Air America Radio, Gloria Wise Scandal, Al Franken, One Year Later

ONE YEAR LATER

AAR Lives (For Now), Kids Are The Real Victims





Yesterday, it took a producer to remind Rush Limbaugh that Tuesday's show represented the 18th anniversary of his highly successful syndicated radio program.

And here at the Radio Equalizer, we discovered that it has now been a full year since we first initiated coverage of Air America Radio's Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club scandal.

While two newspapers (a local Bronx paper and the Daily News) had buried very brief mentions of the Department Of Investigation's probe into $875,000 in taxpayer grants earmarked for the Bronx- based charity (that instead wound up in the liberal talk radio network's coffers), the local media generally refused to do any digging.

At the time, Air America had been on the receiving end of an ongoing series of puff pieces from mainstream media outlets, especially in New York City. To admit to the scandal right under their noses would have been highly embarrassing.

Beginning with this July 27, 2005 post, we've investigated the living daylights out of this ongoing mess. Michelle Malkin and yours truly spent months digging for clues, making phone calls, utilizing sources and documentation.

And until the blogosphere screamed bloody murder about the otherwise- unreported scandal, it was nearly impossible to get the mainstream media to touch it with a ten- foot pole. For over two weeks, several blogs ran an "MSM non-coverage" timer, in order to make the point hit home.

With that push, we were finally able to get the story to go nationwide. In his recent book Painting The Map Red, author / blogger Hugh Hewitt noted our situation.


Contrary to what the network might have you believe, the investigation is ongoing. After the network finally agreed to place the full $875,000 into an escrow account, the wheels have turned ever so slowly. At the very least, shouldn't the company face fines or other sanctions?

And to raise the $875,000, the Air America parent Piquant LLC resorted to a series of bailout "loans" from the "progressive" community.

The New York City DOI has not returned recent calls we've made as to the investigation's status, but at the same time has not issued a public statement on the matter since this September, 2005 press release. For ongoing matters, it's considered routine for the agency to generally remain silent, until they're ready to move forward.

The Radio Equalizer still receives emails asking why those responsible have not been brought to justice, but as you may know, bureaucratic wheels tend to turn slowly. Even now, the $875,000 is sitting in an escrow account that is controlled by an Air America attorney.

The real victims, of course, were the children of the Bronx, who ultimately lost their Boys & Girls Club. Even though other area non- profits were quick to step in and salvage many of the affected programs, the club's charter was stripped away by the organization's national office and the facility was shut down.

We recognize that Air America's hosts, who were mostly uninvolved in these dirty dealings, would not want to upset their employers by talking about the scandal on the air. But it certainly did strip away any moral authority on issues that the liberal talkers might have otherwise enjoyed.

After a period of awkward silence, Al Franken was designated as the talker who could address it in public. When he did so, however, Al seemed to make things worse, with a muddled explanation. Since then, when confronted directly, other hosts have attempted to brush off the issue.

Later, a Radio Equalizer exclusive piece reported that Franken's unreasonable compensation demands seemed to interfere with the firm's ability to repay the Gloria Wise club. When we really began to show that we had a solid understanding of the company's inner workings, Piquant started to fire back at us.

Since then, Al Franken and fellow host Randi Rhodes have attempted to show that they really do care about children, but it's hard to believe they've gained much credibility in this area.

What Franken has really proven is that Air America serves as a cash cow from which he can position himself for a 2008 US Senate run in Minnesota.

And even while staff cuts and other belt- tightening slimmed down the faltering company, Franken and Rhodes pushed to maintain and even enhance huge, bloated compensation packages.


While this issue still lingers in the background, one year later, Air America has more recently attracted attention for its bailouts from billionaires and frequent staff departures. Now, all signs point to the network's most dire financial
situation ever.

Even George Soros can't seem to keep up with this outfit's cash burn rate!

Also noteworthy is that after more than two years, Air America's ratings have generally stunk, with several stations recently dropping the network's programming.


Why is it important to chronicle Air America's antics and business performance? Because this is the network that was heavily touted as the answer to conservative talk radio, a true threat to the dominance of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. But it didn't quite work out that way, did it?

And for several years, the industry hype was completely out of control, finally dying down only recently.

In the coming days and weeks, watch for a new series of pieces delving into what appears to be the troubled network's worst period yet. Sure, Air America's final chapter hasn't yet been written, but we are closer now than ever before.

Thanks for your continued and vital Radio Equalizer support, via Amazon orders that begin with clicks here, regardless of what you ultimately order!

AAR scandal logo by Darleen Click, other images by Pete at IHillary and David A Lunde.