Interesting speculation from Janeane Garofalo on Air America story

She has a little new info, and what I think is a pretty good guess as to what Liu is up to...


http://www.majorityreportradio.com/weblog/


As you know if you live in LA or Chicago AAR
is down in those locales. There's not a lot of
info about what's going on right now but I'll let
you know what I know.

AAR has leased air time on WNTD (CHI) and
KBLA (LA) from a radio holding company that
owns both stations. I'm not privy to the details
as I'm not management and our legal counsel is
not in house so I can't eavesdrop on them. With
that said, there is some type of contractual
dispute regarding the LA station. The holding
company seems to be using the Chicago
station as leverage regarding the LA station. I
know that AAR is seeking an injunction against
the holding company's taking AAR off the air.
There seems to be a lot of optimism that we will
get that injunction. From the little I know of
legal matters, that is an indication that, at the
very least, our legal counsel feels that we are in
the right in this dispute and that a judge will feel
that way too. I suspect that the holding
company hopes that our desire to be on air will
overpower any sense that we are getting
screwed contractually.

On line there are some rumors about right wing
elements pressuring the holding company to
pull us off the air. As much as I'd like to, I don't
buy it. I think this is probably a typical hardball
business scenario that is indicative of AAR's
unexpected success and somebody who was
betting against that success trying to
renegotiate.

Not

:evilgrin:

been a Liberal or Democratic instead of RETHUGLICAN this wouldn't have happened.

:kick:

Statement Regarding WNTD in Chicago and KBLA in Los Angeles




Statement of Evan Cohen, Chairman of Air America Radio:

"Air America Radio is temporarily unable to be heard on WNTD in Chicago and KBLA in Los Angeles, but Chicago and Los Angeles listeners can still hear our broadcast on the web at airamericaradio.com and on XM Satellite Radio (channel 167).

"MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting's conduct in this matter has been disgraceful. To shut off a broadcast that listeners rely on without warning and in the middle of discussions is the height of irresponsibility and a slap in the face of the media industry. In addition, it is a clear violation of their contractual obligations, and we are seeking legal remedies against them in court."

http://www.airamericaradio.com/main.cfm?actionId=globalShowStaticContent&screenKey=resPressRelease&htmlId=718

i'm sure that we can ask each other to create a charity, collect donations, and buy out directly a station in LA. then if necessary bequeath it to AAR through trade.

i don't know about the details, but considering how desperate people are in america for having any voice of AAR i'm thinking there'd be enough mobilization within the community to do so.

besides, as long as AAR says nothing about it, and knows nothing about it, they can't really be traced to this strategy.

though i'm essentially broke, i'm willing to chip in $10 to provide an alternative to LA or Chi-town's local spew.

I would love to invest, donate, or anything else they need.

i don't know legalities about creating charities, though i'm interested in studying law. i'm just not knowledgeable about this enough yet.

anyone know how to establish a charitable trust? and anyone know the LA and Chicago radio market, and which ones are up for sale/affordable? in fact this idea could actually create employment, in managing the trust and managing the station. all we need is the know-how. i think we have the energy :)

because if you can turn it into a Jay Leno joke, you can give it airtime at the water cooler to know-nothings.

....the damage is done. Even after AAR gets this mess sorted out, the RW blowhards are going to be spouting this forever and a day.

An example of this. In 1995, Apple Computer introduced their first Power-PC based PowerBook, the 5300. Soon after release, they discovered in the lab that some of the Sony-built batteries that came with the 5300 could catch fire due to a design flaw.

Let me make this clear, the flaw was in a battery Sony designed and built, not Apple.

However, you can *still* hear "flaming PowerBook" jokes to this day, 9 years later. Anytime *any* laptop has problems, someone always brings up this tired chestnut.

And I'm afraid that's what's going to happen with AAR now. Even though all indications is that this is the fault of the station owner and *not* AAR or their cash flow, the Right Wing is going to be spinning this until "everybody knows that Air America is going under, that they're losing stations, etc." You know that's the spin.

Yeah, it looks like AAR is in the right and I hope that this station owner gets his ass sued from here back to Taiwan, and that AAR gets boocoo bucks in damages from this twit. But the damage has been done, the task now is to minimize it.

If Right wing media crows about today's events, they'll be preaching to the choir. I doubt AAR was gonna get much support from dittoheads anyway.