WLIB, Air America, Inner City Broadcasting

A SHORT REPRIEVE?

Air America's Cryptic Press Statement




Has Air America temporarily salvaged its New York City flagship operation? In a cryptic, four-sentence afternoon press release, the liberal radio network indicated it would remain on WLIB for "several months":

NEW YORK-March 16, 2006- WLIB will continue to be the New York home of Air America Radio, under an agreement announced by Air America and Inner City Broadcasting Company. Over the next several months, Air America and Inner City will seek to enhance and extend their long-term relationship.

“We are happy to reiterate that our New York listeners will be able to continue to hear our programming,” said Air America Radio CEO Danny Goldberg.

“Inner City has always had faith in the mission of Air America,” said Vice Chairman of ICBC Broadcasting Holdings, Inc. Skip Finley.

As WLIB has clearly been shopped around to the highest bidder for some time, take Finley's statement with a grain of salt.


With the company providing no details, there are obviously a number of unresolved questions:


--- Isn't it interesting how Air America now admits there's been an ongoing WLIB issue? Contrast that with the company's snippy responses to previous reports of trouble there.

--- Is Air America simply remaining in place until Randy Michaels is ready to go with his own WLIB programming lineup?

--- Does "several months" mean Inner City was compelled to honor a 90-day cancellation notice clause, taking effect April 1?

--- Does this mean impending litigation between Air America parent Piquant LLC and Inner City (ICBC) has been settled, or does it remain an ongoing issue?


Had a long-term deal been signed, you can bet your Air America tote bags it would have been trumpeted in this release.

Underscoring the reality that rough waters remain is the deliberate lack of details given here. Sadly, that approach only serves to make the press even more curious.

UPDATE: an emailer points out something else regarding Inner City's statement: "All Air America got out of Inner City was the word 'mission', nothing about its business viability. Thus furthering Bill O'Reilly's position that this is about left-wing politics, not good business sense."

Another email asks: "will they continue to have the right to sell off the evening and weekend time periods to others, or are they are just renting weekday slots from Inner City short term? Also, they don't call it a 'flagship' anymore, why is that?"

UPDATE: True to form, Billboard continues its ridiculous pro-Air America campaign:

Despite rampant rumors to the contrary, Inner City Broadcasting’s WLIB New York will continue to be the flagship station for New York-based liberal talk network Air America Radio. The companies are in the process of finalizing a new agreement.

“We are happy to reiterate that our New York listeners will be able to continue to hear our programming,” Air America CEO Danny Goldberg said in a release.

“Inner City has always had faith in the mission of Air America,” ICBC vice chairman Skip Finley added.

As previously reported, the New York Daily News, the New York Post and other media outlets had recently predicted the demise of the deal between the two companies.

Who says the companies are in the process of a final agreement? That's not in the statement. It appears to be Billboard's wishful thinking.

Nor were these "rumors", instead based on documentation. In addition, three New York City newspapers did additional investigating before running their own stories.

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AAR Spin: David A Lunde for the Radio Equalizer