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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    Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

    And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

    It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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