Air America 2.0 — Any Different from the First Time Around?

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In January, Clara wrote about the plan to sell the financially-troubled Air America to brothers Stephen and Mark Green. That deal was consummated yesterday and Mark Green celebrated the event by posting his vision for the new Air America (a/k/a Air America 2.0) on Huffington Post.

Unfortunately, having read Green’s essay, I’m a bit skeptical of the “new” attributes of Air America. They sound an awful lot like the old attributes — the ones that sent them into Chapter 11. Green asserts in the “Huff Po” that Air America will now:

  • “[Focus] on the radio fundamentals of making a strong line-up even stronger.”
  • “[Connect] to other progressive membership organizations to be mutually fortifying.”
  • “[Be] a multi-media content company involving other distribution platforms — Internet, blogging, audio and video streaming, mobile, social networks, and more.”
  • I think you can do all three of those things and still not make any money if the idea of progressive radio is a fundamentally flawed one, or if the execution of your core product is shoddy, or if there simply isn’t a market for what you are selling. Green also says Air America will “be a business with a sharp point of view. The era of on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand liberalism is over” (what, AA didn’t take a strong point of view before?) and that “Air America will aggressively cover national politics and policies in ways that will be informative, opinionated and entertaining.”

    Well, okay. It sounds a little like, “We’re going to do it better this time!” but I’m willing to be optimistic. Air America covering and maybe even breaking news would be cool, and some genuinely funny content would be welcomed. Go for it, boys, and good luck.

    Any readers who have heard Air America in the last few days (or in the next few) should leave their thoughts in the comments. Any material changes?

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    Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

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