The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney

06 March 2007

Air America Radio, Stephen L Green, Mark Green, Rob Glaser

GREEN'S DAY

Hey Bro, Thanks For The Network!







Despite late rumors to the contrary, wealthy Manhattan developer Stephen L Green and RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser today (with a few others also in the mix) announced they have finally taken control of the long- floundering Air America Radio network.

But how will it be run? For that answer, we turn to the Huffington Post, where brother Mark Green, a perennial political candidate in New York City, trumpeted the news. Hey Bro, thanks for the gig!

Using every tired circa- 1990s business cliche known to man, brother Green called it "Air America 2.0":


Today my family formally purchases and takes over Air America Radio. Why? Because if progressive values were a stock, now is the time to buy.

That hasn't always been true, as the cycle of politics demonstrates. In recent decades, politics seems to have been governed by physics - for every action, there's an opposite and equal reaction.

William F. Buckley Jr. started The National Review in the 1950s to rebut what he saw as the dominance of liberalism in the academy and opinion journals like The Nation and The New Republic. From 1970-72, Public Citizen, Common Cause and the NRDC were all created in reaction to Nixon's depredations. Similarly, People For the American Way grew out of the rise of the Religious Right under Reagan in the mid-80s.

New progressive think tanks over the past 10 years, most recently and prominently the Center for American Progress, were created to counter AEI and Heritage. And, of course, the Huffington Post and Air America were born in reaction to the electronic propaganda of Drudge and Limbaugh et. al.

Air America was a large, smart idea to counter the near-monopoly on talk radio by the far (f)right. But like most start-ups, the business plan collided with reality. Six CEOs over its first three years - and various missteps and misspending - sent it into Chapter 11.

It's now ready to go from The Perils of Pauline to The Little Engine that Could. How? First, by focusing on the radio fundamentals of making a strong line-up even stronger; second, by connecting to other progressive membership organizations to be mutually fortifying; and third, by being a multi-media content company involving other distribution platforms - Internet, blogging, audio and video streaming, mobile, social networks, and more. It's time to think outside the (radio) box.

The twin goals are to make it profitable and influential. One without the other won't work. If it's not a business, it'll go out of business.

...

It's no longer enough just to hope that The New York Times will cover a rally or press release. The relatively new combination of The HuffingtonPost, Alternet, Moveon, Center for American Progress and Campaign for America's Future, The Nation and The American Prospect, DailyKos and TalkingPointsMemo - and so many labor unions - means that Air America will be part of a larger progressive infrastructure heard by a widening audience. For if we can't grow and prosper now -- given the 110th Congress, given the unmitigated disaster that's Iraq, given a slew of top-quality presidential aspirants -- when will we?

So Air America will aggressively cover national politics and policies in ways that will be informative, opinionated and entertaining. All three.

We'll be full of news and views. Two views especially. First, America should stop attacking Muslim countries in ways that multiply terrorism. Second, instead of only talking about exporting democracy, Washington should begin practicing it here at home, for example by making sure elections aren't auctions.


Speaking personally, my brother and I are excited by this important challenge and look forward to working with the Air America professionals - in front of the mic and behind it - who have held this dream together. Steve Green has been a very successful businessman accustomed to making money -- and he doesn't intend for AAR to be an exception.

I've been an author, public interest lawyer and the NYC Public Advocate. For me this feels like a continuation of so much I've done in the progressive movement over three decades. Air America is like a public advocate for the country, exposing problems and offering solutions.

...

But that requires a conversation called democracy. In the spirit that dialogue beats monologue, I am today contacting the New Hampshire Republican Party and the New York Post editorial page. Since the Democratic Party of Nevada actually invited Fox News to host that state's Democratic debate, I asked if Air America could host the first Republican debate in New Hampshire, assuring them that "we too can be fair and balanced."

And to Bob McManus, editorial page editor of The New York Post, I proposed that he come on Air America to discuss his views and that Air America commentators would in turn once-a-month write an op-ed on his pages, because "it's better to exchange ideas than insults." His 500,000 readers should hear from us and our 2 million+ audience should hear from him.

We have many fresh ideas for programming, for technology, for partnerships with sister organizations. But it's this conversation called democracy that's the cornerstone of Air America 2.0. We intend to listen to our listeners. To increase our listeners. To hope they will join our journey to better content, better programming, and a better country. To tell them that it's your America, and your Air America.


Wow, Mark, what a bold vision! You're going to incorporate blogs, audio streaming and video clips into your website? Nobody's ever thought of that!

And that "strong lineup" of which you speak is busy losing affiliates, with Burlington, Vermont as the latest example. Plus, that tie- in between the network and liberal advocacy groups actually began two years ago, with little benefit for either party to date, other than leased airtime income for AAR.

Also, note how Green has already spelled out precisely which viewpoints his hosts will express and emphasize. Will he personally regulate on- air content to suit his own agenda?


From Mark Green's own words, we can tell right off the bat this is simply yet another case of liberal "investors" moving into the picture without any real idea how a radio network should be run. The money pit lives on!

Meanwhile, there is an elephant in the room. Watch this site for all the upcoming details!

Men Who Know: David A Lunde


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18 Comments:

  • Nobody is the slightest bit interested in what a disgusting pudgy pasty GOP dirty trickster thinks of the progressive quest to counter your lying GOP radio disinformation juggernaut. Who even knows whether evolved people want to dally with AM radio, the K=Mart of political forums. Yes, I know you get your Zanzabelt polyester slacks at KMart, PastyPudge, and you feel that American is moving on now to Walmart and that is progress, but we have something else in mind: evolving e-politics which leave behind you and your fat, filthy lying friends on the radio right.

    Have you no shame for what you have done to this country? My God, a hundred people still dying a day in Iraq ALL BECAUSE OF YOU, a hundred thousand wounded or shellshocked soldiers permanently disabled coming home to "compassionate conservative care" in their local VA. In every corner of the world, the U.S. is spit upon and a pariah nation ALL BECAUSE OF YOU! A political system that has devolved from the high spirits of JFK to one sleazy smear job to another outing of a CIA agent to get even. This is what the right wing has to offer today, disgusting morbidly obese filthy liars who have destroyed this country. Shame, pigs!

    By Blogger gregrocker, at 06 March, 2007 22:01  

  • Wow..such emotion over a blog post... scary. I bet his fingers hurt from pounding that keyboard!

    I just hate it when the hydra's medication isn't delivered on time.

    We're either going to have to get a nurse who can keep a schedule or take away his keyboard privileges again.

    Now a little adult talk -
    I'm glad that we'll have Air America to kick around some more, personally. I've been enjoying the saga. Besides, I missed on my first bet for their demise... They lasted two months longer than I thought they would.

    Now I get to bet on round two! Bother may be rich and all, but I'm betting that the show is over, for good, by 30 September.

    By Blogger Lokki, at 06 March, 2007 22:36  

  • l....with adults like you, this nation scarcely requires children anymore..

    don't you freaks EVER get tired of the punishment, the smackdowns, the...

    reality of it all?

    way too early to call aar...

    unlike that fabulous half-hour fox news comedy....

    god its all so unfair

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 07 March, 2007 00:35  

  • "It's now ready to go from The Perils of Pauline to The Little Engine that Could."

    For god's sake Markie "never earned an honest dollar," have you even AN ABJECT IDEA what year your core demo went to high school?

    The Perils of Pauline? WTF?!

    By Blogger Unknown, at 07 March, 2007 01:04  

  • see

    it's working already

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 07 March, 2007 01:19  

  • Lokki, Welcome back to comment hell.

    By Blogger none, at 07 March, 2007 04:35  

  • Lokki:I'm glad that we'll have Air America to kick around some more, personally


    hysterial, you and the other 3 who have O.C.D with Air America!!

    I come on here, smash your talking points over and over, PCD leavces the blog crying.
    Your kicking around nobody, this blog represents what the right has become= IRRELEVANT


    How's that "awaken the bear" thing going, the pig man was crying about after the Libby trial?
    How's Coulter doing?
    How's Michael Savage doing?

    Right wingers are being exposed every day for what they are
    HATE MONGERS
    coulter has humiliated the right
    Savage has humiliated the right

    why is the right wing fixated on gay sex?

    Hysterical, Brian's minions of 4 are humiliated once more as AA continues to broadcast!!!!!

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 07 March, 2007 09:35  

  • Greg,

    I actually laughed out loud about your comments today. Oh, of course I found the line where you call non-liberals fat: This is what the right wing has to offer today, disgusting morbidly obese filthy liars

    But no, what made me laugh was "Zanzabelt". You really have no idea what the word really is, do you?

    The word you were fumbling for is "Sansabelt". Since "sans" means "without", these pants are worn without a belt and include an elastic waistband.

    Big clue about life:

    People who are "disgusting morbidly obese" cannot wear beltless pants. It is only slim studs like you who do that!

    Please continue to show your ignorance. We all can use a little more humor in our lives.

    By Blogger Chromium, at 07 March, 2007 09:43  

  • MoPoop,

    you are actually psychotic. I didn't leave at all. You'll be the one crying if your wife gets transferred to Iraq.

    By Blogger PCD, at 07 March, 2007 11:05  

  • B...

    "I'm willing to bet that one of Mark Green's "fresh ideas for programming" is to give himself a show..."

    agreed


    "I wonder who will be moved to make way. I'm guessing Seder."

    no way....bet hard money on 1)Greenfield/Williams or 2) Maddow...

    think about it (and refer back to $3M WWRL contract dispute for point of reference)...

    Think about green's relationship to his own self-image, versus his relationship to the reality of what people really think of him

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 07 March, 2007 11:07  

  • PCD
    you hate America
    you hate the troops

    drop dead

    like all cons you take "R" over America

    you take a failed ideology over America

    just like that whore Coulter, you display what you really are on a regular basis, a Conservative not an American

    you filthy little bastard

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 07 March, 2007 12:01  

  • 20 stations lost in the past year, most recently the liberal bastion of Burlington, VT. Good luck to him, he'll need it. (Personally I think they'd be better off trying to produce one or two really good shows and landing them on the big, mostly conservative stations rather than have their little low-powered Pravda
    network of stations...)

    They want to sponsor a Republican debate in NH? I can picture one of the AAR hosts as moderators, jumping in to tell Guiliani, Romney, or
    McCain "you're so stupid..."

    By Blogger raccoonradio, at 07 March, 2007 12:23  

  • btw in LA there's a protest going on regarding KTLK's decision to pull shows like "Harrison on the Edge" in favor of those right-wing wackos
    Mr KTLK and Alan Colmes...
    (I'm being sarcastic; Colmes' sin
    was to say he considers Fox News
    coverage to be "fair")

    they're contacting national sponsors
    of KTLK to protest. Maybe these sponsors will just say the heck with it and pull their accounts. Starved for cash, the station would change their format. Nice. Down with
    capitalism, Comrade!

    BERNIE! Cultural Learnings Of
    Socialism For Make Benefit Glorious
    People's Republic Of Vermont

    By Blogger raccoonradio, at 07 March, 2007 13:44  

  • You see? All the heads of the hydra have appeared - (well almost all - the classical number is supposedly 9)
    It's hysterical - (in all senses of the word).

    Minister of Propaganda - I have no personal investment in Air America except as an amusement.... I've stated before here that what attracted me is the same thing that I enjoyed in the Daewoo motor company fiasco.

    The collapse of that company was as easy to predict as the fact that river ice breaking up in the spring....

    At first the question was just when?

    Then I became fascinated by the spectacle of watching idiots run out on to the ice saying that it would never melt - some said it was even getting stronger!

    Well, it finally melted and Daewoo fell through ....

    The Air America debacle offers me the same pleasure. I'm watching Air-Americanistas curse and scream at those of us on solid ground... and swear (literally swear) that Air America SHALL NOT FAIL


    Bets?

    By Blogger Lokki, at 07 March, 2007 14:18  

  • I shouldn't have to keep coming here and pointing this out, but someone else has deleted this site from Wikipedia:

    14:53, 15 February 2007 Fightingirish

    By Blogger LonewackoDotCom, at 07 March, 2007 15:49  

  • Baloney,

    You just keep on losing! I love it!

    I can see it now. If AAR goes dark one day in the distant future, Brainless Baloney goes to wingnut powers that be:

    BB: AAR is gone. Can have the hate talk show I was promised?

    WPTB: Brainless who?

    By Blogger BWTechnical, at 07 March, 2007 18:36  

  • Hey Baloney,

    I heard your "On the Media" clip. I liked your little, "ha ha ha"'s interspersed in your blather.

    "ha ha ha", goes Baloney, his mind twisted with hate for his white whale, AAR.

    "ha ha ha"

    By Blogger BWTechnical, at 07 March, 2007 18:53  

  • The classical number of heads is nine.

    By Blogger Lokki, at 08 March, 2007 17:38  

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