Air America radio network has suitors, sources report

By Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most e-mailed articles

Sources said Sheldon and Anita Drobny want to buy — with the aid of at least one major new investor — a majority stake in the company.

"A possible acquisition is imminent," one party told the Chicago Tribune last week.

Air America Radio, the liberal network that bills itself as the antidote to all things conservative, particularly to those that come ricocheting out of the mouth of Rush Limbaugh, has experienced a turbulent liftoff since it hit the airwaves in late March.

Financial strain is apparent after the ouster of chairman and investor Evan Cohen earlier this month. CEO Mark Walsh, a former AOL executive and Democratic National Committee operative, and David Logan, director of programming, stepped down two weeks earlier.

The network also shut down its Chicago and Los Angeles offices May 10, laying off about 15 to 20 salespeople. One Air America source said Chicago staffers never were enrolled in a health-insurance plan, although Air America promised coverage and deducted health-insurance premiums from their paychecks.

Walsh, a major investor in the network, said he is stepping down to serve as a senior adviser to the network. It was, he said, never his intention to run the network on a day-to-day-basis.

Walsh took offense after Limbaugh last month used his airtime to laugh at Air America's fumbles. (The network's flagship show, a three-hour broadcast starring comic and author Al Franken, competes against Limbaugh.)

"Apparently, Rush saw a C-SPAN show I did where I said that one of the reasons that right-wing radio dominates radio so well is that they have a lot of talent," Walsh said. "And now because I praised a right-wing host, he says I'm getting ((fired)."

David Goodfriend, the network's general counsel and chief operating officer, defended the network's business plan. The network, he said, will announce new affiliates in Los Angeles and Chicago soon.

Air America now airs in New York; Portland; Minneapolis/St. Paul; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Sacramento, Calif., and suburban Southern California. Expansion to Reno, Nev.; Memphis, Tenn.; Colorado Springs, Colo., and Anchorage also looms. Its programming also is available via satellite radio, and streaming audio on the Internet (www.airamericaradio.com).

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More nation & world headlines...