Radio, Radio

I got a chukle over this coverage of the difficulties at Air America:

At Air America, business and politics always mixed, and that was the problem, critics contend…Detractors label the liberal network’s programming as combative, one-note and emotional. At least its business dealings seem to fit that last description…The search for new investors and managers has been marred by infighting among those who want the network to succeed, according to people in the organization.

Hmmm. You mean extreme liberal ideology can interfere with a corporation’s ability to succeed? Who’d of thunk it?

Fortunately for us, the chuckles in this article hadn’t ended: "This is only the latest twist in the short but contentious history of Air America. At the root of its problems, some critics and competitors say, has been an inability to negotiate a middle path between its political mission and its business.”

Another element that won’t be at all surprising to some was how poorly these folks managed the finances of the network:

Air America ran into financial trouble within days of its appearance on March 31, 2004, when it turned out that its original chairman, Evan Cohen, did not have the backing he said he did. […]

Some people at Air America assert that, under Mr. Glaser and the team he put in place, the network was top-heavy with management, inept at selling ads, unwilling to make program compromises that veered from the liberal message and overstaffed with more than 100 employees when two dozen would have sufficed.

“What they did for $45 million they could have done for $10 million,” said Sheldon Drobny, an investor with a contentious relationship with the network.

Hmmm. Liberals overspending. What a shock.

Ever since I got my XM radio a couple of months back I've actually listed to quite a bit of Air America (channel 167). Its main problem is its lack of professionalism. While sounding a little bit like a college radio station can lend a "Hey, let's put a show on in the barn!" sense of fun, sounding ALOT like a college radio station just comes across as inept. But even at its best it Air America winds up sounding like a less interesting NPR.

Which brings another difficulty. Liberal folks love NPR. You have to be better than them to get the listeners to switch over. With the format and programming as is that is never gonna happen.