Air America Radio

Air America Radio was established March 11, 2004, by Progress Media as a progressive talk radio network.

On January 29, 2007, it was announced that Stephen Green, founder and chairman of SL Green Realty Corporation (web), "appears to rescue the struggling network, which has been seeking a buyer since last fall when it filed for bankruptcy reorganization after reaching an impasse with one of its creditors. ... Green is the brother of Mark Green, a longtime New York politician who has also appeared frequently as a guest on Air America Radio."

"The network also said that Al Franken, its longtime headline personality, would depart next month. ... Franken's last day on the air would be Feb. 14, and that his noon-3pm ET time slot would be taken over by Portland, Ore.-based talk show host Thom Hartmann." 

About
"Air America Radio will provide a counterbalance to right wing voices," said Mark Walsh, Chief Executive Officer of Air America Radio network. "The top talent in the country is coming together to ensure Air America Radio provides the most compelling and entertaining programming on radio." The following persons are the "on-air talent": Randi Rhodes, Janeane Garofalo, Sam Seder, Al Franken, Mike Malloy, and others.

Advertising Age's April 5, 2004 issue reported that Dan Klores Communications would be doing PR for Air America. North Woods Advertising did the first round of advertising. XM Satellite, the U.S. Navy, Tyson, Caltrate, American Express, Travelocity, McDonald's and Fenton Communications bought ad time on Air America during its first two days. O'Dwyer's PR reports that Fenton Communications also help with Air America's launch. Air America has also used Internet services provided by iStandFor.

Ad blackout of Air America Radio
In October 2006, ABC Radio Networks, then under Disney's ABC, told its stations to black out all ads from about 90 companies that did not want to have their ads on radio stations that carried Air America Radio. The internal memo from ABC Radio Networks to its affiliates was headlined "Air America Blackout" and was addressed to the Traffic Director who handles advertising for the affiliates. The memo states, "Please be advised that Hewlett Packard has purchased schedules with ABC Radio Networks between October 30th and December 24th, 2006. Please make sure you blackout this advertiser on your station, as they do not wish it to air on any Air America affiliate."

The memo then goes on to say, "Please see below for a complete list of all advertisers requesting that NONE of their commercials air within Air America programming." The list includes large corporations such as Wal-Mart, General Electric, Exxon Mobil, Microsoft, Bank of America, Fed-Ex, Visa, Allstate, McDonald's, Sony, and Johnson & Johnson. Also on the list of advertisers that did not want their commercials to be on Air America Radio were the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Postal Service.

The complete list follows:

Allstate | American Heart Association | Aventis | Avon | Bank of America | Bayer | BMW Motorcycles | Chattem products such as Capzasin penetrating rub, Gold Bond for skin care, and Gold Bond Foot Spray | Cigna | Cingular (now AT&T Mobility) | Clorox | Coke | Coty | Dean's Morningstar Food's | Dell | Denny's | Discovery Channel | Eharmony.com | Epson | Expedia.com | Exxon Mobil | Farmers Insurance | FedEx | Foot Action (under Foot Locker) | Frito-Lay (under PepsiCo) | General Electric | Gillette Venus (under Procter & Gamble) | Goodyear | Heineken/Amstel Light | Hershey | Hewlett Packard | Home Depot | Hormel | Hyatt | Interstate Batteries | J. C. Penney | Johnson & Johnson | Kohl's | Levi's | Masterfoods USA (under Mars) | McDonald's | Men's Frontline | MGM | Michelin | Microsoft | Morningstar | National Cattleman's Beef | Nestle | Nissan | NYSE | Office Depot | Outdoor Life Network | Procter & Gamble products Bounty, Charmin, Febreeze, Iams Dog/Cat Foods, and Pepto-Bismol | Paramount (under Viacom) | Pepsi | Philip Morris | Pier 1 Imports | Red Lobster (Darden Restaurants) | Re/Max | REI Sporting Goods | Rent-way | Robert Half | Schering-Plough | Sherwin Williams | Sony | State Farm | Toys R Us | Travelocity.com | True Value | United Healthcare | U.S. Navy | USPS (U.S. Postal Service) | Visa | Walgreens| Wal-Mart | Welch's | Wrigley | Wyeth

Many corporations on the list advertise on conservative talk programs such as Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly.

Contact Details

 * Website airamericaradio.com registered January 4, 2004, by Progress Media Inc.
 * Blogs:
 * Majority Report: Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder

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