Tom Betz wrote:

Quoth "Stephen M.H. Lawrence" in
ink.net:

I choose to believe they've exhibited, at the least,
poor judgment in locating a suitable broadcast
outlet

I'll agree with you there. It turns out (based on a review of FEC donation
records) that Arthur Liu, who owns the Chicago and LA stations, is a sleazy
republican.

But I repeat myself...

It's hard to believe that Air America couldn't find a more sympathetic
station owner to run their stuff.

On 15 Apr 2004 03:09:13 GMT, "-=jd=-" wrote:

But, yes - they should not have stopped-payment.


They say that they did not stop payment.

"Don Brady" wrote in message
...
On 15 Apr 2004 03:09:13 GMT, "-=jd=-" wrote:

But, yes - they should not have stopped-payment.


They say that they did not stop payment.

Here's a quote from Air America's website:

"Evan found out about it and he stopped payment on a check to keep Liu-cifer
from ripping him off even more."

http://airamericaradio.com/pub/resNews.htm

Frank Dresser

On 15 Apr 2004 03:57:34 GMT, "-=jd=-" wrote:


Well, who knows for sure then?

I think it's safe to presume that the station owner yanked the plug
because, for whatever reason, an account was in arrears or went otherwise
unpaid and was past due.


Actually hey have plenty of cash.

The law suit claims they gave a check but told the owner he should not cash it
because he was billing two different clients (Air America and another) for the
same time.

"-=jd=-" wrote in message
...


Thinking that it's all "Show-Biz" to Franken and Garafolo, is it within
the realm of believability that the incident might have been "staged" (for
lack of a better term)?

[snip]

According to what I've read, a lawsuit has been filed in New York.

I'm not a lawyer, but filing a false lawsuit seems like it might be a
criminal matter. That doesn't guarantee it's not fake, but the conspirators
would be taking a the risk for a publicity stunt.

Frank Dresser

"Tom Betz" wrote in message
. 70...

Liu, in violation of their contract, leased the LA station during those
two
months to someone else. It's as if you rented an apartment from someone
else
but couldn't move in for two months, so the landlord rents it to someone
else. When Air America discovered this (two days ago) they notified Liu
that
they wanted to arbitrate this violation per their contract and stopped
payment on one check for the LA station per their contract. Liu, in
violation of BOTH contracts, cut them off in both LA and Chicago.

Air America says Liu is ripping them off for a million bucks. Let's see --
60 days x 24 hours = 1440 hours. $1,000,000 / 1440 = $694.44!

Can small time stations really bill almost $700 an hour? Amazing! Air
America should buy 150 hours of time from Alan Weiner, and he can buy his
windmill!

Frank Dresser

tommyknocker wrote in
:

It's hard to believe that Air America couldn't find a more sympathetic
station owner to run their stuff.

Their initial plan was to buy outright six radio stations, but right now,
with media consolidation in full swing and the FCC's loose rules about
multiple-station ownership allowing concentration of ownership in few
hands, that wasn't possible.

LA and Chicago are tight radio markets. They had to do business with
someone who was losing money with what was being aired before.


--
|I always wanted to be someone,| Tom Betz, Generalist |
|but now I think I should have | Want to send me email? |
|been a wee bit more specific. | http://tinyurl.com/ps2u |

"Telamon" wrote in message
...

The one good thing that may result from this is the hidden backers of
this network will be revealed.

--
Telamon


Well, let's see. The boredom of the one-note DemoProp is sometimes
interrupted by bursts of ear-splitting shrillness. Air America has the
propaganda value of Radio Tirana, but has no bridge building updates.

Now, they've pulled a bonehead move, and are off the air in thier #2 and #3
markets.

I suppose the hidden backers could be the Republicians.

Frank Dresser

"Frank Dresser" wrote in
:

I suppose the hidden backers could be the Republicians.

According to
http://www.guampdn.com/news/stories/20040416/localnews/238521.html
one of them (Evan Montvel-Cohen) used to be "chief of staff for former
Republican Sen. Tommy Tanaka" and "collected and spent nearly $15,000 for
several negative television and print ads about Democratic Sen. Ben
Pangelinan" -- in Guam, that is.

--
|I always wanted to be someone,| Tom Betz, Generalist |
|but now I think I should have | Want to send me email? |
|been a wee bit more specific. | http://tinyurl.com/ps2u |

"Tom Betz" wrote in message
. 70...

Their initial plan was to buy outright six radio stations, but right now,
with media consolidation in full swing and the FCC's loose rules about
multiple-station ownership allowing concentration of ownership in few
hands, that wasn't possible.


I'm not sure how this follows. Media consolidation is in full swing. The
FCC now has loose rules about multiple station ownership. Air America can't
buy the stations they planned on buying. Was Air America planning to buy
stations already owned by the big networks?



LA and Chicago are tight radio markets. They had to do business with
someone who was losing money with what was being aired before.


If Air America paid Liu a million dollars for two months, that breaks down
to almost $600/hr. How can a small time 1kw-5kw brokered station lose money
even if the charge 25% of that amount? The brokered 100kw domestic SW
broadcasters get by on about $25/hr.

Was a million for a couple of months the best deal Air America could cut?

Frank Dresser