Air America (Network)

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Air America , later Air America Radio (AAR), was a major radio network for liberal and progressive radio talk shows in the United States . It was the first liberal full radio program for the entire United States. Liberal talk hosts such as Jon Elliott , Rachel Maddow , Montel Williams , Nicole Sandler, Jack Rice, Ron Reagan , Al Franken ,   Marc Maron , Sam Seder and others distributed the programs on the Sydikation service . Air America affiliates over 100 stations in the US .

history

In 2004, Rob Glaser from RealNetworks raised around 60 million US dollars to create a left-wing alternative to the right-wing conservative programs on US radio. Conservative talk radio programs have dominated the American radio scene since the 1990s. From the very beginning was Al Franken , who supported the foray and in his book Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot right talk radio had criticized (1999). Mark Walsh became CEO of Air America. He said of the network's mission: Air America wanted to present well-made entertainment with which the listeners could emotionally identify.

In 2004, the year of the US presidential campaign , Air America went on the air with a 24-hour program. The programs were produced at the small station WLIB New York City and the stations KBLA-AM Los Angeles, WNTD-AM Chicago, KPOJ-AM in Portland and KCAA-AM San Bernadino in California. Air America relied on the then new technology of satellite radio and broadcast via Sirius XM . At the start, Air America was available in six major markets in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland and Southern California, as well as via the Internet and XM radio . At the end of 2004, 40 local stations were affiliates of the network and this already reached 40 percent of US listeners.

The flagship was the show The O'Franken Factor with Al Franken. Air America started a "counterattack" (Spiegel Online) on air like The O'Reilly Factor by the conservative presenter Bill O'Reilly . The The O'Franken Factor was broadcast at the same time as the conservative Rush Limbaugh show aired.

In 2010 the project went bankrupt.

literature

  • Al Franken: Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot: And Other Observations . Delacorte Press, 1996. ISBN 0-385-31474-4
  • Gerti Schön: “'Air America' - hot air or counter-public? New liberal talk radio in the ether. ”In: medienheft , April 7, 2004.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richard Corliss : Why Air America Will Be Missed . In: Time . January 21, 2010, ISSN  0040-781X ( time.com [accessed July 18, 2017]).
  2. ↑ a b c Gerti Schön: “'Air America' - hot air or counter-public? New liberal talk radio in the ether. ”In: medienheft , April 7, 2004.
  3. ^ Reuters: TV's Montel Williams to host Air America radio show . In: Reuters . March 13, 2009 ( reuters.com [accessed September 6, 2017]).
  4. ↑ Former Air America Radio Host Rants 'I Hate This G ** - damned Country!' In: NewsBusters . ( newsbusters.org [accessed September 6, 2017]).
  5. ↑ Official - Jack Hosts The Jack Rice Show on Air America Radio National. In: Jack Rice, Rice Law Office, PA . ( jackricelaw.com [accessed September 6, 2017]). Official - Jack Hosts The Jack Rice Show on Air America Radio National. ( Memento from September 7, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Ron Reagan to return to local airwaves . In: The Seattle Times . September 6, 2008 ( seattletimes.com [accessed September 6, 2017]).
  7. ^ Brian Stelter: Liberal Radio, Even Without Air America . In: The New York Times . January 25, 2010, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed September 6, 2017]).
  8. ^ Richard Corliss: Radio: America Still on the Air . In: Time . April 5, 2005, ISSN  0040-781X ( time.com [accessed September 6, 2017]).
  9. ^ A b Eric Lee (2005): How Internet Radio Can Change the World: An Activist's Handbook. iUniverse
  10. ↑ a b Christian Stöcker: Talk Radio: America's Left Attacks. In: Spiegel Online. Retrieved August 6, 2017 .
  11. ^ Brian Stelter: Liberal Radio, Even Without Air America . In: The New York Times . January 25, 2010, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed July 18, 2017]).