The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney

03 March 2006

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 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 March. At this time, Air America parent Piquant LLC has no firm back-up plan for where in the nation's largest radio market its programming will now air.

Some inside the firm are already referring to WLIB in the past tense.

Without WLIB, Air America faces an immediate, crushing blow. Worth perhaps 100 small markets combined, an on-air presence in New York City is absolutely vital to the company's survival. If an immediate and suitable replacement isn't found, the consequences would be dire.

What percentage of Air America's audience would disappear overnight, the Radio Equalizer can't say for sure. Could it be 40%? Fifty percent?

Taking control of Inner City Broadcasting Corporation (ICBC)- owned WLIB is said to be a consortium of industry heavyweights, including former Clear Channel executive Randy Michaels and Boston-based broadcast investment firm Alta Communications, in partnership with ICBC.


Since leaving Clear Channel, Michaels has been determined to build his own broadcasting empire, purchasing stations, bidding on station licenses and syndicating programs (including liberal talkers Jerry Springer and Ed Schultz). With a portfolio of investments in smaller television and radio operators, Alta would seem a perfect fit for his plans.

In addition, Alta has previously invested in ICBC, even listing the company on its website. Michaels, Alta and ICBC did not respond to questions about the deal. In addition, Air America has never been willing to communicate with us regarding our reporting.


So what happened? Because AAR had a long-term WLIB lease arrangement with ICBC, absolutely nobody in the radio industry could have seen this coming. While it's not entirely clear what brought the relationship to an end, a number of clues do provide a very likely theory:

Under AAR's deal with Inner City (ICBC), it was to pay the latter a fixed fee of $2.5 million, divided into upfront quarterly payments. In addition, Piquant/AAR was to give up 49% of WLIB's local advertising revenue after keeping the first $2.5 million collected annually.

Each year, Air America and ICBC's payment percentages would be calculated, with the latter receiving its share by February 15.

According to an internal source, on February 17, ICBC exercised a clause to terminate Air America's WLIB lease. Was there a dispute over the share? A missed payment? At this time, we don't know.

In addition, was the Michaels/Alta/ICBC deal already waiting in the wings? Was Michaels, with his vulture-like and highly eccentric reputation, quite in the loop regarding AAR's financial woes?



While the odds of salvaging Air America's programming in New York City aren't good, it does have some very unappealing options:


1) Kiss Randy's rear and hope he will allow Air America programming to remain for the time being. Since Michaels is determined to build his own empire, saving Air America is probably his lowest priority, or even something he wants entirely off the air.

2) Find another station. Here, there aren't any decent options. Currently airing the floundering Sporting News Radio format, one possibility is Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen's tiny WSNR-AM 620.

While Allen recently told the media he was ready to part with it, WSNR has a terrible signal that reaches only a small portion of the market outside of Manhattan.

3) Beg another company to place Air America on one of its stations. But which one and why? If Air America had to pay ICBC millions of dollars to air in New York City, why would ABC, CBS and the other major players carry it for free? In terms of programming, their outlets are already spoken for.


If there's another decent option, let the Radio Equalizer know, we can't think of any others.


Even if Air America somehow finds a last-ditch way to remain on the air in the nation's most important market, it will be at a tremendous disadvantage, compared to what it has had up until now.

Unlike our previous reporting, which the company could either deny or ignore, this will be impossible to spin. It's either losing WLIB or it isn't.

If Randy Michaels Radio is airing on April 1, trust us, it won't be an April Fool's Day joke.

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Thanks for your continued and vital Radio Equalizer support, via Amazon orders that begin with clicks here, regardless of what you ultimately order! Because this investigative work is taking an increasing amount of our time, it's needed more than ever.

Franken images: David A Lunde for the Radio Equalizer

29 Comments:

  • The thing about businesses that reach AAR's level of health is that their managements are no longer fully in control of their business destiny.

    This news today suggests that they held on too long waiting for their "white knight" to appear - and the "harvest or divest" business strategy that they themselves should have been implementing is now instead being forced upon them by their suppliers, contractors, previous partners and from others outside AAR's management suite.

    Don't get me wrong - Piquant/AAR's management team can still restructure the business to be viable (especially in light of the reported $8 million bailout), but they have to start doing it themselves rather than having it forced upon them.

    By Blogger Ironman, at 03 March, 2006 15:29  

  • Brian’s Lies Watch – Day 10 Post 12
    The anatomy of a lie:

    1) Rush Limbaugh, on his Feb 14 radio show, in talking about the Ohio Hackett/Brown Democratic Primary, said:
    a. “And don’t forget, Sherrord Brown is black” – this was not a lie, but a mistake
    b. He then said, “There’s a racial component here, too”
    2) Rush was then informed by listeners via e-mails that Brown was not black, and was, in fact, white. Paul Hackett was white, as well
    3) Therefore, there was no “racial element” to the story at all
    4) Rush “corrected” his mistake that Brown was black, but DID NOT retract or apologize for the “racial element” remark

    He made up the “racial element” angle, obviously. This was Rush’s lie. His next lie:

    1) He said “I’m not gonna apologize, ‘cause I don’t think it’s an insult to be black”
    2) Of course, this is a lie, too, because he should be apologizing for making up the “racial component” of the story

    http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2006/02/rush-limbaugh-cincinnati-sherrod-brown.html (the link on Brian’s page is about to disappear forever)

    Brian Maloney then reported on the story on Feb 20. He related the story as if the only element was the “error” Rush Limbaugh Made about Brown’s race.

    Of course, the real story was the “racial component” that Rush made up and then refused to retract.

    Hence, Brian lied as well.

    The elements of the story as I’ve stated above are incontrovertible fact.

    But don’t believe me, and don’t believe anyone else - Research for yourselves.

    By Blogger TJ, at 03 March, 2006 16:07  

  • where do you get this information? are you paying someone at AAR?

    By Blogger hardcore conservative genious, at 03 March, 2006 16:45  

  • Wow.. Brian sure does draw some lunatics!

    TJ.. you dont realize how really STUPID you read!

    And what do Rush and Ed Schulz have to do with the story?

    By Blogger pettyfog, at 03 March, 2006 17:03  

  • The program that replaced Air America in Phoenix is..........a Christian Radio Program.

    Not only did the public can sense a rotten product, but advertisers as well!

    By Blogger Joe Gringo, at 03 March, 2006 17:09  

  • How many top 20 markets would that leave Air America out of? New York, Philly, Phoenix, Houston, Long Island... on the other hand, they still have four stations in Vermont!

    By Blogger Pat, at 03 March, 2006 17:39  

  • Dear Brian,

    I am an avid AAR fan and I hope you are wrong. If you are correct I must applaud you for finding a true news scoop.

    AAR needs to be given a chance, but I am afraid you are right that if WLIB is dropped the preception will be damaging to AAR's overall health.

    However, if you are wrong (and I hope you are) then I will continue to read your stuff with my present scorn. (I do like your Photoshop skills though.)

    I still don't get your obsession with Al? He is funny you know and will make a very good if not great Senator.

    Also...

    Hey, please knock it off with the diss on Al's Daughter. She is who she is and if she wants to talk about a pet-"peeev" then let her.

    If you look at the comments left for her post most all of the Women strongly agree with her. The only "negative" comments are "why is this in the Huffington Post?".

    The only real complaints of her post come from folks with an axe to grind with her Father. Its not fair Brian. Come on!

    Please leave her alone!

    By Blogger Berkeley_Guy, at 03 March, 2006 21:54  

  • Where's Brian's gadfly Dick Tuck, putting a happy face on individual LiAAR affiliates' incremental increases from one quarter to the next?

    I think perhaps he suffered from the same thing Howard Beale did in "Network": "I just ran out of..."

    By Blogger L.N. Smithee, at 03 March, 2006 23:03  

  • Could make money as a primarily satellite station. But they would have to cut costs dramatically.

    By Blogger Strabo the Lesser, at 03 March, 2006 23:12  

  • Many years ago (about 25) I used to listen to WLIB on Saturday morning while I ran my errands. It was a Caribbean all morning. It was wonderful. We moved away and I lost track of it. I hope the new owners bring back the old format.

    By Blogger Fat Man, at 04 March, 2006 01:16  

  • I am a huge lefty radio listener but when we have idiots like Jerry Springer taking up prime time slots then I am not surprised when we fold.

    By Blogger Sellitman (Kevin), at 04 March, 2006 07:33  

  • Air America has trouble drawing clients with deep purses. They have to face the fact that Adult Book Stores and Head Shops are mostly what their audience patronize and those types of businesses don't need to advertize.
    Dick,
    O'Reilly has a five second delay so we don't know what the caller said to be bumped. What we do know is that you grasp at straws and make stuff up.

    By Blogger Beto_Ochoa, at 04 March, 2006 08:22  

  • Dick Tuck said...

    O'Reilly threatened radio show caller with "a little visit" from "Fox security" for mentioning Olbermann's name on the air



    Not terribly bright, are you, Dick?

    They have a delay function. The calls are NOT "live." When someone says something obscene, it never gets on the air.


    But nice of you to go off on that long dissertation based on your misunderstanding, Dick. It underlines just how completely ignorant you are.

    By Blogger Adjoran, at 04 March, 2006 12:40  

  • You can't make this up, you really can't

    By Peach, at 04 March, 2006 11:17


    PEACHES !!!

    By Blogger @whut, at 04 March, 2006 15:52  

  • Hasn't anybody here heard of XM Radio? I listen to AAR daily on XM. What is that market?

    Yes, it is very significant. Otherwise Sirius wouln't invest $500 million in the House of Stern.
    What's funny about the focus on terrestrial radio is that Maloney celebrates any hiccup in progressive radio, while not admitting that dominionist wingnut radio is tanking big-time, see Los Angeles in particular.

    They may all go down and we will have other options such as streaming, satellite, podcasts, digital, local wifi, cell phone connections, etc. to chooose from. Suits me fine as conventional broadcast is neanderthal in its technology.

    And AAR is well suited to all these new technologies. On the other side, only Halfwit Hewitt acknowledges blogs, and you look at his Los Angeles home base numbers and he is way down, nearly half his listenership in the latest ratings. If broadcast radio doesn't work out for him, he at least has a natural transition to the blogoshere. And he will be totally outgunned by the progressive buildup there.

    By Blogger @whut, at 04 March, 2006 16:05  

  • Power and WHT - About the Sirius/XM thing - I was under the impression that the reason Air America was so obsessed with getting regular radio slots was that they didn't WNAT to be a well-to-do liberal boutique network, but a real, live flanel shirt we-the-downtrodden network. You know, REAL people, the ones who are eating cat food whie paying oil bills, and who cannot pay to subscribe to radio.

    Bummer that none of them wanted to listen to Air America, when AAR wanted nothing but to explain to them how stupid they were for failing to vote their people into office.

    By Blogger Peter Porcupine, at 04 March, 2006 18:02  

  • I don't think that the broadcasting on satellite radio is going to be enough to save Air America. What percentage of the American public are even on satellite yet, let alone on XM specifically? There's just not enough audience to pay the bills.
    In addition, Air America’s general purpose for being is to act as a political influence – it’s not going to fulfill that role on satellite. It will only preach to the already converted, and only to those converted who’ve invested in XM radio equipment. It's not a large enough percentage of the population.

    The argument that satellite is the future and that Stern’s high salary is a demonstration that the future is already here is a flawed argument. Stern's situation isn't in any way comparable to Air America's. Stern was necessary for satellite because the future hasn’t arrived yet, and not enough people subscribe to pay the bills. Hiring Stern at that price was a desperation move - Either Stern brings home enough bacon to feed himself AND his employer or they both go down....

    Air America on the other hand, is likely be on XM as an income source for XM... that is.... as a "Pay-to-Play" broadcaster. (I don't know that, but it seems likely given their general lack of ability to attract advertisers). Eight million is probably enough to keep them on the air (satellite air? Ether? Microwave air?) but I think that money will have to be spent on finding a replacement home on the real airwaves.

    I predict that AAR will limp along to November because of the Democratic hopes for the midterm elections, and then they will fold into nothingness. Note that if Franken does jump up and run for congress, the end of Air America is guaranteed.


    Oh, for those who are new here, pay no attention to Dick Tuck or T.J. - as you can see from their posts, it's pretty well established that they've been detached from reality for a long time now. (I've often wondered if the two two of them aren't really parts of the same personality). Their realities run a few years slow... they'll still be listening to Air America in their heads after it's been off the air for a year or two.

    By Blogger Lokki, at 04 March, 2006 18:03  

  • This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Blogger Pamela and Jeff, at 04 March, 2006 20:28  

  • Howard Stern brought an audience to satellite radio. AAR would be going there looking for one. Big difference.

    By Blogger richard mcenroe, at 04 March, 2006 20:39  

  • Oh, there's Dick Tuck, right on cue. Nothing about LiAAR's rising ratings, but nonetheless, I guess I was wrong. He didn't run out of it.

    By Blogger L.N. Smithee, at 05 March, 2006 06:33  

  • Lokki Said
    "Oh, for those who are new here, pay no attention to Dick Tuck or T.J.....(I've often wondered if the two two of them aren't really parts of the same personality)."
    "

    So guess which one's the cabesa and which the culo y nalgas.

    By Blogger Beto_Ochoa, at 05 March, 2006 08:08  

  • scsiwuzzy, lokki,

    The problem with AAR isn't their broadcast outlets - whether satellite, Internet or traditional radio tower on the ground, they've done a fairly decent job of building a broad-based network for carrying their programming.

    What they've completely failed at doing is controlling their costs - first through attempting to expand way too fast, which led to their first crisis just months after startup, which in turn led to the ouster of the original management team; and now much more seriously, since their second big crisis has the potential to cut out the heart of the network that they have been able to establish. The replacement management team is finding that it can only play a shell game with available funds for so long to keep things afloat.

    If AAR's current leadership really want to be in the broadcast business for the purpose of making money in the broadcast business, they need to bring their operating costs down in a hurry to at least match their operating revenues, and dare I say, start generating an operating profit.

    That should, at least, be the No. 1 priority of any serious business leader, and that's not going go happen with AAR's current cost structure. They're paying way too much for the privilege of producing way too little revenue from their operations.

    Right now, they need to focus on getting the biggest revenue bang for their expense buck, and that's going to mean real changes.

    It really has to be a horrible time to be employed at AAR - the level of uncertainty has to be a killer.

    Unless, that is, AAR is in some other business that they haven't told us about....

    By Blogger Ironman, at 05 March, 2006 14:45  

  • Brian,

    Alta has owned Inner City since 2004. They even issued a press release at the time. Maybe they're now selling or partnering with someone, but Alta is not new to this equation.

    By Blogger Justin, at 06 March, 2006 17:21  

  • Randy Rhoads' sub host today, Mike Malloy, was on a vicious rant. I hear: "ass" - that's a violation of FCC rules; "Right-wing neo-Natzi followers of George Bush"; and he says this, "When you see a Republican just beat him down" - not a direct quote. Replace the word "Muslim" and you've got hate speach.

    I had to restrain myself from calling Malloy. He sounds like the jerks I knew in the '60's. I bet he has no one to whom he is responsible for but himself.

    Next time you listen to Air America, try this: use your analytical skills like a dispassionate psychoanalyst. I did this today and conclude that Malloy probably dropped acid and smoked plenty of dope as a teenager. It's drugs, it's got to be drugs. Both marijuana and LSD cause paranoia and when one begins in the teen years, it's been found to cause an arrested development. Pot heads don't grow up.

    By Blogger Stealth Ed, at 07 March, 2006 05:21  

  • Ratings-- Read them and weep. The average American is not stupid and will not be fooled again by the liberal, social democrats. The next elections are just about 8 months away. Be sure you are registered to vote.

    By Blogger Chief RZ, at 07 March, 2006 11:19  

  • It's a harsh fact that 51% of Americans are despots and intolerant towards liberal opinion. Liberals can't even have ONE liberal radio network and there are THOUSANDS of conservative and religious networks.

    By Blogger Orange County Guy, at 07 March, 2006 15:52  

  • My only question is why all the hatred for the one liberal radio network in this country. Neo-cons have tons of options we have one. So why all the jealousy? This always happens when you get successful. AAR is going to be successful one way or the other. I think you all need to give it up.

    By Blogger Don, at 07 March, 2006 18:27  

  • the right wing talkers are in a ratings nose dive also. People are tired of hearing the propaganda from guys like Rush, Hannity and Hewitt.

    People can see with their own eyes that the Bush administration is a failure.

    By Blogger El Bandini, at 10 March, 2006 03:53  

  • DeadAirUnAmerica's failure is based entirely on the fact that irrational partisan hatred and lying liberal sayso already dominates television and print media so much, like the Asinine Broadcast Company, Communist Bolshevik Sayso, Nuthin' But Crap, Consistently Nuthin' But Crap, Most Soitenly Nuthin' But Crap, National Socialist Pubic Radio, Clinton News Network, Old Pork Crimes, St Louis Compost Douchebag, San Frenchfreako Comicle, the Hell-A. Crimes, Washington Compost, Atlanta Urinal and Constipation, Media Matters, Bartcop, MoveOn.CUBA, The New Republic, The Nation, Common Dreams, and other fringe minority neoliberal outlets loaded with terrorist-appeasing communist traitors spewing falsehood-riddled yellow journalism which we the people, we the vast majority REAL conservatives, the true American patriots, have rejected because their lies are easily disproven and discredited.
    The marketplace has spoken. They don't want DeadAirUnAmerica. They prefer unbiased news sources in the independent media, like Fox News, the BBC, AlJazeera, Channel NewsAsia, the Australian ABC, CBC News, CTV News, Newsmax, WorldNetDaily, Front Page Magazine, Accuracy In Media, Cybercast News Service, Drudge Report, and of course REAL talk radio like Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Neal Boortz, and Bill Bennett.

    Signed by a true American patriot.

    http://sr71atomica.blogspot.com

    By Blogger (SR71)Atomica, at 28 April, 2006 19:52  

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