On 16 May 2004 16:44:01 GMT, Tom Betz wrote:

The "lies" have been all over the trade press.

FUD, spread by those with an interest in AA's failure.

That doesn't make sense. Why would a trade magazine have any interest
in seeing Air America fail? With all the consolidation they welcome as
many new advertisers as they can find. I know the publishers of nearly
ever trade magazine. None I've talked to want to see them fail. What
you seem to be mistaking for hope for failure is accurate reporting on
the actions of the network.

I have no interest in seeing them fail. I'm simply commenting on what
I see as incompetence.

Randi Rhodes allegely suggested George Bush be taken out in a boat
and shot.

Did you hear that program, Rich? I heard it. Rhodes was comparing W to
Fredo Corleone. You may recall that, in the Godfather, it was Fredo's
brother who killed him.

She never advocated anything.

Whatever. It still was seen by advertisers as controversial, according
to my ad industry sources. It appears the spots were not supposed to
air on the network, anyway. Not being network people they didn't
consider the fact that all spots aren't intended for all markets. If a
New York area dealers are having a promotion it puts dealers in other
no-promotion markets in a tight spot to hear abou6t great deals that
aren't mean for them.

It doesn't matter if she actually advocated anything. It's the
perception of advocacy. Most of my NYC friends who heard it considered
it to be a call for an assassination.

Funny how GM (for the most widely-cited example) says otherwise, if one asks
them. They say they were prompted to pull their ads by the fact of the
change in format (they had bought WLIB to reach the Caribbean market), not by
the content of the new format.

Have you spoken to GM or their agency? At least in New York it's
always been understood that controversial programming was off limits
for these advertisers.

Funny how Ford immediately started advertising THEIR certified used cars on
WLIB as soon as GM stopped advertising theirs...

I was under the impression that advertising is placed by the Tri-State
Ford Dealers Association. Each company has different policies.
Remember when Snapple was pulled from Limbaugh when it was bought by
Quaker? Limbaugh practically made the product what it is.

I think the archive their shows on the net.

Rich, I used to think you were so well-informed. Now, I begin to see
otherwise.

AA maintains no archives.

Hmm. The publicity I saw indicated that their site was getting a lot
of hits and shows were archived. Perhaps they meant the fan site. It
still means the shows are available to the general public, in archived
form, for a period of time.

My link is directly to the stream and doesn't access the site.

My basic complaint is the inaccurate hype that inplies stations are
carrying the entire Air America lineup. WJNO, West Palm, is on that
list. They don't specify that WJNO is carrying only one show. They
lead the reader to believe it's all there. It isn't.

After the loss of Los Angeles and Chicago, I believe WLIB is the only
station carrying the fulltime 6a-11p schedule.

Rich