Goodbye Air America Radio.
The new boss is actually NOT same as the old boss.
He's worse.
Now, Randi Rhodes had been looking to get out of her contract for quite some time. She hated Air America and they hated her. She had issues with management from day one. First she thought Al Franken was a weak lead in, then she thought they should have promoted her show more, then she decided she hated New York (presumably one winter there too many), etc etc etc etc etc. On and on.
I know, professionals tough it out, but that in fact is what she did. To a fault, in fact. She re-signed with them twice, even though it was obvious that everything had gone straight down the crapper and was going to stay there. Sounds professional to me.
Meanwhile her alleged main squeeze had gone over to NovaM, the new network started by Drobny after HE got screwed over by AAR management, starring Mike Malloy who had been stupidly fired by same. (NovaM is promising. Not particularly relevant from a radio business standpoint right now, but promising. I think I'll go to their web site and give them some money.)
One can say that Randi's show sucked, and to some extent it did, compared to what she's capable of, but that's not the point. The point is that Air America management walked right into a bear trap, and then did nothing about it.
Randi was suspended essentially for getting all pottymouth in a bar. That's right. She used potty words. In a bar. In San Francisco. HORRORS!!!! The woman should be STONED!!!!!!!!!!!! (Or maybe she was.)
BFD.
OK, it was at a station event, maybe on AAR's dime.
BFD.
OK, she called Hillary a [intercoursing] [person who is paid for sex]. Hillary's been called worse. BFD.
With blitherheads like this for management, no wonder everyone wants out. They don't recognize a lose-lose situation when they see it.
OK... the news has been developing all day, but at the end this is what we have. Some of the sources no longer exist. One (Randi Rhodes Message Board) was taken down by Air America Radio management, corporate [intercoursing] [persons who are paid for sex] that they are. Another (Air America Place) crashed from too many users when the news got out. So you'll just have to Google around for the links. But I kid you not here, this is the poop:
1. Randi Rhodes, the biggest arrow in Air America's admittedly rather tiny quiver, left the company today after a protracted dispute involving her suspension after video of the potty mouth episode became the latest Internet fun. Her position is that they are in breach of her contract. Their position is that she is in breach of her contract. Either way, sayonara.
2. Radio 960 in San Francisco, the one whose fund raiser had the potty language that started all this, immediately announced she'd be on their station Monday.
3. Mere hours later, way too soon for any of this to be a surprise to any of the players, NovaM announced she was signing to their network and would start Monday. Rumor has it that they are paying her pretty much what she'd been getting from AAR.
4. Randi, who has often said she wants to do her show from Florida, will do her show from Florida.
5. Randi, in a statement, says she's pleased to be working with Manzo again. (I'll bet she is.)
6. Sam Seder, who subbed for Randi today, is not a happy camper. Right before yet another web site (the Sammycam) went down, there were interesting word choices made that indicate maybe he too will be on his merry way before long. At the end of his show, he told Randi that if she was listening, good luck and "maybe I'll see you soon." ????????
7. I would imagine this just about wraps it up for Air America's credibility as a serious progressive radio programmer. Minus Randi's contract, they might even be in better shape as a business, but they are dead meat on a stick as far as the respect of listeners is concerned. They're last year's news. Bye Air America Radio. Nice knowing you.
Labels: air america radio