Liberal Radio Network Air America Raising New Cash
Thu May 20, 2004 08:09 PM ET
By Jake Keaveny
reuters.com
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Air America Radio, the upstart liberal talk show network that has been plagued by management troubles, is seeking to raise new money in efforts to pay off debts and steer the business toward profitability.
A group of early investors that include Florida plaintiffs lawyer Mike Papantonio, Chicago entrepreneur Sheldon Drobny, and Rob Glaser, chairman of RealNetworks Inc., have committed to invest new capital, people familiar with the company said.
Air America has also moved to fill a void in its executive ranks. Doug Kreeger, also an investor, assumed the role of chief executive last week.
Earlier this month former CEO Evan Cohen was pushed out after the board lost confidence in his management.
"This venture is not dead and it's not going to die," Papantonio, who co-hosts a Saturday talk show with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said in a telephone interview. "I am a businessman and I see this as a great business opportunity."
Air America has racked up unpaid debts, which include payroll to sales forces it hired in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, but was forced to let go after backing out on plans to lease radio stations in those markets.
The company has a goal of raising about $8 million. Papantonio said the company is already well on its way to raising that amount.
The network would normally not command much attention, but it has been billed as the liberals' answer to popular radio programs run by conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
MANAGEMENT WOES
Its most popular talk shows include the O'Franken Factor, with satirist Al Franken, and The Majority Report, with actress Janeane Garofalo.
Papantonio and others attributed the company's troubles thus far to mismanagement by Cohen, a former Republican political operative in Guam.
Cohen purchased the company from Drobny with the expectation he could grow it nationally. He resigned along with former vice chairman Rex Sorenson earlier this month after plans to lease radio stations in Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco had failed.
The current plans are to own just the New York station, and broadcast nationally via affiliates. That will result in lower costs, though with less revenues as well.
Its survival is particularly sensitive because of the politics surrounding this year's presidential election.
Such Democratic heavyweights as Sen. Hillary Clinton, her husband, former President Bill Clinton and billionaire investor George Soros have been appraised of the money-raising efforts, according to a person close to the company.
The network has also made efforts to get Democratic party presidential nominee John Kerry to spend more of its campaign money on ads aired on Air America.
Jon Sinton, the president, will remain in charge of the advertising effort.
In April, co-founder and previous CEO Mark Walsh, a former America Online executive and adviser to the Democratic National Committee, and programing chief Dave Logan were forced to resign.
Newly appointed CEO Doug Kreeger, who is the husband of Manhattan real estate heir Wendy Durst Kreeger, did not immediately return calls seeking comment. |
