125-671: Air America (formerly Air America Radio and Air America Media ) was an American radio network specializing in progressive talk radio . It was on the air from March 2004 to January 2010. The network was founded as a left–wing alternative to counter talk radio with a right–wing perspective. Air America featured programs with monologues by on-air personalities, guest interviews, call-ins from listeners, and news reports. Several shows had million plus audiences, and multiple weekday presenters continued on in radio, television, or politics after their time on Air America. For example, in 2008, The Thom Hartmann Program had 1.5–2 million unique listeners
250-621: A New York Times article in February 2003 in which writer Jim Rutenburg interviewed Jon Sinton about the need for a balanced national discussion. Sinton, the Drobnys and their associate, Javier Saade, a Harvard Business School grad and venture capitalist, continued to raise awareness but little money throughout 2003 by spending time in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. Sinton met repeatedly with Al Franken to convince him to become
375-517: A July 1912 broadcast by Charles Herrold in San Jose, California that featured records supplied by the Wiley B. Allen company. However, this quickly fell out of favor once stations began to be numbered in the hundreds, and phonograph companies found that excessive repetition was hurting sales. The earliest U.S. radio stations were commercial-free, with their operations paid for by their owners. However,
500-463: A broadcast station category. As of January 1, 1922 there were twenty-nine formally recognized broadcasting stations, in addition to a few experimental and amateur stations still in the process of being converted to meet the new standard. By mid-1922 a "radio craze" began, and at the end of the year there were over 500 stations, with the number of listeners now counted in the hundreds of thousands. Even President Warren G. Harding, whose May 1922 speech to
625-504: A few entertainment broadcasts in the summer of 1920. As others joined the broadcasting ranks, in the late summer of 1920 QST magazine reported that "it is the rare evening that the human voice and strains of music do not come in over the air". However, broadcasting efforts were still scattered and largely unorganized. In the fall of 1920 a major industrial firm, the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co. , entered
750-549: A few government stations renewed experimental work with broadcasting technology, and in February 1919 the Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C. gave a public demonstration, predicting that "Washington merrymakers will soon be able to dance to the music made by an orchestra on one of New York's roof gardens". By May of the next year the Bureau was broadcasting weekly Friday night concerts over its station, WWV , and it displayed
875-519: A fly-on-the-wall HBO documentary, Left of the Dial . As part of a reorganization, the Progress Media board of directors bought the assets of that company, creating a new company, Piquant LLC; at around the same time, the company decided to stop trying to buy radio stations and lease air time, and to allow affiliates to carry programming outside of the network's offerings. On February 28, 2005,
1000-760: A group headed by RCA, which used the assets to form the National Broadcasting Company . Under the new management the WEAF chain became the NBC Red network, while the WJZ chain became the NBC Blue network. The agreement with AT&T gave NBC access to AT&T's long-distance lines for station links, and also allowed the new network to sell advertising. The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) began in 1927 as an initially struggling attempt to compete with
1125-459: A guest host and as a panelist, she appeared on MSNBC . She started her own show on the network in September 2008, in prime time after Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews . Her radio show became more of a replay of her television show, and ultimately her radio program became a one-hour show in the mornings. Maddow didn't want to completely depart from radio. She commented "My relationship with
1250-594: A handful of local stations serving the Haitian diaspora and Creole populations also serve areas in the southeast. There are also radio stations broadcasting in the Navajo language to members of the Navajo tribe in Arizona , New Mexico , and Utah . Spanish language radio is the largest non-English broadcasting media. While other foreign language broadcasting declined steadily, Spanish broadcasting grew steadily from
1375-882: A large online campaign, including a petition that had over 17,000 signatures as of October 2006. At the end of October, Malloy resumed his show on a newly created progressive radio network, Nova M Radio . In July 2005, the Bronx News reported that the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club of Co-op City , a non-profit organization providing services for children and seniors in the Bronx , loaned US$ 480,000 (equivalent to $ 749,000 in 2023) to Progress Media, then owner of Air America Radio. It later turned out that there had been four separate transfers from Gloria Wise between October 2, 2003, and March 14, 2004, totalling US$ 875,000 (equivalent to $ 1,411,000 in 2023), and that no interest
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#17327880522781500-422: A market capitalization of US$ 12 billion". Air America CEO Scott Elberg said of Air America's sale, "We are extremely pleased to have reached this agreement with Mr. Green, which will solidify Air America's future." The sale was completed on March 6, 2007, to Green Family Media, a new company created by Stephen Green and his brother Mark Green. During the bankruptcy, key on-air personality Al Franken decided that he
1625-491: A new CEO, Danny Goldberg , was named, and in April 2005, Gary Krantz was named president of the network. Ginsburg and Sinton were named co- COOs with Ginsburg in charge of operations and Sinton running programming and affiliate relations. In December 2005, over Sinton's objections, CEO Danny Goldberg broke up the network's morning drive-time show Morning Sedition , and let comedian and co-host Marc Maron 's contract lapse. While
1750-410: A nominal cost, thereby ensuring the widest possible distribution for both the programming and the advertising. The advertisers then became the network's primary clients and, because of the wider distribution brought by the growing network, Paley was able to charge more for the ad time. Affiliates were required to carry programming offered by the network for part of the broadcast day, receiving a portion of
1875-461: A part of Air America Syndication. In late 2002 Chicago entrepreneurs Sheldon Drobny and Anita Drobny , angered at the firing of their favorite radio host, Mike Malloy , decided to try to get Malloy syndicated nationally. At Mike's behest they called Atlanta-based radio executive Jon Sinton and requested a national berth for Malloy. The Drobnys hired Sinton as CEO of AnShell Media, and the three went about raising money. The first official fundraiser
2000-404: A prototype "portaphone" receiver, which would allow the public to keep "in touch with the news, weather reports, radiophone conversations, radiophone music, and any other information transmitted by radio". However, the Bureau soon concluded that it had successfully achieved its goal of demonstrating broadcasting's practicality, and ended its entertainment broadcasts over WWV that August. Although
2125-431: A significant advance, but it took many years of research before quality audio transmissions became possible. In 1904 Valdemar Poulsen developed an arc converter transmitter, which, although still somewhat limited, would be the most commonly used transmitter employed for early audio experimentation. Initially the main objective for most inventors was developing devices usable for individual point-to-point communication, and
2250-470: A small radio retailer in Cincinnati, Ohio, used a homemade transmitter to make occasional broadcasts over its experimental station, 8XB . That February 2 company president John L. Gates gave the station's first publicized broadcast, consisting of phonograph records, which garnered national attention, and a wire service report quoted Gates as predicting that nationwide broadcasts "will be an innovation of
2375-400: A station at the company's East Pittsburgh plant in time for the upcoming presidential election, which successfully debuted on November 2, 1920, initially operating as 8ZZ . A short time later it became KDKA , operating under a Limited Commercial license originally issued to the company for point-to-point transmissions. At the time of KDKA's 25th anniversary, station publicity claimed this to be
2500-444: A subsequent lawsuit filed by Multicultural, Air America Radio never paid the sums ordered by the court. Four weeks after Air America's debut, its executive vice president for programming, Dave Logan, left the network. One week after those departures, its chairman and vice chairman, Evan Cohen and his investment partner Rex Sorensen, were forced out by the remaining investors. In a tense late night meeting, which included Franken, Saade,
2625-470: A very wide territory" for the "general transmission of news of every description", however he was never able to achieve adequate transmission distances. There were also a few examples of " telephone newspapers ", starting with the Budapest, Hungary Telefon Hírmondó , which in 1893 began transmitting a wide selection of news, instruction and entertainment over telephone lines to a local audience. In 1909
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#17327880522782750-569: A week and The Lionel Show had 1.5–1.75 million unique listeners a week. Hartmann, Randi Rhodes , and Mike Malloy later had shows on other radio networks. Marc Maron started his " WTF podcast" by trespassing in Air America's studios after the network's demise, before moving to Los Angeles. Al Franken went from his show to the United States Senate , and Rachel Maddow moved her show to television on MSNBC . The network
2875-603: Is primarily run by private foundations, universities and public authorities for educational purposes, which are financed by donations, foundations, subscriptions and corporate underwriting. A primary programming source is National Public Radio (NPR). The total listenership for terrestrial radio in the United States as of January 2017 was 256 million, up from 230 million in 2005. 82 million Americans listened to AM radio at some point in June 2023, with listenership strongest in
3000-726: Is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Under its oversight a variety of broadcasting services have been developed, including: Two way radio services take up most of the rest of the geomagnetic spectrum, including marine VHF radio , amateur radio , the aforementioned citizens band, the Family Radio Service and the General Mobile Radio Service . Unlike most one-way broadcast services, these services are generally limited to voice transmission. With
3125-589: The New York Daily News , Bernstein explained his vision of Air America's future as "I don't see our purpose as 'answering' conservative radio or Rush Limbaugh . There's no clear majority in this country today. We want to talk to everyone and help everyone make the right choice." On November 15, 2007, industry news site Radio Online reported that Bernstein was exiting Air America. After being suspended by Air America management for derogatory remarks toward Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton while off
3250-554: The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) launched WEAF (now WFAN) in New York City. (There are a few reports of earlier examples of airtime being sold by other stations, however this was generally done secretly.) AT&T initially claimed that its patent rights gave it the exclusive right to sell airtime. However, responding to charges that it was attempting to monopolize radio broadcasting, in 1924
3375-783: The Tel-musici of Wilmington, Delaware beginning in 1909, and the Musolaphone , which operated in Chicago in 1913–1914. Radio communication—originally known as "wireless telegraphy"—was first developed in the 1890s. The first wireless transmissions were achieved by Guglielmo Marconi in Europe and they were first replicated in the United States in April 1899 by Professor Jerome Green at the University of Notre Dame . The spark-gap transmitters initially employed could only transmit
3500-493: The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Air America continued broadcasting while the finances were worked out with the creditors. The company had US$ 4,331,265.30 in assets and US$ 20,266,056.23 in liabilities. Al Franken alone was owed US$ 360,749.98 and Rob Glaser , founder of RealNetworks , was owed the most at US$ 9.8 million. The filing had over 25 pages of creditors and showed that
3625-677: The United States Telephone Herald Company licensed this technology and ultimately authorized a dozen or so regional affiliates. But due to financial and technical challenges only two systems, in Newark, New Jersey and Portland, Oregon, ever went into commercial service, and both were short-lived. Other early short-lived telephone-based entertainment systems included the Tellevent in Detroit, Michigan in 1907,
3750-677: The "at work" shift). Transistor radios , available since the 1950s, were the preferred listening choice for music on-the-go for most of the late 20th century, before personal stereos , portable CD players , digital media players , and later smartphones (some of which include FM receivers) took those roles in the 20th century. However MP3 players and internet sources have grown rapidly among younger listeners. Unlike many other countries, American radio has historically relied primarily on commercial advertising sponsorship on for-profit stations. The federal and state governments do not operate stations or networks directed toward domestic audiences, although
3875-494: The "world's first regularly scheduled broadcast". KDKA proved to be a very successful experiment, and during the next year Westinghouse constructed three additional prominent stations, in or near New York City (WJZ, now WABC ), Boston ( WBZ ) and Chicago ( KYW ). Responding to the growing activity, effective December 1, 1921 the United States Department of Commerce adopted regulations explicitly establishing
Air America (radio network) - Misplaced Pages Continue
4000-513: The 1920s to 1970s. The 1930s were boom years. The early success depended on the concentrated geographical audience in Texas and the Southwest. American stations were close to Mexico which enabled a steady circular flow of entertainers, executives and technicians, and stimulated the creative initiatives of Hispanic radio executives, brokers, and advertisers. Ownership was increasingly concentrated in
4125-485: The 1960s and 1970s. The industry sponsored the now-defunct trade publication Sponsor from the late 1940s to 1968. Spanish-language radio has influenced American and Latino discourse on key current affairs issues such as citizenship and immigration. All AM and FM radio stations are assigned unique identifying call letters by the FCC. International agreements determine the initial letters assigned to specific countries , and
4250-478: The Atlantic. During the war the U.S. military conducted extensive research in audio transmissions using vacuum-tube powered transmitters and receivers. This was primarily oriented toward point-to-point communication such as air-to-ground transmissions, but there were also scattered reports of special musical broadcasts conducted to entertain the troops. Prior to the lifting of the wartime ban on civilian radio,
4375-405: The Drobnys, Mark Walsh and other investors, the company found out that it had virtually no assets. It asked David Goodfriend to operate the company while a reorganization was planned and new funds were raised. Subsequently, the company had a number of acting CEO's, including outside investor Doug Kreeger and Jon Sinton for a short period. The tumultuous early days of the network were chronicled in
4500-403: The FCC. Depending on the medium, the FCC may have some indirect and general jurisdiction over some technical aspects of these broadcasts. Despite television's predominance, radio's impact is still extensive, and every day it reaches 80 percent of the U.S. population. Ninety-nine percent of American households in 1999 had at least one receiver. By 2020, that figure had declined to 68 percent within
4625-574: The FM station itself lost 90% of its listenership after it flipped to national religious broadcaster K-Love . The majority of programming in the United States is in English , with Spanish the second-most popular language; these are the only two languages with domestically produced, national radio networks. In the largest urban areas of the United States, "world ethnic" stations broadcast a wide variety of languages, including Russian , Chinese , Korean and
4750-591: The Herrold College of Wireless and Engineering was inaugurating weekly musical concerts. These broadcasts were suspended during World War I, but after the war Herrold resumed broadcasting, and KCBS in San Francisco traces its history to Herrold's efforts. In the mid-1910s the development of vacuum tube transmitters provided a significant improvement in the quality and reliability of audio transmissions. Adopting this advance, Lee de Forest again took
4875-462: The NBC affiliates, owners typically viewed their stations as the broadcast equivalent of local newspapers, who sold ads to local business and had to pay for NBC's "sustaining" programs that didn't have sponsors. Individual stations bought programming from the network and, thus, were considered the network's clients. Paley changed the business model by providing network programming to affiliate stations at
5000-525: The NBC networks, which gained new momentum when William S. Paley was installed as company president. Unlike NBC, which initially saw itself as primarily a public service and said its only profit goal was to break even, Paley recognized the potential for a radio network to make significant profits. Surveys and polls were used to determine audience sizes and affluence. Frank Stanton , a later president, worked with Columbia University sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld to develop techniques for measuring audiences. For
5125-474: The Navy. The October 1 end of the civilian transmitting ban allowed non-government stations to resume operating. Initially there were no formal regulations designating which stations could make broadcasts intended for the general public, so a mixture operating under a variety of existing classifications, most commonly Experimental and Amateur, were free to take to the airwaves. Perhaps the first to take advantage of
Air America (radio network) - Misplaced Pages Continue
5250-460: The Radio which aired at the same time as The Al Franken Show and The Sam Seder Show respectively on the regular network lineup. Springer ended his show on December 5, 2006, and Franken's ended on February 14, 2007. On January 29, 2007, Air America announced that Hartmann would replace Franken on the regular network lineup. When Air America entered bankruptcy, there were no programs syndicated as
5375-590: The United States was Lee de Forest , who employed versions of the Poulsen arc transmitter to make a series of demonstrations beginning in 1907. From the outset he noted the potential for regular entertainment broadcasts, envisioning "the distribution of music from a central station" and that "by using four different forms of wave as many classes of music can be sent out as desired by the different subscribers". However, after 1910 he suspended his broadcasting demonstrations for six years, due to various financial issues, and
5500-437: The United States, among commercial broadcasters , such programs are often only to satisfy Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulatory expectations and are not scheduled in prime time . Public affairs television programs are often broadcast at times when few listeners or viewers are tuned in (or even awake) in time slots known as graveyard slots ; such programs can be frequently encountered at times such as 5-6 a.m. on
5625-477: The Washington, D.C. Chamber of Commerce was the first radio broadcast by a president, had a radio installed in the White House. The existence of early radio stations encouraged many young people to build their own crystal sets (with ear phones) to listen to the new technical marvel. Entrepreneurs established radio stores to sell parts as well as complete sets that evolved into stylish and expensive consoles
5750-426: The air, Randi Rhodes quit the network on April 9, 2008, citing a contract dispute. She was one of Air America's more popular hosts, with a listener base of 1.5 million unique listeners per week built up over 4 years. Rhodes moved to Nova M Radio the next week, and was syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks after Nova M went bankrupt. Meanwhile, longtime host Rachel Maddow was finding her way into television. As
5875-526: The beginning of advertisement-supported broadcasting, AT&T also introduced its plans for the development of the first radio network. The concept was based on a memo prepared by two company engineers, John F. Bratney and Harley C. Lauderback, who proposed a nationwide "chain" of thirty-eight stations, linked together by the company's telephone lines for simultaneously transmitting commercially sponsored programming. The network's primary studios were located at AT&T's WEAF (now WFAN ) in New York City, and
6000-453: The branding. Air America Media's progressive talk radio programming consisted of news, talk, comedy, interviews, guest editorials, and listeners' telephone calls. The talk portions featured some extended host monologues in the classic talk radio format. Live and pre-recorded comedy routines, featuring various comedians, were also aired. As with most syndicated broadcast networks, local affiliate stations were able to air select programs or
6125-659: The breaks. Air America featured its own news summary breaks at the top of each hour, with content from wire services such as the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI). Some affiliates used other news services or would run their own newscasts during the six-minute "news hole" at the top of the hour. AAR later switched to AP Radio Network News, and finally Free Speech Radio News. These newscasts ended on June 29, 2007, with local stations signing up with other radio news networks. The public affairs programs tended to closely follow current happenings in
6250-403: The call sign WCBS from 1946 until 2024. Ideas for distributing news and entertainment electronically dated to before the development of radio broadcasts, but none of these earlier approaches proved to be practical. In 1902, Nathan Stubblefield predicted that his wireless ground-conduction technology would become "capable of sending simultaneous messages from a central distributing station over
6375-480: The company announced that it would permit other stations to accept advertising if they were willing to first pay a one-time fee to AT&T for use of its radio patents. Following AT&T's industry-wide settlement, a majority of stations began to operate on a commercial basis. Initially stations were very cautious about the content of their advertising messages, generally preferring "indirect advertising" such as general sponsorship announcements, in order not to offend
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#17327880522786500-406: The company lost US$ 9.1 million in 2004, US$ 19.6 million in 2005 and an additional US$ 13.1 million by mid-October in 2006. On January 29, 2007, Air America "signed a letter of intent to sell its business to SLG Radio LLC, an entity controlled by Stephen L. Green , the founder and chairman of SL Green Realty Corp, a company that controls 27 million ft (2.5 million m) of real estate with
6625-404: The company was able reach agreement and hire Winstead, Chuck D, comedian Marc Maron, media attorney Carl Ginsberg, and many more people. In early 2004, talent, engineers and producers were hired, a lease was signed with New York's WLIB creating a New York home and affiliate, and, at noon Eastern time on March 31, the newly renamed Air America Radio Network was launched. Air America Radio was then
6750-410: The current economic environment. It filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and liquidated itself. Bennett Zier was the company's last CEO including through the bankruptcy and liquidation. Sometime after the network's closure, Newsweb Corporation (owned by Chicago entrepreneur, political activist, and philanthropist Fred Eychaner , owner of Chicago's WCPT progressive talk radio station) acquired ownership of
6875-514: The dots-and-dashes of Morse code . Despite this limitation, in 1905 a small number of U.S. Navy stations inaugurated daily time signal broadcasts. In 1913 the high-powered station NAA in Arlington, Virginia began broadcasting daily time signals and weather reports in Morse code which covered much of the eastern United States. It was recognized that developing audio-capable transmitters would be
7000-567: The early 20th century, including NOF , NSS and NAA .) In the United States, by tradition the stations west of the Mississippi River normally receive call signs starting with "K", with "W" assigned to those east of the river. Almost all of the earliest AM band radio stations received three-letter call signs, however beginning in 1922 most have been issued four-letter ones, and the last new AM band three-letter assignment occurred in 1930. (FM and TV sister stations are permitted to share
7125-506: The entire schedule, subject to contractual arrangements. The shows followed a half-hour format from six minutes past the hour to 28 minutes after the hour followed by a hard break for six minutes until 34 minutes past the hour. The final hard break occurs at 58 minutes past the hour, leading into the news at the top of the hour. There was also a floating break in both the first and second half-hours. Local stations could run their own commercials, local news and weather or other features during
7250-578: The entrance of the United States into World War I in April 1917, as the federal government immediately took over full control of the radio industry, and it became illegal for civilians to possess an operational radio receiver. However some government stations, including NAA in Arlington, Virginia, continued to operate to support the military during the conflict. In addition to time signals and weather reports, NAA also broadcast (in Morse code ) news summaries that were received by troops on land and aboard ships in
7375-556: The exception of WWVB , a station mainly operating to allow electronic clocks to synchronize with the NIST atomic clock, the United States does not license longwave radio services. Unlike Europe, which established a longwave broadcasting band, the only other authorized use of longwave in the United States is the unlicensed low-frequency experimental radio band. In contrast to the over-the-air terrestrial radio services, wireline and subscription audio services are not regulated for content by
7500-623: The fact that radio signals could be overheard by others was at first seen as a defect that limited secure communication. Thus, it took a while before the potential of "sending signals broadcast" was recognized. In late 1906, Reginald Fessenden demonstrated an alternator transmitter at Brant Rock, Massachusetts, and many years later stated that he had also conducted broadcasts on the evenings of December 24 and 31. However following this he concentrated on point-to-point transmissions and made no further efforts towards establishing organized broadcasting. The leading early proponent of radio broadcasting in
7625-519: The federal government does operate overseas through the U.S. Agency for Global Media , an independent agency. The federal government instead subsidizes nonprofit radio programming through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting . Nonprofit broadcasting typically comes in three forms: radio evangelism , community radio , and government-subsidized public radio , all of which rely at least to some extent on listener donations. Public-radio broadcasting
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#17327880522787750-491: The federal level under the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause . However, in the years immediately after its development in the late 1890s, radio communication remained completely unregulated in the United States. The Wireless Ship Act of 1910 mandated that most passenger ships exiting U.S. ports had to carry radio equipment under the supervision of qualified operators; however, individual stations remained unlicensed. The U.S. policy of unrestricted stations differed from most of
7875-595: The field, and historian Erik Barnouw summarized this watershed event as "There was a fervent of interest, but without a sense of direction—until something happened in Pittsburgh." Westinghouse's entry was a result of a Pittsburgh department store advertisement, seen by company vice president H. P. Davis, for radios capable of receiving Frank Conrad's ongoing broadcasts over 8XK. Davis concluded that, expanding on work done during World War I, Westinghouse could make and market its own receivers. He quickly worked to establish
8000-444: The home, with the average home having 1.5 receivers. Revenue more than doubled in a decade, from $ 8.4 billion in 1990 to more than $ 17 billion in 2000. Radio continues to prevail in automobiles and offices, where attention can be kept on the road or the task at hand, while radio acts as an audio background. The popularity of car radios has led to drive time being the most listened-to daypart on most stations, followed by midday (or
8125-535: The idea. Information for this period is limited, but there were a number of other inventors during this era who made occasional experimental broadcasts. One example was the American Radio and Research Company (AMRAD), which operated experimental station 1XE in Medford Hillside, Massachusetts. As early as March 1916 the station was occasionally used to make voice and music broadcasts, although at
8250-543: The inability to perfect the arc transmitter for consistent quality audio transmissions. De Forest received national attention, but far less known at the time was Charles "Doc" Herrold of San Jose, California, who is generally credited with being the first in the United States to conduct entertainment radio broadcasts on a regular schedule. Herrold began making test transmissions in 1909, and, after switching to an improved arc transmitter, announced in July 1912 that his station at
8375-464: The increased overhead for the show's heavily produced format may have been a factor in the show's demise, Maron claimed that Goldberg did not "get" or agree with the comedy on the show. Maron exacerbated the conflict by calling attention to his situation during the show for several weeks, prompting a petition drive that garnered over 5,000 signatures. This was to no avail, as Maron announced on November 28 that his last show would be December 16, 2005. Maron
8500-418: The industry soon faced a crisis due to mounting costs, and the financial model eventually adopted by a majority of stations was selling advertising airtime, which became known as "American Plan". (This was contrasted with the "British plan" of charging license fees for set users.) The formal introduction of a "for hire" commercial station (initially called "toll broadcasting") was announced in early 1922, when
8625-453: The languages of India ; although the relatively widespread languages French and German have comparatively few radio outlets; in the case of German, due to the fact that most of its speakers are Amish or from similar sects and thus shun radio technology. French speakers can generally receive programming direct from Canadian broadcasters, which are receivable across the Canada–US border , and
8750-602: The launch of Air America in January 2004. The Stephanie Miller Show followed September 2004. Franken's show was the centerpiece of Air America, and would remain so for a little less than 3 years. The show featured Franken's low-key humor, political commentary, and guest and audience participation. Randi Rhodes was also in the initial lineup. AAR became the fastest growing network in modern radio history, increasing its listeners from 120,000 to 400,000 within three months, and reaching 2.137 million listeners per week in 2005. At
8875-473: The lead, establishing experimental station 2XG in New York City. During a successful demonstration program held in October 1916, de Forest now prophesied "in the near future a music central in every large city whence nightly concerts will radiate to thousands of homes through the wireless telephone". The next month a daily program of news and entertainment was begun, which included election returns broadcast on
9000-564: The lifting of the civilian station restrictions was a Westinghouse engineer, Frank Conrad , who had worked on radio communication contracts during the war. On the evening of October 17, 1919 he made the first of what would ultimately become a twice-weekly series of programs, broadcast from his home in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania over experimental station 8XK . Beginning in early 1920 the Precision Equipment Company,
9125-467: The listeners who had "invited them into their homes". At first "hard sell" and "direct advertising" was discouraged under the oversight of the then-head of the Department of Commerce, Herbert Hoover . However, Madison Avenue recognized the importance of radio as a new advertising medium, and commercials eventually became more prominent and insistent. At the same time in early 1922 that it announced
9250-419: The midwest (Western New York was noted as being the only media market where a majority of listeners listened to AM) and portions of California where terrain makes groundwave reception more reliable. 68 percent of homes have at least one radio, with the average home having 1.5 radios as of 2020, both figures being steep declines from 2008. According to information collected from a data analytics company in 2019, it
9375-461: The near future". Programming offered by the station gradually expanded, including a special broadcast arranged at the end of October that featured the playing the latest Victor phonograph records, held in conjunction with the local Rudolph Wurlitzer Company . In early November 8XB conducted an election night broadcast, coinciding with Westinghouse's broadcast of returns from East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania over station 8ZZ (later KDKA ), which included
9500-401: The network announced the dispute had been settled, and Air America's last day of broadcast on WNTD was April 30, 2004. The New York Supreme Court ultimately concluded that the injunction was improvidently entered and that Air America Radio's court action was without merit, dismissing Air America's complaint and awarding over US$ 250,000 in damages and attorneys' fees to Multicultural. According to
9625-478: The network became known as " WEAF chain ". Specially prepared broadcast-quality lines had to be used for the station connections, so the network took a while to be constructed. The first permanent link, between WEAF and WMAF in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, went into service during the summer of 1923. RCA responded by establishing its own smaller network, centered on station WJZ (now WABC ), although it
9750-537: The network in March 2007 for US$ 4.25 million. The company eventually changed its name from Air America Radio to Air America Media and lastly to just Air America, an effort to establish itself as a broadcaster on multiple media sources including television and the Internet, and one not merely relegated to radio. Always primarily a radio network, on January 21, 2010, Air America went off the air citing difficulties with
9875-490: The network's anchor talent. Franken did not commit to the enterprise, as he was worried about its sustainability. After mentioning actress and activist Janeane Garofalo during an appearance on Judy Woodruff 's Politics Today show on CNN , Sinton received a call from Garofalo stating her interest in hosting a show. On a fundraising trip to Los Angeles, Sinton, at the suggestion of Al Franken, met with Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead , and she would later co-host one of
10000-455: The network's chairman, and Mark Green became president of Air America, with a hands-on role. Former chief executive Scott Elberg remained as chief operating officer. Mark Green announced on Thursday, April 25, 2007, that Westwood One would take over the handling of Air America's ad sales from Jones Radio Networks . In addition, a new lineup was unveiled for the radio network. The top four weekday shows were kept, but extensive changes were made to
10125-461: The network's fees from advertising revenue. Paley also eased the standards on what was considered appropriate commercial content, most notedly by allowing a cigar maker to include a shouted "There is no spit in Cremo!" in its advertisements. Public affairs (broadcasting) In broadcasting , public affairs radio or television programs focus on matters of politics and public policy . In
10250-449: The network's weekday shows, combined with new original programming and some syndicated shows produced independently. Original network programming for weekends included: On September 8, 2005, Air America Radio formed a separate syndication division, designed to offer additional programming and services to both progressive talk and other talk/music formats. Air America Syndication was used to syndicate Thom Hartmann , and later Springer on
10375-502: The network, CEO Mark Walsh departed the offices for good. He had been having a number of disagreements with Evan Cohen about the direction of the company, and in particular about the complete lack of financial transparency in Cohen's business dealings and fundraising efforts. Walsh was a resident of Washington, D.C., and told Cohen that he could not be part of an enterprise run in such an opaque and disruptive fashion. Walsh never returned to
10500-631: The network. The show was vitriolic in its criticism of the right–wing. Comments included referring to the Bushes as the "Bush crime family"; right–wingers commonly were referred to as "rat bastards" and "pigs". In the two weeks before the firing, Malloy had announced an impending multi-year deal for him to stay with Air America (and to return on the air in New York City). The firing was explained as for financial reasons. Rumours persist that Malloy's criticism of Israel during its bombardment of Lebanon in
10625-449: The new "sight joined with sound" service. Originally the term "radio" only included transmissions freely received over-the-air, such as the AM and FM bands, now commonly called "terrestrial radio". However, the term has evolved to more broadly refer to streaming audio services in general, including subscription satellite, and cable and Internet radio . Radio communication in the United States
10750-561: The news, with monologues and reflections offered by the hosts and their guests. Listener comments by phone or the Internet were worked into these segments along with the interviews. Although better known for its political shows, Air America also featured a couple of music oriented shows on weekends. On the Real featuring Chuck D had a strong music focus. The Steve Earle Show (which ended in 2007 with Earle moving to Sirius Satellite Radio ) mixed music with political commentary. Dr. Demento
10875-730: The night of the November 7th presidential election. However, 2XG also had to suspend operations the following April due to the World War I restrictions. While it was active, it inspired David Sarnoff , then the Contract Manager at American Marconi and future president of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), to author his first "Radio Music Box" memo, suggesting that his company establish a broadcasting station and sell receivers, but his superiors did not take him up on
11000-489: The offices while Cohen was chairman, and resigned from the company several weeks later. Two weeks after the on-air debut of Air America Radio, programming was withdrawn in two key markets due to contract disputes. Multicultural Radio owned two stations contracted to carry Air America programming, in Chicago and Santa Monica , California. Air America alleged that Multicultural Radio had sold time on its Los Angeles station to both Air America and another party, and said that that
11125-502: The ones used by U.S broadcasting stations—currently "K" and "W"—date back to an agreement made in 1912. The assignment of the letters "K" and "W" to the United States was randomly made and there was no particular reason given for their selection. (The United States was also allocated full use of the letter N, and later some of the range for the letter A, but does not allocate those initial letters to broadcasting stations. A small number of U.S. Navy stations with N call signs made broadcasts in
11250-453: The only all- progressive talk radio network. A predecessor, the UAW 's I.E. America Radio Network , which was home to hosts such as Thom Hartmann, Peter Werbe, and Mike Malloy, never gained national attention. Its last day on the air was February 27, 2004, only weeks before Air America took to the airwaves. Although not a network, Democracy Radio launched The Ed Schultz Show three months prior to
11375-479: The original shows and be the first program manager. In November 2003, Sinton's brother Steve Sinton left Clear Channel 's talk radio division to join AAR as vice president of programming and operations. Meanwhile, none of these talent agreements were finalized, as fundraising was difficult. The reputation of the effort was coming under duress and scrutiny, as it was announced but not taking shape. A further complication
11500-542: The playing Victor records for entertainment. The station was later relicensed as broadcasting station WMH , however it was shut down in early 1923 after Precision was purchased by the Crosley Manufacturing Company. Some time in the fall of 1919 Lee de Forest reactivated 2XG in New York City. However, the station was ordered to shut down in early 1920, after it was moved to a new site without first getting government approval. De Forest transferred
11625-467: The principals sold AnShell Media to Cohen and his partner, Rex Sorensen , a broadcaster from Guam , US, who formed Progress Media , with Cohen as chairman, and Mark Walsh as CEO; Sinton's title remained as president, but his impact on day-to-day operations was reduced after the sale to Cohen From the hiring of Goodfriend and Walsh in the fall of 2003, the network began to take shape. Al Franken and Garafalo finally agreed to contracts, and in short order
11750-584: The prohibition on civilian radio transmitters would continue until the following October, effective April 15, 1919 the ban on private citizens owning radio receivers was lifted. A short time later a wartime station located at the Glenn L. Martin Co. in Cleveland announced it was inaugurating a weekly concert broadcast, although these broadcasts were suspended a few weeks later due to a complaint about interference from
11875-602: The promotion of newspaper-run broadcasting stations, offering local franchises and asking in national advertisements "Is Your Paper to be One of the Pioneers Distributing News and Music by Wireless?" The Detroit News became the company's first—and ultimately only—newspaper customer, leasing a small de Forest transmitter, initially licensed as 8MK. On August 20, 1920 the newspaper began limited daily broadcasts, which were expanded beginning August 31 with programming featuring local election returns. The station
12000-399: The publication also questioned its practicability, noting "no one wants to pay for shouting to the world on a system by which it would be impossible to prevent non-subscribers from benefitting gratuitously". A form of barter adopted by many early experimental stations was publicizing the name of the provider of phonograph records played during a broadcast. This practice dated back to at least
12125-478: The radio audience is valuable and important. I also believe in what Air America is doing." Radio in the United States Radio broadcasting has been used in the United States since the early 1920s to distribute news and entertainment to a national audience. In 1923, 1 percent of U.S. households owned at least one radio receiver , while a majority did by 1931 and 75 percent did by 1937. It
12250-413: The rest of the lineup. Green also announced a redesign for the network's website, in addition to a new logo. On March 14, 2007, the new owners of Air America announced the hiring of longtime radio veteran David Bernstein to be the new vice president of programming. Prior to joining Air America, he was best known as the program director at New York radio station WOR from 1995 to 2002. In an interview with
12375-552: The rest of the world. The 1906 International Radiotelegraph Convention , held in Berlin, called for countries to license their stations, and although United States representatives had signed the agreement, the U.S. Senate did not ratify this treaty until April 3, 1912. In order to codify the 1906 Convention's protocols, the Radio Act of 1912 , which also incorporated provisions of a subsequent London Convention signed on July 5, 1912,
12500-477: The same "base" three-letter call.) While some stations, especially on the AM band, still use their call signs as the main way of identifying themselves to the general public, a majority now prefer to emphasize easy to remember identifying slogans or brand names. Stations frequently choose call signs that relate to their slogan or brand; the longtime flagship of the CBS Radio Network , for example, used
12625-496: The station's transmitter to the California Theater building in San Francisco, where it was relicensed as 6XC , and in the spring of 1920 it began daily broadcasts of the theater's orchestra. De Forest later stated this was the "first radio-telephone station devoted solely" to broadcasting to the public. In March 1920 Radio News & Music, Inc., established by Lee de Forest associate Clarence "C.S." Thompson, took up
12750-420: The summer of 2006 may have played a role. News of his termination was conveyed via a short statement on the homepage of Malloy's website, posted by his wife/producer Kathy Bay Malloy. His final show was on August 29, 2006, filling in for Randi Rhodes. No mention of his firing was made during the broadcast. Malloy's firing drew criticism from Air America on-air talent, including Rhodes and Sam Seder . It also began
12875-402: The supposed investor was. Sorensen served as the chief financial officer of both Progress Media, and Air America Radio. He had complete control over all funds and banking relationships for the company, and reported directly to the chairman, Evan Cohen. No one else at the company, from Walsh on down, had any control of or input to Sorensen's activities. On April 2, 2004, the day after launching
13000-504: The time it started Air America Radio, Progress Media , (an entity created and completely controlled by Evan Cohen and his former business partner, Rex Sorenson) stated it had secured US$ 30 million in venture capital before its debut. The amount was later estimated by the Wall Street Journal to be closer to US$ 6 million; Sorensen said that an investor had backed out at the last minute. Sorensen never identified who
13125-482: The time this was described as "merely incidental" to the company's primary efforts. In addition, George C. Cannon reported that from December 1916 to February 1917 he had maintained "a regular schedule from 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m." of news and entertainment broadcasts over Special Amateur station 2ZK, located at his New Rochelle, New York home. Because radio signals readily cross state and national boundaries, radio transmissions were an obvious candidate for regulation at
13250-537: The time, Piquant LLC, issued a press release stating Piquant had "no obligation to Progress Media's business activities", and Piquant, as previously agreed, would "fully compensate" the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club. While Gloria Wise remains under investigation, Air America has since repaid the loan. On May 28, 2008, Cohen was arrested at Guam International Airport on a warrant from the State of Hawaii. He
13375-436: The whole family could listen to, or which restaurants and shops could buy to entertain customers. Although radio stations were primarily used to broadcast entertainment, many educational institutions used their stations to further their educational missions. One early example occurred in April 1922, when WGI in Medford Hillside, Massachusetts introduced an ongoing series of lectures provided by Tufts College professors, which
13500-597: Was a guest host on the network at least once. Also, most of the talk shows had their own theme songs, used bumper music to segue between commercials and segments, and played political novelty songs. Theme songs and bumper music were generally commercially released rock music. Air America produced sixteen hours of weekday network programming. The entire schedule was carried on the network's internet stream , and affiliates may have carried some, most or all shows. The network's schedule as of Mid-2009: On many Air America affiliates, weekends featured repeats and highlights from
13625-481: Was an organization founded in September 2002 dedicated to creating political balance on America's commercial radio airwaves. Its concept was to develop, fund and incubate progressive oriented talk programming and retain well established radio networks to market the programs to stations around the country. Democracy Radio developed and produced talk shows that launched the national careers of Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller . AnShell announced its intentions publicly in
13750-579: Was described as a "wireless college". Other colleges also added radio broadcasting courses to their curricula; some, like the University of Iowa in 1925, provided an early version of distance-learning credits. In 1932 Curry College in Massachusetts introduced one of the nation's first broadcasting majors, with the college teaming up with WLOE in Boston for student-produced programs. Although it
13875-453: Was financially troubled, however. A scandal involving nearly $ 1 million in loans from a Boys & Girls Club in New York secretly transacted by Evan Cohen came out in 2005 and was a source of negative publicity. The loans were repaid, but in October 2006, mounting debts forced Air America Radio to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy . The company was bought by New York real estate investor Stephen L. Green and his brother Mark Green , who purchased
14000-599: Was found that every week, approximately 92% of all American adults listen to radio. As of 2021, an estimated 12% of listenership to FCC-licensed AM and FM radio stations comes from means other than the actual AM or FM signal itself, usually an Internet radio stream. In an exceptional example, a radio station that had abandoned terrestrial broadcasting in 2022 ( KRTY in the San Francisco Bay Area) retained half of its listening audience after selling its license and going exclusively to Internet streaming, while
14125-470: Was going to give up his show of three years in order to run for U.S. Senate. He made his official announcement during the last show. Thom Hartmann replaced him in March 2007. Franken won a close and highly contested election to become the 60th Senator in the Democratic Caucus for the 111th United States Congress. After the sale, major changes were quickly put into place. Stephen Green became
14250-492: Was handicapped by having to use inferior telegraph lines to link the stations, due to AT&T's general refusal to supply telephone lines. By the fall of 1926 the WJZ chain had only four core stations, all located in the mid-Atlantic, while WEAF's network reached seventeen cities, stretching from Portland, Maine to Kansas City, Kansas. At this point AT&T abruptly decided to exit the broadcasting field, and in July 1926 signed an agreement to sell its entire network operations to
14375-438: Was in October 2002 at the home of Arianna Huffington . The gathering was enthusiastically attended by many Hollywood notables. Sinton's brother, broadcaster Carey Bruce Sinton, suggested calling the venture Central Air, a name that stuck until just before launch. Around this same time, Democratic political operative Tom Athans and radio industry veteran Paul Fiddick launched Democracy Radio in Washington, D.C. Democracy Radio
14500-630: Was indicted in Hawaii for money laundering and stealing over US$ 60,000 (equivalent to $ 85,000 in 2023) from a Honolulu -based landscaping company. Air America, the Playbook , a 300 plus page collection of essays, transcripts, and interviews by mostly Air America personalities was published shortly before the 2006 Congressional elections. It was on The New York Times Best Seller list for October 8, 2006. A week later, on October 13, 2006, Air America filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 , at
14625-541: Was offered an evening show, which ran briefly on affiliate KTLK in Los Angeles, but Air America never followed through with promised national syndication and the show was cancelled in July 2006. Goldberg announced his resignation on April 6, 2006, after a little more than a year on the job. Maron guest hosted a few times in 2007, and later co-hosted a webcast program for Air America called "Breakroom Live". Janeane Garofalo 's last day as co-host of The Majority Report
14750-400: Was on July 14, 2006. Several reasons for her departure were cited (including her outside acting responsibilities). The show ended a few months later. By the late summer of 2006 Sinton and Ginsburg's influence was marginalized (both would leave in short order). On August 30, 2006, nighttime host Mike Malloy was fired from the network. Malloy had hosted a nighttime show from the inception of
14875-422: Was passed by Congress on August 13, 1912 and signed by President William Howard Taft, going into effect December 13, 1912. The law only anticipated point-to-point communication, and did not address using radio to broadcast news and entertainment to the general public. The shortcomings of this law would be brought to light more than a decade later. The initial broadcasting experimentation came to an abrupt halt with
15000-434: Was recognized early in radio's development that, in addition to point-to-point communication, transmissions could be used for broadcasting to a widespread audience, the question immediately arose of how to finance such a service. As early as 1898 The Electrician noted that Oliver Lodge had broached the idea that "it might be advantageous to 'shout' the message, spreading it broadcast to receivers in all directions". However,
15125-480: Was that AnShell found itself competing against Democracy Radio for investors. During a trip to Washington, D.C., former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta suggested a young lawyer, David Goodfriend, who introduced the Drobnys and Sinton to his former college roommate, Evan Montvel Cohen , who had profited from advertising and research companies in the Pacific Rim. Having taken the idea as far as they could,
15250-472: Was the first electronic " mass medium " technology, and its introduction, along with the subsequent development of sound films , ended the print monopoly of mass media. During the Golden Age of Radio it had a major cultural and financial impact on the country. However, the rise of television broadcasting in the 1950s relegated radio to a secondary status, as much of its programming and audience shifted to
15375-486: Was to be paid on these loans. Since then, the city has suspended further funding of the agency, and Boys and Girls Clubs of America has revoked the group's right to use their name, likeness or logo. At the time the funds were to have been transferred, Evan Cohen , the founder and first chairman of Air America and the former chairman of the now-defunct Progress Media, was also director of development for Gloria Wise. In response to this report, Air America Radio's owners at
15500-453: Was ultimately relicensed as WWJ, and while observing its 25th anniversary in 1945 the News claimed for it the titles of "the world's first station" and where "commercial radio broadcasting began". After the war the American Radio and Research Company (AMRAD) in Medford Hillside, Massachusetts reactivated 1XE . Although there is limited documentation for this station, it reportedly began making
15625-475: Was why it stopped payment on checks due to Multicultural while Air America investigated. Multicultural Radio argued that Air America had bounced a check and claimed it was owed in excess of US$ 1 million. Air America Radio filed a complaint in New York Supreme Court , charging breach of contract and was briefly granted an injunction to restore the network on WNTD in Chicago. On April 20, 2004,
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