Fire Sale at Air America Fetches 4.25 million.

Mr. Franken is leaving because he is running for senate in the state of Minnesota. It seems that listening to radio stations that pander to their base could be more popular among Republicans than Democrats.

I love Air America--- one of the few places you can get real news these days. The network's problems has never been syndication--- it has gotten top ratings in many markets, including San Diego--- but advertising. There has been a concerted effort by certain powers to freeze it off the airways using rumor, defamation, political attacks, whatever comes to mind--- kind of like the problems the NEA, NPR, and PBS have had off and on. Free speech and challenging ideas have become so endangered in the U.S. that most people don't even seem to remember what they were.

All is running for Senate maybe... but definitely running for the door. The senate story makes for a good excuse.

You have to admit Don, it's a helluva a tax writeoff although I am sure that anyone so true to the liberal ideals that they would buy Air America also has to be true to the liberal ideas of paying as much tax as possible and wouldn't claim it.

I most certainly would have listened. Why do I need Boortz, Beck, Rush, Hannity and then Michael Savage? I am not kidding... that is the Orlando market - and it drives me nuts. As much as you may think you know me, I like diversity in my programming. NPR and C-Span are my preferred media outlets.

What I find interesting is the assumption by the left that the only reason we have anything to say about anything is because these guys tell us what to think.

It amazes me that we are able to get up and get dressed without someone holding our hands.

"""It seems that listening to radio stations that pander to their base could be more popular among Republicans than Democrats."""

Most democrats vote for the free stuff not because they believe in the politics or intellect offered by the left. "We will take from the rich and give it to you!" does not actually attract educated voters who aren't afraid to work for a living. It certainly wont attract an educated radio audience.

I do tune in to the right wing shows as well - Rush is pretty damn good most of the time. Savage is very entertaining. I am a CSpan junkie - when I get home and turn on the TV I just leave it set to C-Span most of the time.

What I did hear of Air America sounds unprofessional. They did not seem well prepared, and I just heard a lot of the same old bashing. Randy Rhoads and Al Franken pretty much had the same message, as did all the other hosts. Still, I do think syndication was the biggest problem - they were absent in a lot of markets.

Don I listened to Air America one day it its the same old doom and gloom, personal insults, and negativity you see out of the democrat party. They never really engage in intellectual discussion they just regurgitate the same old bumper sticker slogans that have been around since the Jimmy Carter era. How many people can sit through 3 hours of doom and gloom out of the radio at work every day?

Everytime I did hear it, that's the impression I got.

After the 2004 election, I downloaded the podcast just to hear their sad voices. It was some of the best entertainment. Think you can still get it in their archives... but better hurry, that site could go down any moment.

I never listened to the show. I have heard of it though, what I heard about the show wasnt good though

I never get anything for free - but I give some away. In fact, I have a box of lovely clothes at the end of the driveway this morning for the Disabled American Vets. Is that what you mean by "free stuff?"

The idea of running for senate was suggested to Mr. Franken as early as 2002 when Paul Wellstone came to his untimely death.

That was when the first Air America check bounced ;)

Another useless waste of time courtesy of Don........the main attraction distraction

Come on now boys and girls, do you not see any humor in this story? I mean Air America crashed and burned... it's a glorious day. LOL

Franken's contract was not renewed, which happened before the sale. Sorry, Dianne, but the whole "senate" story is just spin. He was already facing the ax when he made his decision to run.

If everything were going good at Air America, Al would still be there, they would not have gone bankrupt and had a firesale. It failed. It's funny. End of story.

If Don had been paying attention to the news, he might have noticed that it's the so-called conservative movement that has crashed and burned. Air America definitely played a role in the Republican rollback last November. But neither Air America nor the so-called mainstream media nor conservative talk radio may be relevant anymore now that the rising generation gets its news from the internet. The battle has moved on to old vs. new media.

Whatever really happened to Al Franken's contract, by the way, he has been talking about running for the senate almost since Air America went on air. He relocated his show and his legal residence to the Minneapolis area last year, which sounds a bit extreme as a bit of premptive spin.

No one really knows all that has been going on inside Air America, probably least of all its truly chaotic management team, but its national audience is now about the same time as Fox News, which says something about the direction the country's media tastes are going. The audience for conservative media has been declining while progressive media, which didn't really exist a few years ago, has been growing. Whatever happens to Air America now (and it's very much still on the air with a new deep pockets owner), it has served its purpose.