Starting at 6 p.m. ET Thursday, Air America will broadcast "encore programming" though Jan. 25 and then cease to air. Current employees will be paid through Thursday, and severance packages will be offered Friday to full-time employees with more than six months of tenure.
Formerly known as Air America Radio, the network launched in 2004 with personalities including Rachel Maddow and Al Franken, now a Democratic U.S. senator from Minnesota.
In October 2006, Air America Radio filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection but was able to stay on the air while it reorganized. Green Family Media bought the network in March 2007, and it eventually grew to 100 radio outlets nationwide.
The network called itself "the only full-time progressive voice in the mainstream broadcast media world" at the time of its launch, according to its statement Thursday. Air America presented dissenting views on issues like the Iraq War at a time when such statements "were often denounced as 'un-American,' " the statement continued.
But the changing media industry crippled the network's growth.
"With radio industry ad revenues down for 10 consecutive quarters, and reportedly off 21% in 2009, signs of improvement have consisted of hoping things will be less bad," the statement said.
"But the changing media industry crippled the network's growth."
ReplyDeleteOhhh i see the changing media industry is what caused the stations demise... not the fact that no one liked what they were saying.
Why is it that conservative radio does just fine, but liberal radio fails?
Liberals will say because conservative talk radio is "entertainment" ... well duh, what was liberal radio? It was supposed to be entertainment, but people weren't entertained because what they were talking about didn't make sense.
Liberal ideology only makes sense in sound bites and catch phrases... but when you try to have actual rational dialog it doesn't really add up, and that's not entertaining.