Thursday, January 21, 2010

"Air America" to Cease Broadcasting Immediately

Air America, the liberal talk radio network, ceased operations today.  The radio network featured such liberal pundits as Al Franken, now a U.S. senator from Minnesota and Rachel Maddow, now a pundit for MSNBC.

Originally, Air America was supposed to be the left's answer to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other conservative talk radio hosts.  The lefty show never really caught on and struggled financially ever since its inception in 2004.  Conservatives liked to refer to the network as "Err America" and were delighted that a liberal talk radio program could not match its conservative counterparts in appealing to a large audience.

The terrible economy we are now in is credited with finally killing off the radio program.  Air America spokesmen stated:

Through some 100 radio outlets nationwide, Air America helped build a new sense of purpose and determination among American progressives. With this revival, the progressive movement made major gains in the 2006 mid-term elections and, more recently, in the election of President Barack Obama and a strongly Democratic Congress.
Laws have changed for the better thanks to this revival.....but all the same our company cannot escape the laws of economics. So we intend a rapid, orderly closure over the next few days. All current employees will be paid through today, January 21. A severance package will be offered tomorrow to full-time current employees with more than six months of tenure.

It is, of course, entirely dubious that Air America had any significant impact on either past presidential or congressional elections.  However, we note with some satisfaction that Air America has finally acknowledged that "the laws of economics" do exist and function.

Read more about it here.

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