Air America plugs top slot, aims for Chicago
chicagotribune.com
Air America plugs top slot, aims for Chicago
By John Cook
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 25, 2005
After a 2 1/2-month vacancy in its top spot, Air America Radio has hired a new chief executive officer who says his "No. 1 priority" is getting the left-wing talk radio network on the air in Chicago.
"It's the largest market we're not in yet," said Danny Goldberg, a former record company executive tapped Thursday to run the network, which will mark its first anniversary on the air next month. "I believe in the next 90 days, we'll have something to announce."
Goldberg is the founder of Artemis Records, an independent label with a roster that includes Steve Earle and the late Warren Zevon. Before that, he ran at one time or another Warner Brothers Records, the Mercury Record Group and Atlantic Records, and founded Gold Mountain Entertainment, a management company whose clients included Nirvana.
Air America has been on an upswing, compared with the near-disaster that struck just two weeks after it launched. It was bounced off stations in Chicago and Los Angeles after a billing dispute and failed to meet payroll. But after ousting Chairman Evan Cohen in May and accusing him of vastly overstating the initial investment in the firm, Air America now reaches 48 markets covering half the nation's population, Goldberg said. That includes Los Angeles, where the network got back on the air this month. It also has recently attracted new advertisers, including Geico and American Express.
Goldberg takes over from Doug Kreeger, who stepped down in December after working to stabilize the network, negotiate long-term deals with hosts Randi Rhodes and Al Franken and secure $13 million in new financing to keep the business afloat.
"There were a lot of problems along the way, but finding an audience wasn't one of them," Goldberg said. "This isn't a traditional radio network. It's like MTV or Rolling Stone; it's a cultural phenomenon."
While Air America has seen higher-than-expected ratings in many markets, the news hasn't been all good. On its flagship New York station, WLIB, ratings were down 14 percent last fall, according to Arbitron.
Air America owes much of its growth to radio giant Clear Channel, which has quietly begun using some or all of the network's programming to put together liberal talk stations in Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; Detroit; and elsewhere.
It strikes some as ironic that Clear Channel, which has a reputation as a conservative-leaning firm, has emerged as Air America's most important distributor, but Goldberg said it proves liberal talk radio is a sound concept. "Some people would consider it ironic. I consider it capitalism at its best." |
