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Air America Radio is a radio network that began broadcasting in the United States on March 31, 2004. The expressed goal of the network is to serve as a liberal alternative to what they argue is the domination of right-wing voices on talk radio. The network includes several radio stations over which it has full programming control, and others which syndicate its programming.
The station's headquarters are in New York City, using the Park Avenue offices, station, and equipment of WLIB, a station which used to focus on the African-American and Afro-Caribbean community. Some of the stations controlled by Air America previously focused on the African-American, Hispanic, or Asian communities.
During its development it was known as Central Air. Air America is part of Progress Media, which amassed tens of millions in venture capital prior to its debut. As a start-up organization, the network is expected to lose money for the first few years of its operation.
Two weeks after their debut, Air America Radio was pulled off the air by the owners of two stations the network had licensed in Chicago and Santa Monica, California (near Los Angeles). This was due to a contract dispute between Air America and the station's owner, Multicultural Radio Broadcasting. Air America alleges Multicultural Radio may have sold time on their Los Angeles station to them and another party, and stopped payment on checks to them while they investigated. Multicultural Radio alleges that Air America bounced a check and owes $1 million. Air America Radio filed a complaint in New York Supreme Court, charging breach of contract and was granted an injunction to restore the network on WNTD-AM in Chicago. On April 20, the network announced the dispute had been settled, and Air America's last day of broadcast on WNTD was April 30.
Four weeks after Air America's debut, the CEO, Mark Walsh, and Dave Logan, its executive vice president for programming, left the network. One week after those departures, the chairman and vice chairman, Evan Cohen and his investment partner Rex Sorensen, also left. Some attributed Cohen's departure to investor unhappiness with how he handled the dispute with Multicultural Radio Broadcasting.
Columnist Michael Goodwin of the New York Daily News quoted a marketing communications manager from General Motors, declaring "GM will not advertise on any Air America affiliates."
Evidence of the network's success is demonstrated by the growing number of stations owned by Clear Channel Communications which broadcast Air America's shows as part of a switch to a progressive or liberal talk radio format. Such stations often broadcast the network's shows in combination with programming such as The Ed Schultz Show.
Clear Channel tested the format at KPOJ-AM in Portland, Oregon, the first station to join Air America as an affiliate broadcasting Air America shows combined with other programming. As a result, the station increased its market share for ages 12 and up by nearly an order of magnitude. KPOJ's spring 2004 Arbitron ratings grew from a 0.4 to a 3.7, and KPOJ moved from 22nd to third in listeners aged 25 to 54.
The success in Portland has led Clear Channel to switch more of its stations to the format, so that as of September 2004 over a third of Air America's affiliates are owned by Clear Channel. This includes stations in swing states such as Florida (West Palm Beach and Miami), Colorado, Ohio, and New Mexico, as well as major markets such as San Diego, California.
Their early promos humorously describe Air America Radio as further to the left than a number of well-known right-wing groups, such as the House Un-American Activities Committee, the NRA, and the John Birch Society, as well as the fictional and apolitical character Betty Crocker.
Air America produces seventeen hours of weekday programming, including news summaries at the top of each hour.
For those stations for which Air America has full control, weekends feature repeats and highlights from their weekday shows, combined with new original programming and some syndicated shows produced independently.
New network programming for weekends includes:
The network's programs are streamed on the Internet and carried on XM Satellite Radio's America Left (channel 167) and Sirius Satellite Radio's Stream 144. The network has announced a pending deal with Dish Network.
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