When Air America Radio started on March 31, 2004, it featured a line up of amateurs and ideologues with the common goal of bashing the then Bush Administration, Republicans and conservatives in general. Its dubious stars were people like Al Franken, a fading comic, Janeane Garofalo, a sometime actress, comic and activist and left-wing radio personality Randi Rhodes.

After a scandal involving misappropriated funds from black school children it promptly filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy two years later. Franken, Rhodes and Garofalo abandoned ship.

But like most left-wing media ventures it has managed to keep going by being a sink hole for left-wing donors. In 2007 it was bought by Green Family Media, made up of New York real estate investor Stephen L. Green and his brother Mark J. Green for $4.25 million (US). Yesterday, “Air America Media” had to call it quits. (more…)

From AirAmerica.com:

It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.

The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America’s business. This past year has seen a “perfect storm” in the media industry generally. National and local advertising revenues have fallen drastically, causing many media companies nationwide to fold or seek bankruptcy protection. From large to small, recent bankruptcies like Citadel Broadcasting and closures like that of the industry’s long-time trade publication Radio and Records have signaled that these are very difficult and rapidly changing times.

Those companies that remain are facing audience fragmentation as a result of new media technologies, are often saddled with crushing debt, and have generally found it difficult to obtain operating or investment capital from traditional sources of funding. In this climate, our painstaking search for new investors has come close several times right up into this week, but ultimately fell short of success. (more…)