Air America: "Cut it or shut it"

[racconradio]

http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2006/05/air-america-budget-cuts-al-franken-jim.html"Air America Radio's acting CEO has been ordered to either cut millions from the bloated network's budget or condemn the left- wing talk radio experiment to the ash heap of history, the Radio Equalizer has exclusively learned...If at least $5 million can't be sliced away soon, it could finally be curtains for Franken & Co."

 

[tbetz]

Is there a credible source for this story?

Frankly, the source you cite has a pretty piss-poor track record.

 

[fred flintstone]

Pretty piss-poor but not entirely piss poor.Maloney has an axe to grind. He goes looking for dirt to dish about AAR. When he finds some he exaggerates, spins and twists. But underneath all that, there is still the original spec of dirt. His main points:

• AAR has over-spent. Maloney's not alone in saying that. Over-spending was clear in the HBO documentary.
• They have hired a consultant. The consultant recommended cutting costs (20%). They then made the consultant interim CEO and told him to cut costs.

That's no big shock. It would have been a surprise if - sooner or later - AAR had not started belt-tightening. Companies go into cost-cutting phases all the time. AAR is over-due.

 

[racconradio]

Maybe time for them to switch to being a syndicator more than a network...a provider of programs (along with Jones, etc.) for prog. talk stations. The latest ratings in liberal Boston are out. While I can't quote numbers, I will say conservative talker WRKOhas numbers that are over 11times what the two AAR stations did (source: latest 12+ via radio and records.com--and yup, the 25-54 is what really counts, and if someone can give me access to them we'llsee just how big or small the disparity is. By the way, "black talk" WILD (AM) and conservative talker-via-Salem WTTT were no shows.)Big salaries for the likes of Rhodes and Franken, in the hopes of luring "big names" to progressive talk radio. But they seem to be the type of people who turn moderates/conservatives off, and more than a few liberals might preferNPR instead.

 

[gr8oldies]

Do they still have that large staff of writers and producers? That's a big and unneccesary expense. One host, one call screener and one producer at the most..you can outsource any additional writing and bits.

 

[fred flintstone]

Air America Radio is more comparable to Salem's News-Talk network and to Syndication One's (Radio One/Reach Media) Urban Talk network than to established AM talkers (like WRKO). Of those three, Salem has been around longer (I don't recall at the moment how long). AAR has passed two years. Syndication One started earlier this year. All three cluster together at the bottom of the charts - or even off the charts. All three are turn-key networks feeding mostly weak, under-performing or non-performing Class D AMs. Much the same can be said of the sports talk networks, Sporting News Radio, Fox Sports Radio and (to a less extent) ESPN Radio. And of the 24/7 satellite-delivered music formats. AAR appears to have over-paid for some "name" talent, such as Franken and Garofolo (but probably not Rhodes). At the same time, Bill Bennett, Michael Medved and Al Sharpton are probably being compensated - at least in part - for the presumed "marquee value" of their names (if not for the audiences and revenues they generate). The big difference here is all these other syndicators have other revenue streams (AAR does not) and they all are experienced broadcast operators (AAR is not). The others are in business to make money using a point of view in which they believe and to which they think the audience will want to listen. AAR is in business to sell a point of view to which they think the audience SHOULD listen and which advertisers should support. This is a classic case of the cart before the horse.I agree AAR is trying to put a liberal spin on Rush's act. (1) Rush does the act better. Even some of his conservative talk immitators do it better. (2) AAR's comedians are not funny. Ideology-based political humor has never worked. Ideology-based humor is about taking a shot; not getting laughs. Letterman and Leno (and before them Carson) got laughs by busting the over-inflated balloons of politicians, bureaucrats and the government, in general - and they got laughs from people on all sides politically. (3) AAR also tries to affect the smart-ass style of FM/hot talk, possibly in an attempt to reach the money demos. They don't pull that off either. Bottom line: Rush found the right mix for conservative political talk in the 80s. Nobody - including NPR - has found the winning formula for commercial progressive talk, although Michael Jackson may have come closest. What progressive talk may need is Michael Jackson with just a little more edge (not too much) and an American accent. And that might just describe Thom Hartmann, but his act is still a work in progress. He needs to stop doing these marathons and put his focus on getting his show ready for prime time.

 

[dampier]

Big salaries for the likes of Rhodes and Franken, in the hopes of luring "big names" to progressive talk radio. But they seem to be the type of people who turn moderates/conservatives off, and more than a few liberals might preferNPR instead.

Shows how much you know. Rhodes salary at AAR puts her in the upper middle class for NY City. She lives in a one bedroom apartment. She is hardly raking in millions.As to the Unequalizer, we once again get a report that is all guess and no fact. It's real easy to make up a "cost cutting" story as part of your ongoing mission to portray AAR as a failure (and he should know considering his own career). With absolutely no way to prove it true or false, nor any way to measure what exactly is being "cut," we end up with a story only Bill O'Reilly will love, because he can have Baloney on again as an "independent media analyst" for his once-monthly AAR is failing by the end of the month story. He's been saying that since 2004. Since half of his viewers suffer from Alzheimers or drop dead, it's fine to keep repeating the same story over and over because nobody will remember to hold him accountable for any of it anyway.Hell, Murder, She Wrote had a younger audience than O'Reilly.

 

[fred flintstone]

Phil, you don't cite a source for your information on Randi's living arrangements but I checked the Times Real Estate listings and an "upper middle class" one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan would run something like $7,000 - $8,000.00 a month. If she devotes a quarter of her income to living expenses, that would make her salary upwards of $350,000.00 - less than Franken's producer reportedly gets. Of course, since she maintains a second residence in West Palm Beach, she might well be getting more. But it looks like she gets a lot less than Al and probably substantially less than Janeane.Apparently, you dismiss the cost-cutting story just because it came from Maloney. If AAR is not cutting costs, it should be. If Maloney wanted to stir up more sh__ he would do better with a story about how AAR is NOT cutting costs - continuing to live beyond its means - and going back to the Drobnys for more cash. Maloney's story is plausible on its face and is a statement against Maloney's declared interest. In effect, he is saying "AAR makes a sound management decision."I don't understand what O'Reilly and his audience demographics have to do with this topic or Maloney's original story. You don't provide a source for your "ageist" assertions. But keep in mind, all talk radio skews older-than-the-money-demos, including progressive talk (Goldberg said in a speech that the mean age is 49, compared to 56 for talk radio generally).And even though you may see Raccon as an "AAR basher" (not a "booster), he might have a point when he says AAR has not yet found hosts with strong appeal to their target audience. Fact is in eight of the top 10 markets with progressive talk stations, public radio news and information stations outdraw the public radio stations by wide margins (and this is true even in Portland, OR - market 24, with the highest rated progressive talk station).