AIR AMERICA HITS SOUR RATINGS NOTE
By JOHN MAINELLI
June 22, 2004 -- ENCOURAGING preliminary ratings for all-liberal Air America in New York have collapsed along with the fledgling radio network's finances.
An unofficial "extrapolation" of Arbitron data released last Friday — which Air America's hosts crowed about last month but virtually ignored yesterday — showed WLIB's ratings dropping back to their lowly levels before the net's April launch.
Arbitron cautions stations and advertisers not to read too much into this interim monthly data — but that didn't stop Air America star Al Franken from boasting last month that he'd beaten WABC's Rush Limbaugh among the 25- to 54-year-old listeners chased by radio advertisers.
Instead of ratings yesterday, Franken discussed a Wall Street Journal article that provided frightening details about alleged phantom finances — including purported promises of major backing from liberal moneybags Norman Lear and Larry David — that resulted in a near-complete shakeup of Air America's executive suite last month.
According to the article, many Air America investors thought the network had raised $30 million — when, in fact, only $6 million had been raised before the network launched.
"We have a new influx of cash coming up," said Franken, whose contract promises more than $1 million a year, according to the Journal.
"I am being paid now," he told listeners yesterday. "I've been paid for weeks."
Franken took issue with Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly for interviewing a reporter last week who said Air America investors have been throwing money "down a rat hole."
"Fox News Channel lost $150 million in its first two years," Franken said. "That was a much bigger rathole than our rathole."
Air America president Jon Sinton, who declined comment through a spokesman yesterday, told The Post in April that it would be unfair to make too many judgments too soon.
"It takes a long time to develop a [talk radio] audience," Sinton said, echoing the sentiments of many talk radio experts. "This is a long-term project."
The lefty network, which hopes to counter the election-year influence of high-rated conservative talk radio, is still without affiliates in Los Angeles and Chicago after noisy disputes over station lease payments.
nypost.com |
