watching Air America Radio thoroughly destroy its credibility is like last night's burning Airbus jet in Toronto: it's hard to take your eyes away from a full-fledged disaster. At least everybody escaped from the plane's wreckage, who knows what will ultimately happen at Air America's headquarters? The network's claim that all that's stopping it from repaying nearly $900,000 (boy, does that number continue to grow) it owes the Bronx-based Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club is an official direction from New York's Department Of Investigation (DOI), is blown to bits by a fresh New York Post report.

The ratings for Air America's flagship station WLIB in the New York City market have been released. They're in 24th place overall with a 1.0 share in the Spring '05 period. In the previous two periods they had a 1.2 share, and before that 1.4 and 1.3. These ratings are even lower than when that station broadcast Caribbean music and news. New York City is the #1 market in the U.S. However, in the #18 market, Nassau-Suffolk (Long Island) they're pulling a 1.4, which is double their previous share and even above the 1.1 they received in Summer '04. More...

Is the recent talk radio listenership dropoff continuing? The first set of ratings figures for the three-month period of March, April and May, have emerged tonight and early indications are of a sustained, rocky period for talk radio. It's just a little bit too soon to know for sure, however.

Newly released Arbitron radio ratings bring some questions to mind, such as: --- Will Air America's apologists finally come up with a fresh batch of excuses, after insisting more time was needed for it to catch on? Isn't that one getting stale? --- Will some of the traditional talk stations, now showing audience declines, make changes soon?

“This show is about...relentlessly hammering away at the Bush administration until they crack and crumble this November because, don’t get me wrong, friends, they are going down!” So said Al Franken, the comedian-turned-radio host-turned-political prognosticator, opening his very first show on the liberal Air America radio network March 31, 2004. Well, as it turned out, George W. Bush didn’t go down in November. But Air America’s ratings did. The numbers are now in for Air America’s first year of broadcasting, and they aren’t good. For one thing, the network is only on the air in about 50 of the nation’s...

If there was any doubt that my fellow Democrats with white skin, the notorious white liberal, is the most intolerant creature on the planet, all you have to do is check one of their most popular daily blogs, the Daily Kos, to see how they operate. After I posted the column below, Daily Kos ACTUALLY SHUT DOWN the site and banned me from posting there. Keep in mind, I didn't use profanity. All I did was disagree with their opinion on Air America Radio. Also keep in mind that Daily Kos himself called for a boycott of Time Magazine after...

The latest radio ratings are in, and they show continued bad news for Air America, the liberal talk-radio network featuring Al Franken, Randi Rhodes, Janeane Garofolo, and others. While it is difficult to pinpoint Air America's ratings nationally — it is on the air in about 50 stations across the country, and has been on some of them for just the last few months — it is possible to measure the network's performance in the nation's number-one market, New York City. The new Arbitron ratings for Winter 2005, which covers January, February, and March, show that WLIB, the station which...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Air America Radio, the upstart liberal talk show network that has been plagued by management troubles, is seeking to raise new money in efforts to pay off debts and steer the business back toward profitability. A group of early investors that include Florida plaintiffs lawyer Mike Papantonio, Chicago entrepreneur Sheldon Drobny, and Rob Glaser, chairman of RealNetworks Inc., have committed to invest new capital, people familiar with the company said. Air America has also moved to fill a void in its executive ranks. Doug Kreeger, also an investor, assumed the role of chief executive last week....

<p>April 21, 2004 -- All-liberal "Air America" is down to one big-city station - in New York - after falling out for good with the landlord who kicked it off his L.A. and Chicago stations last week.</p> <p>A judge ordered the all-lefty talk network back on in Chicago last Thursday - after a vicious, public fight over leased-time payments - but Air America said yesterday it will go silent there next week.</p>

Air America, launched on the premise that the left wing view is a minority view on the radio airwares has itself been criticized for it's negative impact on existing minority access to the airwaves. In light of that impact, let's spell out the call letters of the Air America affiliates. Considering Air America's reviews calling it boring, yet it displaced the "Black Voices" program in New York City which had a loyal audience, the call letters WLIB now stand for "We Layoff Interesting Blacks". In Los Angeles, where Air America displayed Korean language programming, KBLA now stands for, "Korean Broadcasting...

WLIB: The Station NEW YORK (NNPA) - New York’s radio station WLIB-1190 AM has been loyally "serving New York’s Black community"—as its logo states—for decades now. In the early ’90s, WLIB was lauded as a resource for "Afrocentric" programming and became known for featuring Imhotep Gary Byrd’s "Global Black Experience" show. The station was, in many ways, a Black activist outlet. But, by the end of March, WLIB will be taking on a different hue, as it joins the launch of Progress Media’s "Air America Radio," the new, predominately White, liberal talk-radio network. Air America has reportedly partnered with Inner...

After listening to Air America for a week, I now know what liberal radio is. It is Janeane Garofalo bantering with her co-host about swallowing her own saliva, and then dismissing the American victims of the Fallujah lynch mob as a pack of mercenaries. It is a woman named Randi Rhodes talking dirty and cracking on Condoleezza Rice's "plastic hair." It is an announcer intoning: "The station Rush Limbaugh would listen to if he hadn't lost most of his hearing to drug abuse" - followed, without irony, by an empathetic public service announcement aimed at drug abusers. It is, in...

New Liberal Talk Radio Network Drives Out Minority Cultural Programming Air America: Putting Minorities Second Air America, the new liberal talk radio network, is sending minorities to the back of the bus. The network, owned by former Democratic National Committee executive Mark Walsh, debuted March 31. Ironically, the three radio stations broadcasting Air America's programs were all stations with formats featuring black and Hispanic culture. By preempting black and Hispanic cultural programs to promote their own ideology, Air America is very much in concert with the liberal policy of using minorities for their own purposes. Air America is leasing time...

“You remember things like WLIB’s logo ‘Keeping the business in the family,’” Irwin Claire, co-director of the Queens-based Caribbean Immigration Services said. “You remember that you used to hear comments like, ‘Rip the knob off your radio, because you wake up and go to sleep with WLIB on the dial.’ “I put it in perspective,” Claire added wistfully, as he spoke about the sense of regret and offense many feel about the abruptly announced scheduling changes at New York’s radio station WLIB-1190 AM, which as of March 31 will help launch “Air America Radio,” the new, predominately white, liberal talk-radio...

In a rally at Harlem’s large and influential Abyssinian Baptist Church (once under the pastoral care of the late Cong. Adam Clayton Powell), “community leaders” agitated against the new liberal radio network Air America, as a victimizer of the black community. None of the American newspapers which have lavished loving coverage on the tiny four station operation — the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, among them — bothered to cover the rally against it. Toronto’s Globe and Mail which did have the integrity to cover an event which went against the left wing press's obvious agenda commented: Something...

<p>Gets nighttime slot.Liberals who have been moaning about all the conservatives on talk Liberals who have been moaning about all the conservatives on talk radio launched a counter blab- attack yesterday.</p> <p>Putting big money - some $30 million - where their mouths are, they debuted "Air America," a collection of lefty yakkers who vow to challenge Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and about a half- dozen other conservative heavyweights.</p>

Whoever said that liberal radio couldn't be entertaining certainly hasn't listened to the first hour of this "monumental event". This show is so bad. Just to amuse yourself with what the liberals want to air in a head-to-head showdown against Rush Limbaugh, give it a listen. It will make your day. Needless to say, no worries of success here.

NEW YORK (NNPA) - New York's radio station WLIB-1190 AM has been loyally "serving New York's Black community" - as its logo states - for decades now. In the early '90s WLIB was lauded as a resource for "Afrocentric" programming and became known for featuring Imhotep Gary Byrd's "Global Black Experience" show. By the end of March, New York's WLIB-1190 AM will taken over by "Air America Radio," a predominantly White, liberal talk-radio network. The station was in many ways a Black activist outlet. But by the end of this month, WLIB will be taking on a different hue, as...

The progressive talk network Air America kicks off today, hoping to give nonconservatives a daily place to roast their ideological opposites. Just the way conservatives do now. Air America can be heard locally on WLIB (1190 AM), over XM satellite radio or by Internet at airamericaradio.com. While the network hopes to stir controversy, it already has some here that it probably doesn't want. A community rally is planned tomorrow night at 7 at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, 132 Odell Clark Place, to protest the loss of WLIB's talk and Caribbean programming. The Coalition of Artists and Activists wants a boycott...

SCHEDULED TO LAUNCH ON THE EVE OF APRIL FOOLS’ DAY, the new “liberal” network Air America Radio is to begin airing on stations in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland and, maybe, San Francisco, five liberal cities where it can rouse the already-converted. Several of its key programs can also be heard via XM Satellite Radio’s new “America Left” Channel 167, also launching March 31.  (Air America’s Vice President of Programming Dave Logan was programming executive at XM.)  Its streaming internet audio might also be available at airamericaradio.com.Experts are betting that the new network will fail to make money...

NEW YORK (NNPA) - New York's radio station WLIB-1190 AM has been loyally "serving New York's Black community" - as its logo states - for decades now. In the early '90s WLIB was lauded as a resource for "Afrocentric" programming and became known for featuring Imhotep Gary Byrd's "Global Black Experience" show. The station was in many ways a Black activist outlet. But by the end of this month, WLIB will be taking on a different hue, as it joins the launch of Progress Media's "Air America Radio," the new, predominately White, liberal talk-radio network. Air America has reportedly partnered...

Liberal Network Gets N.Y. Station – Franken and Garofalo to Host Bush-bashing anti-war comic Janeane Garofalo is reportedly ready to team up with hot-headed partisan attack dog Al Franken for the Democratic Party's new liberal radio network, which has finally snagged a key New York outlet. Dubbed "Air America," the network could be up and running later this month or early April, reports the New York Post's John Mainelli. The project's Democratic backers are anxious to hit the air ASAP for maximum impact on the 2004 presidential election. The Dems' official talk line-up will be heard in the Big Apple...