As AP reports, a wealthy leftist sugar daddy has come to the rescue of beleaguered, bankrupt radio network Air America:
Air America Radio, a liberal talk radio network, said Monday that it had reached a tentative agreement to be sold to the founder of a New York area real estate company. The network also said that Al Franken, its longtime headline personality, would depart next month.
The agreement with Stephen Green, the founder and chairman of SL Green Realty Corp., appears to rescue the struggling network, which has been seeking a buyer since last fall when it filed for bankruptcy reorganization after reaching an impasse with one of its creditors.
Any sale would have to be approved by the bankruptcy court. The company has signed what is called a letter of intent to sell itself to Green and expects to agree on financial terms soon, Air America spokeswoman Jaime Horn said.
I love that description of Air America as "a liberal talk radio network," as if it were one of many such.
Stephen Green is a brother of Mark Green, a particularly obnoxious leftist political commentator and landslide failure in a run for mayor of New York City several years ago.
The rumor is that Franken is leaving to make a run for a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota.
The network has been in disarray from the beginning, both on the air and behind the scenes. Although the founders had what appears to have been a reasonable, achievable goal, the venture never took off and failed to develop a following. Many reasons have been suggested as to why this was so—and this analyst has contributed in the past here and elsewhere—but it appears to me that the main reason for the network’s failure was that nobody wanted it.
I rather doubt that the change of ownership will alter that market reality. The only way for Air America to survive will be to change. Real change at the net, however, hardly seems likely.
Thanks, Joe. A Happy New Year to you, too. I agree that his money could do a lot more good if sent directly to people who really need it, instead of being directed toward convincing people to vote to have other people’s money sent where the elites say it should go.
S.T.: First off, let me wish you a belated Happy New Year. I have been reading your posts the past several week, but I felt that I could not make any comment until I saw this. I would like to say I find it funny that Air America never really found a foothold here in the Boston area, which is one of the most liberal, while conservative talkers such as Rush & Howie Carr prosper. Also, I feel that if “liberal sugar daddies” such as Mr. Green truly cared for “the little guy”, they should give their money directly to the poor instead of blowing it on political campaigns & lost causes such as Air America.